The Business Council of Alabama on Thursday night praised the Alabama Legislature for one of the most productive legislative sessions in history and for making job creation a top priority. Pro-jobs legislation, which has been on BCA's agenda for nearly two decades, has been approved, and many of the items have already been signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley.

 

Gov. Robert Bentley and BCA President and CEO William Canary discuss legislation on the 2011 session's last day.

"The new majority in the Legislature proved early on in the session that they were no longer willing to accept the status quo of the last 40 years," said BCA President and CEO William J. Canary. "Speaker Mike Hubbard and Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh led the charge to level the playing field for Alabama's business community in the Legislature, and we commend them for tackling tough budget issues, emphasizing job creation, and reforming education."

"This Legislature has sent a clear message to businesses looking to expand that Alabama's international reputation as a place to do business is strengthened even more," said William W. Brooke, chairman of the BCA Board of Directors and managing partner of Venture Capital for the Harbert Management Corporation. "Creating jobs is vital to revitalizing our state's economy, and the legislature has met this challenge head on."

Small Business

One of BCA's top-tier small business agenda items that made its way through the Legislature early this session was HB 61 sponsored by Rep. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, which provides small businesses a tax deduction in order to provide health insurance to their employees. This law allows qualifying employers and employees to deduct and additional 50 percent of the amount expended for health insurance premiums. Qualifying employers are those with less than 25 employees; qualifying employees are those whose annual wages do not exceed $50,000. The law now increases the 150 percent deduction, approved during the 2008 legislative session, to a deduction of 200 percent of qualifying premium payments. Gov. Robert Bentley signed this legislation into law on April 21.

Job Creation and Economic Development

BCA members proudly stood with Gov. Bentley on the steps of the State Capitol in late March as he announced his Full Employment Act. Sponsored by Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, and Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, HB 230 will provide businesses with 50 or fewer employees an income tax credit equal to $1,000 per new job paying more than $10 an hour. Once enacted, the tax credit will be available for the tax year during which the employee has completed 12 months of consecutive employment. The bill passed both houses unanimously and now awaits the governor's signature.

Education Reform

Two of BCA's education agenda items were also passed this session and have already been signed into law. SB 310 sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Daphne, is a reform of the Teacher Tenure Law and Fair Dismissal Act. While preserving tenure, the Students First Act reforms the appeals process for fired teachers by eliminating the use of federal arbitrators. SB 310 also removes the appeals process for teachers who are laid off due to unavoidable reductions in the work force or due to a shortage of revenues. In pursuit of a business/education alliance, the BCA worked closely with the Alabama Association of School Boards and the Superintendents Association of Alabama to ensure passage of the Students First Act.

Rep. Greg Canfield, R-Vestavia Hills, was the sponsor of HB 57, another education agenda item supported by BCA. Known as the Responsible Budgeting and Spending Act, this legislation ends the practice of relying on revenue estimates that extend some 18 months in advance to determine the total amount of money available to appropriate from the Education Trust Fund. Beginning with the 2012 session, the Legislature will begin to use a fiscally conservative formula to determine the total amount that can be appropriated in a given year. This amount will be based on the historical 15-year growth rate of recurring revenue. The goal is to prevent the governor from having to declare proration in the education budget. On March 11, Gov. Bentley signed the bill, the very first of his term as governor.

Environment

One of BCA's top environmental issues this session was reauthorization of the Forever Wild land preservation program, which is one of Alabama's biggest economic engines. Hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing in Alabama has a $2.2 billion annual economic impact that benefits both local communities and the state. The Legislature this year approved a constitutional amendment to allow voters to decide whether or not to renew the program for an additional 20 years. Forever Wild was originally approved by voters in 1992 with 83 percent voter support. It will appear on the ballot on November 6, 2012.

Another important BCA Agenda item, SB 224, by Rep. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, was signed by the governor and is now Act 2011-633.  This act provides for a procedure that allows the owner of a motor vehicle who no longer possesses its title to transfer the vehicle to an automotive dismantler, parts recycler or a secondary metals recycler, if certain conditions are met.  This act will have a direct impact on job creation in the metal recycling industry which has suffered over the past two years. 

With the conclusion of the 2011 legislative session, creating jobs remains the key to economic recovery in Alabama where private sector unemployment still hovers above 9 percent. As the foremost voice for business in the state, BCA will continue working for legislation that will help business owners create jobs and improve the quality of life throughout Alabama.

