Just for kicks - I’m doing today’s blog in reverse…

It is 7:30 PM and I’ve just returned from a nice dinner with Sydney at Sinclair’s – if you ever visit Montgomery, the Banana’s Sinclair is highly recommended for desert!

Prior to that we did a 2 mile jog around the neighborhood; I’m planning (weather permitting) to run the Grissom ROTC 5K in Huntsville on Saturday. This was a nice tune-up/maintenance jog for that.

I left the State House at 5 PM this afternoon, having spent the afternoon listening to the budget hearings and attending a couple of meetings to coordinate moving bills in the House and Senate.

At 11:30 I chaired the Veteran’s and Military Affairs Committee meeting. We had three bills on the agenda and successfully moved all three out of committee. Prior to that meeting I attended the Small Business Committee meeting where we moved three bills as well. 

At 10:30 this morning I attended the Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee meeting. We had several bills on the agenda – the most controversial of which, SB142 by Sen Orr, is a constitutional amendment banning occupational taxes statewide. I oppose occupational taxes and, after the hour long public hearing and debate, did not sway from that position. Madison and Limestone Counties both have local legislation that prevents occupational taxes from being levied in these counties.  Several other counties have a local ban in place as well. The bill would allow voters to decide on the November ballot if we are to ban occupational taxes statewide. This bill grandfathers any county that currently has an occupational tax in place. Most readers know that the occupational tax has been an issue in Jefferson County. A member of the Jefferson County delegation championed an amendment to exclude Jefferson County from the current bill. I voted against the exclusion but the amendment passed in a 6-4 vote with one abstention.

 A quick comment on abstaining from a vote; the day may come where I may find myself in direct personal conflict of interest on a bill – although that is hard for me to imagine as I work very hard to ensure my personal life and business are “fire-walled” from anything to do with the State of Alabama – but, that is the only reason I can think of where I would ever abstain from a vote. I strongly believe the people of District 2 sent me to Montgomery to vote “yes or no” - to abstain on a vote is to vote “maybe”.

Back to the occupational tax bill – the bill advanced out of committee in an 8 – 3 final vote and will now move to the Senate floor for debate.

At 9:00 this morning I pitched a bill in the Business and Labor committee, SB222. This bill is commonly known as the “Reg Flex” bill and requires state departments that are considering new regulations to conduct a small business impact study prior to implementing the policy change. This is a pro-small business bill as larger business may be able to absorb the cost/impact of a new regulation while smaller business may see a direct impact on their margins.  This helps ensure the “little guy’s” voice is heard in the process.

I arrived at the State House at 7:30 this morning. I was able to catch up on several emails and started my first committee meeting 8:30 with an Education Policy meeting. We worked on two bills. One, a bill mandating the age of enrollment for children to attend school was carried over. This bill will be contentious – I supported it in 2011 as it was co-supported by the AEA (Alabama Educators Association) and AASB (Alabama Association of School Boards) – unfortunately I’ve rarely seen these two organizations on the same side of an issue and because they were both supportive, I supported it.  However, I’ve now heard from numerous constituents concerning this bill and realize it is better left as a parent’s choice. Put another way, nothing prevents a parent from enrolling a child at age 6 but the mandatory age is 7. I fail to see the need to regulate beyond what is currently law. 

I would like to commend the committee chair, Sen Brewbaker, for carrying this bill over at the call of the chair. This bill is widely supported by the democrat caucus and several democrat members of the committee were not present today as they were attending a funeral for a colleague’s mother. My prayers are with Sen Bedford, his family and community as they mourn the loss of his mother.  

Semper Fi - Bill
 
 
I left Madison about 9 AM this morning and, after an uneventful drive to Montgomery, arrived at the State House a little after noon.  This weekend I was able to attend a couple of events in the district. On Saturday night my wife and I attended the Limestone County Volunteer Firefighter’s Annual Banquet at the Beasley Center in Athens.  Later that night we attended the Madison Hospital Mardi Gras…or as they billed it – Medi Gras fundraiser at the Jackson Center. We had a great time at both events and enjoyed visiting with everyone.

