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Open Secret
ACCR is pleased to announce the release of the re-enactment film, Open Secret. A film by Melanie Jeffcoat, Open Secret is taken from actual transcripts from Alabama's 1901 Constitutional Convention where delegates openly discussed the disenfranchisement of blacks and poor whites, as well as the dismissal of the women's right to vote. Read more and reserve your seat to attend a screening
2010 Legislative Session
Good News!
Constitutional convention legislation is alive and well in the 2010 Legislative Session.
Senate Bill 177, Senate Resolution SJR 42 and House Resolution JHR 54 are now in the respective Rules Committees for consideration before being placed in their respective Houses for legislator votes.
In addition, a survey sent to all legislators was returned to ACCR showing that the overwhelming majority of those who responded, said "yes" to the question:
Do you believe that Alabama voters should be able to vote on whether or not to hold a constitutional convention in Alabama?
Click here to read the entire article »
Click here for House Joint Resolution 54 »
Click here for Senate Joint Resolution 42 »
Click here to see past Resolutions »
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ALABAMA'S CONSTITUTION?
Click here to find
out »
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
The first step is to convince our legislators to allow bills or resolutions to pass that will allow citizens to write a new constitution.... something Alabama has done six times before.
We applaud the following Representatives for voting in favor of allowing the bill to be debated and the potential of allowing the people’s voices to be heard. Click here to see names of legislators who voted for the past BIR and those who voted against it.
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| Click here to find your local ACCR Chapter! |
HERE'S WHAT THE MEDIA IS SAYING...
Constitution no laughing matter. Residents should demand action by legislators
By The Gadsden Times
January 11, 2010
Picking on the number of amendments in Alabama’s constitution is almost too easy. That the constitution has some 827 amendments already is indicative of problems with the constitution, but the real issue is more about how power is centralized in Montgomery.
Twenty-five amendments are on the ballots this year with most of them being local amendments.
Three are statewide and one of them illustrates the absurdity of how Alabama’s government is structured.
In November, state voters will decide if the propane gas industry can charge its members a fee to be used to promote the industry.
As the kids say, really?
Interview on constitutional reform with Artur Davis on WBHM-90.3FM (Birmingham)
Friday, November 13, 2009
By The Birmingham News Editorial Board
November 11, 2009, 5:32AM
How's this for irony?
Today, we pay tribute to veterans for their service to our country and for fighting to protect our freedoms. Today is also the day 108 years ago that Alabama voters ratified a state constitution which stripped away one of the most essential of our freedoms -- the right to vote -- from blacks and poor whites.
Nov. 11 is a day to honor veterans, but it is also a day to dishonor a constitution that prevented hundreds of thousands of blacks and poor whites from voting for decades. To top it off, the 1901 Constitution was approved only with the help of massive voter fraud.
The story is well-documented by historians.
Can 1901
Constitution affect race for governor?
By Bob
Blalock -- The Birmingham News
October 25, 2009, 5:45AM
Is U.S. Rep. Artur Davis crazy like a fox? Or just crazy?
The question comes to mind after reading an Associated Press story
in The News on Tuesday that Davis is the only one of eight major gubernatorial
candidates in both political parties who supports letting a convention
of citizens write a new constitution for Alabama.
learn more »
Bringing It All Back Home: Campaign Launched for Constitutional Reform
From The Shoals Insider
Published: October 19, 2009
Evan Tidwell-Alabama Press Syndicate
The Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR)kicked off their “Bring It Back Home” series of seminars and citizens’ panels Sunday afternoon at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. The campaign -- which will include an event in each of Alabama’s 67 counties -- is part of a grassroots movement by the ACCR to educate Alabama residents about the problems with their state’s governing document and to garner support for a Constitutional Convention to rewrite it.
Old and in the wayFrom the TimesDaily (of Florence)
Published: Thursday, October 15, 2009
THE ISSUE
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform will launch a series of
statewide meetings Sunday in Florence to discuss holding a constitution
convention.
learn more »
Event will
kick off statewide effort to reform constitution
The Times Daily
By Bernie Delinski
Staff Writer
October 11, 2009
FLORENCE - Alabama has the longest state constitution in the nation.
A group calling for its reform says it also has one of the worst.
