The Legislature has gone home.And if you compare the time spent and decent bills passed in the special session to the time spent and decent bills passed in the regular session, the argument might be made that in the future, special sessions are the way to go.
We have a General Fund budget that includes pay raises for state employees. True, next year the Legislature will start with a $250 million hole to fill, because one-time money was used this time, but until then the agencies will be open and the people served. On a more fiscally responsible note, a constitutional amendment requiring county and city systems to pay at least 10 mills property tax for schools has passed and will go to voters in June, 2006. That is a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, limits on state and local governments using the power of eminent domain to condemn property for commercial development passed easily, as did tougher sex-offender laws, though the Legislature balked, thankfully, at mandatory surgical castration for sexual crimes against children — a provision that would very likely be found unconstitutional at any rate.
Other bills that passed and were sent to the governor closed loopholes in the Alabama unemployment tax law, lowered the legal level of intoxication for commercial drivers, allowed sign language to be offered as a foreign language in Alabama schools, and gave tax breaks for developers building tourist attractions and filmmakers working in the state.
Not widely discussed but important was a bill recognizing that both Auburn University and Alabama A&M University have joint responsibility over the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. For years A&M has argued that as a land-grant university it should enjoy benefits similar to those enjoyed by Auburn. Courts have agreed. This joint responsibility legislation will help remedy the problem.
We were somewhat surprised not to find among the bills passed and sent to the governor one that would bring Alabama landfill operation regulations into line with federal rules. Requiring landfill operators to show that they have the financial resources to clean up and secure the site when it is abandoned is nothing more than good public policy. That this legislation was not passed is troubling.
Still, all in all, it was a productive session, with legislators spending most of their time working hard on behalf of the people they represent.
