Friday 3/9/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/117343234450960.xml&coll=2 – Legislators give themselves 62% pay raise, Governor to veto action.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/117343213050960.xml&coll=2 – Riley pushes tax cut plans, legislative leaders see passage as unlikely.

http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/117343211550960.xml&coll=2 – The Birmingham News blasts Rep. Sue Schmitz (D-Toney) for her efforts to regain contract with community college system.

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1173435382258630.xml&coll=3 – State Board of Education discusses plans to increase oversight of community college system.

http://www.al.com/opinion/press-register/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1173436081258630.xml&coll=3 – Press-Register finds that “Riley has sound plan to bolster education.”

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1173435392258740.xml&coll=1 – Legislative oversight committee blasts Finance Department, Medicaid Commission over handling of contract for private lobbyist.

http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1173435455258740.xml&coll=1 – The Huntsville Times agrees a pay raise is appropriate for legislators, but questions the size of raise approved yesterday and the method of approval.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070309/NEWS/703090306/1012/TL05 – The Tuscaloosa News comments on efforts of Rep. Ken Guin (D-Carbon HIll) to enact measure to allow teaching of elective course on the Bible – notes that some opponents express concern about being “out-Christianed.”

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/NEWS/703090305/1015/OPINIONS – The Times Daily long-term impact of Governor’s proposed tax cuts and spending plans on education funding.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/NEWS02/703090342/1009 – Differing versions of legislation to reform payday lending filed.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/OPINION01/703090313/1012/OPINION – The Montgomery Advertiser sees payraise for state legislators as “obscenely big.”

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/OPINION01/703080359/1012/OPINION – The Montgomery Advertiser sees lingering questions in spite of resignation of proposed lobbyist for Medicaid Agency.

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2007/as-editorials-0309-editorial-7c08u2718.htm – The Anniston Star outlines significant reforms that Riley and legislature may be ready for.

http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2007/as-editorials-0309-editorial-7c08u2745.htm – The Anniston Star calls “It’s a Thick Book” a must-see film.

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Riley’s proposed budget leaves prison system hanging

MONTGOMERY — The Department of Corrections’ budget story could be like those of previous years: Enough to get through the year, but not enough to address staffing shortages.

The Department requested $418 million from the state, an $82.2 million increase over this year’s budget. The department hoped to use the increase to cover a 10 percent pay raise for correctional officers.

The Department would get $342 million, an increase of $6.4 million, under Gov. Bob Riley’s proposed budget.

“We asked for what we thought we needed to operate next year,” State Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen said of the difference in the numbers. “The governor’s in a position to know what the state can afford.”

Riley’s proposed budget for the department would mean that a 10 percent pay raise officials hoped to use to attract more correctional officers will not be offered this year.

The state’s prison system, holding close to 28,000 inmates, has almost twice as many inmates as it was built for. The 400 officer vacancies results in widespread overtime for those who do work, and a 10:1 prisoner-to-guard ratio.

The pay raise was a part of Riley’s “Plan 2010” campaign platform. Riley and State Finance Director Jim Main said the issue now is flat growth in the state’s General Fund, which pays the salaries of all state employees except those in education.

“We have had this tremendous growth in our Education Trust Fund,” Riley said at a press conference Thursday. “We have not had it in our General Fund. Do we want to do things that are not funded this year because of it, in mental health, in public safety, in corrections across the board? Absolutely.”

The governor’s proposed General Fund budget does provide $11.1 million to hire 100 new state troopers.

“We’ve got counties that, if you had a car wreck, it would be a long time before state troopers got there,” Main said. “It is a public safety (issue), not just criminal, but public safety from the standpoint of citizens.”

Riley’s budget does not propose salary increases for any employees, and very few agencies get what they request in any year. The Alabama Medicaid Agency, granted a requested increase of $71.5 million in Riley’s budget proposal, was one of the few that did.

“Our clientele is not as popular as their clientele,” Allen said. “It’s just they’ve only got so much money to spend.”

The governor has $20 million in conditional appropriations for Corrections that he can choose to release, and Allen said the department would look to generate $48 million from its internal revenue sources, like prison industries.

“If we get $48 million that we generate ourselves, we’ll be able to get through without layoffs or anything like that,” Allen said. “But we won’t be able to do all those things we want to get done.”

The Legislature also could increase the department’s funding. House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, said Thursday that the Legislature could increase appropriations for community corrections — designed to reduce the number of offenders in the state prison system.

State Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka, whose district includes three prison facilities, said legislators were always thinking about additional money for corrections.

“Whether that translates to dollars remains to be seen,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re often a management-by-crisis state.”

Besides the staffing issues, the system has a number of facilities issues. Many prisons are not up to fire code standards, Allen said, and one — Holman Correctional Facility in Escambia County — has had a leaky roof for 10 years. The system is currently conducting a survey of its capital needs.

Officials have seen some successes of late. A recruiting campaign doubled the number of cadets in the department’s training academy from 49 in the fall of 2005 to about 90 last January.

Allen also is putting hope in community corrections diverting offenders from the state prison system; fully implemented, the programs could divert 200 to 300 offenders from the system. The governor’s budget provides about $500,000 for a drug court program that would put first-time drug offenders in treatment and require monitoring of their cases.

The department, however, loses 25 correctional officers a month to turnover, and a survey commissioned last year said it could need as many as 1,300 additional officers to adequately secure the prisons in the system.

“We might be turning the corner, but we have a long way to go,” Allen said. “We have to hire and train 300 a year just to break even.”