NCAAbbs

If Birmingham didnt have to get everything passed by the state, there's no telling where we could be.
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House kills proposal for Jeffco transit tax vote
Thursday, April 28, 2005
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - The House of Representatives on Wednesday killed a proposed Jefferson County transit tax referendum.

Lawmakers voted 49-6 for the bill by Rep. George Perdue, D-Birmingham, calling for a referendum on a vehicle tax to fund public transportation. It takes 63 yes votes to get a proposed constitutional amendment through the House.

However, lawmakers on Wednesday did approve a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit Jefferson County from doing annual property reappraisals.

The House had rejected Perdue's transit bill Tuesday. He had it voted on for a second time Wednesday, but he did not pick up enough votes.

Perdue said some delegation members, including chairman John Rogers, pretended to support his bill, but purposely had another contentious bill to repeal the county's new 1-cent sales tax voted on during the same day. That bill also failed.

"It's like throwing a rock and hiding your hand. It was an organized distraction, and I don't appreciate it," Perdue said.

Rogers said Perdue didn't have the votes.

"You can't get 63 votes on a tax bill," Rogers said.

Perdue's bill would have levied a new tax on vehicles based on their value.

House members approved a proposed constitutional amendment by Rep. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, that would prohibit Jefferson County from doing annual property reappraisals.

House members approved the bill by a 71-0 vote after several lawmakers complained about annual reappraisals causing frequent jumps in property tax bills. However, Rep. John Knight, chairman of the House General Fund committee, said the proposal could hurt state revenue.

"It's looking out for those rich, silk-stocking districts," said Knight, D-Montgomery.

"Gardendale is not a high-dollar, million-dollar-home community," Beason replied.

Beason's bill now moves to the Senate with just three days remaining in the session.


E-mail: kchandler@bhamnews.com

Having worked in federal politics for a short period of time, I realized that things are much more politicized than the general public ever sees. It also did not take me long to realize how thankful I was that I worked in federal and not state government. The state legislature is a JOKE! Talk about a bunch of fat cats! It does not get any worse than the state level politics. Arggh... did I really ask for a forum on something other than UAB stuff?

State politics are the worst, and I'm not sure I know of a worse example than what we have here. The Texas lege is pretty bad, and god knows Louisiana is legendary for bad and corrupt state government, but for sheer inefficiency, waste, and stupidity its hard to beat the Alabama state government.

Our state constitution is a joke, but trying to fix it line by line is all but impossible, and the thought of what the lobbyests and the back room boys would to to us if we called a state constitutional convention scares me to death.

Home rule would be a great start, I see no reason why the state lege should decide what we can do here, nor why there should be slots on the ballot for the whole state to vote on what some county is trying to get done.

If we ever do decide to redo the constitution in Alabama, please give me time to go back and go to law school... There will be HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars made on that redo, not to mention all of the loopholes that will be created for the lawyers to exploit in coming years.

I found this and found it pretty humorous...
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"In his first official act as Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Col. Tom Parker (ret) announced that he will support a new constitution, one that is quilted and more absorbent. As it exists, the Alabama Constitution of 1901 would stretch from Montgomery to Memphis on Corridor X if all of its pages were laid out side by side. Although Parker does not believe in constitutional reform, he has stated that the document could be softer and gentler. "The constitution is not meant to chafe, although some people bound by it may think so. This new squeezably-soft 3-ply document will be much easier to handle."
Parker continued to assure his followers that he has not become an Activist Judge™ bent on establishing rule by Judicial Tyranny™. "I'm not going to let gay marriage sneak into our families and erode their very foundations. I'm going to enforce the display of the Ten Commandments as God intended our Christian state to do. We may be softening the constitution through quilting, but we still believe every word of its 1901 text."
The new constitution will have two layers added to the gently quilted top layer of text. A special super absorbent middle layer will more easily contain the crap already inside while allowing detractors to continue to piss on the document. The final layer will be a harshly bleached super-white layer designed to enhance readability. Lawmakers used to the cumbersome old document will be tempted, but will be admonished not to 'squeeze the constitution'. Since the quilting process will double the size of the current constitution, a new public viewing room off of the Supreme Court rotunda will be constructed to house it. Special vacation packages will be promoted internationally by the state, which tout the chance to see the world's longest constitution and Confederate memorial all in one weekend. Tourism is expected to skyrocket now that the constitution is officially larger than North Korea's 12,317 proclamations by the Kim family."

from "The Birminghamster" Nov. 3, 2004.

It's a catch 22. the 1901 constitution is a disaster, but think about a new constitutional convention. Methinks the folks who write the new one will look a lot like the folks that wrote the old one.

FYI
Alabama's constitution is the longest governing document of any government on earth, having been amended over 600 times.

Yay! We're first in something!

I agree home rule is the place to start. I mean, why the hell should I care what Coffee county wants to pay its sherriff? On the other hand, why are they voting on what we pay ours?

Another example of Montgomery holding Birmingham by the cahonas