Alabama Politics in
Doc’s Political Parlor
& Home of Lawn Mower Repair

This will be the busiest week of the session so far for the House. We have a three day legislative work week which means we are in session for three days as opposed to two and a committee day.

Every hot topic imaginable is on the plate this week. Rep. John Knight’s bill to reduce sales taxes while increasing income taxes is up today. The Jefferson County financial crisis looks likely to spill over into the House Rules Committee this morning. Both of these bills mean that there is a real chance for some sparks to fly today because the votes on these issues are very close in my opinion.

Tomorrow I have a bill in committee to reduce the requirement necessary for third parties or independents to gain ballot access while at the same time the House Judiciary Committee has a host of hot button topics. Legislation to extend the hate crimes law to homosexuals, mandatory registration for stun guns, and a bill to eliminate Alabama’s ban on sex toys all await the committee members for Judiciary. That committee alone will give the reporters enough print to keep them busy for the week.

On top of all of this it sounds like the “Bingo for Medicaid” legislation is finally going to take a shot at getting a vote on maybe Wednesday or Thursday. This guarantees a hard fought showdown that will pretty much prevent anything else from coming up for debate that day should that bill be brought up.

One thing is for sure, there will be plenty to blog about at the end of the week.

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When I was first elected to the House I asked to be put on the Judiciary Committee. Several of my closest friends in the legislature had previously served on the committee and laughed at me when I made the request. There is a reason for their laughter, the Judiciary Committee is one of the hardest working committees in the House. While many committees meet for about 30 minutes to an hour on Wednesdays it is not uncommon for the Judiciary committee to go on for a few hours. Many people beg to stay off Judiciary because of this work load and tedious nature of the issues we face but I have to say it is one of my favorite committees. There is never a dull moment in Judiciary and if you have a bill in front of the committee you better be prepared for a pretty thorough grilling that the committee has a reputation of giving to everyone who comes before it. In the last few weeks alone the committee has handled controversial topics like illegal immigration, gun control, and this week hate crimes. These topics have provided some hot debate between the members. On immigration my good friend Rep. Yusaaf Salaam and I had a pretty good back and forth on the merits of this issue. Rep. Salaam is one of the smarter members of the House and if you think you are going to pull one over on him in a debate you better think again. This guy knows his stuff. On the issues of crime legislation, if you think you can just come into Judiciary and pass whatever “tough on crime” bill you want you will find a hard nose questioner like Rep. Laura Hall waiting for you. While Rep. Hall and I agree on very few political issues I cannot help but respect her doggedness in standing her ground in this committee where “tough on crime” sound bites often prevails over common sense. The chairman of the committee, Rep. Marcel Black has to be the ringmaster of this show. He is a no nonsense politician who detests grandstanding. I know because I have attempted to score some cheap political points in the past and was quickly called down by Rep. Black and rightfully so. Rep. Black is an attorney he knows the law better than anyone else in the legislature and he likes an orderly committee and his reputation as a fair chairman is unchallenged. You add to all of this Rep. Paul DeMarco, and Reps. Jamie Ison, Tammy Irons, and Marc Keahy you have a very active committee that is not afraid to mix it up on some of the thorniest legal issues facing our state. No this is not an easy committee to serve on but it is never dull for sure.

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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 the gambling bill is at center stage.

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In this era of post-9/11 security concerns the federal government has introduced several measures to help protect the American citizens from foreign security threats. While I agree with some of these new laws there is a line where I believe we as a country need to be very careful in crossing. The question in this debate is always virtually the same- do we extend the protection of government at the sacrifice of constitutional protections such as privacy and freedom of speech? This is a question that has been debated over and over in Washington, DC and in our state capitols. This is not an easy question to answer because both sides make very good arguments. There is no black and white decision here because like most real political debates there is a great deal of gray when debating the rights of the people versus the role of national security. I do believe the federal government is going in the wrong direction with the continuing development of the Real ID Act.

The Real ID Act is an attempt to create one national, uniform identification system. While this may sound harmless on its face, the implications are far reaching. Debates in congress have included the discussion of a huge expansion of personal information being included on the card data strip. While there are many urban legends about what Real ID will and will not do, one thing is for certain, before each state just blindly walks into the compliance of this Act because of the financial temptations the federal government has offered we should at least have a public discussion on the ramifications this new ID could have. Nearly half the states around the country have passed resolutions rejecting the Real ID Act for their respective states. I have introduced a House Joint Resolution to require any future implementation of the Real ID Act to be approved by the legislature first. While Alabama has already implemented some of the requirements under Real ID which were primarily cosmetic I believe before we continue down this road of gathering personal information on our citizens we should at least have more public debate on the issue. What harm would it do to have this process out in the open for more people to understand and see what is going on with their government?

