Sen. Steve French, Sen. Zeb Little, Rep. Ken Guin, and Rep. Cam Ward will be blogging here during the 2010 Legislative Session.

Will the Constitution Convention Bill Get the BIR Vote?

While I have a couple of bills on the calendar this week I am not going to try and fool anyone into thinking anything other than THE DEBATE in Montgomery this week will be the Constitution Convention legislation sponsored by Rep. Demetrius Newton of Birmingham.

Although a lot of us keep up with the inner workings [...]

State Dems Drop Ball on Campaign Promises

House Minority Leader and GOP state chair Mike Hubbert hits it right on, and there is no pretty way for the Democrats to spin it. The Democrats in the state legislature have dropped the ball pretty spectacularly on their campaign promises, aka their “Covenant for the Future.”

The bar was set low enough [...]

Jeffco Corruption Not Creating Outrage

Robber

In case you missed it last week, John Archibald of The Birmingham News wishes more people were outraged at the shenanigans in Jefferson County:

What do Jefferson County residents do when they find they’ve been robbed blind by debt, misspending, waste, bribery, corruption and stupidity? Nothing. They sit like lumps, still wondering if the county [...]

Will Dems Redraw Districts?

House District map

From an editorial this morning in The Montgomery Advertiser on the state Senate’s dysfunction and slowdown:

At the heart of the slowdown is an attempt by a minority of senators — 12 Republicans and five Democrats — to modify changes in the rules for this session that the minority feels gives too much power to [...]

Monday 4/30/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham News – Lawsuits allege that Birmingham suburbs target Hispanics for stops and arrests by police.

Birmingham News – Rep Pat Moore (R-Pleasant Grove) seeks to seeks to expand seat belt requirement to back seat passengers.

Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News urges House to approve measure to allow voters [...]

Sunday 4/29/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News attributes lack of movement of measures to return property tax reappraisals to four-year cycle to influence of AEA’s Paul Hubbert.

Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News views the decision of the State Board of Education to extend current interim chancellor’s contract through October as “a bad [...]

More Posts from the Legislature

Yesterday afternoon and evening, Representatives Randy Hinshaw and Cam Ward gave us two more Posts from the Legislature. Rep. Hinshaw (D – Meridianville) still trusts the people, and Rep. Ward (R – Alabaster) sees one issue standing out among others on next week’s Special Order Calendar.

Saturday 4/28/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News says that reports on redecorating offices following huge pay raise feed distrust of legislators.

Birmingham News – Commentary by former Chief Justice Roy Moore asks “criminals don’t register their guns, why should we?”

Huntsville Times – Riley says he wants legislature to pass some [...]

While Agenda May Look Full, One Issue Stands Out…

Below is a list of bills that are proposed to be debated when the legislature convenes on Tuesday. While the upcoming Special Order Calendar for the Alabama House of Representatives might look like a full plate of debates one issue continues to loom large for everyone watching the legislative debate– the [...]

I trust the people, Part 2

Next week we will consider Rep. Mike Ball’s Initiative and Referendum Constitutional amendment in Constitutions and Elections committee (At 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday not 10:00 as posted, the clerk will change the posting Monday) and on the house floor Rep. Demetrious Newton’s bill to have a referendum on calling a Citizen’s Convention to rewrite Alabama’s [...]

Minimum Wage Bill Back from Nether Regions

Dollar Sign

Many bills exiled to the dark nether regions of sub-committees never see the light of day again. I hear that HB 331 is back and will be considered in House Committee on Wednesday. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Patricia Todd (D – Birmingham) and would raise the minimum wage for the [...]

Rep. Ward Recaps the Week

Rep. Cam Ward (R – Alabaster) recaps the end of the legislative week in our Posts from the Legislature.

Legislative End of the Week Recap…

This week in the House started off with four bills that were the result of a year long study conducted by the Alabama Commission on Infrastructure. The Commission, which was created primarily by economic development interests in Alabama, was a bi-partisan effort to figure out what can be done to [...]

Pros & Cons of Annual Property Tax Reappraisals

House

A bit ago… a county property tax official allowed in coversation that there were three good reasons to be for annual property tax revaluations, and there were three good reasons to be against. I thought that sounded like a great blog post and said, ok, I’m game, why don’t you get back to me [...]

PAC-to-PAC Ban: Boon or Bane?

PAC-to-PAC

Former state Rep. Dick Brewbaker (R – Montgomery) is cynical enough to believe that the bill to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers actually helps incumbents and hurts potential challengers.

I am cynical enough to believe that if the bill really protected incumbents, it would have passed a long time ago.

That said, Brewbaker does support banning PAC-to-PAC transfers [...]

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Legislative Dispatch

Change

I wish my friend Hinton Mitchem godspeed and good luck after his retirement from public service. Hinton, on Monday, announced what many had suspected — he will not seek re-election. I remember meeting Hinton for the first time while I was a student at Auburn University. He served the people of his [...]

Ten Minutes in the House, Senate Moves On

Riley and her friend Caroline joined Julie on the campaign trail in Isabella this past weekend.

Here is a quick preview of the upcoming week in Montgomery. This week will be a standard legislative schedule for the House. We will be in session on Tuesday and Thursday with committee meetings scheduled for Wednesday.
The House will take up a ten minute calendar this week. A ten minute calendar is [...]

Purple Dot Connection

MARCH MADNESS

TOP TEN INDICATIONS OF MARCH MADNESS

10.  Eric Massa inviting us to ask the 10,000 Navy men he served with whether he is gay.

9.  Larry Langford hitting the jackpot 33 times in one day and not remembering it.

8.  Ron Sparks being able to make payments on a $500,000 loan with an income of $80,000.

7.  Artur Davis [...]


Back in the Day...

Tent City at Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, ca 1918

Vintage postcard