August 26, 2015
Many would argue, and indeed numerous surveys indicate, that Alabama is one of, if not the most, conservative states in America. I would argue that if that is true then our Alabama legislature is reflective of their constituents.
A good many of the online and remaining large city daily newspapers castigate our super majority Republican legislature as ultra right wing uncaring crazies that pass ludicrous social issue fanatical bills that are blatantly unconstitutional. They also say that they have taken an ostrich approach to facing the state’s financial crisis in favor of sticking to their no tax pledges. However, I would argue that they are representing their constituents’ beliefs and concerns. These left-leaning modern day journalists have never run for nor could they get elected to any public office in Alabama.Read more
August 19, 2015
Last week we discussed the legendary story of Aflac. Three more remarkable business success stories are just as magnificent. Again, all three of these companies are Alabama born and raised fairytale ventures.
Alfa is Alabama’s largest property and casualty insurance company. Today, Alfa employs more than 2300 people and has almost 450 agents in Alabama. It has 229 offices in Alabama, with an office in every county.
Alfa and its affiliates provide insurance in 11 states and has more than a million policies in force. Alfa is also Alabama’s leading provider of life insurance with $27 billion of life insurance on the books.
Alfa was formed out of necessity less than 70 years ago. The Alabama Farmer’s Federation was established in 1921 to help farmers garner political power. During the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s which spanned the Great Depression and economic catastrophe, Alabama farmers found it impossible to get fire insurance to cover their homes and barns. In 1946, the Farmer’s Federation formed a fire insurance company. Farmers put up $11,225 to start their own company. The rest is history.
Liberty National Life Insurance Company was founded in 1900 in Birmingham. During the next 60 years, it became the greatest business success story in Alabama insurance lore. As late as the 1960’s, Liberty National had more life insurance policies on Alabamians than every other company in the world combined. It became one of Birmingham’s biggest businesses. It had a dominating presence on 20th Street with a gigantic bronze replica of the statue of liberty on top of their distinguished building. The company had so many Alabamians insured for their burials, they figured they might as well own the funeral homes too. So in 1944 the company formed Brown Service and established ownership in most of the funeral homes in the state. In the 1970’s Liberty National acquired Globe Life and created Torchmark Corporation as a holding company.
Liberty National was founded by Frank P. Samford. Mr. Samford was born in Troy in 1893. He was the son of a judge and a grandson of Governor William J. Samford. He graduated from Auburn in 1914.
Frank Samford became very wealthy as the President of Liberty National for over 30 years, especially from his stock ownership in the company. A good many of his associates and business partners also gained tremendous wealth throughout the phenomenal grown of their Liberty National stock. Mr. Samford gave so much of his wealth to Howard College in Birmingham that the school he endowed moved to the beautiful campus in suburban Homewood. The school Samford University is named in his honor and rightfully so. He and Liberty National stock paid for the gorgeous elite private college in Homewood.
Another magnificent Alabama business story has been EBSCO. The company is named after its founder, Elton B. Stephens. Thus, EBSCO is an acronym for the founder Elton B. Stephens.
Elton Stephens was born and raised in the small Barbour County hamlet of Clio. Remarkably he and George Wallace were raised in Clio during the same era. So arguably it could be said that one of the greatest businessmen in Alabama history and the state’s greatest politician grew up in the same small southeast Alabama village at the same time.
Both Stephens and Wallace sold magazines door to door in the summer to help work their way through college. The idea resonated with Stephens. He started a business selling magazine subscriptions to military bases. Elton Stephens started this business with his wife Alys Robinson Stephens in 1944. Now, 70 years later, EBSCO is a global company with nearly 6000 employees and 50 different companies operating in 23 countries. It has a tremendous diversity of business interests, which include information services, publishing and digital media, outdoor products, real estate and manufacturing.
EBSCO is one of the state’s largest private companies. When Elton Stephens dies in 2005 at age 93, he was one of the wealthiest men in America. He was listed as the 66th wealthiest person in the country with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.
However, he is best known for his magnificent philanthropy in his later years. Some of his gifts included the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center at UAB, as well as the Elton B. Stephens Science Center at Birmingham-Southern. He gave $15 million to revive the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. The Stephens family is also responsible for developing the futuristic eco-friendly pristine developments of Mt. Laurel in Shelby County and Alys Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
See you next week.