That organization, Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, kicks off a statewide campaign Oct. 18 in Florence.
The event called "Bring It Back Home!" is set for 1 p.m. at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. It is free and open to the public.
"We're trying to make people really understand the problem,"
said Joan Hudiburg, a Florence resident and member of the reform group.
"We have the largest constitution in the United States and very
limited home rule. We have a bad tax situation."
learn more »
Constitution
redo overdue
The Huntsville Times
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Could 2010 be the year Alabamians break the shackles of the state's repressive,
backward, constitution?
learn more »
Bob Davis:
State Reform? Who you gonna call?
From the Anniston Star
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Rick Bragg was talking about ghosts Thursday.
In his remarks to the crowd gathered for the Bailey Thomson Awards Luncheon in Huntsville, Calhoun County's very own discussed a pair of former occupants of his University of Alabama office at Reese Phifer Hall.
Bragg was talking about two giants who have since passed on — Clarence Cason, author of 90 Degrees in the Shade and a UA journalism professor who pressed for social progress in his native state, and Bailey Thomson, the journalist and professor who wrote with heartbreaking precision about the harm done to Alabamians by its state Constitution.
"They had their hearts right," Bragg said. "They looked
after and cared for the people weaker than them."
learn more »
Wasteful
session: What's the problem? It's the Constitution
by Craig Baab
Special to The Anniston Star also printed in The Birmingham
News
The state Legislature's special session is expected to approve some "fix"
for Jefferson County's fiscal crisis. While essential in the near term,
this is bad news for the county long term, for all residents of Alabama,
for the educational system and for democracy. What most of us don't understand,
but must, is that the underlying reason that this special session had
to be called in the first place is Alabama's anti-democratic and dysfunctional
1901 Constitution.
learn more »
State constitution
needs change
Decatur Daily
By Mark Ray
7/19/09
Decatur Daily Op-Ed
Anyone who has followed our local jail inmate feeding debacle in recent months, or has traveled to one's local ballot box only to be confronted with a list of proposed amendments having nothing to do with Morgan, Limestone or Lawrence County is surely aware that something is wrong with the way government functions in Alabama.
Much of that "something" can be traced to our antiquated 1901
state constitution, . . .
learn more »
Reform that's
still needed
The Anniston Star
Friday, June 26, 2009
by the Anniston Star Editorial Board
More than a decade has passed since the late Bailey Thomson wrote editorials
that restarted Alabama's constitutional reform movement. Though it lost
some momentum when he passed away, the issue remains critical for the
state's future.
learn more »
Alabama Voices:
Mock convention shows state constitution possible
Montgomery Advertiser
June 25, 2009
by Jim Vickrey
Nine score and 10 years ago, our state's founders wrote the first Constitution
of Alabama. They wrote it so well -- in what is now called Constitution
Village in Huntsville -- that it was hailed elsewhere at the time as perhaps
the most progressive in the nation. No one has similarly labeled any one
of that document's five successors "progressive."
learn more »
Mock constitution
isn't a scaremonger
Press-Register
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
THE MOCK state constitution being circulated by Alabama Citizens for
Constitutional Reform is short and efficient. It proves that replacing
the 1901 version is doable and that Alabama can govern itself without
799 amendments.
learn more »
Legislature
misses opportunity to act
The Anniston Star
In our opinion
05-19-2009
The fate of the latest Alabama House resolution concerning the state Constitution has left many shaking their heads in wonder at what passes for the legislative process in Alabama.
The resolution, HJR91, would have called for a popular vote on whether to convene a convention and rewrite the insufferable 1901 Constitution. It should have been adopted.
Harken back to when the state Legislature convened this year. At that time, HJR91 was introduced in the Alabama House (a similar resolution was introduced in the state Senate) and assigned to the House Rules Committee. It sat there until May 6, when it was sent to the full House for debate.
