The Alabama Senate convened for the 6^th legislative day of the 2010 general session.

Controversy was the name of the game in the Senate from the beginning with SJR9 which Governor Riley vetoed. SJR9 sponsored by Senator Roger Bedford (D) rejects the State School Board of Education’s teacher code of ethics. Senator Del Marsh (R) spoke in favor of Governor Riley’s veto. Marsh said, “you are either for ethics or you aren’t, it’s that clear.”  Speaking on the opposite side, Senator Quinton Ross (D) said, “This is an assault on the teachers of Alabama. This is a lie that there is not a code of ethics for teachers.” With a vote of 22 to 10 the Senate voted to override Governor Riley’s veto.

Following a vote to override Governor Riley’s veto on SJR9, the senate debated whether they had to take all seventeen messages from Governor Riley. Lt. Governor Folsom noted that the President Pro Tem, Rodger Smitherman, requested to hear messages from the governor so the democrats could override the Governor’s veto on SJR9, but the senate could not pick and choose which message to read. The republicans pushed to read all messages and commended Lt. Governor Folsom for following the rules.  

Once all messages concluded; SB121, Senator Lowell Barron’s (D) road and bridge bill came up for debate on the senate floor. Senator Ben Brooks (R) was first to rise to speak on the bill. Brooks, who proposed an amendment on Tuesday, continued to speak on his amendment and against Barron’s bill. Brooks also noted that robot calls were still happening in republican districts. These calls are reportedly stating that certain republican senators are against roads and bridges in the state.  Last week Senator Larry Means (D) mentioned that robot calls were happening in his district and expressed his distaste for the whole idea. Senator Paul Sanford (R) rose to the mic to tell the body that he was told by one of Senator Barron’s (D) democratic colleagues in the senate that Senator Barron is the one behind the robot calls.

Senators Scott Beason (R) and Ben Brooks (R) spoke on SB121 for over two hours. Obviously frustrated with the process Brooks said, “I want to debate public policy. I want to discuss what is good and bad about a bill. Why can’t we do that? “Brooks called for a vote on his amendment around 12:30 pm when there were only 10 senators on the floor.  Barron and his colleagues rushed to the floor and after voting down Senator Brooks’ amendment, they expressed their unhappiness with how he went about calling for a vote.

Following a vote on Brooks’ amendment, the senate took up amendments from both sides of the aisle. One such amendment offered by Senator Linda Coleman stated that 10% of the 100 million dollars that would come from the Alabama Trust Fund each year would go towards paying for minority contractors. This amendment caused some discussion but was later adopted. Senator Paul Sanford offered an amendment that requires all people hired to work on the road and bridge project be from Alabama. The amendment also requires that 50% of those hired should have been unemployed for over 26 months.  Senator Lowell Barron (D) stated that he felt this amendment was unconstitutional but would encourage everyone to vote for the amendment.

In the end, the senate did not pass any piece of legislation today, the 6^th legislative day. Senator Lowell Barron blames the republicans for holding up all other legislation that could be passed but Senator Barron is the one who continues to put SB121 on the special order calendar even though he knows the opposition across the aisle is strong.

Filed under: Legislature