August 12, 2015
There is a very iconic company founded in Alabama that has made state, southern, national and international history. It is an insurance corporation known as Aflac.
Aflac is one of the greatest success stories in American business lore. Although it is headquartered on Alabama’s border in Columbus, Georgia, we in Alabama claim it as our own because its origins are in Coffee County, Alabama. Indeed, Alabama has always had the highest number of policyholders per capita within the tremendous Aflac clientele base.
Growing up in Alabama it seemed that everyone I knew owned an American Family Life Cancer policy. From the beginning of the company they had a reputation for paying their claims like Roscoe. Their remarkable reputation for paying claims instantly and without reservation spread by word of mouth throughout the state and region. Word of mouth is still the best form of advertising, even if you have an iconic duck.
Aflac truly enjoyed a stellar reputation in the Heart of Dixie. That reputation of superlative claim service still prevails with the company. I saw this legendary claim service first hand when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She had numerous American Family Cancer policies. A lady named Maggie Allen had sold everybody in Pike County a policy or two. It seemed like my mother received a check a day for years without ever filling out a claim form.
Aflac was founded 60 years ago in Enterprise, Alabama. The founding fathers were three brothers with the last name of Amos. The oldest brother, John Amos, formed the insurance company in 1955. He was a lawyer and a visionary. He is responsible for expanding the company and turning it into the major insurer in Japan.
Bill Amos was the middle brother. He was the nuts and bolts inside man. He was the operations guy who knew how to keep company costs down even while growing exponentially.
Paul Amos was the younger brother. Paul was the salesman. He pioneered a unique selling technique. While most insurers sold policies individually, Paul improvised the idea of cluster selling at worksites. Instead of making presentations to individuals, the Aflac sales representatives went to companies and made sales pitches to groups of employees. Today most of Aflac’s United States policies are bought through payroll deductions.
In 1964, the company changed their official name to the American Family Life Assurance Company and in 1969 it adopted the acronym Aflac. A few years later they went to one of the top advertising agencies in New York to make a significant national ad buy. They came up with the duck that quacks the word “Aflac.” It has become the company’s famous and humorous symbol. It has made Aflac one of, if not the best known insurance companies in the world.
Paul Amos started his career as the sales manager for Alabama. Aflac has continued this practice of making an Amos the director of sales for Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. It has become a tradition that an Amos ancestor will eventually rise to the top of the ladder at the company. However, their first job is as a salesman in Alabama.
Paul Amos passed away last year at 88. His son, Dan Amos, is Aflac’s chairman and CEO. Dan Amos has been at the helm of Aflac for over two decades. He has overseen remarkable growth and profitability. He has moved Aflac into a worldwide leader in the insurance industry. Aflac today has grown into a giant that insures more than 50 million people and has $121 billion in assets. It has 185,000 agents nationwide.
That is not bad for a trio of good old far reaching and big thinking Alabama boys. Even as big as John Amos dreamed, it is doubtful that even he could have imagined the magnitude of what he and his brothers, Bill and Paul, started 60 years ago in Enterprise, Alabama.
If the Amos brothers were alive today, they would be proud of their company and also proud that an Amos still runs their company – quite admirably by the way.
See you next week.
August 05, 2015
The junior college corruption scandal, which occurred around 2006, was one of the worst white collar crimes in Alabama’s history. This highly publicized federal probe of the state’s two-year college system sent a lot of people to jail.
Roy Johnson, the then director, orchestrated one of the most sensational, brazen, flagrant and pervasive robberies imaginable. Johnson justly was sentenced to ten years in prison and was court ordered to pay back $1.4 million in restitution to the state.
Johnson and his cronies were guilty of creating bogus jobs, fake scholarships, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, phony employment and mail fraud. There were several institutions within the junior college system that were pilfered and used for criminal vehicles. One of Johnson’s conduits was the State Fire College in Tuscaloosa. The fire college was raided by the FBI. People were arrested and people went to jail. It was a very corrupt system.
Now, a decade later, nothing could be further from the truth. The Alabama Fire College is one of the greatest comeback stories in our state’s political history, and it is a story worth telling. Boasting a new director since 2007, one who has been baptized by fire, Allan Rice, a former firefighter, has done what he does best – put out fires.
