MONTGOMERY—Nearly half of the measures passed by the Alabama Legislature in the just-ended 2000 legislative session were purely local, ranging from a beaver bounty fund in Fayette County to a junkyard regulation bill for Chambers County.

   The findings are part of a study ordered by Gov. Don Siegelman on whether state lawmakers spend too much time on issues that should be left to local governments.

   Ted Hosp, the governor’s legal adviser, said Tuesday that Siegelman asked for the analysis. “It’s not a situation where legislators are sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong,” Hosp said. “It’s a situation in many ways that it’s the only way to get things done.”

   It’s also more ammunition for those who want to reform Alabama’s constitution.

   “It’s a classic example of why we need home rule,” said Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, author of a proposed draft constitution that would allow county residents to decide how much power their county officials should have.

   “Here we have a case of beaver control and whether a county wants to use local county funds to pay a bounty (for beavers). That’s not something the Legislature should have to be involved with,” said Bedford, whose district includes Fayette County.

   Factoring out the 300 or so of the 812 acts legislators passed during this year’s session that were resolutions—nonbinding legislative declarations or commendations—Hosp found that:

   33 of the 35 proposed constitutional amendments enacted concerned strictly local, as opposed to statewide, concerns. One would authorize bingo in Limestone County. Another would extend the polling hours in Marshall County.

   Of the remaining 479 acts, almost half -- 49 percent—also addressed only local matters; 47 deal with compensation or expense allowances of local officials, for instance, while 13 adjust the boundaries of various cities and towns.

   Local bills involving Huntsville-area counties include a measure giving the Marshall County sheriff more hiring authority with commission approval, a bill allowing Madison City Schools to spend portions of their TVA in-lieu-of-tax money for a new stadium, and a measure increasing the pay of Huntsville board of education members.

   The sponsor of the beaver legislation, freshman Rep. William Thigpen, D-Fayette, said he was surprised when county officials begged for his help to abolish the bounty. Thigpen’s bill repealed a 1982 act that authorized the commission to set up a $10 per tail bounty on beavers.

   County Administrator John Gordon explained the reward was designed to reduce flooding caused by beaver dams. Commissioners paid out about $5,000 annually on beaver bounties and soon began to suspect many had been killed elsewhere.

   The mere commissioning of the local legislation study is the first indication that Siegelman could be warming to the idea of constitutional reform. The governor has so far been reluctant to endorse a rewrite of the 1901 constitution, citing concerns that voters may view the move as an indirect attempt to raise taxes.

   Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, agrees that state lawmakers spend too much time and resources on bills affecting local matters and not enough time addressing statewide issues.

   But Butler, a longtime supporter of home rule for counties, said many constituents are wary of granting taxing authority to county officials. Bedford disagreed, saying county officials face the scrutiny of voters every four years.

   “The safeguard for that is the ballot box,” he said. “If people don’t like the job we as legislators do or those in the courthouse, they can turn us out.”

   Butler knows firsthand that some county leaders don’t want expanded authority. He’s been at the forefront of legislation giving the Limestone County Commission the authority to regulate rock quarries and a measure empowering Madison County commissioners to control nude bars. County leaders balked at that new authority in both cases, citing enforcement difficulty.

   There is another stumbling block: getting legislators to surrender authority to local governments.

   “They like being able to make people ask them,” said Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery. “It all has to do with power. If you are one of those legislators that has four or five counties in your district, you have unbelievable local power. Everyone is beholden to you.”

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Reprinted with Permission from TheHuntsville Times.