Governor signs prison reform into law
In a ceremony at the state Capitol on Thursday, Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law a long-awaited plan to reform Alabama prisons. Senate Bill 67 passed the Legislature this month by a vote of 100-5 in the House of Representatives and by unanimous vote in the Senate. The governor said the “overhaul” of the prison system under SB 67 was the result of a yearlong study of corrections policy by lawmakers and practitioners. “This is a historic day,” Bentley said. “This legislation changes community supervision to reduce the number of people returning to incarceration, … diverts low-level property and drug offenders away from prison, and it requires supervision for anyone leaving prison. Senate Bill 67 makes the parole process more clear and efficient while observing the board’s discretion. And finally, it expands electronic notification to inform victims of all prison releases.” According to documents provided by the governor’s office, SB 67 is projected to reduce Alabama’s prison population by 30 percent — or 4,243 people — by 2021. The governor credited the reforms in the bill to the work of the Prison Reform Task Force and a comprehensive study of the state’s criminal justice system to reduce prison crowding and increase public safety. Sen. Cam Ward, who chairs the task force, said that the bill represented a “rare” coalition of support for reform. “When we started the session there was a 10 percent chance of this bill passing,” Ward said. “Any time you can have groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, Alabama Policy Institute, and Republicans working on the same page together, that tells you we have the capacity as a state to work together to solve problems.” Ward also addressed concerns that the sweeping reforms outlined in the plan could be in jeopardy because of the stripped-down general fund budget recently passed by House lawmakers. “I know that’s been a big question,” he said. “I assure you, the funding will be there to get these reforms under way.” The bill is scheduled to take effect on Jan.30.
This week in the Alabama legislature: May 19-21
What happened in the Alabama legislature this week? Plenty. On Tuesday, the House passed a general fund budget to the Senate for approval. House Bill 135 assumes no new sources of revenue for the state and just $1.64 billion available to spend from the general fund, an 11 percent decrease from 2014. Gov. Robert Bentley has already vowed to veto the barebones budget, calling it “unworkable” and “irresponsible.” House lawmakers also passed funding bills for the Children First Trust Fund (House Bill 129) and the Coalition Against Domestic Violence (House Bill 134). Thursday was another a big day at the statehouse, as the House passed the $6 billion education budget on Thursday. Rep. Bill Poole, chair of the education committee said the goal of Senate Bill 179 was to shore up funding to classrooms. The budget includes a $13 million increase for textbooks and more than $10 million for the Alabama’s nationally-acclaimed Pre-K program. The Senate passed a bill that would make it legal to keep a loaded gun in an automobile without a concealed carry permit. Senate Bill 14 also says that simply carrying a firearm should not be considered “disorderly conduct.” Alabama’s two partisan presidential primaries will now be held on March 1, 2016 as part of an “SEC Primary” that includes Tennessee and Georgia. Senate Bill 240, sponsored by Sen. Quinton Ross, passed the Senate on Thursday. Ross had previously called the measure an “an economic stimulus bill” because of the expected increased attention Alabama will receive during the 2016 cycle. Finally, Gov. Bentley signed a comprehensive set of prison reforms into law. He called the legislation an “overhaul” more than a year in the making. Sen. Cam Ward brushed away concerns that the reform bill, estimated to cost around $26 million, would be crippled by the budget cuts in the House general fund budget. Here are a few more of the week’s highlights: Sen. Jabo Waggoner’s Alabama Dog Tethering and Outdoor Shelter Act passed out of the Senate Judiciary. Animal activists say that cruelty protections rarely get attention from legislators and, with the 2015 legislative session drawing to a close, Senate Bill 468 might be their last chance to pass legislation against animal cruelty this year. Sen. Del Marsh brought a bill to offer employment protections for the LGBT community before the Senate governmental affairs committee. Senate Bill 482 would ban state officials from discriminating against employees based on sexuality and gender expression, in addition to of race, ethnicity, or religion. The bill was carried over after lawmakers expressed concerns that stakeholders had no chance to offer input on the proposal. A public hearing has not yet been scheduled. The House financial services committee declined to vote on a 36 percent cap and tighter regulations of subprime loans that use cars and other assets as collateral. House Bill 400 would have required title lending companies to be licensed by the state and adhere to state-level restrictions on the charges, interest, and fees associated with title loans. The House Education Policy Committee voted to remove the Alabama State Board of Education from the process of choosing a charter school commission. Rep. Terri Collins said that she filed House Bill 664 because of concerns that the BOE would not have a new commission in place by the June 1 deadline.
Prison reform, privacy bills awaiting governor
Though the Alabama Legislature has yet to send general fund or education budgets to Gov. Robert Bentley for signature, statewide prison reform and privacy bills are among the pieces of legislation awaiting the governor’s signature. Physicians practicing in Alabama will soon see changes in licensing and fee guidelines under two measures that passed out of the statehouse this week. Senate Bill 125 eases the process of licensing physicians in multiple states and Senate Bill 167 lowers the fees that physicians pay to provide pain management services. Sen. Rodger Smitherman’s Right of Publicity Act went to the Alabama governor this week. Senate Bill 197 establishes the right to exercise commercial control over a person’s likeness and attributes of their personal identity. Last week, the Legislature sent a comprehensive plan to reduce crowding in state prisons to Bentley for signature. The governor has yet to sign Senate Bill 67, which was championed by sponsor Sen. Cam Ward and members of the Prison Reform Task Force. However, according to Rep. Steve Clouse, those reforms would not be funded under the austere budget under consideration by House members.
Prison overhaul bill near final passage
The Alabama Legislature could give final approval to sweeping changes to sentencing and probation standards in an effort to relieve crowding in state prisons. The Senate-passed bill was on the House debate agenda for Thursday. Alabama prisons house nearly twice the number of inmates they were originally designed to hold, a crowding level that state officials say is both dangerous and puts the state at risk of federal intervention. The bill aims to steer low-level offenders away from prison and create a new Class D felony class. It also seeks to increase supervision on former inmates as they are released from prison. The legislation was put together by a prison reform task force with help from the Council of State Governments. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