Since becoming an independent agency from the two-year college system, Rice and the Alabama Firefighters Personnel Standards and Education Commission and staff of the fire college have put out lots of fires to get to where they are today. They have streamlined their budget, while increasing the number of students served by 112 percent.
There is no arrogance or executive privilege at the college, just hard work and public service. They have overcome a negative reputation and they take very seriously the public trust that has been placed in them. Servant leadership is the example that is set by the staff and the mood there is one of humility, not haughtiness.
Every audit conducted since 2007 has not only been good, but flawless. Because of their sordid past, the college undergoes more audits than the average state agency, but they do not mind one bit and it shows in every perfect audit they get. They have twice as many audits and they pass just that many with perfection and with pride. That is good management and that is the kind of accountability and transparency people want and should demand when tax dollars are involved.
The mission of the Alabama Fire College reads, “Our continuing commitment is to facilitate excellence in education, training, certification and support services for the emergency response community.” In addition to training Alabama’s career and volunteer firefighters, they provide their services to private industry and the U.S. Department of Defense firefighting forces located at military installations around the world. The fire college also operates the most successful paramedic training program in the State of Alabama.
To achieve their mission, they are guided by the pursuit of five core strategies: providing excellent education and training, supporting the Alabama fire service, promoting higher education for the fire service, providing excellent customer service and ensuring stewardship of public resources.
Not only do they conduct training classes in every county in Alabama, they also operate 10 regional offices, 19 regional training and extension centers and provide educational offerings and training experiences to almost 26,000 students in Alabama, other states and foreign countries. Italy, Angola, Japan, the U.K., Canada and Greece are some of the countries that have been served by the Alabama Fire College last year alone.
The Alabama Fire College is an institution of higher education and of servant leadership it is a phenomenal comeback story and a bright jewel in the crown of Alabama’s educational system. Many other agencies could learn a lesson from the comeback story they have written in Tuscaloosa, where putting out fires is what they do best at the Alabama Fire College.
See you next week.
July 29, 2015
During the press conference three weeks ago announcing the historic BP settlement and windfall for the state, Gov. Bentley repeatedly said, “The $55 million a year to the General Fund is fantastic but it will not solve the state’s long term financial woes. It only accomplishes about 12 percent of what we need. We’re still going to have a Special Session to address the need for new revenue and we will call it for late summer.”
Bentley and the Legislature were unable to agree on a General Fund budget during the Regular Session. During the interim the House Budget Committee has been meeting and really working on the budget problems. They have been looking into each department of the state meticulously. They have met extensively with department heads and they have determined that these agencies have been cut to the bone.
The Budget Committee was set to finish their evaluations and offer a solution by mid-August. While legislators were working diligently trying to craft a plan, the Governor back pedaled on his initial $541 million tax package. He said, “Congress’ vote to fully fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program reduces the amount of money needed to balance the General Fund Budget.”
Gov. Bentley totally reversed field and said, “I’ll probably take the budget passed by the legislature and just add items to it and not really change it at all. Just add the spending items to it and then I will probably put in some conditionals to take care of other things like debt payments,” as though he had any say in the budget.
Then out of nowhere the Governor decided to call a Special Session for Monday with no forewarning or plan. It caught legislators of both parties by surprise to say the least. “I’m just flabbergasted. I just can’t believe it,” House Ways and Means Chairman Steve Clouse said. Democratic House Leader Craig Ford said, “I just met with the Governor last week and he said we were going to have a Special Session in mid-August.” Bentley also told Senate Majority Leader Del Marsh and Speaker Mike Hubbard the same thing. These two Republican leaders of the legislature were livid. They expressed their disdain and disregard for the Governor by quickly ignoring the governor and adjourning until August 3.
It appears that the Governor’s only participation in the legislative process during the Special Session will be that he called it. The Governor’s behavior as of late can only be described as bizarre. It is a though he seems distracted. His ability to have any input into the legislative or budget process for the remainder of his term has been diminished significantly. He is essentially been rendered irrelevant in the legislative process. In fact, the custodian in the House of Representatives probably has more legislative influence than Bentley. The legislature will work alone crafting a budget for the coming fiscal year, while Bentley will be relegated to being a lame duck comedic sideshow to amuse them as they try to address the perceived problems of the General Fund.
