WINTER STORM SLOWS BUT DOESN'T STOP MOVEMENT OF BCA-PRIORITY TBOR II      

TBOR II would update the original, 22-year-old Taxpayers Bill of Rights, abolish the Department of Revenue's Administrative Law Division, and change it to an independent Alabama Tax Appeals Commission within the executive branch. The bill would allow local governments the option of using this tax appeals commission or their existing appeals process to settle local tax disputes.

The Coalition's work along with considerable help from Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, cleared the way for the bill to be placed on the special order calendar and then moved the bill to a successful procedural vote.

The absence of 13 senators due to weather conditions on Thursday led Sen. Marsh to carry over the bill. He committed that he would list HB105 on the special order calendar after the current year's "sunset bills" are disposed of.  

This bill has been widely supported by the business community for years. It has passed the House by an overwhelming margin each of the four years of the current term, but it has stalled in the Senate during the last three. During those years, the bill has been in position to pass in the final days of the sessions when precious little time remains, when a logjam of legislation is pending, and when it only takes a few senators to slow the flow of legislation. These conditions have proved too much to overcome in enacting the TBOR II legislation, which passed the Senate once in three years (2012), only to be pocket vetoed due to drafting errors.

The situation is different this time. TBOR II is off to its best start of any year in the past 15, passing the House and being favorably reported out of the Senate committee. This year there is no reason for the bill to languish on the Senate calendar until the last days of the session. Not taking anything for granted, the BCA advocacy team and our BATC partners will continue to speak in favor of the bill being a business priority, answer member questions, and request that senators solidly support the bill when the vote comes.

As was stated in Monday's Action Alert, BCA members and our chamber partners are asked to:

This week's severe winter weather caused havoc on all roads that led to the Capitol where the Senate met on Tuesday and passed about 20 bills. But the House couldn't muster a quorum to conduct business. Committee meetings were cancelled Wednesday but since the House wasn't able to meet on Tuesday, that burned a legislative day on Wednesday.

"We can plan for many things, but the weather is not one of them," House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said. "As important as our legislative obligations are, at times like these, safety is our No. 1 priority."

State Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, was stuck on Interstate 65 for over 20 hours, reported the Yellowhammer political blog. And Sen. Slade Blackwell, R-Birmingham, helped stranded motorists in his district.

Rep. Greg Wren, R-Montgomery, who made it to the State House on Wednesday, was a ray of sunshine. He was the only representative to answer the quorum call. Wren offered a prayer for his colleagues and others affected by the weather. "My colleagues had to stay at home to care for their constituents and families," Wren told Yellowhammer. "It's an honor to have their backs. I'm sure they would do the same for me."

SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEM SPEAKS ON TBOR II AND IMPORTANCE OF COMMON CORE

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh spoke to the Business Council of Alabama's Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday and addressed Taxpayers Bill of Rights II legislation and Alabama College and Career Ready Standards, commonly known as Common Core.

Marsh, R-Anniston, said he has "no issue" with updating the 1992 TBOR law by passing HB105. (The amended bill is on the Senate calendar for consideration when the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday.) The House passed the bill sponsored by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, on a vote of 97-2.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm ready to bring it to the floor as soon as possible," Marsh said. "There's no holdup on my part."

The BCA on Monday released an action alert asking members to urge senators to pass HB105, move it to final passage, and to Governor Robert Bentley for his consideration.

Turning to education, Marsh said Common Core education standards in math and English enable Alabama to attract new industry whose decision makers want to know if Alabama's schools are teaching common basics and whether potential employees have been well educated.

"One way to get people to come to your state is to convince them we have the skill-set they need," Marsh said. "Common Core is one way to get there."

He asked members of the BCA Governmental Affairs Committee to urge senators not to co-sponsor legislation to repeal Common Core standards.

"That is one issue that should be solved by the state school board," Marsh said, adding that local boards of education "are doing the right thing" by supporting Common Core.

Last week the BCA restated its support for the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards as adopted by the State Board of Education.

The Senate 20-1 on Thursday passed the "anti-patent trolling" bill, SB121 sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. The bill, amended twice, goes to the House Technology and Research Committee for consideration.

The Senate Financial Responsibility and Accountability Committee voted 7-0 on Jan. 22 to favorably report the bill that would prohibit a person or company from asserting a claim of patent infringement in bad faith and would authorize the attorney general to investigate and prosecute enforcement action.

Patent litigation, commonly called patent-trolling, costs businesses billions of dollars that otherwise could be used to grow business and create jobs. The patent-trolling industry buys up or acquires broad patents not to use the technology but to extract licensing fees from companies that might accidentally infringe on the patent.

"Those looking to scam the system and harass businesses out of their hard-earned money are constantly evolving their techniques," Orr said in a statement. "We have to be just as innovative in adapting our state laws to give authorities the tools to stop patent trolling and give businesses a recourse to fight back."

But, said Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, "It doesn't limit the right to file a lawsuit if there is a legitimate patent issue."

Patent litigation has become a significant issue not only to the Business Council of Alabama but also to the Alabama Bankers Association and the Alabama Grocers Association. Similar anti-patent trolling efforts are under way in the U.S. Congress that is reacting partly to a Boston University study showing that the direct cost of the patent abuse system in 2011 was $29 billion. The U.S. House voting 321-95 in December approved federal anti-patent-trolling legislation, the Innovation Act, H.R. 3309.

SB250 by Sen. Harri Anne Smith, I-Slocomb, would mandate public and private health care insurance coverage for breast reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy. This procedure is included in the benefit package of most employers, and is also required under existing federal law, specifically, the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998, which provides that group health plans must provide coverage for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy has been performed. Therefore, additional regulation by our state government is not necessary to meet the needs of patients requiring a mastectomy.

The House Thursday on a vote of 74-9 passed HB88 by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, following its favorable report from the House Commerce and Small Business Committee. The House passed the bill last year, but it failed to make it through the Senate.

HB88 would change the unemployment compensation benefit formula to allow an individual to earn up to one-third of his or her monthly benefit without seeing those benefits reduced. Under existing law, individual who receives weekly unemployment benefits may only earn up to $15 a week from partial employment. HB88 is designed to encourage someone to seek and/or take a part-time job.

According to Rep. Williams, "We want people to work in this state. This is designed to give people the opportunity to work for themselves . . . and allow small businesses to decide if they want to take someone off the unemployment rolls and maybe give them full-time employment."