Election 2012: Alabama Amendments

Like my football analysis, my positions on these amendments are my opinions, and should be taken as such.

Amendment 1 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, relating to the Forever Wild Land Trust, to reauthorize the trust for a 20-year period. (Proposed by Act No. 2011-315)

I am actually sort of torn on this one.  The Forever Wild Land Trust sets aside 10% of the interest earned by the Alabama Trust Fund for purchasing land for public hunting and recreational use.  The Alabama Trust Fund is money that comes to the state from oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.  The FWLT was created in 1992 and has set aside 227,000 acres for public use so far.  The fiscal conservative in me says that setting aside money for 20 years may be foolish and wasteful (one proposal was to shorten this to a five-year renewal, but it failed in the legislature), but I like the idea of using the money for something related to the environment as sort of a trade off for the oil and gas origins of the money.  Alfa is against it, and that actually tips me over in favor of it.  I am leaning toward YES.

Amendment 2 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, to allow issuance by the State from time to time of general obligation bonds under the authority of Section 219.04 and Section 219.041 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, so long as the aggregate principal amount of all such general obligation bonds at any time outstanding is not in excess of $750 million. This amendment would replace the maximum aggregate principal limitations currently contained in said Sections 219.04 and 219.041. The proposed amendment would also allow issuance by the State of general obligation refunding bonds under the authority of Sections 219.04 and 219.041 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, subject to certain minimum savings thresholds and limitations of maximum average maturity. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-567)

This does two things - allows the state to refinance loans at a lower rate, which makes sense, and allows the state to issue bonds to raise money to lure businesses to Alabama.  From a strictly conservative standpoint, I can see both sides of this argument, but if you look at companies, like Mercedes and ThyssenKrupp, who have received incentives to locate in the state, it's hard to argue that that is anything but good for Alabama.  I'm voting YES.

Amendment 3 - Relating to Baldwin County, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to define the Stockton Landmark District within the county and to prohibit the annexation by local law of any property within the district into any municipality. (Proposed by Act No. 2011-316)

This prevents a larger city from annexing the community of Stockton without a vote of the people there.  This is one of those dumb amendments that has to be voted on statewide even though it only affects one county.  However, I think that in principle the residents of a community should have a say in their own annexation.  I am voting YES.

Amendment 4 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to repeal portions of Amendment 111, now appearing as Section 256 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, relating to separation of schools by race and to repeal Section 259, Amendment 90, and Amendment 109, relating to the poll tax.(Proposed by Act No. 2011-353)

The purpose of this amendment is to remove racist language from the Alabama constitution.  I have heard several ads about how this amendment is going to remove the right for public schools in Alabama, and while my kids are home-schooled, and that would not affect my children, the prospect that public schools will be eliminated is preposterous.  This amendment failed to pass by a 50-49% vote in 2004, I believe, and the national reporting was about how backwards Alabama decided to keep Jim Crow language in the constitution.  Let's not do that again, okay guys?  Also, AEA is against it, which nearly always puts me on the opposite side.  Vote YES.

A quick note here: my beef with Alfa and AEA is not their members or even their stances, per se.  It is the enormous amount of influence that they and their lobbyists wield in Montgomery.  In my opinion, the power that they have in Alabama is unhealthy because there is no balance against it, so I generally vote against them in principle.

Amendment 5 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide for the transfer of the assets and liabilities of the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Prichard to the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners of the City of Mobile, presently known as the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System. (Proposed by Act No. 2011-543)

This is a friendly transfer of the water works from Prichard to Mobile.  Vote YES.


Amendment 6 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system. (Proposed by Act No. 2011-617)

This would theoretically allow Alabama residents to opt out of Obamacare.  I'm not sure if it would stand up in court and certainly if Obama is re-elected, it will be challenged if passed.  However, I am fundamentally opposed to government-mandated and controlled health care and I will vote YES.

Amendment 7 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to amend Amendment 579 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 177 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, to provide that the right of individuals to vote for public office, public votes on referenda, or votes of employee representation by secret ballot is fundamental. (Proposed by Act No. 2011-656)

This would require that public elections and private union votes are taken by secret ballot.  The AFL-CIO opposes this, for obvious reasons.  I'm voting YES.

Amendment 8 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to repeal the existing provisions for legislative compensation and expenses and establish the basic compensation of the Legislature at the median household income in Alabama; to require legislators to submit signed vouchers for reimbursement for expenses; and to prohibit the Legislature from increasing the compensation or expenses payable to its members. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-269)

Basically this repeals a recently-passed pay raise for Alabama legislators and ties their income to the median household income in Alabama, which means that when the citizens are doing well, the legislators will be paid well.  This seems like a common sense idea to me, and would incentify legislators to improve the income of Alabama households.  I'm voting YES.

Amendment 9 - Proposing an amendment to the private corporation provisions of Article 12 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to become effective January 1, 2014, to continue the authority of the Legislature to pass general laws pertaining to corporations and other entities; to continue the authority of the Legislature to regulate and impose a business privilege tax on corporations and other entities; and to repeal various provisions concerning private corporations, railroads, and canals. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-275)

The Alabama GOP site says this removes outdated language, which seems fine, but that makes me wonder why that's important enough to create an amendment to do.  Among other things, it seems to strike a provision explicitly protecting churches and religious organizations from privilege taxes.  I am voting NO. 

Amendment 10 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, effective January 1, 2014, to amend Section 247 relating to the authority of the Legislature concerning banks and banking, to repeal various other provisions of Article XIII concerning banks and banking; and to repeal
Amendment 154 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 255.01 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of
Alabama of 1901, as amended, subject to the contingency that a new Article XII of the state constitution is adopted that repeals existing
Section 232 of the state constitution, and subject to the contingency that Sections 10A-2-15.01 and 10A-2-15.02, Code of Alabama 1975, are repealed. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-276)

This also appears to be removing outdated banking language, some of which is invalidated by the current Federal monetary system.  Among other things, it strikes language about having a gold standard.  Again my question is, "why is this important now?"  Some sources I have read say that the intent is to allow state and local investment in public corporations, which is currently prohibited.  In any event, it seems sketchy to me.  When in doubt, vote NO.

Amendment 11 - Relating to Lawrence County, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to prohibit any municipality located
entirely outside of Lawrence County from imposing any municipal ordinance or regulation, including, but not limited to, any tax, zoning,
planning, or sanitation regulations, and any inspection service in its police jurisdiction located in Lawrence County and to provide that a municipality prohibited from imposing any tax or regulation under this amendment shall not provide any regulatory function or police or fire protection services in its police jurisdiction located in Lawrence County, other than public safety mutual aid. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-308)

This is intended to prevent the city of Decatur from overpowering Lawrence County without a vote of the people.  Vote YES.

There is also a Tuscaloosa County amendment.  It is designed to prevent an occupational tax from being implemented by the county government without a vote by the people - see the Tuscaloosa News article here.  I don't have the exact wording, but this is a YES vote for Tuscaloosa County residents.

If you have information that contradicts my reading of these amendments, and can deliver it in a way that will enlighten and inform without being belligerent, leave me a comment and I will update this post for the benefit of those who asked for it.  Thanks.