So far, so good.
learn more »
Alabamians
should show outrage over Legislature refusing to let voters decide on
convention of citizens to write new constitution
Posted
by Bob Blalock - Birmingham News
May 20, 2009 2:07 AM
The Legislature resolved to do a whole lot this session.
learn more »
Reform is
about trust
The Huntsville Times
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The House should debate a constitutional measure
In the debate over whether Alabama should have a new constitution, the
issue comes down to a single word and a single concept. It's trust.
learn more »
Alabama not
alone in quest for reform
Press-Register
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
ALABAMA ISN'T the only state with a constitution that doesn't work. Turns
out, other states are struggling with their constitutions, too.
learn more »
Supporters
want Alabama House of Representatives to debate
constitutional convention plan
Supporters seek debate in House
The Birmingham News
Monday, April 27, 2009
MONTGOMERY - Supporters of a plan that would let voters decide whether
to call a convention of delegates to draft a new state constitution say
they will try to get the House of Representatives to vote on the proposal
this week.
learn more »
Something
for voters to decide: Have a say on Constitution
Editorials from the Anniston Star
In our opinion
04-25-2009
Alabama's founding fathers, the ones who wrote the state's antiquated
Constitution, were all for letting the people's voice be heard —
so long as the Legislature gave its approval.
learn more »
Bob Davis:
Goat Hill and its two jobs
From the Anniston Star
04-05-2009
Can you guess the culprit? If you said the state's 1901 Constitution, give yourself a gold star.
The authors of that foul document had two primary goals: 1. Remove voting and other rights from blacks. 2. Keep anyone not rich and powerful from making substantial changes to the established order.
Sadly for us, for democracy and for social progress, they succeeded.
Alabama's 1901 founding fathers produced a crippled offspring that is
nothing more than a slave to powerful interests.
learn more »
Debating
the Constitution: Let's go at it another way
The Anniston Star
In our opinion
02-21-2009
For a number of years, state Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, and state Sen. Ted Little, D-Auburn, have introduced a bill that would allow Alabama voters to decide if they wanted a convention to rewrite the 1901 Constitution or replace it with another.
Every year, the bill has died. It's been stuck in a procedural roadblock known as a budget isolation resolution that requires a three-fifths majority before a measure can be considered.
Newton and Little now think they have found a way solution.
learn more »
Power to
the people
From the Huntsville Times
Monday, February 16, 2009
Some candidates still oppose a constitutional convention.
learn more »
Mock Convention
Puts Pressure on Reform Opponents
Jennifer Foster Opelika-Auburn
Columnist
Published: February 16, 2009
Saturday in Prattville, former Alabama Chief Justice Gorman Houston swore in the 105 delegates to the first session of Alabama’s mock constitutional convention, sponsored by Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.
Yes, the convention was only for show. But it is a powerful visual symbol that the constitutional reform movement, nine years in the making, is getting some serious legs.
It’s about time. Alabama’s current constitution, ratified in
1901 even though almost half of the state’s counties opposed it,
is riddled with historical anachronisms, racist language and inefficiencies.
It strangles local governments and restricts the ability of our city councilors,
county commissioners and anyone else outside Montgomery to respond to
local needs.
learn more »
Group of
Alabama voters challenges state Constitution
New vote or document wanted
The Birmingham News
Friday, February 13, 2009
ERIN STOCK
News staff writer
A group of Alabama voters who say the state's constitution was never
legally ratified by the people are asking for a new vote on it or on a
new constitution.
learn more »
Joint resolution
to reform constitution is introduced
The Huntsville Times
Friday, February 13, 2009
By BOB LOWRY bob.lowry@htimes.com
Sponsor Little says this way removes two big hurdles
MONTGOMERY - Proponents of reforming the state's 1901 constitution are trying a different approach in the 2009 session of the Alabama Legislature.
Instead of submitting the proposal as a bill, it has been introduced
as a joint resolution in the House and the Senate.
learn more »
Constitutional
convention idea should be on ballot
From the Opelika Auburn News
Editorial
Published February 12, 2009
We salute Ted Little. The Auburn state senator refuses to give up on
reforming Alabama’s outdated constitution — a 107-year-old book
of law that has been amended 800 times and is in dire need of stepping
into the 21st century with the rest of America.
learn more »
State
loses constitution reform champ
Birmingham News Sunday, February 9, 2009
learn
more »
A state leader
is gone
The Huntsville Times
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Dr. Tom Corts was a major figure in constitutional reform
Alabama lost a leader this week. Dr. Tom Corts of Birmingham, age 67,
died of a heart attack.
learn more »
Our Persepctive
— Disenfranchised: Why doesn't anybody really care?
