Current and Upcoming Legislative Issues

Alabama Policy Institute

 

Reform of Alabama's state constitution is an issue that is being pushed to the forefront of the political debate, and has raised some serious questions in the minds of Alabamians. We hope the following questions and answers will prove helpful to you.

1. Is the Alabama Constitution a racist document?

In its present form, the state constitution is not a racist governing document. While it is true that the original 1901 state constitution was a racist document, the same argument could be made about the original United States Constitution. The U.S. Constitution not only allowed slavery, but also as part of the compromise between the Northern and Southern states for ratification, slaves were only counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation. In addition, women were denied the right to vote. Yet no one is claiming that the U.S. Constitution is a racist document that needs to be replaced. Using racism to embarrass Alabama citizens into accepting demands for a new constitution is divisive and counter productive.

2. Will changing the constitution improve our education system?

Not necessarily. Those that think replacing the constitution will improve education believe that education funding would dramatically increase. As study after study has shown, there is no definite link between increased funding and improved academics. However, if a new constitution required that only competent teachers and principles be hired and retained; that local school boards be allowed greater flexibility in the management of their resources including the option to contract out non-academic services; that parents were given the option of choosing private education for their children and could receive a tax credit to help cover their expenses; and that rigorous standards were established, taught, and tested-then we could say that a new constitution would help improve education in Alabama.

3. What can we do about the length of Alabama's constitution?

Actually, the process of reducing the length of our constitution has already started. During the last legislative session the Alabama House and Senate passed Joint Resolution 88 which authorized the total recompilation of the entire state constitution. When this process is finished, all obsolete, irrelevant and unconstitutional amendments will be removed. In addition, all local amendments, which account for 70 percent of the 706 amendments, will be removed and placed into an appendix and listed by the counties to which they apply.

4. Some have said the Alabama Constitution is too old; is that true?

There are always people that think that the time-tested principles that our forefathers adhered to are out of date and old-fashioned and many of those people are leading the push to get rid of our constitution. There are at least 11 other states with older constitutions than Alabama's, including the constitution of the state of Massachusetts which was written by John Adams. The U.S. Constitution is 110 years older than Alabama's and hardly anyone would want to see it cast into the dust bin of history. In some respects our constitution has a more eloquent declaration of the rights of the people and a clearer explanation of the proper role of government than the U.S. Constitution. We should make sure these principles remain, and even more, make sure we adhere to them.

5. What about the issue of home rule; shouldn't local governments have more flexibility when it comes to local issues?

We support expanded home rule, but not total local autonomy. Local government, particularly counties, need more control over the allocation and management of the resources provided by the state with the state conducting audits to maintain accountability for the use of state and federal funds. Expanding home rule in this area would significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of county government as well as reduce the opportunity for politicians to use resources for political advantage, or worse, for personal gain. Home rule should have some limits in respect to the ability of local government to impose tax increases on the people or burden the people with one tax referendum after another. The rights of property owners is also a major concern that seems at this point best left under protection of the state Legislature.

Clearly, expanding home rule will have a very beneficial impact by freeing up local government to tend to local needs in a more timely manner. Local government officials should have the opportunity to allocate and manage their resources according to their priorities and not according to politics. Finally, expanding home rule in this way would eliminate the need for local amendments being added year-after-year, and would allow the removal of 70 percent of the existing amendments.