Capitol Connection
April 17, 2015

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IN THIS ISSUE
Police Jurisdiction Bill Passes Senate and House Committees
Senate Passes Education Trust Fund Budget
Boothe Named Chairman of Water Policy Committee
Lee County Women's Leadership Committee Visits State House
Bills at a Glance
Police Jurisdiction Bill Passes Senate and House Committees
Rep. Ron Johnson, R-Sylacauga.
Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville. 
 

A pair of bills requiring municipalities to notify potentially affected citizens of proposed annexations passed state Senate and House committees Wednesday, April 15.

HB377, sponsored by Rep. Ron Johnson, R-Sylacauga, passed the House County and Municipal Government Committee. SB325, a Senate companion bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, passed the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee.

The bills address "lasso annexations." A lasso annexation is when a municipality lassos property not bordering its previous boundaries.

"A lasso annexation typically occurs when those in a particular area  request to be annexed," said David Cole of the Alabama Farmers  Federation. "However, citizens who are in the police jurisdiction are subjected to municipality regulations and have no say in municipal government because they are not voting residents." Police jurisdiction extends outside municipal boundaries, affecting country residents. 

Cole, state legislative programs director for the House of Representatives, said citizens and businesses have a right to know about any ordinances, license fees and taxes before the annexation occurs.  

HB377 and SB325 would give residents of the police jurisdiction the opportunity to voice their concerns before being annexed. 

The bills would limit municipalities from adjusting police jurisdictions based on annexation or deannexation to once a year. Legislation that allows for a lasso annexation to take place must specify the expansion of the police jurisdiction and the requirements associated, create a notice of requirement for ordinance enforcement and allow the municipality to rescind its police jurisdiction of an existing lasso annexation by resolution of the city council.

HB377 and SB325 await votes in the House and Senate, respectively. 

Senate Passes Education Trust Fund Budget 

The Alabama Senate approved the Education Trust Fund budget Tuesday, April 13. 

The $5.9 billion budget included funding for Career Tech and various programs important to agriculture and rural Alabama..

Notable changes include $461,350 for the University of Alabama at Huntsville Rural Medical Health Program, a 54 percent increase; $350,000 for the Poultry Technology Center at Auburn University, a 28 percent increase; and the Auburn University/Gadsden State-Cherokee 2+2 poultry program, a newly-funded item, received $100,000.

The Senate budget included $5 million for Career Tech Operations and Management and $3.26 million for the Career Tech Initiative. Both received level funding from last year. 

The budget also increased funding for the hiring of 70 more 7th- and 8th-grade teachers, textbooks, higher education, school buses and operating expenses for local school systems and expansion of Alabama's pre-kindergarten program.

The budget now goes to the House of Representatives.

Boothe Named Chairman of Water Policy Committee 

  Rep. Alan Boothe, R-Troy, was elected chair of the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy & Management at its meeting Tuesday, April 14.

Boothe thanked committee members and former chair Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, for his leadership. He said Alabama is blessed with the most important resource in the world.

"Every day I step in the State House, I see the rivers that crisscross Alabama on the Great Seal," he said. "That's a reminder to me, and I think everyone in the Legislature, of just how important water is to our state. I'm thankful for the trust my colleagues have put in me, and I look forward to protecting Alabama's No. 1 resource."

Other committee members are Vice Chairman Orr; Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville; Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville; Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton; Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro; Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Auburn; Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa; Rep. Mark Tuggle, R-Alexander City; Rep. Bob Fincher, R-Woodland; Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa; Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Demopolis; Rep. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay; and Rep. Jack D. Williams, R-Vestavia Hills. 

Members will serve on the committee for four years. 

Lee County Women's Leadership Committee Visits State House 

Members of the Lee County Women's Leadership Committee visited Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, and Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, Wednesday, April 14.  

 From left are Barbara Whatley, Brenda Reese, Jamie Lazenby, Hubbard, Carol Clements, Ann Whatley and Federation Area 7 Organization Director Preston Roberts. 
Bills at a Glance
 





The Senate reconvenes at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 21.   
The House reconvenes at 1 p.m. the same day. 

 For questions or comments on newsletter content, email:

 Matthew Durdin - State Legislative Programs Director for the Senate

or

 David Cole - State Legislative Programs Director for the House 

 

For distribution questions or media inquiries, email:

A.J. Watson  - Ag Communications Specialist

 
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