Some in the media have stated that there is no legitimate threat with the Real ID Act. In the end, they could be right but as those who valiantly protect the 1st Amendment would agree, what is the harm in having the sunshine let in on this chipping away of personal liberties?

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Local legislation is a quirky part of the Alabama legislative process. Due to some of the arcane provisions of the Alabama Constitution, bills that impact only one county are considered local bills. Of course by law the entire legislature must vote on these bills but there is an unspoken rule that you never get involved in someone else’s local legislation. When Jefferson County for example is having a big fight over local legislation the rest of us step back and let them vote on their own issue. It is just a common courtesy and the way things operate. Now a rule change is being proposed by Rep. Newton, who is also the Speaker Pro-Tempore about the composition of local legislative delegations. Under the current rules (Rule 65) if you represent any part of a county then you are a part of that local legislative delegation. Jefferson County has historically been evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans in their legislative delegation. This is something that began to evolve long before my time but has just become a fact since the districts have been redrawn over the years. It is sort of like a maintaining of the balance of power in that delegation. While I am not in that delegation apparently there have been a couple of legislative disagreements over the past couple of years that have led to some possible gridlock. In response to this Rep. Newton has come with a proposed Rule change that says a legislative district must have at least a third of its members in a county before it can serve on that local legislative delegation. What this means is that Rep. Thomas, and McClurkin will no longer serve in the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation. Normally this would be an issue that is just between the members of that delegation except for two problems. First, in order for the Rule to pass it must have a majority of the House membership vote for the change which means 53 members will have to vote to change the rule and therefore some people from outside the Jefferson County Delegation will have to vote for this change. The second problem, and this is a big one, is that the rule change would effect every local legislative delegation. So in Shelby County, Rep. Jimmy Martin, Rep. Jim McClendon, and Rep. Greg Canfield would all likely be kicked out of our delegation despite the fact that their combined population is 30% of Shelby County. So in essence 30% of Shelby County would no longer have a voice in local legislative issues that impacted them. This rule change could create havoc when it comes up or it could just provide for some interesting political dialogue to get the week started.

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Anyone who has read some of my blogs in the past know that I autism awareness is a big personal cause of mine. Most legislators in Montgomery have a cause that they are passionate about. Rep. Laura Hall is a strong advocate for AIDS Awareness and Rep. Duwayne Bridges hosts a rally every year for his cause, Alabama Retarded Citizens. Thursday was my “cause” day. Over 270 people from throughout the state came to Montgomery to meet with the legislators and rally for autism awareness and the need for increased services in our state. Several legislators took the time to come over and meet with their constituents and talk about the lack of services for autism in Alabama.

I always enjoy when a group of citizen activists come to Montgomery and get attention regardless of their cause. It is a good reminder that at the end of the day a large and determined group of activist citizens is still the most powerful lobbying group around.

For those who want to learn more about autism advocacy in Alabama please visit with the web site of the Autism Society of Alabama at: www.autism-alabama.org/

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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 the local bill for Macon County, led the filibuster in order to keep control of the discussion and perhaps buy enough time to persuade enough members to invoke cloture (a special vote to end a filibuster) on those who wish to see the bill not come up for a vote. I know this sounds complicated.

I can understand how our constituents would be angry over the gridlock that goes on in Montgomery. The gambling issue has led to a huge tug-of-war that seems set in stalemate. I hope that my colleagues who are so passionate about expanding gambling will display the same intensity toward passing legislation that the citizens of our state are demanding, such as insurance and immigration reform, along with four year reapraisals.

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I know I will make some people unhappy by saying this but I really think Sunset legislation is the most boring thing we deal with in the Alabama Legislature. I have never heard of an agency being sunset before and there is never a discussion to do so. While I am not advocating the abolishment of any particular agency I do find the debate on these topics to be a little dry to put it mildly. Below is the special order calendar to be debated in the House tomorrow:

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Last year during one of my posts I had a spirited discussion with a folks about ballot access. I used to work for the Secretary of State’s office so I was at least somewhat familiar with the issues. However, I had no idea how bad our ballot access laws are compared to other states.

Governing magazine recently ranked Alabama has having the most strict ballot access law in the country. Under existing law to have your name placed on the ballot, independent candidates must present a written petition signed by at least 3 percent of the qualified electors who cast ballots for Governor in the last general election. I did the math and this comes out to being around 40,000 signatures. By the time a candidate gets all of their signatures together they have already wasted half of their campaign just to qualify to run.

I recently introduced House Bill 738 that will require an independent candidate to only get 1.5% of the qualified electors to be placed on the ballot. While this is still a higher standard than in some other places this would get Alabama closer to national average for ballot access.