However, a recent study revealed that Alabama’s financial picture and future is much brighter than most states. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the nation’s leading policy research group, stated that most states face uncertain financial futures, a good many states do not have constitutional balanced budget provisions like we do and most do not have as prudently and properly funded public employee retirement system programs.
The study revealed that the top five states are Alaska, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Florida. The Dakotas, Nebraska and Alaska are flush because of natural resources like oil. Florida rakes in sales tax from tourism.
The states in the worst condition are California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. The worst ranked state was Illinois. There the government has used funds set aside for future pensions to pay for current expenses.
Alabama is ranked the 13th best state in America when it comes to fiscal soundness, planning and spending. In comparison, with surrounding states, Georgia is ranked 26th and Mississippi is 33rd. Louisiana and Kentucky are even worse at 35th and 45th, respectively. The only sister southern states doing better than us are Tennessee at number 8 and Florida at number 5.
See you next week.
July 23, 2015
The week leading up to the Fourth of July had a lot of fireworks. In fact, my guess is that when we look back at the year 2015, we will look to that week as the most momentous of the year. It was like bang, bang, bang.
The declaration by the Supreme Court that same sex marriage is the law of the land may be one of the most monumental court decisions in decades and unquestionably the landmark ruling by the high tribunal this year.
The same week we saw a settlement of the BP case. It was expected and predicted that this verdict would not come down until late 2016 or early 2017. It will be a boon to Alabama’s General Fund, but not a panacea.
Also, the same week Gov. Robert Bentley took down all the confederate flags around the Capitol. This decision may not play well with some arch conservatives around the state, but they cannot retaliate against Bentley. He cannot run again anyway. He did it because he thought it was in the best interest of the state. Gov. Bentley said removing four confederate flags from around the Capitol was “the right thing to do.” He continued, “It’s important that we present an image in Alabama that things are different today than they were in 1963.”
Bentley, who has hung his hat on luring new industry into the state during his time as governor believed that the confederate flag issue could be a determent to potential industrial recruitment. He said he wanted to head off controversy about the flags that might distract from our image and put us in an unfavorable light with corporations around the nation or globe.
Hours after the flags came down, Bentley announced that Google plans to convert an old coal burning power plant in rural Jackson County near Huntsville into a $600 million data center. Ironically, Bentley’s decisive move to remove the flags may be looked on in future years as one of his legacies as governor.
The BP settlement the week of the Fourth of July will go down as a legacy for Alabama. We will reap $55 million a year into our General Fund over the next 18 years. The total settlement will be $2.3 billion for our state. About $1.3 billion will go to environmental restoration along Alabama’s coastal area and $1 billion will go to the state for economic damages.
Although most of the economic loss came in the area of income and sales taxes that would generally go to the Education Trust Fund, legislators have passed legislation to earmark the money to the General Fund. The $1 billion will be paid out over 18 years, which will come to about $55 million per year.
It has been five years since the explosion at an off shore well and subsequent oil spill that killed 11 men and devastated the economy of the Gulf Coast. Alabama was one of five states affected by the BP tragedy. A total settlement of $18.7 billion will be paid out to all of the five states.
Attorney General Luther Strange did a yeoman’s job on the settlement. He headed the entire legal legwork. By foregoing outside legal counsel, he saved the state millions. Other states, like Louisiana, spent over $10 million on outside counsel. The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, early on made Strange the lead counsel on the case.
Attorney General Strange and Gov. Bentley held a joint press conference announcing the historic settlement. Strange said, “I think Alabama has received the very best settlement possible. I think it will benefit future generations of Alabamians.” Gov. Bentley said emphatically and repeatedly that the BP settlement will not solve Alabama’s General Fund shortfall. “This will not solve the problem,” Bentley said, “Does it help some? Yes, absolutely.” When asked if the new money might give lawmakers the excuse to avoid raising taxes or seeking solutions, Bentley said it should not. He emphasized that the BP windfall is not the golden parachute that legislators are hoping for.
“There is a $400 million gap in the General Fund so $55 million would only be 12 percent of that amount and it may not even start this year,” Bentley said. He continued, “I’m always afraid that anyone can make the excuse to take some one time money given in one-time fashion and not solve the real problems of our state.”
A Special Session was called last week even with the BP windfall.
See you next week.
July 15, 2015
A good many of you let me know that you agreed with my column last week when I suggested that stealing from the Special Education Trust Fund budget to resolve the dilemma in the General Fund is not the solution needed during the looming extraordinary special session.
