Everyman Chronicles: Rewriting the Constitution of Alabama 1901

February 27, 2006

Rewriting the Constitution of Alabama 1901

If passed in state legislature, HB 109 and SB 52 would call for a vote in November's general election in Alabama this year on holding a new Constitutional Convention to rewrite the state's current Constitution. The current Constitution of Alabama 1901 is one of the longest Constitutions in the world with 772 amendments. There are two organizations at the heart of this call for a new convention, Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR) and Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM). According to ACCR's website the current Constitution is flawed for the following reasons:

1) Home Rule Alabama is the only state in the southeast that deprives counties of local control, forcing county governments to seek legislative approval for even the most mundane of matters, including leash laws, rodent control, billboard regulations, court costs, and fire protection, among others.
Our state legislature spends nearly 50% of its time debating local issues, and over 70% of our constitutional amendments apply to a single city or county. Doesn't it make more sense to let local governments deal with local problems?

2) Tax Fairness
The current constitution forces our poorest citizens to pay a disproportionate share of their income in taxes. For example, the wealthiest one percent of Alabamians pay about 4% of their income in state taxes, while the poorest fifth of our citizens pay nearly 11%.

Moreover, Alabama families begin paying income taxes after just $4,600 in earnings, the lowest threshold in the nation. By contrast, Mississippi does not begin collecting income tax until a family makes more than $19,000 in a year.

Alabama is one of only a handful of states that still collects sales taxes on groceries and non-prescription drugs.

3) Economic Development
The 1901 Constitution prohibits state and local governments from participating in internal improvements or economic development activities. Over 50 amendments allow various governing bodies different powers to promote economic development and invest in infrastructure projects, but the original provisions that put a straightjacket on economic development are still there.

As a result, the restrictions apply fully in some counties, partially in others, and not at all in still others.

4) Budget Flexibility
On average, most states earmark 22% of their revenues; Alabama earmarks nearly 90%. This gives the governor and the legislature very little flexibility to match available resources with the most pressing needs, particularly when revenues fall short. For example, our state's education budget has faced proration eight times in the last 17 years.

5) Constitutional Length
Alabama's constitution now has 743 amendments (including amendments dealing with bingo, mosquito control, catfish, soybeans, dead farm animals, beaver tails, and prostitution), while the national average is 116. The constitution itself is easily the longest in the nation and is 12 times longer than the typical state constitution.

6) Principles of Democracy
The main objectives of the framers of the 1901 Constitution were to remove the voting rights of African-Americans and poor whites in Alabama while centralizing power in the hands of a few special interests in Montgomery.

These goals were achieved with astounding success. By 1903, the number of African-American citizens registered to vote had dropped from 181,000 to less than 4,000, and over 40,000 white citizens had lost their right to vote as well.

Although the infamous voting restrictions of 1901 were overturned by federal courts, evidence of this embarrassing legacy still remains in our Constitution today, and the centralization of power remains as strong as ever.

In a nutshell the key here is the redistribution of wealth and more government control over personal property. The ACCR and GBM have gone out of their way to point out that too much power is vested in our state's capitol, Montgomery, and is prone to misuse via special interest groups. It is worth noting, that through simple internet searching, these organizations have themselves received a large amount of funding through outside sources. So what is truly behind this? It appears to me that a new Constitution would serve no purpose other than to exchange powers between different special interest groups. It would result, if these groups had it their way, in higher taxes as well as loss of property rights in order to further special interest "economic development."

Freddie Patterson sums up why we don't need a new constitutional convention quite well:

We oppose any type of constitutional change by convention. A convention, as some say occurred in 1901, could produce a constitution much less desirable and would require a take-all or leave-all vote. An article-by-article approach presented to the people for ratification would be more easily understood and more widely accepted. Some articles may not need to be and should not be revised. When all of the changes using this method are finished, then the entire, newly revised constitution could be adopted by the people.

Although the bill was not considered in the House because of a 7-7 deadlock vote by the House Constitution and Elections Committee it still has life because of a 10-0 vote in favor by the Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Election Committee.

I urge all Alabama residents to write their representatives and encourage them to vote against this bill. You can contact your representatives via the Alabama Legislature Search.

Tags: Alabama constitution, Alabama, politics, news, property

Linked to: Don Surber, Blue Star Chronicles, Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Bloggin' Outloud

Posted by everyman at February 27, 2006 11:51 AM | TrackBack

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February 27, 2006

Rewriting the Constitution of Alabama 1901

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