Alabama legislative week in review: May 26-28
The 26th legislative day ended with reports from House and Senate lawmakers that an August Special Session is likely in order to finish discussions on overcoming the states short-term and long-term budget shortfalls. Agenda items before lawmakers in August could include Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh’s lottery and gaming proposal, various measures to increase state revenue, and a controversial proposal from Sen. Gerald Dial to eliminate earmarks and unify the education and general fund budgets. At a public hearing on Wednesday, agency chiefs outlined a list of horrible outcomes — from prison closures to shortages in mental health services — should the austere general fund budget come to fruition. Despite those concerns, lawmakers gave the budget proposal a favorable report by a vote of 13-0, moving the stripped-down budget closer to reality. Here is a quick week in review going through all of the major headlines from this week’s legislative agenda: Alabama lawmakers offered a final unanimous vote on a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe terminally ill patients promising, but unapproved medical treatments. House Bill 463, known as the Right to Try Act, allows doctors caring for people with terminal illnesses to prescribe medications that the Food and Drug Administration has deemed promising, but not yet ready for mass consumption. Thursday’s vote makes Alabama one of at least 12 states that have passed right to try legislation this year. • • • The Alabama House passed a bill to establish integrated care networks to allow more Medicaid recipients to stay in their homes instead of nursing homes. • • • The House also voted 68-26 to expand the Alabama Accountability Act and tighten restrictions on scholarships and the groups that distribute them.’ • • • Gov. Robert Bentley appointed the state’s first commission to oversee Alabama’s 25 community and technical colleges. Lawmakers say the eight-member commission will help schools to focus on developing more specialized training programs and preparing entry-level employees to meet growing workforce demands. • • • The House Judiciary committee offered a favorable report on House Bill 657, to ban employment discrimination on the basis of “immutable” characteristics that do not effect job performance. Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Ball said that the measure would protect differences in gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation. The following day, lawmakers blocked House Bill 615, Rep. Chris England’s proposal to establish civil rights protections against any discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or familiar status.
House passes bill to create long-term care networks
The Alabama House has passed a bill that would establish integrated care networks to allow more Medicaid recipients to stay in their homes instead of nursing homes. The House on Thursday passed the bill 98-0. The Senate unanimously passed the legislation earlier this month. Republican state Sen. Greg Reed says the legislation could cut Medicaid costs by $1.5 billion over a decade. Reed says the bill would allow more Medicaid recipients to receive home-based care. The legislation is a continuation of Medicaid changes the Alabama Legislature passed in 2012 when it established regional care organizations. Under the proposed legislation, Medicaid beneficiaries would be prohibited from participating in both a regional care organization and an integrated care network. Republican state Rep. April Weaver sponsored the House version. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
House OKs expanding program helping pay for private school
The Alabama House on Thursday voted to expand a program that helps some families pay for private school, but it also wants to tighten restrictions on scholarships and the groups that distribute them. The House of Representatives voted 68-26 to approve changes to the Alabama Accountability Act. The Alabama Accountability Act provides income-tax credits — a dollar-for-dollar reduction on an income-tax bill — in exchange for donations to the scholarship-granting organizations. Children in failing public schools have priority for the scholarships. Failing schools are the bottom 6 percent of K-12 schools on standardized test scores. The bill expands the cumulative yearly cap on donations from $25 million to $30 million. It would also tighten income restrictions on recipients and expand reporting requirements for the organizations that hand out scholarships. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh praised the proposed changes to the program he helped create two years ago. He said the cap needed to be raised after a scholarship granting organization did not raise enough money to renew scholarships while there was ongoing litigation over the program. “It tightens up a lot of the accountability. I think it makes excellent challenges to the Accountability Act and will allow those worthy students and parents to continue to in the program,” Marsh said. The bill would also increase reporting requirements and specify that the Department of Revenue can audit the scholarship-granting organizations. The proposal would also tighten income requirements on new scholarship applicants to 185 percent of the federal poverty level. That means a family of four would have to earn $44,123 or less each year to qualify for the scholarship. The Alabama Senate sent the bill to conference committee to review a House change that will require the Department of Education to maintain a database of scholarship recipients’ test scores. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Lawmakers grant final approval to Right to Try bill