My first meeting of the day was with Rep Galliher. He has done significant work on a bill to tighten the rules on Sudafed but - most importantly - does not make it a prescription drug. I was working a similar bill and was referred to him by law enforcement after a meeting in Madison County. Over the course of the past two weeks, with the assistance of several parties, we’ve been able to craft a good, common sense bill.  We met with a reporter from the Associated Press in advance of filing the bills. Rep Galliher sponsored HB363 in the House and I'm sponsoring SB344 in the Senate. Both bills were filed today.  These are alternatives to bills already filed - SB23 and HB88 which attempt to make Sudafed and other cold medications a prescription drug. The new bills will save us all time and money but help assist law enforcement in their work to curb the manufacturing of meth. The Gadsden Times already has an article on line concerning this bill – great work!

My next meeting was a 1 PM with my colleague Sen Taylor. We are working on a bill to remove language from the Code of Alabama regarding Veteran’s benefits and war time service. I worked a similar bill last year and was successful in moving it out of the Senate and into a House Committee meeting before we ran out of days.  I followed that meeting with a quick lunch at Subway. I sprang for the foot-long turkey on flatbread; now I have lunch and dinner – oh the glamorous life of a State Senator!  I then had a meeting with AEA reps concerning H159 and HB160 – more on those bills later this week.

At 3:30 PM I attended a rare Tuesday committee meeting where I ushered through a bill that will make a change to a section of the ethics and campaign reform package passed last year. This change takes into consideration an instance where a candidate may live in a city that crosses two counties.  Under current law a candidate must file campaign reports in both county seats – very time consuming. A provision does not exist for a candidate to file in one county, and the report to be emailed to the other county for public access. This bill corrects that. I call this bill “Potter’s Bill”…an inside joke, but a serious nod to a great friend back in District 2 who brought this to our attention!

I followed this meeting with a caucus meeting to discuss this week’s agenda. The Senate went into session at 5PM.  We passed a couple of bills today.  One of the most significant was SB212 by Sen Orr. This bill allows the retirement system to deny benefits of someone found guilty of committing a felony. Assuming this passes the house and is signed into law, a public employee who is found guilty of committing a felony will forfeit the taxpayer funded portion of their retirement benefits. The Senate adjourned a little after 7 PM.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and that means committee day – I’ll do the normal drill, moving from committee meeting to committee meeting. I have four committee meetings starting at 8:30 AM with a total of 10 bills, one of which I’m pitching; SB222.  This bill addresses regulations on businesses and requires a regulatory flexibility analysis by state agencies of potential economic impact on rules before they are imposed. 

Also, in case you missed it, I posted a rare Monday blog update on budgets that some readers might find interesting. 
 
On Budgets 02/20/2012
 
Well, the legislature has been in session for two weeks now and while we’ve worked bills on a pro-jobs agenda we’ve also worked bills on cockfighting, saggy pants, and texting while driving – I guess it is easy to get distracted with the $400M budget shortfall we face but, bad news never gets better over time.

I spent some time over the weekend to focus on the budgets and in a rare Monday blog update, provide the following.  We have a spending problem and an earmarking problem…and I’m sure other problems I’ve not discovered.

The Spending Problem - I sit on two committees, the Senate General Fund Committee, which allocates funding to a department, and the Contract Review Committee, which obligates, or spends, the funding allocated in the budget. Put another way, I get to see the state funding flow in and out.   I say we have a spending problem because of the type of spending we continue to see.  For example we recently reviewed a one year contract by the Department of Education in the amount of $214,000 to evaluate and assess principals across the state. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I agree in conducting assessments to ensure the best principals are in our schools; I just question that in the tough economic times we face – do we need to spend the money on this now?

I recognize there are times when federal funding is available based on state dollars spent, i.e., spend $200,000 state dollars on something and the federal government will match it 2:1; but that is an entirely different issue I struggle with and in my view encourages wasteful spending…we’ll save that discussion for another day. This was not the case in the contract referenced above. 

The Contract Review Committee continues to encourage our state departments, boards and commissions to spend money budgeted to them wisely. We continually reiterate that what may have been an acceptable expense in past years should be delayed a year or so now.  Of course compounding the problem is an antiquated mind-set that if a department does not spend what they are budgeted this year, then the budget will be reduced by that amount next year?  We must work to counter this culture; perhaps reward delayed spending decisions by department heads.  Of note, I’m really not picking on the Department of Education; this is simply a recent example for discussion.

