SEN. HOLTZCLAW MAKES VALIANT ATTEMPT TO SAVE HIGH ACADEMIC STANDARDS FOR ALABAMA STUDENTS

The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday gave a favorable report to a bill that would repeal Alabama's College and Career Ready Standards, otherwise known as Common Core. SB 403 by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, passed on a voice vote after Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, moved to give the bill a favorable report only a few seconds into Beason's explanation of the bill. A nearly identical bill by committee chairman Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road, was killed by the same committee a few weeks ago.

Before the voice vote was taken, Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison, offered an amendment that would have kept the standards in place but would have prevented the State Board of Education from ceding control over Alabama standards to anyone outside of Alabama. The State Board of Education already has complete control over Alabama standards and has never allowed anyone outside the state to have any say over the standards. The Holtzclaw amendment failed on a 5-4 vote with one abstention.

"I stopped by the superintendent's office in Madison and asked for a Common Core book," Holtzclaw told committee members before the vote. "They gave me this fourth grade math book based on Common Core for you all to see. You know what's in it? Math."

The Common Core State Standards were developed to define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate from high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs. In short, it prepares students to be college and career ready in a global economy and also helps students, especially children of military personnel, to be able to move between states and not fall behind in their academic work.

Marsh told Al.com's Evan Belanger following the meeting that he expected to see the Common Core repeal bill on the Senate floor and that it had a very good chance of passing.

BCA opposes any attempt to repeal Alabama's high academic standards.  For more information on what the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards actually do and do not do, we have set up an information page on our website which includes links to the standards themselves.

"The Senate Education Committee today on a voice vote allowed fear to trump hope in rejecting Alabama's high academic standards," BCA president and CEO William J. Canary said following the meeting.  "These standards are vital in preparing students to compete in the 21st century global workforce.  Our business, education and military community alliance will continue to stand united in guaranteeing that our children succeed regardless of the zip code they live in.  These standards provide a more defined path towards success."

With bipartisan support, the House voted 69-26 on Tuesday to pass HB 227, by Rep. Paul Demarco, R-Homewood. The Transparency in Private Attorney Contracting bill, known by its acronym, TIPAC, promotes a uniform set of standards. It requires that government attorneys control state litigation rather than private attorneys who have a financial interest at stake. It also requires a state agency to explain why it would be in the state's best interest to hire outside counsel on a contingency fee basis, and it sets a tiered fee structure to ensure it is for the public good and not private profit. The bill requires annual reports on contingency fee counsel so the practice can be reviewed by lawmakers and the public. "The reason I am encouraging my House and Senate colleagues to support this bill is simple; it's in the best interest of the taxpayers," DeMarco said.

Rep. Daniel Boman, D-Sulligent, suggested that legal constraints could be enacted through executive order by the governor. DeMarco said that's possible, but the best way to ensure transparency is to pass a law. Rep. Joe Hubbard, D-Montgomery, said the bill does not include attorneys hired on an hourly basis by the state.  DeMarco said hourly agreements with private attorneys are already transparent and are readily available for public review.

DeMarco said that both Governor Robert Bentley and Attorney General Luther Strange support HB 227.  Rep. Bill Poole, R-Northport, offered an amendment to allow the attorney general to seek to waive the contingency fee limits in the event of extraordinary circumstances by certifying in writing to the governor why a waiver is necessary.  The governor could either reject the waiver or certify it in an Executive Order. DeMarco accepted the amendment because it would not violate the intent of transparency, and it was adopted. The bill, which is supported by the Business Council of Alabama, goes to the Senate for consideration. Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, is the Senate sponsor.

The BCA for the last two years has been at the forefront of the effort to require state agencies to declare in writing that hiring outside lawyers on a contingency fee basis is cost effective and in the public's best interest.  As state attorneys general become more engaged in major consumer protection issues, there has been a willingness on the part of some state attorneys general to hire trial lawyer firms to pursue litigation on behalf of the state.  Attorneys receive a contingency fee, which is a percentage of whatever amount is recovered on behalf of taxpayers.  In the past, some private law firms received excessively high fees in relation to the amount of work they did on behalf of the state.  In addition to excessive fees, there is a substantial risk of "pay to play" schemes that may appear when political contributions from plaintiffs firms are traded for contingent-fee contracts. Strange has been a model of transparency and accountability while in office and has not engaged in the type of private attorney contracting as stated above.

Former U.S. Rep. and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum visited Montgomery on Feb. 20 to testify at a public hearing before a joint House and Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in support of HB 227. He said that TIPAC legislation has been introduced in more than a dozen state legislatures and successfully implemented in states such as Florida, Indiana, and Mississippi.  You can read more about McCollum's visit to Montgomery on our BCA Blog.  

