Week 3

March 21 - March 25


Spring Break is a nice time of year. We go from the hustle and bustle of the legislative session, to a one week hiatus where everything suddenly stops. Phones stop ringing, emails stop pounding the inbox, and people stop walking into the office. Life goes from 100 mph to 0 in no time flat. It’s nice, even if it is just for a little while. Well, that time is over now and the legislature has been back in session for a full week.

The week started off with the House of Representatives passing a bill that is not only important to small businesses, but it is sponsored by Shelby County’s own Representative April Weaver. HB 61 is part of the Republican Party’s Handshake with Alabama package that was promised during the 2010 campaign. The bill allows small business owners and their employees to deduct 200 percent of what they spend on health insurance premiums from their state income taxes. This plan is designed to make healthcare more affordable and therefore more available to small businesses and their employees. The bill will now move to the Senate.

Senator Cam Ward of Shelby County also passed SB 26 out o the Senate this week. The bill allows for any Alabama resident that is on active duty in the military and in a combat zone or a qualified hazardous duty area to be exempt from paying state income tax. This is the least our legislature can do for those among us fighting for our freedom around the world.

Back in December, our state legislature convened for special session that focused on ethics. However, as we all know, there is much still to be done in the area of ethics in our state. On Thursday, Representative Mike Ball was able to pass HB58 in the House of Representatives. This bill that creates further transparency by requiring public officials to report state, county or city contracts with the Ethics Commission has been worked by Representative Ball for several years.

In my last update, I gave a mention to the repeal of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). There was more action this week as the bill went the governor and was sent back with an amendment that would extend the date of enrollment. This amendment was adopted and should give the bill more legal validity in the court system.

Another bill of interest also passed the House of Representatives this week. Until now, if any of us went to the polls on Election Day, we could show any form of identification, including a utility bill or bank statement. However, we will now have to show photo identification proving who we are in order to vote. The hope is that HB 19, sponsored by Representative Kerry Rich and supported by Secretary of State Beth Chapman, will cut down on voter fraud across the state.

In the end, it was a very productive week. There was a lot of committee work also done this week and while I seem to have left out the Senate. they were busy working on legislation also (including DROP). I promise to give the Senate a little more love next week. Until then have wonderful week.