JANUARY 9, 2018 — Legislators return to Montgomery today for the fourth and final regular session of the current election cycle. Representatives and senators convened at noon to handle ceremonial matters such as the introduction of bills and resolutions. Later tonight, they will gather in the Old House Chamber to hear Gov. Kay Ivey give her first “State of the State” address. Slated to last about 30 minutes, the governor’s speech will likely focus on her education initiative, “Strong Start, Strong Finish,” as well as on Alabama’s economic development successes since she became head of state last April.
From rank-and-file legislators to those in leadership positions, many representatives and senators have publicly stated that they expect this session to be short and non-controversial. By starting so early in the year, legislators have the opportunity to end the session before the end of March (it must, by law, end no later than April 23), giving many of them ample time to go home and campaign for reelection for the 2018-2022 quaddrennium.
In such a short session, passage of the state’s two operating budgets, the Education Trust Fund (“ETF”) and the State General Fund (“SGF”), will become an even larger priority than usual. Luckily, it appears that for the first time in many years, both budgets have healthy balance sheets. In fact, Alabama Finance Director Clinton Carter, publicly stated as recently as last week that each budget may have more than $200 million in additional revenue, a direct result, he said, of Alabama’s healthy economy. On the ETF side, additional funds will likely be earmarked for the state’s highly successful pre-K program, while on the SGF side, look for both the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Department of Corrections to receive larger appropriations than in the past. Additionally, legislative leaders are hinting that public employees, including education employees, may receive a pay raise in this year’s budgets.
While the desire for a short session might speed up the passage of the state’s operating budgets, it likely drastically slows down, or altogether pauses, legislative work on more controversial issues that have dominated discussions over the past 12 months. For example, there is a concerted effort among some legislators and special interest groups to increase the state’s gasoline tax and divert new revenues to much-needed road and bridge projects. More than likely, however, a slow session during an election year makes passage of this initiative nearly impossible. In fact, many predict that such a measure will only gain traction in 2018 if the Trump Administration releases an infrastructure plan that is dependent upon state-provided matching funds. Also, federal courts are closely eyeing the state’s focus on mental health programs for Alabama’s prison population, as well as whether our prison system has adequate facilities. Solving these issues takes time and money, so look for legislators to study these problems more closely once session has concluded.
On the banking front, the association’s legislative focus will, as always, be on (1) ensuring that credit unions do not become public depositories, (2) guarding the State Banking Department’s funds from being used for other state agencies, and (3) protecting the banking industry’s tax position relative to other industry sectors.
More information about particular pieces of legislation will be forthcoming in future issues of Capitol Notes, which we plan to publish each Friday during the legislative session. Generally speaking, Capitol Notes will be emailed to a select group of contacts on Friday and then made publicly available on the association’s website. If you’d like to make sure you’re receiving Capitol Notes, or if there is someone in your organization who would like to get a copy, please send their email address to ABA Vice President of Legal and Government Affairs Jason Isbell at jisbell@alabamabankers.com.