From The Citizen of East Alabama
Received from the source on January 22, 2009
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
The real issue that concerns us is the flawed condition of the Constitution
of the state of Alabama. While amending it may be bigger than one person,
the people of Alabama should demand constitutional reform. As long as
no one cares and no one presses the issue, the process will remain forever
flawed.
learn more »
DOTHAN EAGLE
EDITORIAL
Published: January 7, 2009
... If the Alabama Legislature could muster the will to authorize a constitutional
convention in which delegates could draft a new constitution for Alabama,
we could cast off the yoke and construct a guiding document that rectifies
problems we’ve been saddled with for years.
learn more »
Experts:
Local tax increases underline need for constitutional reform
From Today's Anniston Star
11-23-2008
This month, the Calhoun County Commission and Oxford City Council each increased sales taxes by one cent to raise more money for schools in hard times.
The state's constitution gave them few options.
Alabama's 1901 Constitution, which limits local taxing authority, reared
its head again, constitutional reform advocates say.
learn more »
A crazy constitution
The Huntsville Times
Monday, November 17, 2008
The November vote puts amendment flaws in the spotlight.
learn more »
Constitutional
reformists to host mock convention
From the TimesDaily
By Trevor Stokes
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thrusday, November 13, 2008 at 10:46 p.m.
FLORENCE - Alabama constitutional reform advocates Thursday discussed
2009's mock convention, a non-legally binding reworking of the 1901 state
constitution supporters hope will relieve the state from what they call
an outdated political framework.
learn more »
Amendment
votes show absurdity
From the Montgomery Advertiser
November 10, 2008
Alabama voters
having to decide on
amendments that don't affect them
and that they know very little about is
anything but euphoric
The Birmingham News
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Five days removed from an historic Election Day, the euphoria continues.
Alabama voters flocked to the polls in record numbers and made monumental decisions, like whether to raise court costs in Russell County, whether to expand the number of people who can elect two members of the Utilities Board of Tuskegee, and whether to prohibit cities outside Blount County from annexing any part of the county without voter approval. Does it get any bigger, any better, than that?
OK, we'll dial down the sarcasm. Yes, those things are important to the people who live in those areas, but that's the point: Those things are important only to the people who live in those areas.
Why should any voter in Alabama who doesn't live there, doesn't care a whit, have to confront those issues on the Election Day ballot as proposed constitutional amendments? For that matter, why should those sorts of issues even have to go before voters, rather than letting local governments decide them?
It's because of the 1901 Constitution of Alabama.
learn more »
Once again,
voters see firsthand the problems
the 1901 Constitution creates
From the Birmingham News
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Welcome to the end of your ballot, that part filled with obscure proposed constitutional amendments few voters have even heard about, much less studied enough to know whether to approve them.
Don't mistake that criticism for condescension. If it weren't part of our job, we'd be just as befuddled (some would argue we still are).
Voters aren't to blame. Blame the 1901 Constitution of Alabama.
learn more »
Outdated
constitution binds county leaders
From the Press-Register
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
ELECTED OFFICIALS in Washington County have two big worries about taxes.
First and foremost, the county doesn't collect enough taxes to adequately
fund basic services. Second, the state's archaic constitution tethers
local governments like a ball and chain, limiting their ability to raise
money to take care of local needs.
learn more »
Again, it's
the Constitution: Another example to ponder
Editorials from the Anniston Star
In our opinion
10-17-2008
Have you noticed that when problems arise in Alabama, somehow either the cause of the problem or the lack of a solution can be traced back to the antiquated, oft-amended 1901 state constitution?
Consider the mess Jefferson County is in.
learn more »
A point proven
From the Anniston Star
In our opinion
09-02-2008
Just imagine what the authors of the 1901 Alabama Constitution would have thought.
Last Thursday, Alabamians were talking about undoing their evil schemes.
