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By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer
MONTEVALLO – A panel of state legislators addressed questions from students and attendees alike during the Alabama Legislators Higher Education Forum at the University of Montevallo Feb. 2.
February 1
Challenging State Budget Ahead
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The state Legislature may not take up reapportionment until close to the end of the 2012 regular session, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said Friday.
The Legislature will have to address redistricting in the next regular session, set to begin Feb. 7, in a special session or in the 2013 regular session in order for legislative districts to be set for the 2014 legislative elections.
Marsh, R-Anniston, said Friday the leadership could wait until May to bring the potentially contentious issue before the Legislature.
January 17
2012 Legislative Survey
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My Legislative Survey for 2012 is online and ready for you to participate. Can you please take the survey as soon as you can so I can get an understanding of how you feel about important issues facing Alabama.
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We like state Sen. Cam Ward's persistence where changing Alabama's draconian ballot access laws is concerned.
Alabama has among the most restrictive rules in the nation for independents and third-party candidates who want to get on an election ballot. Before joining the Senate after the November 2010 elections, then-state Rep. Ward for three straight years tried to open up the state's ballot with a bill in the House. It went nowhere.
But both the House and Senate turned solidly Republican after the last elections, and it looked as if Ward's bill would have a real shot. Ward introduced his bill on the first day of the regular session last March. It quickly passed the Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections Committee.
And then . . . and then . . .
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Sen. Cam Ward and Rep. Kurt Wallace both expressed hesitation about budget ideas Gov. Robert Bentley announced earlier this week.
One idea would change how the state budget is currently set up, where money is divided between schools and the general fund. The change would allow money set aside for schools to be spent on other state needs.
Ward acknowledged expected budget shortages but said cutting education is not the answer.
“I do not believe the solution is to take money out of schools,” Ward said.
Ward said reforms to Medicaid and cutting down on fraud in the program would be one way to save money as well as changes to the state prison system, particularly concerning first-time, non-violent offenders.
Wallace said Bentley has not yet brought plans before the Republican Party for consideration and he wanted more details about the plan.
“I am not for changing it for the sake of changing it,” Wallace said, adding that legislators should take a “serious hard look at earmarks” in the budget to save money.
Another proposal from Bentley would ask voters to approve borrowing up to $2 billion to fix roads and bridges.
Ward and Wallace both expressed hesitation at that idea.
“I’m very reluctant to support borrowing,” Ward said. “I think we need to get our financial house in order.”
January 10
Happy New Year 2012
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American scholar William Arthur Ward once said, “Another fresh New Year is here. Another year to live, another year to banish worry, doubt and fear. A time to love, laugh and give.” He pretty much summed up the feeling many of us have at the start of a new year. It is a time to turn the page and start fresh, with renewed optimism.
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BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) -
At any moment thousands of convicts could be set free from prisons across the state. One state lawmaker calls it a crisis.
California just had to cut loose 30,000 inmates because of overcrowding, now making Alabama's prisons are the most jam-packed in the nation.
"We are in crisis mood. It's a ticking time bomb," said Senator Cam Ward.
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CENTREVILLE -- Judging by its unemployment rate, Bibb County seems to have turned a corner and could be on track to rebound from the longest economic downturn in recent memory. The jobless rate in the mostly rural county fell to 8.7 percent last month, its lowest in about three years.
But that improvement has yet to be reflected in the mood of the county's residents, who say they're still hanging on and trying to ride out hard times.
"It's still pretty bad," said Crystal McMeekin, whose family owns G&H Building Supply in Centreville, the county seat.
December 29
Alabama Political Reporter: Changing the rules on ballot access, can Ward make it happen?
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According to "Ballot Access News" Alabama has some of the harshest ballot requirements in the United States, placing 50th in terms of ballot access.
For over a half a decade, Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) has fought first in the Alabama House of Representatives and now in the Senate for greater access in Alabama’s elections.
Ward has two bills pre-filed for the upcoming session, SB 15 and SB 55, that address easier ballot access.
