The Issue
   Two of the most critical challenges facing the Birmingham region and its business community are education and home rule:

1. Education: Alabama continues to lag behind the nation in practically every significant education measurement. Our members rank “Education” as their #1 concern. They demand and deserve better quality graduates than those our public education system currently produces. Our local school boards are ultimately accountable, yet under the current state constitution, they are limited in their abilities to develop adequate resources to get the job done.

2. Home Rule: Under the current constitution, the State Legislature must deal with many local issues. This lack of home rule causes delay and expense, leading frequently to lost opportunities for growth and economic development. A recent vivid example of this is the lowered bond rating of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center complex due to the confusion and political tug-of-war between Jefferson County and the State legislature. We have a habit of making piecemeal changes to our constitution, one county at a time, and this only adds to the ineffectiveness of government in our state.

   Both of these challenges are inextricably interwoven into our hopelessly outdated State Constitution and are a direct outcome of that document.

Background
   The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University has rated state governments nationwide. Compared to all other states on a variety of criteria, Alabama has the most ineffective state government in the nation. A recent article in Governing magazine ranked Alabama dead last among the 50 states in the management of its government.

   The state of Alabama’s Constitution was written in 1901 and has since been amended more than 700 times, making it the longest and most unwieldy state constitution in America. By comparison, the U. S. Constitution has only 27 amendments, very clearly delegating certain powers to the federal government and leaving the rest to the states. The Alabama Constitution has more than 220,000 words, making it 2 * times longer than any other state’s constitution.

   It is a document that is almost incomprehensible, confusing and barely workable. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly difficult to know the status of a particular local law, because the Constitution may say one thing but some obscure local amendment may abrogate that completely.

   Our Constitution was deliberately written to place stringent limitations on state government, eliminate the independence of local government, and severely limit the Legislature’s ability to pass local laws. This “straight jacket” did not work from the beginning and 99 years of treating the symptoms through amendments has resulted in an incredibly incoherent document. The Constitution is so rife with errors that it does not even describe the boundaries of our state correctly. It contains archaic restrictions that are totally impractical today, such as the prohibition of local borrowing and state debt except in times of war.

   Education is the key to Alabama’s future. Yet we have higher dropout rates than the national average and yield lower numbers of college graduates.

   Members of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce are increasingly concerned about the available pool of properly educated young people entering the workforce.

   To improve our schools, we must create accountability for better performance and we must also provide resources adequate to do the job. These resources must be provided on an equitable basis from our state’s taxpayers.

   In sum, the Alabama Constitution is the foundation of our government. Until we have a good foundation, all our other efforts are severely limited. It is past time to finally transform Alabama.

Chamber Position
   The members of the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (representing more than 3,000 businesses with over 300,000 employees) call for a new Alabama Constitution and offer to lend their support to broader statewide efforts to create a new State Constitution.

Approved by Executive Committee
Gary Youngblood, Chairman
Date: January 25, 2000

Approved by Board of Directors
J. Mason Davis, Chairman
Date: February 17, 2000

Required Action
   Realizing that this issue is bigger than one Chamber of Commerce, the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce will seek to support coalitions of other reform minded groups and will offer to support and participate in events promoting rewrite and adoption of a new constitution This position statement will be communicated in person to Governor Don Siegelman and in writing to all members of the State legislature.
 
   Publication of this position will take place in The Chamber’s website and in its newsletter, BirminghamChamber.Com. A Chamber Task Force will be immediately established to consider additional means through which to promote a new Constitution, including making a determination on whether our Chamber needs to make a recommendation on calling for a Constitutional Convention or an article-by-article re-write or a hybrid between the two. Meanwhile, this Task Force will carefully monitor any legislative efforts in the current legislative session to attempt an article-by-article re-write. Inasmuch as the entire issue of our state’s constitution and its negative impact on our state can be difficult to comprehend, the Task Force will seek ways to further educate our 3,000-business membership on this matter.

February 17, 2000

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