House Productive on First Full Day for Bills

The House had a typically productive day yesterday. I say typically because this early in the session is primarily devoted to legislation that has previously passed the chamber.
The only real controversies to arise yesterday dealt with Rep. Jim McClendon’s ban on text messaging and legislation I was sponsoring for a 7th year in a row regarding the Department of Transportation. Rep. McClendon had several of the former members of the law enforcement community who are now House members upset with his legislation. There was a feeling by some including Rep. Mike Ball that this was an unenforceable piece of legislation and would do more harm than good. Rep. McClendon did a good job fielding a tough series of questions and amendments. In the end he passed the legislation by an overwhelming margin.
My trouble came on the legislation I sponsored to place the Department of Transportation under an independent commission. The Black Caucus, led by Rep. John Rogers argued that ALDOT did not grant enough minority contracts. This led to a long, drawn out mini-filibuster by Rep. Rogers until he finally felt he made his point. In the end the bill passed once again out of the House only to face a dubious future in the Senate.
On another note, Rep. Jeff McLaughlin passed his ban on PAC to PAC transfers again yesterday. His bill will likely be in competition with my DOT bill for which one the State Senate hates the most.
Today committees in both chambers have a lot of legislation on their plates. I have 5 bills of my own that I will try to get out of committee and in position for passage in the next couple of weeks.
Thursday will likely end all the harmony in the House when I expect we will reach the Ethics Commission Subpoena Power legislation. There are two identical bills moving through. One by myself and the other by Rep. Alvin Holmes. There will be a lot of opposition to these two bills and I expect it to eat up a large part of Thursday’s action in the House.