Earmarking - Another significant problem we have with our budgets is earmarking – 84% of our revenue is earmarked before the legislature even touches a budget.  Put another way, 84 cents of every dollar collected in taxes is told where to go before the budgets are debated.  How does that compare with other states? The national average is about 30% and the next highest state is Michigan at 60%.  As most readers know, Alabama has two budgets, the General Fund and the Education Trust Fund. I’ll focus on earmarking examples in the General Fund.

Below is a page from the 2013 budget introduced by Governor Bentley; note the “earmarked column”.  You can click on the image to view full size. Please note, this is a random page from the budget (view the entire budget at this link) with randomly selected boards that I’ve highlighted – I’ve no intention of “targeting” any board or commission I’m simply using this as an example to make my point. Note how some earmarked amounts increase, others remain level funded and a few show a reduction?  After reviewing the budget and recalling our earmarking predicament, I’ve requested additional information from the Chair of the General Fund on the what, when and how these earmarks came into being and which ones are legislative or constitutional.  This will help me (and readers) understand where we may be able to undo some of the earmarking. For me, this is the answer to part of our state’s budget problems.
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I arrived at the State House just before 7 AM Thursday morning. It was quite in the building and I was able to read my daily devotion before the start of a very long, somewhat hectic day…the Lord gave me strength!

I had two meetings at 8 AM, one with the Tennessee Valley Caucus, on the first floor, and one with Commerce Transportation and Utilities (CTU) on the 6th floor. I popped into the TVA meeting at 8 AM to let them know I’d be right back, and headed to the 6th floor for CTU. We had three bills on the agenda and all three were eventually passed.

I enthusiastically supported SB315 (Sen Dial) which repeals the prohibition on rebates or discounts provided by re-sellers of motor fuel. To be honest, this was not on my radar until last summer when a couple of constituents brought it to my attention and I’m glad to see that it has support. I returned to the 1st floor TVA meeting, catching the end of our discussion to establish a schedule of meetings for 2012…and to get a bite for breakfast.

I had two meetings at 9 AM; somewhat easier this time as they were on the 6th and 7th floors. The Banking and Insurance (B&I) Committee meeting had a total of 8 bills on the agenda and one of my bills was on the agenda in the Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability (FRA) Committee; SB263 which closes loopholes with respect to emergency contracts let by the state.  I was third on the agenda so I was able to attend the beginning of the B&I Committee meeting on the 7th floor, depart in time to successfully move my bill in FRA on the 6th floor, and get back to the 7th floor.  

We moved a total of 6 bills out of B&I, two were carried over. Several of these bills had to do with homeowners insurance, in particular, creating a catastrophe savings account, operating similar to a health savings account. Taxpayers will be able to claim a deduction against their state income tax for deposits made into a catastrophe savings account. The intent is to cover insurance deductibles and other uninsured portions of risk of loss for residential property from a catastrophic event such as a windstorm.  This is a good bill and I thank the bill sponsor, Sen Brooks for bringing it forward.

The Senate went back into session at 10 AM. We were able to move several bills through the body and I'm impressed that, for the most part, we are all playing nice with each other in the sand box. SB73, a bill I co-sponsored with Sen Ward regarding publication of legal notices passed. This bill addresses Public Notices printed in newspapers across the state and allows for these notices to be published online and – very important – pegs the rates charged to local municipalities to the lowest rate charged to businesses. This bill is a collaborative effort between me, Sen Ward and the Alabama Press Association.  This has the potential to save local municipalities several thousand dollars annually.

Another bill that came up, SB8 (Sen Dial) was passed out of the Senate; a rare time when I was on the other side of vote. I opposed this bill as it removed the prohibition of small cities and police departments along interstates from enforcing speed limits in Alabama.  This is a touchy subject to some; I’ll just say that I’m against speed traps.

The Senate adjourned a little after 2 PM and I wrapped up loose ends, packed up my car and headed north. The drive home was extended by about 45 minutes due to the north bound lane closure and detour for road repair at the sink-hole. Hopefully this will be fixed in a couple of weeks.

I arrived back in North Alabama about 6 PM and decided to stop in and visit with the newly formed Limestone Republican Women at their monthly meetings. It was a great finish to a busy week visiting with everyone and sharing stories of what is happening in Montgomery!

Final note – I’m tracking several bills moving through committees in the Senate…and in the House (more on those next week).  I look forward to supporting SB143, a bill reinstating the $5,000 salary supplement to teachers that complete the process to become certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. This bill was voted out of the Finance and Taxation Education committee on Thursday.  This was a commitment made by the state to teachers entering the program and the state needs to follow through with our end of the agreement on those that have completed the program.

