The issue that dominated this legislative session died in the House of Representatives and thus will never receive a vote of the people. The lead sponsor of BINGO legislation in the House, Marcel Black (D), addressed the House on Wednesday afternoon. Black assured the body that a vote to pass the bill would change absolutely nothing until the people vote on it in November. Black also reminded the members that gambling in the state remains untaxed, unregulated, and undefined. “It’s been a long long session with this bill. My goal has been and remains to let the people vote.” said Black.  Before calling for the House to vote to carry over senate bill 380, Black apologized to the senate sponsor of the legislation. “I want to apologize to Senator Bedford for my apparent inability to convince 62 other folks (House members) to pass this bill.” stated Black.

 

Here is a full report from Wednesday’s BINGO developments.

 

BREAKING: Legislators discussed bills other than BINGO this session. Here are some that died.

 

Charter Schools: While Governor Riley and State Superintendent Joe Morton pushed heavily for charter schools, a block by the influential Alabama Education Association all but insured a dire fate for this legislation. Senator Steve French (R) and Representative Mary Sue McClurkin (R) sponsored the bill in both houses but neither garnered enough committee support to make its way to the floor.  There is the potential that the Governor could call a special session for charter schools, we will just have to wait and see.

Grocery Tax: House Bill #1 was none other than Representative John Knight’s (D)  legislation that would remove the sales tax on groceries. As was the case last year, this legislation never gained support from the republicans and inevitably failed to receive its budget isolation resolution and died on the House floor.

PAC to PAC transfers: For 10 years in a row Representative Jeff McLaughlin (D) has proposed legislation that would ban political action committees (PACs) from transferring money between themselves. These transfers make it nearly impossible to know who contributed to an individual campaign and cloud the process. The House passed McLaughlin’s legislation on the 3^rd day of this legislative session and with 27 legislative days remaining the senate never even voted on the bill in committee. Governor Riley may potentially call a special session to solve this lingering and plaguing issue.  

Smoking Ban: Senator Vivian Figures (D) said she was trying a new angle this year with her Smoking Ban legislation, only limiting the ban to restaurants. The bill shockingly came up late in the 30 day legislative session. After passing the senate with ease, the bill met opposition with the Alabama Restaurant Association in House committee. After passing out of committee the bill failed to get on the calendar for a vote in the House.

 

Two classes of students, two classes of universities….

 

When senate bill 162 by Senator Ted Little (D) went to a conference committee last week, no one expected the bill to come out in quite the condition that it did. The bill went to conference committee with a cap on tuition for ALL schools and came out with a cap on tuition for all schools EXCEPT for Auburn University and The University of Alabama. To say this caused a stir would be an unbelievable understatement. The bill passed the senate with little debate but caused a stall in the House. Representatives John Knight (D), Yvonne Kennedy (D), Laura Hall (D), and Alvin Holmes (D) filibustered concurrence with the conference committee report until 9:00 pm on Wednesday. Once the House concurred with the committee’s report, members of Save Alabama PACT gave their representatives a standing ovation.

 

On the final legislative day, Governor Riley decided he was not ready to close the book on the issue of PACT. Just hours before legislators left Montgomery, Riley placed an executive amendment on the bill. The amendment corrected what the administration called a flaw that would threaten the tax exempt status of the Public School and College Authority. Seeing resistance in both houses, Riley made a trip over to the state house to urge members to pass the legislation. Just after 5:00 the House concurred with Riley’s executive amendment and the Governor signed the bill into law that evening.

 

 You don’t have to leave but you can’t stay here

 

SINE DIE, HAPPY TRAILS, the Alabama House and Senate completed their 30 day 2010 general session on Thursday. This session sticks a fork in the quadrennium that began in 2006. While BINGO and PACT dominated the entire session, both houses managed to pass the Education Trust Fund and General Fund budgets. There is always the potential for a special session this summer or fall but we will just have to wait and see what Governor Riley decides to do.

 

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