Taylor’s Top 4: Alabama Legislative Review for Week 7

  Didn't last week seem to fly by?

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1. General fund budget for 2019 has passed the Alabama Senate.

  Last week, the senate passed a budget for the 2019 General Fund (GF) by a 26-2 vote. If this budget passes, it will be the biggest GF budget in a decade. This budget includes  $755 for Medicaid and grants an additional $51 million to the Department of Corrections next year. Check out this run-down of funding increases and reactions from lawmakers in this piece by J. Pepper Bryars with Yellowhammer News. During the debate over the budget on the senate floor, Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) proposed an amendment that would add money to fund a facility that provides vocational training for inmates, similar to the Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility located in Columbiana. The senate approved that amendment 24-6. Another amendment was offered by Sen. Trip Pittman (R-Montrose), chair of the General Fund budget committee, which increased funding to the Alabama Department of Transportation by $4.5 million. The $2 billion budget passed by a vote of 26-2 and will go to the house.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Short legislative session playing out, but campaigns are taking shape

  The 2018 Alabama Legislative Session will be short and sweet. It is an election year. Historically, during the last year of a quadrennium, the legislature convenes early and passes the budgets, then members go home and campaign for reelection to another term. 

  Our forefathers, who wrote our 1901 Constitution, must have been thinking the same thing because they designed for the fourth year of the quadrennium legislative session to start and end early. It is set by law to begin in early January, whereas it begins in February in most years. This year’s session began January 9 and can run through April 23. The consensus is that they will adjourn sine die earlier than the April deadline. Most observers believe that they will pass the budgets and be out of Montgomery by the end of March and home campaigning by April Fools’ Day.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Sizing up the U.S. Senate field in Alabama

  The decisive move by newly-minted Gov. Kay Ivey to declare a Special Election for the Jeff Sessions’ U.S. Senate seat this year rather than next year changes the entire complexion of who will sit in that coveted seat.  It also redefines the landscape of an ever-changing Alabama political scene.

  This year will be an adventure as we elect a U.S. Senator, and concurrently the 2018 governor’s race will begin its evolution. We have already seen the downfall of a sitting governor this year. There is an assumption that only a Republican can win statewide office in Alabama, and winning the GOP primary is tantamount to election.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: State lawmakers wield more power than you might think

  In the literary classic, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the author draws parallels to a nation that was on top of the world and because of perverse, grandiose and pompous behavior that dynasty destroyed itself. It was from reading this documentary that the Russian premier Khrushchev believed that we, the United States, would destroy ourselves, thus causing him to brashly declare, “We will bury you.”

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Are lawmakers doing what their constituents want them to?

  Many would argue, and indeed numerous surveys indicate, that Alabama is one of, if not the most, conservative states in America. I would argue that if that is true then our Alabama Legislature is reflective of its constituents.

  A good many of the online and remaining large city daily newspapers castigate our super majority Republican legislature as ultra right wing, uncaring crazies that pass ludicrous social issue fanatical bills that are blatantly unconstitutional. They also say that they have taken an ostrich approach to facing the state’s financial crisis in favor of sticking to their no tax pledges. I would argue, however, that they are representing their constituents’ beliefs and concerns. These left-leaning modern day journalists have never run for, nor could they get elected, to any public office in Alabama.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Who's who in the Alabama Legislature

  The Alabama Legislature completed their week-long organizational session last month with very little fanfare or controversy. They will get to work on substantive issues beginning with the regular session in March. Their work will be cut out for them since they're facing a General Fund Budget that has at least a $250 million deficit.

  The legislature that organized for the quadrennium is overwhelmingly Republican. The House has 72 Republicans and 33 Democrats. The Alabama Senate is even more dominated by Republicans. Three-fourths of the senators are Republican. The numbers are 26 to 8. This gives the GOP a carte blanche path to pass anything they desire with little or no opposition.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The return of Byrne

  Probably the biggest political story of the year is the resignation of 1st District Congressman Jo Bonner. Congressman Bonner left Congress on August 2nd to accept a newly created position as Chancellor of Governmental Affairs and Development at the University of Alabama.

  Bonner did a stellar job of representing his congressional district, which includes Mobile and Baldwin Counties. He represented the first district for a decade. Prior to that he was the administrative assistant to Congressman Sonny Callahan. Callahan represented the district for 20 years. Jack Edwards was Mobile’s congressman for 20 years before that. The legendary Frank Boykin, "everything is made for love," was the district’s congressman for 30 years prior to Edwards. Therefore, only four men have served in the seat since 1935. That, my friends, is 88 years with only four congressmen.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: When businessmen take over

  The 2013 legislative session has come to an end. Our legislature, both the House and Senate, is Republican controlled. In fact, both chambers have super Republican majorities. They were elected in 2010. Therefore, this is the third year of their four-year reign. The GOP holds about a two to one advantage in both the upper and lower chambers. This will more than likely remain the same after the 2014 elections.

  These GOP lawmakers have left an indelible conservative mark on state government and public policy. Their reactionary philosophy has resonated on both social and budgetary matters. Perhaps they are a reflection of the state. My perception is that they are an accurate mirror of their constituency. Their actions over the past three years have not only been conservative, they have been decisive and functional.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Behind the Senate curtain

  We are at the end of the third regular legislative session of this quadrennium. They are closing in on the culmination of their four-year terms.

  This is the first Republican majority legislature in modern Alabama history. The Republicans not only have a majority, they sport a super majority. That means that the remaining Democratic minority is incapable of stopping or even slowing down any GOP initiatives or budgets in either the House or Senate. Republicans own a commanding 66 to 39 advantage in the House. They have an even more lordly control of the House of Lords. They have an omnipotent 24 to 11 ownership of the Senate.