Medicaid-related bills on Wednesday moved toward what sponsors hope will change the state Medicaid program from a fee-for-service system to one based on healthy outcomes for patients and taxpayers.

The House Health Committee on a voice vote favorably reported a substitute to HB 454 by Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville. Just hours later the Senate Health Committee on a voice vote approved the Senate companion bill, a substitute to SB 340 by Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper.

McClendon and Reed chair the respective House and Senate health committees and sponsored the Medicaid-revision bills.

Their bills will allow the Medicaid Agency to authorize regional care organizations to manage the health care of approximately 940,000 Medicaid recipients and avoid costly emergency room visits for routine care. The substitutes removed the original concept of allowing up to eight regional care organizations.

McClendon said his bill is designed to shift the cost risk of Medicaid from taxpayers to organizations that, if operated correctly, could make a profit on the federal and state appropriations from the Medicaid program.

The Business Council of Alabama supports reform of the state's Medicaid program to ensure long-term sustainability and to control costs by improving efficiency, addressing fraud and abuse, and ensuring access to quality health care for citizens.

Reed said affected providers participated in drafting the substitutes. The bills go to their respective full houses for consideration.

"It is the No. 1 responsibility of the Alabama Legislature to reform Medicaid to meet all efforts to protect recipients, providers, and taxpayers who are paying every dime of it," Reed said.

Later Wednesday, the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee on voice votes approved two Medicaid-related bills, HB 562 and HB 605, both by Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark.

HB 562 would extend the Medicaid nursing home supplemental privilege assessment and monthly surcharge for two years. HB 605 would extend the hospital Medicaid assessment for three fiscal years but would allow alteration after two years if Congress mandates other changes.

The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee on Wednesday favorably approved HB 110 by McClendon that previously passed the House. His bill would make Medicaid fraud a Class C felony.

The bill also would appropriate $250,000 each of the next three fiscal years to the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and appropriate $1 million next fiscal year to the Alabama Medicaid Agency. The $1 million will pay for an upgraded Medicaid information system that will screen each Medicaid application for fraud or errors, according to the bill's synopsis.

McClendon and Reed's Medicaid bills are seen as the fix for Alabama's growing financial crisis in the Medicaid program that was appropriated about $615 million this year, nearly one-third of the entire $1.7 billion General Fund. Medicaid also receives federal and provider funds.

HB 454 and SB 340 would establish deadlines for moving Medicaid in a new direction using regional care organizations that emphasize managed care between providers and patients. "It's about instead of showing up in emergency rooms, it's getting patients into doctors' offices," said state Health Officer Dr. Don Williamson. He is chairman of Governor Robert Bentley's Medicaid Advisory Commission.  

HB 599, by Rep. Phil Williams, R-Huntsville, was well received by the House Economic Development and Tourism committee, earning a favorable report for consideration by the full House. The current requirements for a new or expansion industrial project to qualify for the capital credit are that a minimum of $100 million be invested and that a minimum of 100 new jobs be created. HB 599 will lower those levels such that projects of at least $50 million that create at least 50 new jobs will qualify for the capital credit. It is expected that the lower eligibility thresholds will encourage a number of companies to give the "go ahead" to mid-size projects that they have planned, which will strengthen the state's recovery by creating more jobs.

The bill also amends a provision that would extend the carry forward of the capital credit from the current four years to a total of five years. 

The BCA supports this legislation.

The Senate Fiscal Responsibility & Accountability committee gave a favorable report to HB 264, by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood. The bill creates an independent tax appeals tribunal, separate and apart from the Department of Revenue, and updates the Alabama Taxpayers' Bill of Rights to conform to provisions of federal law and to promote tax fairness and compliance. The bill further provides that the governor will select successive tax appeals judges from a list of five qualified candidates recommended and vetted by a select nominating committee. The committee members expressed their thorough familiarity with the measure after having a public hearing earlier in this session on the companion bill, SB 223, by Sen. Bryan Taylor, R-Prattville.

The BCA, through its affiliation with the Business Associations Tax Coalition (BATC), supports this legislation.

The House Education Policy committee gave a favorable report to SB 47, by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road. The bill proposes a constitutional amendment that upon ratification would include the local boards of education among the public entities that are not to have state mandates placed upon them, per Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama. As another entity that would be shielded from unfunded mandates, the legislature must either specifically provide funding for the mandate, or the legislature must pass the act that creates the mandate by a two-thirds vote of each house.

The BCA supports this legislation.