Volume
1 Issue 1 - March 2001
Seth Hammett
by: Seth Hammett - Speaker, Alabama House of Representatives (Democrat)
It has been said that the toughest thing about success is that you have to continue being a success. The Alabama Legislature finds itself in just this type of situation as it begins its annual regular session February 6.
Despite shifting political winds and an inherent resistance to change, the Legislature made significant progress during the past two years toward establishing a solid framework to move this state forward.
The Legislature began a major reform effort last year by budgeting taxpayer dollars with an increased emphasis on accountability. It enacted bills to improve education by changing tenure laws, revising student-testing procedures and adequately compensating teachers. It worked to protect citizens by strengthening criminal laws, and it built upon the recommendations of the Alabama Commerce Commission to move Alabama down a more productive road for economic development. The House of Representatives even began efforts to streamline the state constitution and enact campaign finance reform.
Now, with the Legislature at the midpoint of the current four-year term, lawmakers must build on their past successes and work together to meet new challenges. In the regular session, many of those challenges will involve a continuation of earlier initiatives.
It is of utmost importance that legislators continue to expand the use of performance-based budgeting in the education and General Fund spending plans of the state. By setting specific goals and objectives for departments, agencies and schools, we can measure progress and ensure taxpayers that their money is being well spent.
This method of budgeting runs contrary to past traditions in Alabama, and to continue it will require a further commitment to change and to spending money more wisely. And this must be done in an environment of declining state revenues that are resulting from a slowdown in the national economy.
In pursuing more accountability in the budgets, lawmakers will have to keep education improvements as a top priority, while also seeking ways to comply with court orders to improve mental health services and childcare programs.
Legislators will also have to tackle the issue of prison overcrowding by looking closer at alternative sentencing-a concept that could help ensure that our limited number of prison beds are occupied by those criminals who are the most dangerous to society.
The Alabama Commerce Commission, created by Governor Don Siegelman, is expected to propose several bills this year to foster economic development.
Last year, the Legislature passed commission-backed measures to restructure the Alabama State Docks, improve state parks, coordinate state technology efforts, improve rural airport development, repair substandard country roads and bridges, and liberalize investments from the trust funds that hold royalties from offshore gas production.
This year, lawmakers will most likely be asked to address improvements in industrial incentives, adoption of a regional development concept for attracting new industries, simplification of business license application procedures, and public transportation funding. Legislators will be seeking innovative ways to stimulate job opportunities for Alabamians - particularly in economically distressed areas of the state.
Lawmakers may also receive recommendations from the Governor's Commission on Environmental Initiatives, the Governor's Commission on Election day Procedures, and numerous other task forces that have been working on issues ranging from health care and teacher preparation to alcohol abuse and corrections. The effect of Medicaid reimbursement changes on Alabama hospitals need attention, as well as escalating health care costs and the effects of managed care.
Add to the list of pending issues lethal injection, voter identification, title loan regulation, proration prevention funds, graduated drivers licenses, mandatory seat belt usage for all motor vehicle occupants, absentee voting reform, more constitutional revision, and the big unknown factor-redistricting.
The Legislature is required every 10 years to redraw House and Senate districts to reflect changes in population. The U. S. Census Bureau must report its final statistics to the state by April 1, which will be about two-thirds of the way through the session.
No one can predict the effects of redistricting on the passage of legislation, but it always has some effect. If nothing else this year, redistricting could become a major distraction for House and Senate members.
It will be incumbent on all legislators to stay focused on the issues the public needs us to confront, and to deal with other matters as best we can.
There is no doubt that the agenda is full, and time is limited. The federal government continues to shift more responsibility to the state, and lawmakers have less time to find solutions to problems. Hopefully this session can be characterized by a strong spirit of compromise.
Legislators must work together, as there will be no time to waste at the drop of the gavel.
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