Semper Fi

Bill
 
 
I arrived at the State House a little after 8 AM for my first committee meeting today.

The Education Policy Committee met at 8:30 on SB191 (Sen Marsh) dealing with requiring physicals for School Bus Drivers. Personally I’m amazed this was not already a requirement.

Children and Youth Affairs was next, we worked on two bills, passing both out of committee. SB262 (Sen Irons) addressing elder abuse and SB280 (Sen Williams) addressing the state providing a foreign born birth certificate to children adopted by Alabama parents.

The General Fund Committee met at 10:30; we worked through five bills, carrying a couple over for additional work. I’m happy to see us following through on our commitment to work through and amend bills in committee rather than on the floor…it is called a committee meeting for a reason.

I chaired the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee at 11:30; we worked through four bills, passing all four out of committee.  It was interesting to note that while this committee was starting we heard a large crowd outside the State House, demonstrating support for Nursing in Alabama. I made mention in my opening comments that this contrasted well with the demonstration yesterday by opponents of HB56, Alabama’s Immigration law, and that because of the brave men and women serving our nation in uniform today, groups like these are able to demonstrate peacefully…something we all need to remember.

I was able to meet with several other groups after the committee meetings. I met with a group from the Professional Fire Fighters of Alabama, a group from the State Department of Corrections, and the State Employees Association.

At 2 PM I held the first ad-hoc meeting on ATPRO (discussed in yesterday’s blog). The meeting was attended by two Senators and three Representatives – demonstrating some genuine interest in the bill. I later had a couple of members let me know that they were tied up in committee meetings but that they were interested in helping craft a workable bill.  A couple of interesting ideas were discussed but some clear opposition to ATPRO was identified. We have a lot of work to do - but we are communicating.

I attended the budget hearings from 2:30 to 5:00 PM.  Medicaid and Corrections briefed us. These two departments alone consume 55% of our General Fund budget. Think about that, for every $1 of revenue, fifty-five cents is spent on these two state functions.  The Medicaid Director has done a great job maximizing the return on federal dollars.  I am also amazed at what the Dept of Corrections does with the little funding they receive.  Alabama spends over $40 a day, per prisoner - that’s housing, food, medical, and corrections staff. Some think sentencing reform is the answer; arguing we’ve made our laws so strict that we send too many “non-violent” offenders to jail.  While I’ll agree we need to work this issue, prison overcrowding and our recidivism rates are very discouraging. However, I will not support measures to weaken our criminal code. Do the crime – pay the time.

Tomorrow will be a very busy morning.  I have the Tennessee Valley Authority Caucus meeting at 8:00 AM. I serve as the Vice-Chair for this committee and we plan to review our 2012 agenda. I also have a Commerce, Transportation and Utilities Committee meeting at 8:00 (note to self, figure out how to be in two places at once!) We have three bills on that agenda. I then have the Banking and Insurance Committee meeting at 9:00, we have eight bills on that agenda.  I’m also pitching a bill on the agenda for the Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability Committee at 9:00 (see note above on being in two places at once…).  This bill addresses some concerns with emergency contracting, closing loopholes that have been abused in the past by utilizing an “emergency contracting” provision.

The Senate goes back into session at 10:00 AM. Assuming we adjourn before 2 PM, and I’m able to tie up any loose ends in Montgomery, I plan to stop by the Limestone Republican Women meeting in Athens on my way home.  

In closing out this week’s blog I’d like to share a short video made this afternoon by a firm working with the Republican Caucus in the Senate. Obviously I didn't use a teleprompter...being my own worst critic…boy, I look and sound tired in this video – and I need to sit up straight!

You can read more about what the AL GOP Senate is doing and watch other videos at AlSenateGOP.org
 
 
I dropped my daughter off at school this morning a little after 7 AM and headed to Montgomery; like most families, we get “quality family time” when and where we can.  We celebrated Valentine’s Day at home Monday night, Pam served up homemade chili and cornbread; I gave the girls flowers and fixed a leaking toilet…the secrets to 26 years of marriage…Hallmark and chocolates were not involved!

I arrived in Montgomery a little after 10 AM. It occurred to me on the drive down that today is not only Valentine’s Day; it is also the 30 year anniversary of when I started my journey to earn the title – U.S. Marine. I like to put it this way; while my parents laid a great foundation raising me, I lived in Arkansas for 18 years, and grew up in Marine Corps Boot Camp! 