This potential raid on the school children’s and teachers’ money is not the first time that this idea has been suggested. Every time a crisis comes up in the General Fund some governor will try to raid the Education Trust Fund. The most powerful governor in state history tried to do it and now 50 years later Gov. Bentley is testing the water. Believe me, if George Wallace could not succeed at it in his prime when he owned the legislature, Robert Bentley sure cannot do it today.
One of the most legendary battles in state legislative history was between George Wallace and Dr. Paul Hubbert. It was over raiding the Education Trust Fund Budget. It was 1971 and Paul Hubbert took on the Goliath of Alabama politics, George Wallace, and beat him. It was a remarkable David versus Goliath victory that propelled Dr. Paul Hubbert to stardom in Alabama politics. Hubbert became the King of Goat Hill after that monumental conquest.
Dr. Hubbert had become the head of the Alabama Education Association in 1969. The AEA was a toothless social organization run by the school superintendents. Hubbert took over the reins of AEA when he was only 33 years old.
Even though at the time AEA had no financial resources, Dr. Hubbert convinced his teachers to openly endorse Albert Brewer over George Wallace endorse in the legendary 1970 Governor’s race. Brewer led Wallace in the first primary but Wallace pulled out all the stops and ran the most overt racist ads ever used in American political history and overcame Brewer in the runoff.
Wallace became governor again in January of 1970. Wallace believed in repaying his enemies. It was early 1971 and Hubbert had just hired former State Senator Joe Goodwyn to help him politically. Wallace called Goodwyn and Hubbert out to the Governor’s Mansion. He asked Hubbert, “Don’t y’all have about $300 million over in the Teacher’s Retirement System?” Hubbert said, “Yes, Governor, that’s about right.” “Well, you know,” Wallace continued, “federal judge Frank Johnson has ordered us to update our mental health facilities and it is going to cost $35 million, what do you think about us borrowing some of your money to pay for this problem?” Hubbert said, “I don’t mind lending the state the money as long as we get the same return.” Wallace had dropped a hint. Goodwyn told Hubbert after the meeting, “I don’t think you’ve heard the last of that.”
Sure enough, a month later Wallace called Hubbert to a meeting in the Governor’s office. Hubbert’s entry into the Governor’s office was like a gladiator going into a lion’s den. Wallace had the entire House Ways and Means and Senate Finance and Taxation Committees awaiting Hubbert.
Wallace danced up and down the room extolling the need to use the education dollars to support mental health. After the tirade a bold 35 year old Hubbert looked Wallace squarely in the eyes and told him, “Over my dead body.” Hubbert rallied the state teachers like they have never been rallied before.
Wallace continued with his plan when the legislature convened in May. Hubbert bolstered his troops. There were 400 to 600 teachers a day descending on the legislature. Wallace dug in deeper. Hubbert nor his throng of educators backed off. Instead, there were close to a thousand a day coming to Goat Hill.
The legendary Representative Pete Mathews, who was the Wallace floor leader and Ways and Means Chairman, said, “I’ve been in the legislature a long time and have dealt with every kind of pressure group but I have never seen anything like when the teachers found out someone was going to fool around with their retirement funds.”
When the vote was finally taken, the teachers and Dr. Hubbert beat George Wallace in his prime by a vote of 92-9. Wallace called Mathews frantically and said, “Move to reconsider.” Mathews retorted to Wallace, “Reconsider hell, we done lost five of our nine.” That was the day Paul Hubbert earned his spurs.
See you next week.
July 08, 2015
As the legislative session was winding down, it was obvious no solution was going to be found for the beleaguered General Fund Budget. The Governor’s $541 million tax increase proposal had been ignored. Although he still kept preaching that this was the prescription for the ailing General Fund, the good doctor’s prognosis and recommended course of treatment was completely disregarded.
Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh offered a solution in the form of a lottery. It did not get the proper traction, although it only calls for the legislature to vote to let the people vote. Polling shows it would pass, so the dismissal by the Senate is hard to understand. Finally, the House leadership came forward with a hybrid proposal to raise the cigarette tax and a few fees. It never got far.
With three different trains running down the same track it was a perfect storm for a train wreck and that is what occurred. However, late in the session the perennial cry to combine the two budgets was thrown against the wall again without much success.
