My weekly column was published in the Wednesday Edition of the Prattville Progress and News Record:

It looks like the Alabama legislature will once again fail to do its job and pass budgets for the General Fund and the Educational Trust Fund in the regular legislative session. Not only that, but as of the start of this week only two bills have passed into law this session.

The main blockade is occurring in the Senate, which has a history of passing a flood of bills at the last minute. However, there is an impediment that could prevent the traditional last minute catch-up. Under the rules of the Senate any bill passing in the final six days of the session must be unanimous. So, if any one Senator objects to a bill it will not pass.

Some will say, so we have another special session what else is new? Those who say this are correct, but they may not realize that a special session will cost around $500,000, and with the tight circumstances in the General Fund budget that money equates to the salary and benefits for a number of employees that wouldn’t have to be terminated or made up somewhere else in the budget if the legislature would do its job.

Senator Lowell Barron indicated in an article over the weekend that he believed there was a 50-50 chance of a special session. That is one of the more optimistic predictions I have heard. Most people who spend time in the legislature think there is very little chance of avoiding bringing the legislators back to Montgomery to complete the budget writing process. What’s frightening is how easily the words “special session” trip off legislators tongues. Many act as if it is something they would prefer to avoid, yet we continue to have them year after year. There are many explanations that will be offered, but the simple reality is that these elected officials have thirty days to complete a job and they didn’t do it.

Will there be consequences? Some would hope so, but most know that there won’t be. Everyone will go on about their business, a budget will eventually be passed and we’ll move on to the next legislative session, with the added interest of campaigns starting up for statewide offices to be contested next year. That is the way it will remain until constituents let legislators know that not passing a budget in the regular session is unacceptable.

There is little debate around the Education budget, the main point of difference is the size of a raise for teachers. It would seem that a reasonable compromise is very possible. The General Fund budget is trickier, but not impossible.

Sphere: Related Content