Upon arrival in Montgomery I immediately began meeting with a host of people concerning bills I’m working.  While these bills are still in the works, I’ll briefly address a couple.

Sudafed Bill – This bill addresses the purchase of Pseudoephedrine (commonly called Sudafed) due to Alabama’s growing Meth problem. This common cold medication is a key ingredient in Meth. I do not support SB23, a bill already introduced by Sen Bedford which makes Sudafed, and similar over the counter drugs a prescription drug.  I’m working a bill, along with others, that will require more control of Sudafed but not make it a prescription drug. I do not support making this a prescription drug as it will require citizens to go to their doctor, pay a co-pay, get a prescription and then go to the pharmacy, pay another co-pay in order to get a drug that is currently available over the counter. I’m confident we can fix the problem and will work towards a solution with minimal impact to law abiding citizens.

School Flexibility – This bill allows individual school systems to apply to the State Board of Education for a degree of flexibility for local school system control of budgets, personnel assignments, etc, in return for meeting increased school performance requirements.  This idea was brought to me by local superintendants in the form of (and I’m paraphrasing) “Give me the degree of flexibility some want to give Charter Schools and I’ll produce the same results in the schools we have today”. Makes sense to me! I’ve always said we need to push decision making down to the lowest level possible – the local school boards. This is where the local voice has the greatest impact.  If Bill Holtzclaw (the parent, not the Senator) wants to influence the local school board, I should attend the school board meeting and make my voice heard. However, if the school board’s hands are tied in Montgomery, my voice is lost. Hopefully we will be successful in finalizing this important legislation later this week.

Holder of Public Accounts - I filed SB299 today, a bill allowing credit unions to maintain public accounts. Currently, only banks can hold public accounts. Public accounts are those of municipalities and counties.  My goal is to simply increase competition and credit unions are currently excluded.

Budgets - I also met with several departments concerning budgets. I continue to review the proposed budgets and have concerns in several areas. I will expand on those concerns in later blog entries. As promised last week, following is a link to the proposed budgets for readers to review.

ATPRO - I’ve scheduled an ad-hoc meeting tomorrow for ATPRO, filed as SB51 this year. I’ll attempt to clear up a couple of points on this bill.  First, this bill is not intended as a supplemental retirement program.  The intent is to incentivize a teacher with certain skill sets, who is nearing retirement, to remain teaching in the classroom so that the school system can hire/transfer and train a replacement.  This keeps a strong Math, Science, English, etc program in place in a school system - the original intent of the DROP program.  ATPRO incorporates several good elements of the original DROP plan: 25 years employment and 55 years of age to participate, limited to a maximum of 3 – 5 years of participation thereafter.  ATPRO also begins to address the issues that caused the DROP program to meet its demise.  ATPRO requires participants to apply to participate in the program at the local system level, participants must retire after completing the program, preventing employees from returning to state employment after retirement, sets interest rates to market conditions and, sets a salary cap for participants of no more than $75K. Structuring ATPRO so that it is revenue neutral will prove key to moving it forward in the legislative process. 

I’ve had a couple of emails asking about participation for other state employees in ATPRO, or a similar plan.  I will support if we can identify a approval process such as with the teacher example cited above.

Of note, I held two ad-hoc meetings on ATPRO last year…no one attended.  Hopefully we’ll see more support this year.     

From the Senate Floor - The Senate went into session at 2 PM and adjourned just before 6 PM. The spirit of cooperation continued today and we were able to pass a total of 10 bills. One bill I’ll highlight is SB30, a bill I co-sponsored with Senator Orr (R) Decatur.  SB30 helps ensure Alabama companies are readily aware of and increases competition for state contracts by requiring the State Purchasing Division to maintain a statewide database of bid requests or proposals for a public contract with the state. The database will be public record and accessible on open.alabama.gov. This bill helps protect and promote Alabama jobs, ensuring homegrown Alabama companies are competing for state contracts.

Committee Meetings - Tomorrow is Wednesday and that means committee meetings are on the calendar. I have a total of 5 committee meetings with 15 bills to review…things are ramping up quickly and I’ve got some reading to do tonight. 

Semper Fi

Bill
 
 
In the words of my good friend Danny, “We won this week”.  Alabama won.  Not the “Roll Tide” Alabama – all people of Alabama. 

