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.

Rep. Marcel Black (D-Tuscumbia) says he is still working to secure the 63 votes needed to send the e-bingo bill to a November ballot. “Fluid” is the way he has described vote counting in the last 24 hours.

A bailout of the state’s pre-paid college tuition program and a billion dollar road and bridge building bond remain in conference committees today with meetings still to take place.

This morning on FOX6 News Good Day Alabama, Senate President Pro Tem Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) and Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) predicted passage of both plans. Smitherman says he believes a 2 1/2 percent tuition cap for PACT students opposed by the Auburn University and University of Alabama Systems will be removed in the final measure.

Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham) confirms that is part of the agreement still being worked out in the conference committee. About the PACT plan, he says the conference committee is “almost there.”

Rogers, who also serves on a conference committee for the road and bridge bond, has pushed for more dedicated funding for projects in the Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile metros.

Read more of Rick Journey’s blogs here.

Republican Dr. Robert Bentley’s bill to guarantee PACT contracts came out of committee on Wednesday.  Here’s his campaign release on the bill and its impact on the college tuition plan.

________________________

MONTGOMERY – Earlier today, the House Education Appropriations Committee unanimously passed Dr. Robert J. Bentley’s bill to fully fund the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program (HB 775). HB 775 is an amendment to the Alabama Constitution to guarantee existing PACT contracts are fully funded.  The amendment prohibits new enrollees, requires PACT to use its money in guaranteed investments, and authorizes borrowing. Voters must approve the amendment in November. 

Earlier this year, the PACT board voted not to pay Alabama universities at the actual rate of tuition beginning in fall 2010.  Some estimates of the “PACT gap” between what PACT would pay and university tuition costs begin at $500 per semester, in addition to other fees. 

Dr. Bentley stated, “I introduced this constitutional amendment to guarantee PACT funding because I believe Alabama has a moral and legal responsibility to honor 100% of these contracts for 100% of the participants. I have been at the forefront of the effort to Save Alabama’s PACT, and believe the legislature needs to act now to fix this problem instead of letting our prior attempted fix languish without resolution in the Senate.  I want to emphasize that this is a loan to the PACT and not a bailout.  Additionally, higher education and K-12 representatives have signed off on this bill.”

Dr. Bentley continued, “I want to again thank Representatives Ford and Wren for their bipartisan leadership in passing this bill through the House Education Appropriations Committee. However, as I have stated before, the real credit for passing this bill goes to Alabama’s parents and grandparents who, in the best traditions of American democracy, called on their State Representatives and Senators to resolve the issue.  Additionally, Patti Lambert & Dr. Richard Huckaby of Save Alabama PACT deserve special recognition for their efforts to help parents and grandparents organize their support for fixing the PACT.”  

But, where is your clicker when the hype comes from the state? What do you do then? Case in point is the PACT program. It was (and is) a well intentioned program to help parents send their children to college. But, when the economy crashed and university tuition kept rising, the PACT fund couldn’t keep up.

Understandably, families who bought into the hype that PACT was a “sure thing” are demanding that state lawmakers transfer millions into the PACT program to make it whole so they can send their kids to college, as planned. By the way, there is no such rescue even possible for other parents who, after reading the fine print or not wanting to put their faith in a state program, decided to invest their money in other types of college funds. Those funds also took a huge hit when stocks crashed.

The House was eager to go along with the PACT parents. Calling it a moral obligation, they voted unanimously this week to commit 235 million dollars from the Education Trust Fund to PACT. They also voted to put a cap on how much universities can raise tuition for students in the PACT program.

Unfortunately, that could create a two-tiered tuition structure at our state schools – one level for students in the protected PACT program and a much higher level for other in-state students because their tuition wouldn’t be capped. It seems absurd to think that families on the same street could pay different tuition at identical state schools, but the House may have just opened that door. So far, the Senate is refusing to go along.

The bottom line is, parents who have tried to do right by their children, whether they put money in PACT or in other investments, stand to get hurt. There seems to be no good or fair solution for all involved. If only it were as simple as clicking the remote.

About 100 parents with the Save PACT organization rallied their cause in Montgomery Tuesday morning. They’re trying to send a message to State Lawmakers to honor the program and provide tuition for people enrolled in PACT.

“We’re not asking for a handout. We’re not asking for a bailout. We’re asking the state of Alabama to honor the contract that we’ve honored. That’s all we’re asking,” said PACT holdier Kevin Shubird.

He was among the parents who took part in the Save PACT rally on the State House steps before meeting one-on-one with Lawmakers.

“I wanted to protect the scholarships I gave my children. But when I go to bed at night, I feel 45,000 kids and that’s why I’m here.” said Patti Lambert, President of Save PACT.

State Representative Greg Wren, R-Montgomery, has pre-filed several bills regarding PACT.

One of Rep. Wren’s bills will provide four years of college tuition for current participants.

The PACT program stopped accepting new enrollments when money troubles first became apparent in 2009.