On Wednesday, the Legislature sent SJR 97 by Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, to the governor. It highlights the egregious federal overreach from the Environmental Protection Agency in the north Birmingham community.

This BCA-supported resolution calls on the Alabama congressional delegation, governor, attorney general and Alabama Department of Environmental Management to continue combating the EPA's "novel and overbroad air deposition theory" to justify a Superfund site in north Birmingham. 

It is clear that this theory is being used to unfairly target Alabama businesses and advance political and social agendas rather than instituting fair environmental regulatory policies that are authorized by federal law.

As the resolution states, "EPA's broad air deposition theory would allow EPA to order businesses to clean up hazardous contamination within an indefinite area before proving that the business was actually responsible." It calls on the EPA to "refrain from acting outside of its statutory authority in North Birmingham, Tarrant and other communities in Alabama, and specifically to abandon its questionable 'air deposition' theory of CERCLA liability."

BCA has been on the front-lines calling out the EPA for initiating a series of new broad regulations (without proper authority) that have the potential to cost Alabama businesses and citizens millions of dollars and lost jobs. 

Read more about BCA's environmental advocacy in these blog posts:

BCA Testifies at EPA Hearing on Carbon Emissions

New EPA Rule Will Threaten Manufacturers' Competitive Advantage

Business Council of Alabama Expresses Concern Over Proposed EPA Clean Air Act

EPA Releases Final Water Rule That Threatens Private Property Use

BCA to EPA, Corps of Engineers: Ditch the Proposed WOTUS Rule

The House on Thursday passed SB 270 by Sen. Slade Blackwell, R-Birmingham. The bill would prohibit vision care service insurers from limiting a vision care provider's ability to set fees for services and materials, from participating in specific vision care plans, and from choosing sources of suppliers in certain circumstances, among other provisions.

The House then passed SB 296 by Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman. It would prohibit a private insurer from being able to set costs of non-covered services of a dental provider for its contracts with those providers.

These bills were two of 10 introduced this session that stipulate certain provisions in health care contracts. They went to the governor for consideration.

Another bill, SB 483 by Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, known as the Pharmacy Audit Integrity Act, had a public hearing this week. Similar to other bills, this would alter the contractual arrangements between providers and in this case, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, which work on behalf of employers and consumers to manage the costs of prescription medicine.

Employers of all sizes use PBMs as a tool to stretch their premium dollars and ensure quality of care for their workers. SB 483 would make significant changes to existing law by restricting the audit process for PBMs to monitor cost, efficiencies, and appropriate dispensing practices. 

No action was taken on the bill, but Marsh encouraged parties to work together between sessions.

The Senate on Thursday gave final passage to HB 352, the restrictive covenant bill by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa.

Restrictive covenants, like non-compete clauses, are found in contracts between businesses and their employees, business partners, buyers and sellers, and others. This bill would replace existing law with a more specific list of protectable interests and presumptively reasonable restraints on length-of-time and geographic area.

HB 352 and its companion SB 367 sponsored by Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, originated with proposals by the Alabama Law Institute. The ALI supports these bills because of the lack of clarity in Alabama law on these types of restrictive covenants.

A bill was sent to the governor that would require a municipality altering its police jurisdiction to notify businesses and individuals affected by any annexation or de-annexation.

HB 377, by Rep. Ron Johnson, R-Sylacauga, would further limit change to a police jurisdiction to once a year, on Jan. 1. A municipality must provide public notice of the change in police jurisdiction online and in a newspaper, along with a map of the new municipal and police jurisdiction limits. The notification requirements should help businesses avoid unexpected liabilities for local taxes and fees.

HB 135, the General Fund budget by Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, passed the House and Senate, but Governor Bentley vetoed it. The House overrode the veto; however, because the Senate had already adjourned on Thursday, the veto stands, and the 2015 session ended with no general government operating budget.

A special session is guaranteed, probably in August, for legislators to craft a new budget with or without funding between $200 million and $250 million just to level-fund government operations in the 2015-16 Fiscal Year.

HB 135 did have three categories of conditional appropriations totaling $208 million, which would have shored up state agencies only if the additional revenue materialized.

The House on Thursday voting 69-23 passed the Simplified Sellers Use Tax Remittance Act sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Daphne. The House had substituted SB 437, so it returned to the Senate where the upper chamber approved it, sending it to the governor.

The House on Wednesday voting 61-38 passed a bill that would help reduce the shortfall in the General Fund budget for Fiscal 2015-16 when one eventually is passed. SB 216, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, would authorize state agencies, boards and commissions, other than the Alabama Public Service Commission, the Alabama Banking Department, and State Parks, to increase fees they are authorized to charge and keep the money for operations.

The affected agencies may or may not receive funding from the General Fund, but in all cases can collect fees that are earmarked to fund their operations. Any fee increase will be tied to the Consumer Price Index for the last 10 years or to when a fee was last increased, whichever is a shorter time period.

Any increase will be capped at a maximum of 2 percent per year. The bill also would authorize an agency to review their fee structure once again in five years and make necessary adjustments.

SB 475, by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Daphne, which would have removed the exemption of local government road and bridge projects from the contractors' gross receipts tax, did not receive final passage in the House. The bill would hold harmless current recipients of the tax revenue and distribute additional revenue, presumably due to the removal of the exemption, as gasoline and fuel tax revenues. The Alabama Department of Transportation would have received 45 percent and cities and counties 55 percent.

In the final week of the legislative session, the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee voted not to give HB 416 a favorable report. The BCA-supported legislation, sponsored by Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, would have given a port credit, if approved by the Alabama Renewal Commission, to users of Alabama's publicly owned ports based on qualifying increased cargo shipments.