Alabama has two budgets. The General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets. Neither is well-funded. The reason we have two budgets is that during the Depression Era, Alabama schools were so underfunded that the prisons had better conditions. Third world countries had better school systems. Most rural schools were dilapidated one room schools with no indoor plumbing. Teachers were not even getting paid. They were being given script or promissory notes that they might get paid one day.
A progressive governor, Bibb Graves, came along and created a Special Education Trust Fund budget to see that schools had basic minimum standards and funding. At that time, the only colleges in the state were the University of Alabama and Auburn University. His education plan created teachers colleges at Florence, Jacksonville, Troy and Livingston. Graves convinced the legislature to earmark state sales and income tax for education. Education funding has been able to keep pace with inflation with these growth taxes.
Combining these two budgets has been proposed numerous times over the years. Each time with no success. Governor Bentley floated this consolidation balloon a year ago. It was met with deafening silence pretty much the same way that his tax proposal has been greeted.
Most legislators and their constituents know that public education is not funded properly. To allow the legislature to run roughshod into the education coffers would be devastating to the state. The wall created constitutionally prohibits the legislature or governor from raiding education dollars to pay for the money eating Medicaid monster. Even more importantly, it keeps the state from putting prisoners ahead of schoolchildren. Furthermore, if this legislature or future legislatures fail to fund prisons to a minimum standard, as set forth by the federal courts, it is not only possible but probable that a federal judge could mandate prison appropriations from the state budget that would deprive schools of basic funding in favor of prisoners’ comfort.
The Special Education Trust Fund budget was created for reason. A farsighted governor and even more farsighted legislature believed that education was an important and basic function of state government and that it was important for the future of the state.
During the Paul Hubbert era, teacher salaries in Alabama moved into the top 25 in the nation. In the past five years, with the Republican takeover of the legislature and demise of the AEA, teacher salaries have dropped into the bottom 10 states in America. Our educational spending in Alabama is 48th in the nation.
Our universities used to receive half of their funding from the state. It is now less than 20 percent. Our woefully funded education system could ill afford a raid of its tax dollars.
The governor and legislature need to work together to find a permanent solution to funding the General Fund. Stealing the money earmarked for school children’s basic learning is not a solution to the General Fund’s dilemma. Nobody is going to look back 60 years from now and praise this current group for robbing from the Special Education Trust Fund to pay for prison reform.
See you next week.
July 02, 2015
Last week’s verdict that VictoryLand be allowed to reopen is justice served. The people of Macon County voted for a constitutional amendment to allow for electronic bingo. The issue of pari-mutuel style casino betting and the closing of the ultramodern and successful luxury gaming resort in Macon County has been laid to rest.
There have been extensive studies and articles that crystallize several obvious observations. First of all, gambling or gaming is an extremely profitable venture and it is apparent that most Alabamians and Americans gamble whether it be online, through a bookie or via a lottery. By the way, 48 of the 50 states receive revenue from gambling. Alabama and Utah are the only states that do not.
The glaring question is why in the world would someone pick on VictoryLand when supposedly illicit gambling proliferates throughout the state and nation? Another perplexing question to the average Alabamian is why the Indian casinos are allowed to operate all over the state making millions and not paying any taxes yet VictoryLand, which pays taxes and provides jobs as a resort location in one of Alabama’s poorest counties, is closed.
Finally, after years of legal battles, a court has made a ruling that the machines used to play electronic bingo in Alabama must be returned. Montgomery Circuit Judge, William Shashy, was picked by Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Alabama Supreme Court to hear the case. After lengthy deliberation, Judge Shashy ruled in favor of Macon County. Attorney General Luther Strange has prudently shown that he will allow the local district attorneys throughout the state to choose whether or not they want to pursue closing of other facilities that are open. It appears that VictoryLand will be able to reopen their facility and compete with the Indian casinos for tourists
It is a big win for the people of Macon County. The VictoryLand Resort employed as many as 1,000 people in the county. Judge Shashy ruled properly. In fact, his ruling is the first time a court has actually decided the issue regarding the legality of electronic bingo. Again, Attorney General Luther Strange should be applauded for his independence and honesty. He has stated that it was a “fundamental fairness issue” that the state treat Indian and non-Indian casinos the same.
