This Thursday will mark the last day of the legislative Session. For some, it was a Session that seemed would never end. For others, it was one that ended much too quickly. It may be early, yet, to write an obit on this Session, but as we approach the finish line, some perspective may be in order.
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   Sen. Marc Keahey, Sen. Cam Ward, Rep. Joe Hubbard, and Rep. John Merrill will be blogging here during the 2011 Legislative Session.  Posted by John Merrill, on May 24th, 2011, at 6:50 pmAs you know, a very important piece of legislation will be presented for our consideration in the House tomorrow in Montgomery – Senate Bill 310 – the “Students First” tenure and fair dismissal reform bill. Like me, many House members have been inundated with phone calls and emails from opponents of this bill, and some have been [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on May 17th, 2011, at 8:39 pmThere are a lot of issues to debate before we begin the final days of this session. In fact, I am quite certain there will be some comments on this post debating many of them. Before we get into the last seven day of the session I wanted to bring up a topic that [...] Posted by Joe Hubbard, on May 13th, 2011, at 2:29 pmAs the budgets have been written, debated, and rewritten, some difficult decisions have forced upon this body, particularly with respect to the Education Budget. We’ve had to make decisions about whether to cut the benefits and compensation of educators, or to keep the lights on in the classroom; whether to revamp and fund a [...] Posted by Marc Keahey, on May 13th, 2011, at 12:21 pmOn April 27, our state was hit with numerous tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Tragically, these storms claimed the lives of over 200 Alabamians and injured hundreds more. Thousands of homes and businesses were devastated as these storms moved across our state. My heart aches for all those whose lives were affected by this tragedy, [...] Posted by Joe Hubbard, on May 10th, 2011, at 11:42 amI’ve heard it said that the greatest enemy of the Good is the Great. With only seven days remaining in our first legislative Session, it appears that the second rule of legislating (after “can we, should we, must we”) should be to avoid letting the Great be the enemy of the Good. As a [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on May 9th, 2011, at 5:35 pmWhile the legislature is out for the next two weeks the Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment will be working on the upcoming plan to redraw Alabama’s Congressional and State Board of Education lines. The Committee will conduct public hearings throughout the state to receive input from interested citizens and citizen groups on issues relating [...] Posted by John Merrill, on May 5th, 2011, at 3:18 pmOver the past week, I think I have probably uttered the singular word – unbelievable – more than fifty times. I have said this as I have feebly attempted to describe to family, friends, well wishers, and strangers who have asked me about my experiences in my town – Tuscaloosa - over the last seven days. Tuscaloosa has [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on May 3rd, 2011, at 8:06 amThe session starts up today at 2:00 pm in the Senate. The recent disasters and recovery efforts across the state make the work in Montgomery really just a footnote. Still there are a number of items left to be debated. Both budgets have yet to be sent to the Governor and many issues such [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on April 29th, 2011, at 12:48 pmThis post usually recaps all the work we did the past week in the Legislature. While the Senate did pull an all night session from sunset to sunrise on Tuesday evening, everything was overshadowed by the terrible storms that ravaged our state. The Senate was scheduled to debate the Education Budget on Thursday but [...] Posted by Joe Hubbard, on April 29th, 2011, at 9:13 amAs I sit down to write today’s recap of the week, the one thing that overshadows everything else that happened in the Statehouse was Wednesday’s storms. Yes, we passed the General Fund budget out of the House, and, yes, we had a pretty good debate on occupational taxes, but all of that pales in [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on April 25th, 2011, at 8:50 pmThank you to Sen. Marsh, Sen. Beason and other members of the Senate Rules Committee for publishing the proposed Special Order Calendar in advance. This is certainly a nice change from years past. Below is what looks like a relatively non-controversial special order for our first day back this week. Senator Taylor: SB336 Children’s [...] Posted by Cam Ward, on April 25th, 2011, at 9:32 amThere was a little confusion this past week over the meeting calendar for the rest of the legislative session. Depending on who you asked and what day you asked there were wildly varying meeting schedules proposed. By law we cannot meet any later than June 13th so there was no question we were not [...] Posted by John Merrill, on April 23rd, 2011, at 10:37 pmThe first week of the session I was approached by one of my friends from the Alabama Association of Realtors and asked the following question, “What do you think about occupational taxes?” I told him that I thought occupational taxes were inherently unfair. Occupational taxes are specifically designed to tax working folks because of [...] Posted by Joe Hubbard, on April 22nd, 2011, at 2:46 pmYesterday, there was a standing ovation from the House floor. Maybe it was because I had just passed my first bill, HB485, which would help create the public-private partnership necessary to revive the Garrett Coliseum; or, maybe it was because the bill passed 97-0 and didn’t cost the State of Alabama one dime. Or perhaps, the [...] |
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