We won by working together in the legislature and successfully moving good legislation. I hope we continue to win in the days ahead.

Thursday closed out the opening week of the 2012 legislative session in Montgomery.  Early in the week we confirmed the rumors; our budgets are in terrible shape, worse since the depression.   I’m still digesting the information that was presented and know we have a lot of work to do.

I started the morning chairing the Legislative Contract Review Committee. The work of this committee and our continued push to ensure Alabama companies are being considered for contracts awarded by the state is paying off. In the first 6 months of 2011 $45M was awarded to out of state companies.  This was reduced to $32M in the second 6 months. Important to note that $25M of the $45M was federal dollars - making Alabama a "pass through entity". This was reduced to $14M in the second 6 months, a postive trend. We will continue to encourage department heads, boards, and commissions with contract award authorty to ensure everything is being done to enable Alabama businesses to be considered for contract award.  

We started moving some legislation in the Senate.  Several bills were moved in and out of committees earlier in the week and on Thursday nine bills were voted out of the Senate and moved to the House.  The House moved several bills as well; we’ll take those up in the Senate next week.

I successfully moved SB60 out of the Senate yesterday. SB60 supports the Department of Public Safety and Department of Human Resources in updating the processes by which criminal background checks and finger printing is done. In short, have you ever wondered, after reading about an investigation where someone harms a child or steals money as a state employee, and then we discover they have a criminal history – how did the state miss that in the background check when hiring them?  This bill helps prevent that by enhancing the process of background checks, utilizing FBI databases for fingerprints, and imposes greater penalties for omitting or lying on background check forms.  A person will also receive, via certified mail, detailed information on why they were denied employment based on the background check. This helps someone identify and correct erroneous information.  This is a good bill and I look forward to it passing in the House and becoming law.

I was able to complete some work on legislative redistricting Thursday morning. Regular readers of the blog know that according to the 2010 Census, SD2 grew to be the largest Senate District in the state with just under 180,000 people. The target size is 136,000 people. Similar growth was experienced in most House and Senate districts across North Alabama.  We have a lot of work ahead of us on this as well.

The Senate adjourned a little after 2:00 and I headed home after tying up some loose ends, arriving back in Madison at 7:00.  Unfortunately I was unable to meet one-on-one with Dr. Mabry as planned due to scheduling conflicts. I look forward to rescheduling and meeting with him.

I’ll return to Montgomery next Tuesday and pray the newfound spirit of cooperation will continue…forever the optimist!

Semper Fi

Bill
 
 
I started day two of the 2012 session with back to back to back committee meetings, making for a busy but productive morning. The first meeting was Children and Youth Affairs at 8:30 where I pitched HB60, a bill co-sponsored by the Dept of Human Resources and the Department of Public Safety dealing with Criminal History Background Checks. We were successful in moving this important bill forward.

The next committee meeting was Commerce, Transportation and Utilities at 9:00 where we worked through a total of 5 bills; the most significant of which deals with road builder liability. After a public hearing this bill was moved to a sub-committee for further work. What is important to note here is this bill has failed to gain traction in years past...until today. In short, the road builders carry significant insurance to off-set frivolous lawsuits. In the end, this makes our roads cost more. I look to this as a means of tort reform but, we must balance the public's need for some degree of recourse should a road be built poorly. I look forward to working with the various parties on this bill and am confident we can secure a balanced outcome.

After a brief meeting with another group on some pending legislation with financial institutions, I attended the General Fund Committee meeting at 10:30. We worked through 7 bills in this committee. The final committee meeting of the day was to pitch another bill I've co-sponsored with Senator Cam Ward, SB73 which addresses Public Notices printed in newspapers across the state. This bill allows for these notices to be published online and pegs the rates charged to local municipalities to the lowest rate charged to businesses. This bill is a collaboartive effort between me, Sen Ward and the Alabama Press Association.  I'm thankful that we've come to this point as it has the potential to save local municipalities several thousand dollars annually.

I spent the remainder of the day in budget hearings. We received the Governor's budget request earlier today....I'm still digesting and will provide comments after I've reviewed over the weekend. I've only received a printed copy but will post a "soft copy" for readers once received. 