I do not want to create a law where the ballot is overwhelming and cluttered. To do that would just make the process more hectic and confusing.

I know a lot of people will not like the fact that this threshold is too high and many of my friends in both major political parties will say it is too low. If that is the case then maybe this bill is just right. The biggest reason for opposition to this bill will likely be the one party district legislators. That is a district where only one party is viable. In those cases an independent candidates is more likely to challenge someone in the general election. My district would fall into this category.

In the end I think having a healthy debate outweighs the concerns people will have with this bill regarding an overcrowded ballot. For those you wanting no signature requirements all I can say is this is a first step in making the qualification process easier.

I expect the bill to be brought up in the House Constitution and Elections Committee in the next couple of weeks.

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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 will be determined by the decisions of the Rules Committee. Without support from this body, no bill, regardless of how popular it may be with the people of Alabama, will come up for a vote.

On Tuesday the Senate set aside the sunset bills briefly in order for Senators to introduce bills. I dropped in SB500. This bill, which makes it a felony to recklessly elude the police in a high speed chase, has been introduced several times over the years. As a member of the House, I twice co-sponsored this bill with Jeff McLaughlin (D-Guntersville). You may recall, Rep. McLaughlin is the guy who has repeatedly sponsored the Pac-to-Pac bill that actually does something good.

For many years, there has been much concern over the number of deadly automobile accidents involving people running from persuing police cars. Many times the victims of these deadly crashes are innocent bystanders. Police officers will tell you that crimminals are aware of the lack of serious penalties for such eluding and that by making this action a felony would save lives in the future.

As previously mentioned, this bill has been repeatedly introduced but has never had a floor vote. Apparently some legislators have assumed that possible abuse by prosecutors takes precedent over curtailing the killing of the innocent. I know that the numerous tragedies that are reported in the Mobile area are not unique to the state. I hope that victims groups and law enforcement organizations will someday successfully lobby their lawmakers to pass this potential life-saving bill. We shall see.

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Everyday we are reminded of issues our state has not addressed. April is Autism Awareness Month and is the perfect time to look at this growing health care crisis that deserves state government’s attention.

There are many misconceptions in today’s society. One of those is that time heals all wounds. Not necessarily…..for families of children affected by autism and Asperger Syndrome time is of the essence. Until we find a cure for autism families need easily accessible, coordinated care. Alabama cannot let these families down.

Autism continues to grow at an alarming rate-one out of every 150 children in Alabama are affected. The University of South Alabama reported last week that in their poll of 746 families, 80 percent of people in Alabama had some knowledge of autism and noted that families affected by autism need more assistance. That same percentage of people said that parents should not be expected to provide the needed assistance by themselves.

Almost everyone in Alabama knows someone raising a child with autism or with Asperger Syndrome. They also know of the struggles families face when trying to obtain a diagnosis and/or services.

This shouldn’t be the case. Over the past year the Alabama Autism Task Force, with the support of state officials, public advocacy organizations and two statewide need assessment studies, has explored these issues in depth. The Task Force has made a series of 22 preliminary recommendations that will be shared with the legislature.

Over 30,000 families in Alabama are believed to be affected by autism and desperately seek a system of care to help them. “The System” for these families hasn’t failed, it just doesn’t exist. Individuals with autism and Asperger Syndrome become productive members of society when provided with the specific types of intervention they need. To capitalize on the strengths of these individuals our state legislature needs to support the recommendations put forth by the Alabama Autism Task Force. These recommendations include permanently allocating financial resources for Autism Spectrum Disorders, establishing an Interagency Autism Coordination Council, establishing Regional Autism Centers, and supporting education and training opportunities. The legislation establishing the state council (House Bill 150) has already passed the House by a margin of 99-0.

Autism isn’t on the decline, it is on the rise and we must give this disorder the attention it deserves not only for those dealing with it today but also for future generations who will face this fight. Studies have shown that early identification and intervention can make a major difference. Regionalizing services will simplify the process for parents and eliminate the time spent waiting for critical services that can make a vital difference in the lives of their children. What if your child were the 1 in 150?

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Last week the Governor’s budget eliminated funding for cancer screenings for hundreds (if not thousands) of Alabama women. I am sure that the Governor had no bad intentions with this cut - he and his administration have had a tough budget year, and cuts had to come from somewhere. This is one of several programs that had been added to the budget in past years by the Legislature, and the Governor’s budget eliminated many of these programs.