Under our 1901 Alabama Constitution, counties are given very little authority. Therefore, in order to do almost anything they have to go through a cumbersome process to raise revenue or even perform functions of government. Many times they have to go to the legislature to pass legislation granting them authority and then they further have to have an election and vote on an amendment to the state constitution.
Even though this labyrinth is long and arduous, it does carry the weight of being a part of the Constitution. The people of Macon County, through legislative action and subsequent referendum, overwhelmingly approved their county’s right to have gaming via electronic bingo.
Macon County’s constitutional amendment is different from other counties. They were ahead of the curve and knew exactly what they wanted. Their Representative was Johnny Ford and their Senator was Myron Penn. These men were clearly up front about the kind of bingo machines they intended to use.
As a member of the House of Representatives at the time, I recall Johnny Ford telling me that he had traveled to other parts of the country to see firsthand how electronic bingo worked. They crafted their amendment to have this type of game. Furthermore, in the referendum the proponents made sure Macon County voters knew that their measure focused on electronic bingo. Their intent was made crystal clear in ads, flyers, meetings and media responses in which they informed Macon County residents of their intent. The people overwhelmingly voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, but their constitutional rights have been trampled for more than three years.
VictoryLand is Macon County’s Mercedes, Airbus, and UAB. Hopefully, they can now move on with their lives.
See you next week.
June 25, 2015
Alabama is only one of a handful of states that work out of two budgets. We have a General Fund Budget and a separate Education Budget. Our General Fund is where the severe problem rests. The reason is that the General Fund gets none of the growth taxes so its revenue has remained the same for decades.
The Legislature failed to find a solution during the four month regular legislative session. The new fiscal year begins October 1. Therefore, a summer special session will be necessary.
In the meantime, the Education Budget has passed. It glided through both houses with minimum strife. The almost $6 billion Education Budget increases funding for textbooks by $3 million. It also includes a $10 million increase for the state’s pre-kindergarten program. Colleges and universities are essentially level funded.
The Education Budget does not provide money for teacher pay raises or an increase in funding for their health insurance. This essentially means that teachers will probably see a cut in compensation in the next fiscal year under this Republican budget.
The crisis in the General Fund Budget has been formulating for over a decade. Our current Republican governor and legislature did not create the problems, they inherited them. However, they have done very little to resolve the dilemma.
Instead, they followed the Republican rule book of cutting government and voting no new taxes. Their solution for the past four years has included cutting teacher’s and state worker’s income and benefits. Some folks would say they balanced the budgets on the backs of state workers and teachers.
As the session was winding down, some of the Republican legislators began to come to the realization that they have already cut to the bone and now must do something if Alabama is going to have any semblance of state services.
The House passed a General Fund Budget that most observers and legislators felt was merely a vehicle to drive to see how bad it would sputter down the road. The problem is the jalopy would not even make it to the road because under that proposed budget Alabamians would not have any roads to drive on much less troopers to police them. The jalopy could ramble along potholed state roads without any headlights or taillights and if a local policeman stopped them, the driver could accost the officer without any repercussions because we will not have a functioning court system to try them much less a prison to house them if found guilty.
The Budget passed by the House was referred to very elegantly by House Budget Chairman Steve Clouse (R-Ozark) as a “pig that was hard to put lipstick on.” Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard said that this is not the ultimate budget that will be enacted for the next fiscal year. Hubbard threw in the towel with four legislative days remaining. He said, “I think if we can isolate it during the summer and come back in special session in August is the best scenario.”
This grim reaper budget could be dire for Alabama’s state employees. It is a $1.64 billion budget that cuts about $204 million over the current year’s budget. State workers would not get a pay raise and they would have to pay more for their health insurance. They have not received a cost of living raise in six years and will now see their take home pay cut yet again while their work load continues to increase. The state employee workforce has been reduced by 5,000 people, which is about 15 percent since Republicans took over state government in 2010.
The most dangerous problem with the present budget involves the prison system. Not only would the heralded Prison Reform package not be implemented, the prison population would increase by another 5,400 in our major facilities. This would take the capacity from 200 percent to 226 percent. The federal courts took over California’s prisons at 150 percent which seems to be the top threshold. Sen. Cam Ward, the sponsor of the Prison Reform legislation frustratingly said, “We have just laid a red carpet for a federal takeover of our prison system.”
We will see what a special session will behold.
See you next week.