Posted by Well for better or worse the 2008 Legislative Session is getting closer.. For many people in Alabama this sends a chill of fear down their spine. For you junkies who enjoy watching a good political fight it is almost like a new holiday season.
As the session gets closer agendas for all the political parties, associations, special interests, and different branches of government will start to form. While many of the agendas will be some of the same issues that have been debated many times before in Montgomery, there are bound to be some new points of contention as well.
As we get started back into this process I have my first Top Ten List for the upcoming session. In this case it is actually a top ten questions that will be on a lot of folks mind at this point early in the season-
10. What will the decline in revenue growth do to the debate over the state budgets?
9. In light of slightly less growth than in years past, what will be done to shore the nearly $600 million shortfall in Medicaid?
8. Will there be a push for teacher pay raises again this year?
7. How will the race for the 2nd Congressional District play out in the halls of the legislature?
6. After several years of passing a ban on PAC to PAC Transfers in the House will the Senate pull the trigger this year too?
5. Will the issue of coastal insurance be resolved this session?
4. Does the stalemate in the Alabama Senate finally begin to clear?
3. What plans are worked out, if any, to start improving our overwhelmed infrastructure in Alabama?
2. Will ethics reform really stand a chance of at least getting a fair hearing in both chambers this time?
1. Will someone fess up to stealing Alvin Holmes football tickets?
These are just a few questions that will start buzzing around the political circles as plans are made and agendas are set. Regardless of how early it is, state politics is always getting geared up for the next big debate!
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Wonder if the next session will see AEA/ASEA openly push their members and the Legislature for a tax increase.
Will there be another round of revised projections, discovery of accounting loopholes and fancy bookwork to keep things rolling along until the next session?
Will be entertaining. Oh, I confess on my dog’s behalf, she ate the letter carrier and bag holding the Holmes football tickets.
[...] Rep. Cam Ward (R – Alabaster) offers his own top ten list of questions on people’s minds and “buzzing around the political circles” as next year’s legislative session quickly approaches. [...]
I’ve got some questions myself…
1. How are Jeremy Oden and Todd Greeson going to undercut the GOP caucus this year?
2. Is Trip Pittman going to get a Christmas Card from Governor Riley?
3. Are the Democrats going to propose one single bill or 500 bills to neuter the reforms being undertaken by Bradley Byrne?
4. How many taxes will John Rogers propose to fund Larry Langford’s wish list?
5. How many roads, buildings, bridges, etc. will get named after current legislators in 2008?
6. What’s the over/under on how many races DaxBell loses to Southern Insights this upcoming year?
My aren’t we the pessimist. I thought I was being a bit too negative!!!
On another note, how long you guess the Joint Resolution naming the Founder of the Alabama Automotive Industry will be and how many much legislative time will be sent on it? Or will that be for the 2010 session?
#2 and #6 may have been tongue-in-cheek, but the others were chock full of realism, not pessimism.
My top five:
1. Crime. Get Birmingham (#6) and Huntsville (#81) off the lists of high crime cities…
2. Education. Start with the dropout factories, then work your way up…
3. Roads. We need to build, widen, and maintain…
Cam, you scare me when you say “what plans are worked out, if any”…
4. Ethics. Two-year college legislators and PACtoPAC…
5. Other stuff. For example, I like clean air and water. And Economic development. And historic preservation.
Well I guess on the road issue I am a bit cautious mainly because I have fought so hard on this issue for 5 straight years now only to into one brick wall after another. Still something must be done and we cannot just give up. This is the one area I think there is some real possibility for bi-partisan cooperation.
Two questions
1. What will happen when James Fields pulls off the upset and wins D 12?
2. Will Mike Hubbard take a hit after he proclaimed to the parlor that it is a must win seat?
I personally believe we will pick up this seat. Of course I could be poven wrong but I do agree with Mike and we will win this seat. As far as Mike taking “a hit” if we happen to lose the seat I cannot possibly see how he would. I mean we currently don’t hold the seat and he is doing everything he can do to win this seat so I just see this as Mike Hubbard doing his job as party chairman.
Rep. Ward, will you support a bill this year for constitutional reform? If not then why?
Also, I’m a law student at Cumberland School of law who’s paying for my undergrad and now law school without any family assistance. By the time I graduate I’ll have over $100,000 in loans if not closer to $150,000 easily. My goal is to become a prosecutor but because of the low pay plus my loans (and all the costs of living and starting a family), I’ll be lucky if I can retire and then become an assistant D.A. Would you support a bill to forgive a portion of student loans for those law students that choose public interest jobs such as being an assistant D.A., public defender, etc.? If not then why?
I also went to Cumberland and took out loans for my entire education there. I would not be in favor of forgiving those loans though. I knew when I went to that school how much it was going to cost me and how much I would have to pay back when I asked for the loan to pay for my education. By changing the rules after the loan has already been taken out is just telling the company that loaned the money to me– well sorry you just won’t get it all back now. I just don’t believe in that.
As far as constitutional reform goes I have always said I support reforming each article individually then sending them to the voters to allow them to vote on each one. I even supported the bill last year to allow the people to vote on whether or not to hold a convention despte the fact that the bill has never come up for a vote in either the House or the Senate.
Just curious, what areas of the constitution are you most interested in seeing reformed?