Legislature passes rolling reserve bill

State lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday that could keep funding for education at or below 2007 levels for another five years.
The House passed the measure on Tuesday and the Senate passed the legislation on Thursday 23-10 along partisan lines with Republicans voting for it.
Democrats in the House and Senate expressed concerns that the "rolling reserve" bill could hurt the progress Alabama has made in education.
"In the interest of showing the public we are fiscally conservative we are going to hurt the education of our children," said Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma.
The Senate passed the bill intended to keep the education budget from going into proration, which are across the board cuts that the governor must declare to balance budgets if the amount of revenue the state is taking in cannot keep up with spending levels passed by the Legislature.
Republicans believe the bill is necessary to keep lawmakers from spending every penny in good years and from going into proration in economic downturns.
Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, mentioned the bill in his state of the state address and said he would sign it if lawmakers pass it.
The bill would use a 15-year average to set a spending cap for the education budget. Additional revenue above that level, in good economic years, would be placed in a rolling reserve fund or used to replace money the Legislature borrowed from a state rainy day fund to balance the budget in previous years.
Sanders tried to get the Republicans to delay implementation until better economic years. He said the Republicans are including down economic years when the state has cut funding for books, school supplies and professional development.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Senate Democrats attack repeal of DROP

Democrats in the Alabama Senate are calling the attempt by Republicans to stop the DROP retirement program a punitive attack on teachers and state employees hidden behind the guise of saving money.
Senate Minority Leader Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said that Republicans in the regular session, like they did in the special session on ethics, are bringing up a bill that would hurt teachers and state employees as the first proposal they consider. During the special session, the first bill considered and passed by the new Republican majority stopped politically active associations that represent teachers and state employees from collecting their dues through the state's automatic payroll deduction system.
The Deferred Retirement Option Program or DROP program allows state and education employees who are 55 years old and have 25 years of service to receive salary and retirement benefits while continuing to work. The program was passed in the hope that it would discourage valuable employees from taking early retirement.
State Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said the intent of DROP was to slow teachers leaving Alabama for other states.
Projections from the Legislative Fiscal Office and others put the savings to the state for repealing DROP between $35 million and $70 million.
Republicans believe the "luxury benefit plan" needs to be repealed during these tough financial times.
"DROP is simply an added luxury that public employees enjoy, but the state does not have the resources to continue funding luxuries while cutting the budgets for the necessities. I believe the people of Alabama can understand that logic," said Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston. "It's the same logic that they follow when making financial decisions that impact their families - it's simply common sense budgeting."
Bedford said the purpose is "not to save money, but to punish them because a disproportionate number of them chose to vote for Gov. Robert Bentley over not-Gov. Bradley Byrne"
The Alabama Education Association supported Bentley, then a two-term state legislator, over Byrne, former chancellor of the state's junior college system who was supported by some of the state's most prominent Republicans, in that party primary.
Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, said the bill is an attack on teachers and state employees.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Senators appoint members to key posts

The Alabama public, political observers and Alabama state senators found out Tuesday who will chair key committees in that body.
Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, who is considered one of the most conservative members of the Senate, was selected as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee that determines which bills come to the Senate floor for debate. He succeeds powerful Sen. Lowell Barron, a Democrat who lost in the November election.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, will be chairman of the Senate general fund budget committee which sets funding levels for Medicaid, prisons, public safety and most other non-education entities in the state. Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, the previous chairman of the committee, will serve as a minority member.
Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, will preside over the education budget in the Senate. The former chairman, Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, will continue to serve on the committee.
The House did not announce committee assignments on Tuesday, although Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery and Rep. Jim Barton of Mobile are expected to serve as the chairmen of the House education and general fund budget committees, respectively.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Sanders: Davis's decision could affect dynamic of endorsement

