Constitutional Convention Bill Bites the Dust

In what has become and annual tradition, a bill that calls for allowing Alabamians to vote on calling a constitutional convention made its way to the Alabama State Legislature this session.

Each year it advances a little farther in the legislative process.

This year the bill, HB308 sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, made it to the floor of the House for the big dance on the fourth to the last day, only to have its' toes stepped on.

The bill failed to get enough votes to get past the budget isolation resolution, or BIR.

The purpose of the BIR is to force lawmakers to tackle their constitutional responsibility of passing operating budgets to pay for the state's expenses.

Lawmakers, however, often use the BIR as a political weapon to hold up, or kill legislation.

Though the House has passed both its' versions of the General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets, they must still pass the BIR because the Senate has not passed those budgets and transmitted them to the governor.

For the call to convention bill to have made it to final passage, it would have needed three-fifths, or 60 percent of total members voting, not the full 105 members.

The vote was 46 to 44 against passing the BIR. There was one abstention, four members not voting and 10 absent.

Calhoun and Talladega counties' delegations voted as follows:
Boyd--Yes
Fite--No
Wood--No
Hurst--No
Johnson--No
Lindsey--Yes

Speaker of the House Seth Hammet, D-Andalusia, also voted against the bill.