I will chair the Joint Legislative Contract Review meeting this morning at 8:30, you can review the agenda here. The committee's goal of keeping Alabama dollars in Alabama is paying off. Of the 61 contracts we'll review only 6 are being directed to out-of-state companies.  I'm nearing completion of a report for Governor Bentley on the second half of 2011, detailing the amount of Alabama funding that went to out-of-state companies; preliminary numbers look very good.

I plan to work on some legislative redistricting, an issue we plan to tackle sometime this year, before the Senate goes back into session at 1:00. I'm happy to report that both SB60 and SB73 are on the calendar; hopefully we can move them out of the Senate today. I'll close out the day in a one on one meeting with the new AEA Executive Secretary, Dr. Henry Mabry before heading back to Madison.

And from the "In Case You Missed It" department...this story from Nov 2011 where an economic development expert predicts utter doom and gloom for Alabama economic development, contrasts nicely with Monday's announcement that a copper plant from China will spend $100M and employ between 300 and 500 people.  Let's not overlook the fact that this company is from China...think about it, as much US debt that China holds and they are spending capital in Alabama!  Yup, that darn immigration law is killing economic development.
 
 
The 2012 Legislative Session was called to order by Lt Gov Ivey at noon yesterday. I'm optimisitc we'll have a good session but know we are in for a bumpy ride - better buckle up!

I drove to Montgomery on Monday afternoon; thankfully I was able to solve my transportation problems prior to the start of session.  My trusty little car (12 years old, pushing 130,000 miles) that carried me across Limestone and Madison Counties during the campaign of 2010, and back and forth to Montgomery last session - over icy, snow covered roads earning it the nick-name "The little car that could" - decided it couldn't any more. Last Thursday, on my way to pre-session meetings in Montgomery, she gave up in Cullman. Good news, we may be able to rebuild her and get her back on the road. The adventure of having your car breakdown on I-65 and the tow-truck ride back to Madison is one for the ages.

I started my day Monday attending the budget hearings prior to the start of session at 9:00. I encourage you to review the slide presentations from the Legislative Fiscal Office and Department of Finance . There is a lot of great background information on these slides and I will use this information to help guide the debate and my decisions on the 2013 budgets. I'll share more on my thoughts about the budgets in a later blog. We've yet to see the Gov's proposed budget but it is to be delivered later today.

We were in session for about two hours, mostly for introduction of bills. I was also able to hold several meetings throughout the afternoon.  I attended a legislative reception sponsored by CLAS (Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools) and the School Superintendents of Alabama. It was nice to visit with several principals and superintendents from North Alabama.  I then attended the State of the State Address at the Capitol. I liked Governor Bentley's address and look forward to working the many challenges we face in the months ahead.

In addition to the budgets, charter schools will be an issue we'll face this session. I've received several phone calls and emails regarding charter schools; both pro and con.  As always I appreciate feedback from everyone. I encourage you to share your thoughts with the AEA Executive Dir, his board and staff. There personal contact information, address and phone number is compiled here. 

A highlight of the Governor's State of the State address was his establishment of a "Teacher's Cabinet" to help advise him on educational issues. He recognized two teachers, Dr Gay Barnes, Alabama Teacher of the Year and one of four nationwide finalist for National Teacher of the Year, and Mr. Gary Raper, one of 40 teachers nationwide who received the Milken Educator Award for excellence in education.  In case you don't know, both of these teachers are from Madison City Schools; I'm very proud of these teachers and this model school system. 
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This article was brought to my attention earlier today and I've given it some thought. There are certainly many, many issues with the immigration law (i.e. ranging from family separation to claims it is racially biased) but this article focuses mostly on the economic impact of the law.

I'm certainly no economist (although I had a couple of classes in college with some really great professors) and I've never met the author, Dr. Samuel Addy; but I find his study interesting on a couple of levels.  His report found that 40,000 to 80,000 workers earning between $15,000 to $35,000 annually have left the state and that the state's total goods and services produced will drop between $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion and the state will lose between $56 to $264 million in state income and sales tax collections.  

Hmmm, that's a gap of 40, 000 workers, a gap of $8.5 billion (with a B!) in goods and services, and a gap of $208 million in sales tax collections...I know this, I would've received a very bad grade for predictions that swung to these extremes.

But, after working through some numbers on my own I decided to provide my version of the Cost-Benefit Analysis of the New Alabama Immigration Law, depicted in the chart below.  Again, I'm not an economist or a scientist, I'm just a retired Marine who continues to use common sense.
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