 

The $5.588 billion education budget and the $1.767 billion general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2012 received the final votes needed to complete the legislative process on the final day of the legislative session.  Several bills that support the two budgets also needed to pass on the final day of the legislative session, to avoid last-minute budget cuts.

Gov. Bentley had returned the general fund budget, SB 133, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, with an executive amendment that primarily added $3.3 million for the state Medicaid Agency.  Next year's general fund budget totals $180 million more than the current budget, is $53.5 million less than the total recommended by the governor, and does not include some $235 million in federal stimulus funds that underpinned the current general fund budget.

Anticipating that the Legislature would fail to pass a bill raising the retirement contributions paid by educators and employees, Gov. Bentley returned the education budget with an executive amendment that would trim tens of millions from the spending plan.  However, both houses agreed to the conference committee report on the retirement bill, so the governor's executive amendment was overridden on a "friendly" vote to non-concur.

The education budget calls for spending next fiscal year that will total $240.7 million more than the current year and $93 million more than the total recommended by the governor, but the budget also lacks some $462.5 million in federal stimulus funds that supplement the current year's spending plan.

Ending a three-year effort to guarantee Alabamians' right to vote by private ballot, the Alabama Senate passed BCA-supported HB 64 by Rep. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville. Having not seen the light of day in the past two legislative sessions, HB 64 was approved in the Senate by a vote of 23-7 and now goes to Alabama voters for approval via constitutional amendment.

HB 64 would ensure that every individual in the state is guaranteed the right to  cast a ballot privately in all elections, including union elections. BCA commends Rep. Wallace and Rep. Greg Canfield, R-Vestavia Hills, who sponsored similar legislation the past two years, for ushering HB 64 through the legislature.

See how your Senator voted. Those supporting the right to vote by private ballot voted "Y."

In the final hour of the legislative session on Thursday, both houses approved a bill that redraws the lines for the State Board of Education's eight districts. After nearly four hours of the bill being read at length at the request of Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, the legislation passed and was sent back to the House of Representatives so they could concur with minor changes made in the Senate.

The biggest changes to the current districts are in south and west Alabama, changes that also have caused the most contention between senators and representatives. District Five is represented by Democrat Ella Bell and covers a portion of Montgomery and most of the Black Belt. District One is represented by Republican Randy McKinney who currently represents the two Gulf Coast counties and Escambia County.

Under the plan approved by the House, Ella Bell would lose a portion of Montgomery County and pick up a sizeable portion of Mobile County. Randy McKinney would lose his portion of Mobile County and pick up the four counties of Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw and Butler. Legislators from the Mobile area have expressed concern about having a representative who lives in Montgomery but who represents portions of Mobile County.

Read the Montgomery Advertiser blog here.  

Several bills supported by BCA were passed during the session and have been signed by the governor:

HB 106, by Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, has been signed by the governor and is now Act 2011-612. This act amends state laws pertaining to civil penalties for violations of state environmental protection laws and orders, by removing the minimum penalty amounts ($100) for certain violations of laws and regulations enforced by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

HB 50, by Rep. Greg Canfield, R-Vestavia Hills, has been signed by the governor and is Act 2011-258. This act amends the solid waste laws by removing an existing exemption from regulation fly ash waste, bottom ash waste, boiler slag waste, and flue gas emissions control wastes from the burning of coal or other fossil fuels at electric generating plants and authorizes the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to regulate these wastes, once the federal EPA promulgates federal policy on management of such waste.

HJR 197, by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, has been signed by the governor and is now Act 2011-131. The act urges the U.S. Congress to adopt legislation prohibiting the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions without congressional approval. This was a model resolution by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and is referred to as the "EPA Trainwreck Resolution" because of all the aggressive regulations that EPA is pushing to impose on business and industry.

HB 406, by Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, has been signed by the governor and is now Act 2011-297. This act sets a two-year moratorium on the permitting of "new" commercial Subtitle D or Construction & Demolition waste landfills. During the two-year period, ADEM and the Alabama Department of Public Health will review their programs and propose legislation or update regulations as needed. BCA monitored this legislation.  

Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law Thursday what some are calling the toughest illegal immigration law in the country. HB 56 allows police to arrest persons suspected of being illegal immigrants if they are stopped for any  reason and requires public schools to determine students' immigration status. Employers are also now required to use E-Verify to determine if their new workers are in the United States legally. Court challenges by the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center are planned before the law takes effect Sept. 1.

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