While I can’t comment on all of the programs eliminated by the Governor, I can say that this particular program should not be cut - even in a tough budget year, and regardless of who originally added it to the budget. It is a good program. It saves lives and dramatically affects the quality of life for many Alabamians. As a physician who spent his life treating cancer, I can tell you that an early diagnosis of a woman’s breast cancer is very treatable with a minor impact on her family and at a low cost to whomever is paying the bill. However, that same cancer caught later in its development is much harder to treat and in many cases will result in death.

I learned early on in my career that cancer is not only a personal issue, it is also a family issue. When you work with cancer patients’ day in and day out, you see that this disease affects everyone in the family - spouses, children, parents, and cousins. Everyone can be wiped out financially if one family member is not insured, and all have their lives changed to care for a loved one with cancer.

So my point is that politics, government, and health care will continue to intersect. And tough budgets cause tough choices - but in this case the choice is clear. We cannot sacrifice to the budget axe or to political stands a good program that affects so many lives for such little cost. It is my goal to see that the funding for Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program is restored. I have already met with many of my Senate colleagues as well as the Governor’s office, and I believe that this is one program we need to come together and find a way to fund. It is good medicine and good government.

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When the House of Representatives reconvenes next week some fireworks are bound to occur with the movement of the illegal immigration bills. Several different groups in the legislature have come with bills to deal with various aspects of illegal immigration in Alabama. As opposed to spreading out these bills over several committee days Rep. Marcel Black, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wisely decided to have a full public hearing on these bills on one day. In my opinion this was smart on his part and also fair to those people throughout the state who are very passionate about this issue but cannot afford to take off work for several days to spend in Montgomery.

This package includes several bills which are identical to bills that previously had a public hearing in the Senate. The bills will have a public hearing in the House at 9 am on Wednesday, March 26th. Below are the summary for the bills to be considered:

HB 727- Rep. Hammon- Alabama Development Office, economic incentives prohibited for employers employing illegal immigrants.

HB 664- Rep. Hinshaw- Illegal aliens, employment prohibited, duties to Revenue Commissioner to enforce, penalties imposed.

HB665- Rep. Lacy Baker- Aliens, illegal, transporting into the state alien who is illegally in United States, penalties imposed.

HB666- Rep. Lea Fite- Municipalities prohibited from passing laws or ordinances to protect illegal immigrants.

HB667- Rep. James Fields- Jail, jailors or others having custody of a person charged with a DUI, required to determine lawful citizenship of detainee.

HB298- Rep. Micky Hammon- Business or professional license, state prohibited from renewing license of person not lawfully and physically present in the United States.

HB302- Rep. Micky Hammon- Property of illegal aliens forfeited when arrested.

HBHB 303- Rep. Micky Hammon- Motor vehicle impounded when driving without a license or legal proof of citizenship or entry to U.S.

HB163- Rep. Micky Hammon- Proof of citizenship required for public benefits to be awarded to anyone 18 years of age or older.

HB720- Rep. Allen Treadaway- Requires employers to check citizenship status when an employee hired. Provides penalties for hiring someone in U.S. illegally. Provides penalties for transporting an illegal alien.

Most of these bills have been scheduled for a public hearing so it should make a for long committee meeting. Both sides have very passionate advocates for and against many of these bills. House Judiciary Committee already meets longer than any other committee so this guarantees and three hour meeting on the 26th. It will definitely liven the debate up some.

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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 our agenda for the next couple of weeks. However, committee action has been moving along.

On Wednesday, my DUI bill (SB123) was addressed in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Usually no vote is taken on the same day as the public hearing. Although no vote was taken, Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) assured me that the bill with be dealt with in an upcoming meeting. The House version is sponsored by Rep. Spencer Collier (R-Irvington).

This bill will establish the offense of “Aggravated DUI”. Currently there is no increased punishment for someone tested with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or more. The legal limit is .08. This bill will not raise this minimum level or increase the fines for those caught with less than .15. Alabama is one of only 10 states which does not have an increased punishment for high level BAC. This bill will increase the punishments to a level that would act as a deterrent.

The bill will also address a loophole that exists in our current law. Today a judge can only consider prior DUI convictions from within the past 5 years in their sentencing of repeat offenders. There have been some instances where a driver had been convicted 8 times but only 2 convictions were utilized in determining a punishment. This bill would include all prior DUI offenses.

Governor Riley has been very supportive of this bill. We had a productive news conference last fall that brought awareness to the problem. Victims groups along with law enforcement officers were there to promote the necessity of passing this bill. The two television news reports in Montgomery and Mobile that I saw were very effective in outlining the current problem. I hope that the people of our state will encourage their Senators and Representatives to support this needed bill that will indeed save lives. We have all had friends and loved ones who have perished on our roads due to a drunk driver. Hopefully legislators will adhere to the wishes of the people. We shall see.

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