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.

Many of us, forty-three to be exact (33 in the House, 10 in the Senate), are new to the legislative process, and most of us in the freshmen class are new to politics entirely.  It is no surprise, then, that (for me, at least) this legislative Session was a high-speed tutorial on Alabama politics and governance.  It has been a Session for which I have taken great pride in our accomplishments as a body, but it has also been a Session that has raised questions about the future of our politics and (more importantly) our State.  As the editorial pages begin to catalogue our efforts in the 2011 Regular Session, they will almost certainly recognize this body for being one of action (perhaps an improvement over past legislatures).  I am not convinced, however, that action for action’s sake is a quality best suited for government.  We should be judged, not by the number of laws we pass as a body, but by the content of those laws and how they were passed.

Almost every one of us in the legislature ran on creating jobs.  As one president so aptly put it, “It’s the economy, stupid.”  Our Governor even promised, admirably, not to take a salary until Alabama reaches full employment.  I’m afraid that, at this rate, the Governor may never draw a paycheck.  Sure, we passed plenty of bills out of both chambers that were self-described “jobs bills.”  How many of this bills will actually create jobs in Alabama once signed into law?  Many of us also stumped on reforming ethics by increasing transparency and accountability in our government and elections.  But what have we done this Session to increase transparency and accountability?  Many important pieces of legislation (immigration reform and most of the Special Session’s ethics laws, for example) were written behind closed doors by a conference committee made up of hand-picked legislators.  Members of this body were given the option of voting for a bill they had never seen, or voting against an undisputed principle, such as immigration reform or ethics reform.  The congressional redistricting plan almost didn’t pass out the House because it was written behind closed doors, but an absent Democrat’s machine was voted in favor of the plan by a Republican colleague, despite his opposition (he, apparently, was not consulted) and it passed 48-47. 

The bills that we can all look back on with pride were moved through the body by members of both parties in both chambers.  Those bills were less about advancing a partisan platform and more about setting good policy.  They may not have made for splashy headlines, but they became good laws.  SB477, by Sen. Keahey, is a good example of one such law.  It was a bill that Sen. Keahey passed with the help of Sens. Del Marsh and Phil Williams and Reps. Barry Mask, Phil Williams, Alan Harper, and myself, and it is a bill that will actually create jobs in Alabama.  Another good example is the Brewpub and Breweries legislation, which I have discussed on this site in detail. Sen. Bill Holtzclaw and I worked together to get that legislation passed.  It, now, sits on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature, and once signed, it will create jobs in Alabama.  Also worth noting is the campaign finance reform legislation that Sen. Orr and I worked on extensively throughout the Session.  Last week, it passed the House, and it awaits the Governor’s signature.  Once enacted, it will do more to promote transparency and accountability in our elections than any other ethics legislation we’ve passed since taking office.

I submit that the legislative body is at its best when it functions as it was intended, as a deliberative body that struggles through difficult issues and demands cooperation and compromise.  This body was not designed to create laws just because one faction of the membership has the requisite number of votes.  It was designed to pass a law only after the members of the body have wrestled through an issue and have, with the necessary give and take of the legislative process, reached a workable solution together.  The legislative victories of this Session were a product of the hard work and collaboration from members of both sides of the aisle, who were advancing good policies for their constituents, not good politics for their party.  It is my hope that those legislative victories can serve as a road map for the remainder of the quadrennium, and that as a body, the Alabama Legislature can serve the function our founders intended, because in doing so, we will best serve the people who put us in office.