This was a productive week in the State Senate. Although there are a number of disagreements on some tax bills, many other bills were passed on Tuesday and Thursday. At the time of this writing, we have passed 102 bills on the 29th day. I will describe some of [...]

Many veteran politicos predicted that a breakthrough would occur in the State Senate just prior to the end of the session. They proved to be correct. Over 40 bills were passed in the 12 hour legislative day on Wednesday. I would submit that good government does not prevail when bills [...]

     The Senate is still bogged down on SB 191. Tuesday and Wednesday  are the last days that bills originating in the Senate can pass without unanimous consent. Many suspect that if SB 191 is still around after Wednesday, the session will be dead.  The only way that important legislation could pass this year would [...]

There is not much to report this week from the Senate. Some initial speculation that SB 191 would be carried over in an effort to move to other business failed to materialize. Several hundred bills have been introduced in both houses and none will see the Senate floor while [...]

Those wishing to see bills passed in the Senate should have visited the State House on Tuesday as several local bills were passed. Following an active committee day on Wednesday, legislation grinded to a halt as SB 191 came up for discussion. Sen. Myron Penn (D-Union Springs), sponsor of [...]

After over 3 weeks of dealing with sunset bills, the Senate completed work today and is ready to take up unfinished business. There is much speculation that in the next couple of weeks we will see gambling, immigration, and other high profile bills brought to the Senate floor for debate. What comes up for debate [...]

The action on the Senate floor was more of the same this week. The Senate is known as the deliberative body and is living up to its reputation. The annual list of sunset bills (which must be dealt with before other action can be taken up) look to be on [...]

The future of many state regulatory agencies were discussed this week as the Senate dealt with sunset bills. Unless you are involved with the agencies whose future is shaped by the outcome of these votes, few people have an interest in sunset legislation. The only concern most lawmakers and [...]

Tuesday marked a milestone for the Alabama Senate as the PAC-to-PAC Transfer Ban bill was finally passed. There were many much neeeded amendments that failed. I presented an amendment that would require political parties and caucuses to file 40 to 50 day and 10 to 5 day disclosure reports prior [...]

After years of frustration, the ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers may finally pass the Senate. There are still disagreements over changes made to the House version. The bill sponsored by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin (D-Guntersville), that has passed the House each of the past six years, would end the legal political money [...]

Although many bills moved through committees this week, very little action occurred on the Senate floor outside of a few local bills. We adjourned last Thursday during debate over Senator Jabo Waggoner’s Steel Coil bill and that is where we remained at the close of today’s session.

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The Senate passed six bills today before adjourning for the weekend. This may seem less than outstanding to those who have not followed the actions of the Senate over the past few years. Many weeks often pass before action is taken on bills due to early partisan struggles.

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As the legislative session opens this week, I perceive a shift in emphasis from the degree of partisan friction to budget shortfalls. There is much concern that the level of anticipated revenue increases that were factored into the ‘08 budget will not materialize. That means that unpleasant cuts in both the [...]