Posted by Our state’s constitution had four more amendments added to it yesterday. Those four along with this one passed May 15 in Baldwin County are the newest of 799 amendments to the world’s longest constitution. (The Secretary of State’s office confirmed the number in a phone call.)
- Shelby County voters approved an amendment to our state’s guiding document to “allow sheriff’s deputies to ticket traffic violators on private roads in ungated communities with 35 or more homes.”
- And Mobile County voters finally got their amendment to “create an Alabama Foreign Trade Investment Zone in Prichard.”
The odd piece on the Prichard amendment, you may remember, is that voters in Mobile County approved this amendment in 2006. But that time it had to be approved by voters state-wide because it did not receive unanimous support in the state Senate. Sen. Hank Erwin (R – Montevallo), who lives 200 miles away from Prichard, objected. The Press-Register reported on the 2006 vote, “In Mobile County, voters elected overwhelmingly to adopt the amendment, but voters statewide rejected it” by about 3100 votes.
Sen. Erwin said, “This time I decided to let Mobile County folks decide for themselves.” Imagine.
- The amendment approved May 15 in Baldwin County extends “a special district tax” that is “levied in Baldwin County for public hospital purposes” for 20 years. To extend the life of the tax, this amendment actually amends Amendment 471 which created it. In 20 years, if they want to extend it again, they will have to create a third amendment to the Constitution on the issue. By a local vote. Unless a legislator objects, in which case it will take a statewide vote.
Any one of these bullets point to dysfunction in our state’s constitution. Not to mention that yesterday’s election cost $3.5 million, according to Mark Berte of Alabama Citizens for Constitution Reform.
Related Articles:
Legislative Dispatch
Purple Dot Connection
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2010 House Elections
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Sen. Erwin said, “This time I decided to let Mobile County folks decide for themselves.” Imagine.
Well, isn’t that nice of him? I wonder how he feels about letting the voters decide on a constitutional convention to replace this albatross.
Kathy I completely agree. I cant believe this guy still has a prominent radio show and he’s still in the State Senate.
[...] it’ll more likely be the 1,000th. Filed under AL Constitution email author :: no comments(1773) These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new webpages. [...]
Noxiously enough, for those of us who don’t know the SoS’ #, the state website ( http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/Constitution/1901/Constitution1901_toc.htm ) neglects 778 – 799
[...] Update: Actually, 799 amendments, not 798. [...]
[...] Apology for slavery. The legislature passed an apology for slavery. (Full text of apology here.) More Alabamians would benefit more from an increase in minimum wage for the first time in ten years, a tax structure that doesn’t tax the working-poor at a rate higher than any other state’s (pdf), or a state constitution that enabled good government instead of shackling it. But we didn’t get those things. We got the apology, and that had its own importance. [...]
[...] If you are interested in the details of the process to fill a vacancy in the office of judge of the circuit court in Mobile County (pertinent to the previous posts saying Sen. Ben Brooks would like to be appointed to the spot), the relevant constitutional amendment can be found here. It’s constitutional amendment number 408 out of (so far) 799. [...]