By Sallie Owen
Capital Bureau
October 24, 2001
BIRMINGHAM — Gov. Don Siegelman said Tuesday that he would
support efforts in the Legislature that would pave the way for a constitutional
convention.
“I hope this group will come back with a proposal
for a constitutional convention,” during the next legislative
session, which begins Jan. 8, Siegelman said fol lowing a speech to
reform advocates.
But supporters of a constitutional rewrite don’t
have a firm timetable in mind.
“The main thing to us is not to do it quickly but
to do it correctly,” said Bill Smith, finance director for Alabama
Citizens for Constitutional Reform. “We don’t have a timeline
yet.”
More than 450 Alabamians turned out for a conference
called “Why Alabama Can’t Wait: Next Steps to Constitutional
Re form” at the Richard M. Scrushy Conference Center in Birmingham.
The 1901 Alabama Constitution was written to disenfranchise
blacks and poor whites and centralize power in Montgomery, reform
advocates say. Today it has 706 amendments and many believe it is
the longest constitution in the world.
Though most acknowledge the limits of Alabama’s
constitution, reform is not universally popular. The issue often is
linked with tax reform, which some consider a code phrase for tax
increases. There also is concern that in the rewriting process, some
of the state’s special interest groups could slip in language
favorable to their particular causes.
One group, the Association for Judeo-Christian Values,
has started a campaign to keep the current constitution. Speakers
at a rally sponsored by the group earlier this year warned that a
new constitution would create higher taxes, a state that does not
acknowledge God and a government that would run wild over the people’s
rights.
During Tuesday’s speech, Siegelman focused on problems
in education funding, which forced him last year to slash 6.2 percent
or $266 million from the budget. He has maintained that he will not
declare proration or across-the-board funding cuts again this year.
Superintendent of Education Ed Richardson said Tuesday
that he now estimates the shortfall in this year’s education
budget to be about $180 million or 4.5 percent. The state’s education
budget funds K-12 schools, junior colleges and four-year colleges
and universities.
Smith said the mounting pressure to improve school funding
makes voters inclined to favor “big, systemic change,” such
as constitutional reform.
Tuesday’s half-day conference was sponsored by Alabama
Citizens for Constitutional Reform; the Birmingham Area Chamber of
Commerce; Jacksonville State University; and the Alabama-Georgia Foothills
Forum, an economic development partnership of counties in northeast
Alabama and northwest Georgia.
Citizens for Constitutional Reform advocates a new constitution
written by a convention of delegates instead of the Alabama Legislature.
The organization’s first goal was to ensure that any new constitution
would have to be approved by a vote of the public. The Legislature
approved such a measure earlier this year, and the issue will go to
a vote in November 2002.
The next major step down the road would be passage of
legislation setting up a constitutional convention. The bill would
establish the number of delegates, the method of selection for delegates
and when and where the convention would meet.
“The real fight will be when that takes place,”
said Siegelman.
Former Gov. Albert Brewer said Tuesday that the 1901
constitution was written by a convention of 155 delegates. Of those,
100 were elected locally from Alabama House districts. The other 55
were elected in statewide races, but 51 of those had to reside in
a particular Alabama Senate or U.S. House district.
“This is a very complex way to select delegates,”
Brewer said.
Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville, previously introduced
a plan calling for delegates representing the 105 Alabama House districts,
12 of the leading special interest groups and all former governors,
lieutenant governors and chief justices of the supreme court who are
not serving in other elected offices.
Gipson said lobbyists would not be allowed to buy a delegate
a cup of coffee and though there would be no time limit on the convention,
delegates would be paid for only 90 working days.
He outlined a scenario in which the delegates could be
elected in June 2004 and convene in August. Gipson said he thought
a new constitution could be ready for a vote by November 2004.
“But this is not set in concrete,” he said.
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