Alabama lawmakers granted final passage Thursday to a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe terminally ill patients promising, but unapproved medical treatments. House Bill 463, known as the Right to Try Act, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 97-0. The bill says that doctors caring for people with terminal illnesses can prescribe medications that the Food and Drug Administration has deemed promising, but not yet ready for mass consumption. Thursday’s vote makes Alabama one of at least 12 states that have passed right to try legislation this year. House Bill 463 and Senate Bill 357 were inspired by 9-year old Gabe Griffin of Shelby County. At age 3, Gabe was diagnosed with Duchenne, one of nine types of Muscular Dystrophy. The disease causes generalized weakness and muscle wasting that increases over time and with muscle activity. Not only is the disease incurable, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, boys with Duchenne typically did not survive beyond their teens. Two Alabama lawmakers, Sen. Cam Ward and House health committee chair Rep. April Weaver, agreed to sponsor legislation that would help Gabe and other terminal patients work with their doctors to access medication in the earliest stages of FDA approval. Ward’s bill has already passed the Senate. When he introduced the Senate version of the bill, Ward said in a prepared statement: “Terminal patients should have a right to try, and as a father and an elected official I believe we should do everything we can to help remove unnecessary bureaucratic red tape from the process so that doctors and terminally ill patients can determine the best course of action in each individual situation.” The initial barriers, according to Gabe’s father, Scott Griffin, came from the Food and Drug Administration when the family tried to gain accelerated access to experimental treatments for Gabe. In a recent interview with Alabama Today, Griffin recalled one of his conversations with FDA administrators. “The first argument was that the patient population of one of the studies was too small: just 12 kids. Then they said the results in the study may have been just the natural difference in the disease … They said, ‘Well we have the best drug approval process in the world’ and ‘You have to understand that we have to worry about long-term side effects.’ And I said to them, ‘Explain to me what a long-term side effect is to a child who is going to die.’” The Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged that the accelerated approval process can be daunting for patients and medical providers. In a statement on the FDA website, assistant commissioner Peter Lurie M.D. said that although approvals can happen within days – or even hours – of a finished application, the process has given them cause for concern. “It called for 26 separate types of information and seven attachments,” Lurie wrote. “In fact, it was originally designed for manufacturers seeking to begin human testing, not for physicians seeking use by single patients.” According to Lurie, those concerns are what drove the FDA to announce a new streamlined process to allow patients access to experimental drugs. The FDA website says that the new forms “will be used for requesting the medications, and is designed to greatly simplify and accelerate the process by which a physician can request that FDA permit the use of an experimental — so-called ‘investigational’ — drug or biological product while it’s still being tested to establish its safety and effectiveness.” However, the forms are still going through the administrative rulemaking process and not yet available to the public. The official website gave no indication on when the final guidelines would be available for patients or providers. For the Griffins, the FDA roadblocks helped fuel their decision to lobby Alabama lawmakers. “We believe those drugs could save him, but we can’t get them because they’re not FDA approved,” Griffin said. “And after years of petitioning the FDA, we decided to take our fight to the state level.” The Griffins aren’t alone. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a growing number of states are considering legislation to work around those barriers and help patients gain access to experimental drugs. Thursday’s vote makes Alabama one of 12 states that have passed right to try bills so far this year. The NCSL reports that lawmakers in at least 36 states proposed “right to try” measures in 2015.
High school grad who led prayer that went viral to open Legislative Session
Recent Clay-Chalkville High School graduate Christian Crawford will open Alabama Legislative Session when it opens on Wednesday, according to a media report on AL.com. The Trussville native and Sam’s Club employee — who is slated to attend Auburn University in the fall — came to the rescue at his high school graduation ceremony last week when a woman collapsed in the audience, leading to confusion and concern among attendees. “Everybody can I have your attention real quick?” Crawford began, as cheers began to grow from the crowd. “We don’t know what’s going on, but we will pray. We know that prayer is power, and that God is able. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank you for this day, Lord. We pray right now that whatever is going on, you will fix it, God. We pray that you will heal it, God.” Watch his extemporaneous prayer below: The address has officially gone viral and has accrued more than 628,000 views on YouTube. Crawford, who says he plans to study communications and political science at Auburn, told AL.com he’s looking forward to addressing lawmakers in the statehouse. “It’ll be fun,” Crawford told AL.com this morning. “It’ll be a new experience. It’s part of making a difference and being a positive influence for the world, the country, making laws that will benefit the state.”
