The Alabama Legislature opened their 2004 regular session on Tuesday, 3 February 2004, with accountability and budget cuts as key issues. By Thursday, the rumor mill flowed with talk of increasing a number of fees in an effort to raise revenue without resorting to new "broad" taxation measures. The Governor wanted to suspend the regular session to convene a special session to allow the Legislature to isolate and focus on his proposed accountability measures, but he did not have the votes he needed to call the Special Session. Both chambers rejected Governor Riley's attempt to recess the regular session for a special session on accountability. The vote was primarily along party lines. The Democrats are well positioned to passing their own version of accountability measures and are not interested in pausing for a special session.
After four days, the majority of talk has centered on accountability measures. There seems to be little support for tax or fee increases until major changes have been made in the way lawmakers handle taxpayer funds. To date, the dialogue has been polite and respectful. Look for that to change as the talk turn to further cutbacks. Both chambers will return to Montgomery for the fifth legislative day on Tuesday, February 17th. You can contact your House and Senate members in Montgomery by calling the House operator at (334) 242-7600 or the Senate operator at (334) 242-7800, or by writing to them via the State House Office Building, Montgomery, Alabama 36130.
To date, 257 bills have been introduced in the Senate and 309 bills
have been introduced in the House of Representatives. The Bill
Status Report of the bills that we are monitoring on behalf of the
Engineering Community can be obtained from the JECA
website. Please note bills being monitored by the Alabama State
Board of Licensure for PE's/PLS's are noted in the subject line as (BOL).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office
at (334) 264-1500. Full bill text may be obtained at the state legislature
website at: http://alisdb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLogin.asp