Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover polling place March 2016
Michael Pepper and his family exit the election polling place at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Hoover, Alabama on March 1, 2016.
When voters head to the polls early this month, there will be several things to consider.
In addition to the presidential and congressional elections, as well as a few circuit and district judge races, Alabamians have to vote on 14 amendments to the state constitution, covering a range of topics including impeachment, age restrictions for officials and the allocation of state park funds.
Of those amendments, Amendment 14 could have a direct impact on dozens of municipalities across the state.
“Everybody in the state will be impacted by this amendment one way or another,” said State Sen. Cam Ward (R-Alabaster). Ward was the sponsor of the bill passed during the August special legislative session that brought about the vote.
Ward explained that the bill comes from an inconsistency between the state House of Representatives’ procedure and the state constitution regarding the required majority to pass a local bill before the state budget is passed.
In December 2015, a Jefferson County court ruled the process itself violated the constitution. That decision is in the appeal process and set to go before the state Supreme Court, but should the court let the ruling stand, more than 600 local laws would be “thrown out” due to a technicality, Ward said.
The amendment would rectify the procedural inconsistency, and would grandfather in any past local bills that would otherwise be affected.
“Every county in the state has some sort of local bill that would be affected by this,” Ward said.
Bills as far back as 1985 could be considered unconstitutionally passed, and any local laws affected would have to go back through the Legislature in order to be back on the books.
For Hoover, that would include the 1998 ad valorem tax increase that helps fund the school system, the 2015 alcoholic beverage provision allowing for entertainment districts within the city and several county issues, such as the occupational tax and the setup of the transit authority.
Hoover school board member Craig Kelley said the impact of the ad valorem tax being ruled unconstitutional would be significant on the school system.
“To suggest to the public that they not vote to pass this I think wouldn’t be smart,” he said.
However, Kelley — speaking of his own opinion and not that of the school board — said he has concerns over the sales tax law that was the subject of the court case. He said that issue is something that will need to be resolved, and that if the tax law could specifically be pulled out of Amendment 14, he would suggest voting against it.
The vote on the amendment is part of the Nov. 8 general election.