U.S. Rep. Artur Davis said he will not participate in the screening processes of three black political organizations as he seeks the Democratic nomination for governor because he believes black voters do not need permission from those groups and that they do not need a sample ballot to decide who to vote for.
Davis, D-Birmingham, was responding to a press conference by leaders in the Alabama New South Coalition. One of those leaders, state Sen. Hank Sanders, said Davis being the lone member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against health care complicated the selection process and that he thought the screening process would help.
Davis and Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks are the Democratic candidates.
Sanders said he expects the vote over which candidate to endorse to be close at the Saturday convention. He said Davis not attending could "change the dynamic."
Davis also criticized "coded language about the 'electability' of black candidates."
Sanders said, when they formed the coalition, that they created five criteria to endorse candidates. He said electability is one of those criteria. The coalition could agree with a fringe candidate on all of the issues, but the candidate might not have a chance of getting elected, Sanders said.
Sanders, who said he will be presiding and will sit his personal thoughts aside on Saturday, said he was not greatly surprised that Davis decided not to participate. He said Davis previously had talked to him about the New South endorsement and helping him try to win it.
Davis also said he would not participate in the screening processes of the Alabama Democratic Conference and the Jefferson County Citizen's Coalition. He said he has great respect for the legacies of those organizations.
"In fact, the best way to honor the legacy of Senator Sanders, Dr. Reed, and Dr. Arrington is for candidates to give black Alabamians the respect of honoring their independence and their capacity to make informed judgments," he said.
Davis has been able to win without strong support from those organizations.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Sanders to run for eighth term

After originally saying he was not running for an eighth term, powerful state Sen. Hank Sanders changed course on Wednesday and said he is going to let the voters decide if he should serve another term.
"Since I don't know what to do, I'll let the people decide," he said.
People cheered as he made his decision in a Senate chamber filled with legislators, lobbyists, staffers, supporters, and state officials including state schools Superintendent Joe Morton.
"In truth, I still don't want to run. I knew this needed to be brought to a conclusion," said Sanders. People had already announced they were running for the Senate seat they thought would be open.
Sanders, chairman of the Senate education budget committee, said he "struggled mightily" with the decision. He said he did not know whether he was running again when he walked into the chamber and that his wife did not know his decision.
The Selma Democrat said he planned to walk into the chamber with two press releases, one saying he would not run again and another that said he would. He said he did not have time to write the releases.
He sent an e-mail to friends, colleagues and supporters last year informing them he would not run again, but he said the reaction to that statement was extraordinary.
"In truth, I never anticipated the strength of this reaction," he said.
His wife, Rose, said the respectful and loving response was uplifting.
Morton and Paul Hubbert, head of the Alabama Education Association, said they were glad to see the senator run again.
They talked about Sanders' calm and fair demeanor in talking through tough situations.
Morton said he had talked about the decision with Sanders.
"Deep down I was hoping the outcome would be like this," he said.
The superintendent said "all of Alabama should be too." He said Sanders has left an imprint on the state and used his influence to increase funding for vital programs that improved reading, math, science, and technology.
Morton said he worked intimately with Sanders in his role as chairman of the education budget and said the senator was always professional and courteous, even during contentious discussions including 2008 when fighting lead to the legislative session ending without lawmakers passing an education budget.
Hubbert said people have been curious about Sanders' decision. He said Sanders has been a "great chairman" and credited his success to his demeanor, the way the senator approaches people and issues, and the way he is able to build a consensus. He said Sanders often had lined up support for the education budget before it was brought to the Senate floor for a vote, which he said is "remarkable."
Sanders, who came from poverty to graduate from Harvard Law School, was the first African-American to represent the Black Belt in the Alabama Senate. He said he never wanted to run for public office, but eventually did at the encouragement of his law partner, J.L. Chestnut.
Sanders, 67, said his mind and spirit did not want him to run three decades ago and they did not want him to run again.
"I don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it because duty calls," Sanders said.
He added "These are difficult times. I don't think I've ever been one to abandon the ship in difficult times."
On Wednesday, he sounded like he was sticking with his original decision when he began talking. He had told the Montgomery Advertiser this month that he was leaning toward not running again.
"This is a watershed moment for me and I have struggled mightily with it," Sanders said. "I struggled because logic and reason say I should run again, but I could not align my spirit with it."
After saying he was running again, Sanders said "nobody has ever outworked me in an election."
He said his goals this session were to pass a budget that would not go into proration, to work with others to try to create jobs, to work to pass accountability measures including those to place more restrictions on no-bid contracts, and has again proposed a bill that would place a moratorium on the death penalty, which he said he really wants to push.
"We can't afford a budget that leads to proration," he said.
In the Senate, Sanders said he has most enjoyed being able to help people. He said he could make a call and help someone in two minutes with something that might make two years if he was not in his current position.
He said he disliked the Legislature becoming more and more partisan.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Sanders to announce whether he is running (again)

State Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, will announce during a 9:30 a.m. news conference on Wednesday whether or not he is running for reelection this year. He will announce in the Senate chamber.

In an e-mail to friends, colleagues and supporters in 2009, he said he was retiring.

He has been encouraged to run again and has reconsidered his decision.

In a recent discussion with the Montgomery Advertiser, he said he was leaning toward not running for another term.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen