Alabama legislative week in review: March 21 – March 25, 2016
Legislators briefly passed through Montgomery this week with an eye toward their spring break, which began Thursday and won’t have them back in the statehouse until April 5. Despite only two legislative action days this week, both bodies took up high-profile legislation. Tuesday, the 17th day of the legislative session, got under way with the Alabama House of Representatives clearing the long-contested bill to provide a path to visitation rights for grandparents. HB334 from Rep. Mike Jones (R-Andalusia) passed with an affirmative vote from 97 lawmakers, though debate came over the fact that the bill may circumvent the will of fit parents to make decisions regarding the welfare of their children. Over in the Senate, lawmakers passed SB260 from Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville). The bill would bar the state from taking money from the state’s park system to prop up the General Fund. The practice is a legitimate concern, as lawmakers have taken $15 million from state park coffers over the past five years to deposit into the General Fund. The Senate also cleared HB34 from Rep. Mac McCutcheon (R-Capshaw). The bill, which was carried by Sen. Greg Reed (R-Jasper), provides tax breaks for state ports in an effort to remain competitive among states with similar incentives. Supporters say the move will attract large businesses and bring jobs to the state. The Senate continued on its roll Wednesday with the passage of SB205 from Sen. Paul Sanford (R-Huntsville), which would prohibit the location of abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of a school and bar the Alabama Department of Public Health from reissuing licenses to any clinic in violation of the new law. The Senate also approved a General Fund budget, which lacks sufficient funding for Medicaid, despite a veto threat from Gov. Robert Bentley. The Senate’s session came to a halt when it stalled a vote on Bentley’s landmark prison transformation bill. In committee hearings this week, the Mobile delegation declined a bill along party lines that would allow county residents to vote on whether or not to raise the local minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. A house committee approved a bill that will put to a vote the notion that a person is a person from the time of fertilization, effectively outlawing abortion in the state. A Senate committee took up a bill that would decriminalize possession of the epilepsy-relieving drug cannabidiol (CBD), but did not vote on the measure. It will likely come up for discussion again when legislators return from spring break April 5.
State park funds secure with passage of Clay Scofield legislation
On Tuesday, the Alabama Senate passed SB260 from Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville), which is a constitutional amendment barring the legislature from using Alabama Department of Conservation funds. The legislation will ensure that all money earned through external sources, like entrance fees, merchandise sales, hunting and fishing licenses and golf course fees, will stay with the department. Over the last five years, $15 million has been transferred from state parks to the General Fund – in all, $30 million has been transferred from the department to fund other agencies. A move last year to take roughly $3 million from the department caused multiple parks to close, causing an uproar among the populace. “State parks have little incentive to provide great service to the public if the money earned is taken away each year by the Legislature,” Scofield said in a press release. “My proposal will allow the state parks to make plans for long-term improvements, since they will now have a predictable cash flow and can attract more visitors to Alabama. ” However, the bill specifies that if the State Parks Revolving Fund reaches more than $50 million in a fiscal year, the sales and use and cigarette tax money reserved for the system will be reduced in the following year. The money saved from doing so would be directed to the state’s General Fund. “Currently, state parks in Alabama are mostly self-funded through the services they provide to the public. Unfortunately, over the past five years the Legislature has raided the Department of Conservation and transferred money to the General Fund for other purposes,” Scofield said in the release. “State parks are important to Alabamians and the parks should be able to keep the money they earn.” After its passage in the Senate, the bill will be taken up by a Senate committee before it’s considered by the full House.