The occasion was the 2nd annual Bailey Thomson Awards Luncheon, which
was sponsored by the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform Foundation.
learn more »
Poverty's
roots lie in state constitution
The Press-Register
Monday, September 01, 2008
REPORTS THAT Mobile County and the rest of Alabama continue to have unreasonably
high rates of poverty — despite considerable economic growth —
should energize citizens and government alike to work for a new Alabama
Constitution.
learn more »
The tale
of two Alabamians
The Anniston Star
By Kristina Scott
08-31-2008
The naming of Auburn University professor Wayne Flynt, Alabama 's preeminent
historian and social reformer, as this year's recipient of the Bailey
Thomson Award surely symbolizes the best of times in Alabama.
learn more »
From the
PRESS-REGISTER
Friday, August 29, 2008
By JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter
Supporters of efforts to reform Alabama's 1901 constitution met Thursday to honor a former Press-Register editor and advocate for rewriting the document.
More than 250 people gathered at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile - and another 150 people participated via telecast at the Harbert Center in Birmingham - for the second annual Bailey Thomson Awards Luncheon.
The Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform Foundation, which Thomson
helped form in April 2000, hosted the event.
learn more »
Dog Days
of Summer
The Birmingham News
Monday, August 04, 2008
THE ISSUE: Eventually, Alabama's constitution reform movement will overcome the Legislature's lethargy, inactivity, indolence
Random House Webster's College Dictionary tells us "dog days" are the "sultry part of summer when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun." A second definition: "a period marked by lethargy, inactivity or indolence."
There is no doubt, by either definition (or by walking outside), that
we're in the midst of the dog days of summer. It is fitting, then, that
a grass-roots group this past week, in the midst of dog days, announced
awards honoring those who have distinguished themselves in the effort
to reform the state's fundamental charter. Fitting, because of the thousands
of dog days of legislative "lethargy, inactive or indolence"
over rewriting Alabama's 1901 Constitution.
learn more »
Close, but
no cigar
The Anniston Star
In our opinion
07-16-2008
Alabama did not win the Volkswagen plant. The state gave it a good try,
and right up to the last moment rumors flew heavy that Alabama's offer
had prevailed and the German company had picked a site near Huntsville.
But that didn't happen; Tennessee won, and Europe's biggest automaker
will build its plant near Chattanooga. Gov. Bob Riley expressed disappointment
at the announcement, but he went on to say that he was pleased that the
site chosen was close to Alabama. This page feels the same way. The governor's
economic development team now needs to assess the Tennessee offer, compare
it to what our state was willing — and able — to provide, and learn how
to do better next time, if Alabama indeed can do better. In this case,
it may be that Tennessee simply had more to offer. Alabama also needs
to consider how the state's constitutional limits played into the bidding
war. Had Alabama been picked, the governor would have had to call a special
session for the Legislature to approve many of the incentives the state
had offered. In addition, lawmakers would have needed to pass a proposed
constitutional amendment so the state could use money from trusts funded
by natural gas royalties. Then that amendment would have gone to the voters
in November. The Legislature likely would have approved the incentives
and the amendment — and it's almost certain that voters would have
fallen into line. But the possibility that the Legislature, or the voters,
might not have approved the plan always existed. That may have bothered
the Volkswagen leadership,
learn more »
The need
for a new Constitution
The Randolph Leader
Thursday, June 5, 2008 - Roanoke, Alabama
By passing the education budget in a five-day special session last week,
the Legislature, specifically the state Senate, did what it couldn't,
or wouldn't, accomplish during the regular session that lasted from Feb.
5 until May 19. This cost us an unnecessary $110,000, but it could have
been worse had the special session lasted longer.
learn more »
Try Again
Times Daily
Published: May 13, 2008
THE ISSUE
The Legislature killed a bill that would have allowed voters to decide whether to hold a constitutional convention to replace Alabama's heavily amended governing document.
Once again, voters have been denied the opportunity to decide whether
to hold a constitutional convention to replace Alabama's much-amendment
constitution.
learn more »
Our view:
Scare tactics don't justify constitution vote
The Daily Home - Covering Talledega, Pell
City and Sylacauga
05-04-2008
Boo! No, it’s not Halloween. It’s the time when the Alabama Legislature is in session, and it annually blocks the effort to have the people of this state decide whether they want to call a convention to write a new constitution.
