Months of debating and filibustering gambling bills forced the 2008 Alabama legislative session to end as many predicted, with "a lot of good pieces of legislation" and the education budget left hanging in the balance.
"We didn’t do that well on getting good legislation passed" like bills dealing with proper registration of sex offenders and locks on the vehicles of those caught driving under the influence, said Dan Ireland, retiring executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP).
One major casualty of the session was Senate Bill 229, sponsored by Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile. It would have banned smoking in workplaces and other public facilities. The Senate passed the bill April 30, but it didn’t make it through the House.
"I think the gambling bills dominated entirely too much attention and tied up a lot of good legislation," Ireland said.
In the future, he hopes legislators will "see the handwriting on the wall and quit giving priority to gambling and liquor bills and pass legislation that’s for the good of the people and helpful to the whole state."
Still Ireland was pleased with this year’s legislative session as far as what ALCAP accomplished.
From the faith community’s perspective, "we fared quite well on the moral issues in preventing bad legislation, including several gambling and alcohol-related bills," he said.
While legislators passed a $2 billion General Fund budget before the regular session ended, they still had work to do on the education budget, which will require a special session.
At press time, the governor had not announced dates for the special session. (TAB)
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