Opinion
December 12, 2002
Make 2003 year for reform
If Secretary of State Jim Bennett, chairman of a commission on constitutional
reform, is correct in his assessment, next year is the prime time
for finally bringing this needed reform to Alabama. It's the best
chance to get balky legislators on board and to increase grassroots
sentiment for reforming Alabama's unwieldy and outmoded 1901 constitution.
A great opportunity looms for Alabama, and it is crucial
that the momentum gradually building for reform not be allowed to
peter out in the coming months. The arrival of a new Legislature and
a new governor creates an atmosphere of change that could be ripe
for beginning the work of constitutional reform -- especially if coupled
with additional encouragement from citizens.
"There are just more marchers in the parade,"
Bennett noted. "I think the grassroots movement has built up
to the point where it's an issue on the table."
Bennett cited the nearly 900,000 Alabamians who approved
a constitutional amendment assuring that voters would have the final
say on any proposed new constitution, whether written by the Legislature
or drafted by citizens in a constitutional convention. "I think
it was a clear indication that they want to participate in constitutional
reform," he said.
A poll by the Capital Survey Research Center last month
found 61 percent of respondents in favor of constitutional reform.
The need for constitutional reform is beyond dispute.
The current document, by far the longest state constitution in the
nation, has been amended more than 700 times. It places far too much
authority with the Legislature and far too little with local governments,
which ought to be the most responsive to the people because they are
the closest to the people.
Matters of purely local concern often must be addressed
through local legislation, effectively making these local issues the
business of the entire state Legislature. It's a cumbersome, unresponsive
way to structure
government.
Excessive earmarking of tax revenue -- to an extent not
approached by any other state -- denies state government the financial
flexibility to direct resources to the areas of greatest need. Shortsighted
provisions largely exclude property from the state's tax base, thus
assuring an inequitable and inadequate taxation system.
Gov.-elect Bob Riley has pledged to appoint the Alabama
Citizens' Constitutional Commission upon taking office and will charge
it with proposing reform suggestions within 120 days. The report of
the commission
Bennett chairs, which was formed by the nonpartisan Alabama Citizens
for Constitutional Reform, will be presented to that body.
Commissions can become cemeteries for reform, time-consuming
mechanisms for studying an issue to death. Riley must not allow that
to happen, not if he is serious about his campaign theme of honest
change in Alabama.
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