R-Columbiana, has been working for the passage of this bill. Once signed into law, the legislation will require criminal background checks and fingerprinting to be conducted on all teachers, janitors and other employees of public and private schools who have unsupervised access to children. Background checks and fingerprinting have been required of new teachers since 1999.
“Families can rest a little easier knowing that the state is doing everything possible to provide a save environment for their children while at school,” Armistead said. “It simply never made any sense to me that we would not require the men and women who spend most of each school day with our children to have a thorough background check.”
“The passage of a bill requiring criminal background checks for current employees of public and private schools in Alabama is among the best legislation passed in the last decade,” Armistead said. “Because of the … frequency of accusations involving the sexual abuse of children, I believe the Legislature was finally persuaded to act.”
And, with the passage of SB 91, Alabama Baptists will soon see a better return on the investments made in the Baptist Foundation of Alabama.
The legislation dealt with expanding investment opportunities of nonprofit foundations. A similar bill was passed in 1992 that applied only to educational foundations, according to Barry Bledsoe, president of the Baptist Foundation of Alabama, who says he is thrilled that the bill was passed.
“When this bill becomes law it will allow the Baptist Foundation to utilize more modern investment applications and to adopt a spending policy as well,” Bledsoe explained, adding that over the years investment strategies have drastically changed.
“The reason we needed to get this bill passed was so that not just educational foundations — but all foundations in Alabama would be allowed purchasing power of their annual distributions. This way the purchasing power of the annual distributions can be held steady over the coming decades,” he said.
“This is a great thing for the Baptist Foundation as well as other foundations in Alabama,” he added.
Other bills followed by The Alabama Baptist include several alcohol-related bills, legislation for and against gambling and the clean indoor air bill.
Legislation focused on alcohol failed on four counts:
Sunday liquor sales in Tuscaloosa
Alcohol sales at a private golf club in dry Limestone County
Population requirement for a municipality in dry Cherokee County to be lowered
Lower the population requirement from 7,000 to 2,500 to enable a municipality in a dry county to conduct a wet/dry election.
In regard to video gambling bills, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Anniston, sponsored HB691 which would prohibit video gambling machines in Calhoun County. Although the bill passed the House, it never made it to the Senate.
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, pushed a constitutional amendment through that would allow the Town of White Hall in Lowndes County to permit charitable bingo. This will be voted on in November.
And once again, the valiant effort by Ireland to get a clean air bill passed into law in Alabama failed.
“We’ve been trying for 14 years to get this billed passed and once again it never made it to a vote,” Ireland said. The bill would ban or limit smoking in many enclosed public places in Alabama. According to Ireland, Alabama is the only state that does not have a Clean Indoor Air policy.
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