And instead of goblins and ghouls, lawmakers employ the scariest of tactics
around these parts – the mere mention of taxes and gambling –
to ensure that the bill never quite comes to a vote.
learn more »
New hope
for reform
The Huntsville Times
Saturday, May 03, 2008
House backers actually got more votes than their opponents
What happened to constitutional reform this week in the state House of
Representatives could not, by any stretch, be called a victory. But even
in a lopsided loss, reform advocates saw a glimmer of possibility.
learn more »
A Broken
Legislature
The Huntsville Times
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The 2008 session points out the need for constitutional reform.
learn more »
Constitution
and budget woes
The Anniston Star
In our opinion
04-21-2008
A budget crisis has revealed just how our state Constitution makes it
difficult, if not impossible, to respond to state needs in an effective
and efficient manner. Even more evidence of why a new Constitution is
an urgent matter.
learn more »
State House
leader confident in constitutional convention bill
The Anniston Star
By Markeshia Ricks
Capitol Correspondent
04-20-2008
MONTGOMERY — The question of calling a convention to overhaul Alabama's 107-year-old constitution soon will be before state lawmakers.
But getting it passed will be the ultimate test of political muscle and
of a grassroots constitutional reform movement's ability to change the
minds of legislators.
learn more »
Is this evidence?
The Anniston Star
In our opinion
04-07-2008
Opponents of constitutional reform argue that there is no clear evidence that the people of Alabama want it.
"Evidence" is in the eye of the beholder. However, it is safe to say that until now opponents have felt they could safely ignore cries for constitutional reform because there was little, if any, evidence of statewide support.
That may have changed.
A recent poll conducted by the Capital Survey Research Center found that
a majority of Alabama citizens want the Legislature to pass pending legislation
that would allow the people to vote on whether or not to hold a constitutional
convention.
learn more »
Alabamians
clearly want to vote
click
here to read the poll
Editorial
Montgomery Advertiser
April 2, 2008
Maybe most Alabamians want to see a constitutional convention held to draft a new constitution to replace the 1901 document that still forms the organic body of law for our state. Maybe they don't.
What they plainly do want, however, is the chance to decide whether to
hold a convention. A new statewide survey indicates widespread support
for holding an election on the convention question. The survey shows levels
of support throughout a broad demographic range of Alabamians that, if
cited as election results, would be seen as landslides.
learn more »
The people
of Alabama want to vote on whether a citizens convention should draft
a new constitution, but will the Legislature let them?
The Birmingham News
Thursday, April 03, 2008
If there's a popular groundswell rising, many Alabama lawmakers will knock each other out of the way to be the first to catch the wave.
So here are some poll results that ought to make lawmakers break out
the surfboards: Almost two-thirds of Alabamians surveyed say they want
their lawmakers to vote for a bill that would let voters decide whether
they want a constitutional convention to draft a new state constitution.
learn more »
Return power
to state voters
Tuscaloosa News
Published Friday, March 7, 2008
There are arguments to be made for and against a convention to draft a new Alabama constitution. The only certainty is that the current document, enacted in 1901, needs to be replaced.
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform wraps up all the major arguments: The 1901 Constitution restricts local democracy; it locks in an unfair tax system; it hinders economic development; it limits budget flexibility; it is the longest known constitution in the world; and it has undemocratic origins.
At long last, Alabamians may have a chance to vote on whether to call a convention to draft a new state constitution. The Constitution and Elections Committee of the state House of Representatives voted 9-4 this week for a bill for a statewide referendum concurrent with the 2010 primary elections.
The bill has a long way to go. It faces a vote in the full House, approval
by the Senate and endorsement by the governor.
learn more »
Our view:
House should let people vote
Daily Home
03-07-2008
It’s easy to agree with state Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, when he talks about the call for a rewrite of Alabama’s constitution.
As a House committee on Wednesday considered letting voters decide whether they want a convention to rewrite the state’s constitution, Newton asked members a question.
“Whether you agree we need a new constitution or vehemently disagree, it boils down to one simple thing – do you trust the same people who elected you to the Legislature to make the decision?,” Newton asked the House Constitution and Elections Committee.
On a 9-4 vote, the answer was in the affirmative.
learn more »
© 2010
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform
Post Office Box 10746
Birmingham, AL 35202-0746
accr@constitutionalreform.org