Governor Won't Get to Sign DROP Bill

It looks like Gov. Robert Bentley will only get to sign one of the two major pieces of legislation that he needed lawmakers to pass to make his budget proposals for fiscal 2012 work.

Though the House passed legislation that would eliminate the state's Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP program, the Senate adjourned without concurring on an amendment that was put on in the House. The amendment would create a study committee that would develop ideas for retaining the state's top teachers and public employees.

That means that Bentley won't get to sign the bill until after the Senate takes it up when that body returns from spring break. Lawmakers are expected to return to Montgomery on March 22.

The Senate gave final passage to a bill that would change the way that the legislature develops the education budget by capping appropriations from the Education Trust Fund and creating reserve funds to help stave off proration, or across the board cuts to education.

-- Markeshia Ricks