Legislative Overview
13-Jan-2011
The Alabama Council of Association Executives held a Legislative Issues Seminar at the Capital Auditorium on February 22, 2011. Guest speakers for the event included Attorney General Luther Strange, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Hubbard, Senate Majority Leader Jabo Waggoner, David Perry, State Finance Director, Jim Sumer, Director of the Alabama Ethics Commission and Matt McDonald, attorney with Jones Walker law firm.
Attorney General Luther Strange discussed his priorities for the year. Among them are to:
* Aggressively prosecute public corruption and white collar crime as not one case had been pursued by the Attorney General's office in the past several years
* Plead the oil spill law suit on behalf of the state (already removed the contingency lawyers retained by the state and saved 15% of the recovery costs right off the top)
* Settle the bingo/gambling issue and get it off the legislature's agenda: multi-phased approach - state law says electronic bingo is illegal; asked gaming interests to sue the state (none replied); gave machine manufactures 60 days to negotiate removal of machines ( they are being removed); started process with federal government to address the legality of Indian Casinos use of the same machines (multi-year process)
* Advocate for the state on federal and constitutional issues: challenge of the health care bill
Speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard and Senator Jabo Waggoner gave an overview of some of the issues we face in the 2011 session.
Senator Waggoner was optimistic that newly elected members are both energetic and committed. The Senate agenda will include:
* Medicaid and corrections must be funded so all other state agencies face significant proration
* Education budget should be funded at about the same level as last year ($5.4B) with 3% proration (announced after the meeting)
* Legislation should pass creating a rolling reserve fund
* Expects to take up some form of immigration reform legislation
Speaker Hubbard anticipates an unprecedented level of cooperation between the House and the Senate. He mentioned that they could even end the session as many as ten days early. His agenda includes:
* Passing an anti-card check bill to preserve secret ballot for union elections
* Will not pursue across the board cuts but will make cuts surgically
* Taking a hard look at state employee's benefits, salaries, and vacation days
* Will look at teacher tenure, Drop Program, and out-sourcing of school support jobs
* Will do the redistricting work in a special session and it will be based on the recent census - expect significant leveling of districts
* A new policy will be issued regarding the restricting of access to the statehouse that will require everyone to check in and all registered lobbyists to wear a badge. The Speaker stressed that the new policy will improve - not restrict- public access to the statehouse. Common sense policies will be implemented to avoid chaotic situations and congestion in the hallways. Scheduled visits will be encouraged rather than surprise drop-ins and waiting in the members offices.
* Minimal renovations to the third and fourth floors to add meeting space will be completed as the building has gotten more and more dysfunctional through the years.
David Perry, State Finance Director, gave a brief overview of the budgets for the new year:
* The Education Trust Fund (ETF) will see significant reductions in certain areas but the bottom line will be very similar to the 2011 budget - the differences will be in the line item amounts. Some will remain the same while some will be zeroed out. The ETF is facing the loss of one time revenues but should improve when the economy picks up. 3% proration was announced yesterday.
* The General Fund is significantly worse- there is a $400 million shortfall to make up as well as limited ability to shift things around. It is facing 15% proration. Half of the General Fund goes to Medicaid and Corrections. This means the rest of the state agencies will face drastic changes. There are dozens of items proposed to be eliminated while some will face cuts of up to 50% from two years ago. The General Fund is facing structural deficits which are not sustainable and will likely make 2013 even worse.
* Outsourcing or privatization of certain government functions is something the new administration is very much considering. Mr. Perry gave the example of Georgia saving $700 million over 8 years as a result of privatization of certain government functions.
Jim Sumer, Director of the Alabama Ethics Commission and Matt McDonald, attorney with Jones Walker law firm, led a review and discussion on changes of the ethics law. Sumner explained that the new laws will change the entire playing field for all lobbyists. Essentially, Alabama went from being one of the most liberal states in regulating hospitality/entertainment to one of the most conservative. The Ethics Commission sees this as a positive move forward for the state of Alabama. The area of most concern is the rewrite of section 7 (the "quid pro quo" section) in regards to hospitality and entertainment. This section states that no person shall offer or give to a public official or public employee (or members of their household) anything for the purpose of influencing official action regardless of whether or not the thing solicited or received is a thing of value. A number of attorneys have suggested all lobbyists do nothing until further clarification of this change in law as it could potentially criminalize normal behavior such as meeting for lunch. This was not intended by the drafters and will need a legislative fix. There seems to be a misconception that the new laws only apply to legislators and lobbyists when in fact they apply to 295,000 public officials and every citizen in the state of Alabama.
Matt McDonald stressed that advocacy will not be changed by the new law. The major changes involve moving away from "pure hospitality" where the only object is to entertain officials. A "widely attended event" also needs additional clarification. An event such as an Annual Meeting, that is an educational function, is permissible to have public officials and provide them food, etc.
The general rule of thumb: Advocacy and communications with public officials and public employees is permissible. If, during your advocacy, you expend funds on behalf of a public official or public employee the expenditure must be in compliance with the Code of Ethics. Many questions remain about what is or is not a permissible expenditure. If in doubt, do not expend funds until the law is clarified or a ruling is obtained from the Ethics Commission.