Stripped-down budget passes major hurdle in state Senate
The Senate budget panel passed a bare-bones budget on Wednesday, despite a grim picture painted by the heads of Alabama’s public health and safety agencies. At a public hearing held by the Senate Finance and Taxation Budget Committee on Wednesday, state officials described the deep cuts in services and personnel they would be forced to implement under House Bill 135. Despite those concerns, lawmakers gave the budget proposal a favorable report by a vote of 13-0, moving the stripped-down budget closer to reality. Jeff Dunn, commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said the budget would force his department to close two major facilities and gut the community corrections and supervisory re-entry programs. Dunn said that the closures would force 5,400 inmates back into the department’s custody, bringing the occupancy rate as high as 225 percent. “I think the environment you create in the system (with these budget cuts) is a heightened security risk that is untenable,” Dunn said. “If you include another 5,400 inmates, you put the men and women who serve daily in greater risk. Inmate-on-inmate violence will increase, inmate-on-staff violence will increase, and I think we’re setting ourselves up for an even worse situation than we currently have now.” Sen. Cam Ward expressed concern that the budget cuts would translate to “rolling out the red carpet” for a federal takeover of the state prison system. Alabama’s prisons are already the most overcrowded in the nation, a situation that forced the state to take on a massive prison reform initiative signed into law last week. Ward has said that those reforms would not be derailed under the proposed budget constraints. Alabama’s mental health commissioner added that a 5 percent cut in his agency’s budget — a loss of about $5 million — translates to a loss in case management and therapy services for about 100,000 people. “Several years ago, I could have absorbed 4 or 5 percent (cut), but now there’s no fat left to cut,” Commissioner Jim Reddoch said. “I can assure you that these people will end up among the ranks of the homeless and incarcerated. These are people whose whole life depends on receiving these services.” With unanimous approval from the Senate committee, Chairman Arthur Orr said HB 135 will move to the floor for a second reading on Thursday and a full vote next week. Orr added that, with this timing, he hopes to see bills to increase revenue materialize before the Senate votes on the budget proposal.
Alabama governor, education board OK charter school commission
The Alabama State Board of Education confirmed a list of appointed nominees on Tuesday for the state’s new charter school commission. Gov. Robert Bentley, who is president of the board but rarely attends meetings, made a surprise appearance. He said he attended after it became clear the board couldn’t make a quorum without him. “This was put in legislation and we need to get the board in place and so I felt like we needed a quorum so I came over to make a quorum and chair the meeting,” he said. Earlier this month, the board angered members of the Alabama Legislature by refusing to confirm the commission, which is designated with hearing appeals of charter school applications rejected on the local level. Earlier this year, Bentley and the Legislature approved a plan to allow charter schools. According to the law, the commission is appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and Senate president pro tem. The nominees then must be confirmed by the state board. The delay had prompted Republican Rep. Terri Collins of Decatur to introduce a bill that would cut the state board out of the confirmation process. Several board members who contested the first confirmation vote were absent on Tuesday because of funerals or illnesses. “I think they need a place,” Bentley said of the board. “They need a board that people can apply to and bring their grievances to, so I think a board being in place is important and I think it is good for the process.” Hours later, Collins withdrew her bill from the House calendar. State Superintendent Tommy Bice said the board will serve the commission as administrative support. “I know there are some members that may have differing opinions and that’s why we have a board,” he said. “Everybody’s not expected to show up and have the same opinion, so it was voted on today, it’s done now, we have the commission and we look forward to working with them.” Bice said the majority of the state’s charter school structure will not involve the commission, but because the BOE oversees K-12 education it’s important for it to stay involved in the process. “I mean, at the end of the day, the implementation, of the charter bill law rests with the state department of education,” he said. “We’re putting together the regulations; we’re putting together the implementation procedures, all those things associated with it, even with this commission.” Board member Ella Bell, who said she was absent for the funeral of her longtime friend and campaign manager, said she was glad the governor attended. “They are his people,” Bell said. One of the board members who voted was Mary Scott Hunter. Hunter said she’s heard other states also have had early difficulties in creating charter schools, but expects future votes will be “more normalized.” “I certainly can see why it was filed,” she said of the bill Collins sponsored. “It was filed as an insurance policy against this board not getting the vote that it needed. But now this board has gotten the vote that it needed, in the normal course, and has shown that it can get this done.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Robert Bentley announces increased grants for VPK programs
Tuesday afternoon Gov. Robert Bentley issued a news release touting his administration’s efforts to increase funding for Alabama’s voluntary prekindergarten programs — recently called one of the nation’s best — amid an ongoing budget deficit looming in the state budget. “The most important part of a child’s education is a good, solid foundation at a young age, and our First Class voluntary pre-k program provides that,” Bentley wrote in a prepared statement Tuesday. “All children, regardless of where they live, deserve the opportunity to excel. A high-quality, voluntary pre-k program improves their chances of success in school long-term. This is a wise investment that will benefit children and families throughout Alabama.” After the Legislature’s approval of a state education budget, the governor highlighted ongoing issues with access to VPK programs, which sags below national averages despite the recent national success. “Demand for these grants has far exceeded our supply,” Bentley said in a release. “Only 13 percent of Alabama’s four-year-olds are currently enrolled in the First Class program and that is the reason we need to continue expanding access to this program. It is my goal to give more families the option of enrolling their children in voluntary pre-k, and I will continue my efforts to expand access to First Class even more,” the governor said. Budget talks are expected to continue until near the end of the Regular Session, scheduled for June 15. Major top-line spending levels will depend on the resolution of a deal on gaming, on which there are currently competing proposals. Sen. Del Marsh has promulgated a proposal that would provide for a state lottery and the opening of new gambling facilities to help raise revenue. The Poarch Creek Indian nation, meanwhile, has offered to cover the projected budget hole in exchange for exclusive gaming rights throughout the state. Bentley has asked the Legislature for a series of tax increases, including on cigarettes a proposal which has led to discussion of changing the way all vices are taxed in special session. So far talk of taxes have proven unpopular among rank-and-file lawmakers in the Statehouse though Speaker Mike Hubbard has joined the Governor in his efforts.
Lawmakers approve state education budget
The Alabama Legislature has given final approval to the education budget that expands the state’s prekindergarten program. The House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously approved a conference committee agreement on the spending plan. The budget now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley for his signature. The budget steers an additional $10 million to the state’s prekindergarten program. The increase is projected to enable another 1,800 4-year-olds to attend the public preschool program. House Education Budget Chairman Bill Poole said the budget makes classroom spending a priority. The budget does not include raises for state teachers. Alabama lawmakers are still working on the state’s other budget. The General Fund budget could include funding cuts to state agencies unless lawmakers agree on new revenue sources. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Plan for earmark-free state budget passes Senate panel
A bill by Sen. Gerald Dial to unify the Alabama general fund and education budgets moved forward in the Senate Tuesday, as the finance and taxation committee gave a favorable report to Senate Bill 502. The proposal would allow voters to decide whether to establish a single state budget and remove any recommendations or limits on how funds within that budget should be spent. During the committee meeting Tuesday, Dial said that without the practice of earmarking, or placing limits on how funds are spent within the budget, Alabama lawmakers might have a different set of funding decisions to make this session. “I’ve heard it said that one of the problems we’ve got in this state is that we’ve got earmarking,” Dial said. “We’ve got almost $3 billion in Heritage Trust Fund. Just think what we could do (with that money). Without earmarks, there’s enough funding in this state to fund government for more than five or 10 years.” With just five days left in the regular session, lawmakers may run out of time to pass SB 502 this year. However, House Speaker Mike Hubbard has already announced plans to form a Commission on Earmarking and Budget Reform to study the state budget process, including earmarking, appropriations, spending oversight, and the fact that Alabama is one of only three states with two separate budgets. In a prepared statement issued Monday, Hubbard said the commission will make recommendations “to provide much-needed flexibility in the budgeting process.” That commission is expected to issue its findings before the start of the 2016 legislative session.
Alabama legislative agenda preview: May 26-28
Tuesday will be the 25th Legislative Day for Alabama lawmakers, leaving just five more days for the legislature to pass a general fund budget. Sen. Gerald Dial has filed a constitutional amendment to unify the education and general fund budgets for future years in an effort to solve the long-term imbalance in funding between the two funding pools. While an earlier proposal filed in the Senate would allow the two funds to share growth revenue, Senate Bill 502 would create a single budget without any earmarks for specific programs or budget items. The Senate finance and taxation panel is expected to vote on the proposal on Tuesday at 1:00 pm. We may see more news from the Senate on Tuesday as Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh confirmed plans to bring his lottery and gaming proposal to the floor for a vote. House members are scheduled to vote Tuesday on House Bill 664, a plan from Sen. Jabo Waggoner to allow members of the Alabama Public Charter School Commission to be appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives rather than the state board of education. According to the House special order calendar, members are also scheduled to vote Tuesday on bills to allow age-appropriate sexual abuse awareness programs in public schools, establish greater protection for victims of domestic violence, and a measure to block abortion clinics from operating near public schools. Here are a few of the items on committee agendas this week: … The House Judiciary committee will consider two bills this week to strengthen civil rights protections in the LGBT community. On Tuesday, the panel will hear public comment on House Bill 657, companion legislation to a proposal filed last week by Sen. Del Marsh to ban employment discrimination on the basis of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation. The next day, lawmakers will hold a public hearing on House Bill 615, Rep. Chris England’s proposal to establish civil rights protections against any discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or familiar status. … The House committee on public safety is scheduled to vote on House Bill 261, the companion bill to Senate Bill 468, also known as the Alabama Dog Tethering and Outdoor Shelter Act. Rep. Steve McMillan brought the bill to make it illegal for dog owners to tie their pets to stationary objects and says that any pet kept outside must have adequate food, water, and shelter.
Child welfare bills waiting in Alabama statehouse
In his recent op-ed for Alabama Today, adoption advocate Sam McClure expressed doubt that lawmakers would have time to pass child welfare legislation this session. Indeed, as the 2015 Legislative Session draws to a close, some measures introduced by lawmakers have not yet had a final vote: Rep. Mac McCutcheon filed a bill to establish an Office of the Ombudsman for Child Welfare. Under House Bill 48, the Ombudsman would conduct independent investigations of complaints on actions taken by the state in child welfare or reunification plans. The Ombudsman would also send the Governor regular reports on the conditions in group homes and other institutions for juveniles. The House committee on public safety gave House Bill 48 a favorable report in April, but so far the measure has not been called to the House floor for a vote. The House health committee has yet to vote on a bill from Rep. Mack Butler that would clarify when and how medical workers report suspicions that a child has been exposed to illegal drugs. House Bill 408 says that those suspicions should be reported orally to law enforcement within two hours, even if medical test results aren’t yet available. Once medical tests confirm that a child has been chemically endangered, the health worker should file a written report with law enforcement, according to HB408. Senate Bill 461, sponsored by Sen. Paul Bussman, says that if a parent has allowed their child to be near a methamphetamine laboratory “or a location where illegal drugs are stored, kept, packaged, diluted, or manufactured”, the Department of Human Resources has no obligation to try to preserve that parent’s custodial rights. The Senate health and human services committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill last week. Under Senate Bill 494 out-of-state relatives to a child in DHR custody have six months to tell the department they would like to be appointed guardian. After that time, DHR staff will not be required to consider those relatives when they makes custody decisions. Sen. Bussman filed SB494 on Thursday and the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Youth Affairs. As lawmakers move quickly to enact legislation before Sine Die, Alabama Today will follow these bills and report on their progress.
