InnerPolitics: 928 Amendments and Counting!

928 Amendments 

and Counting!

November 6 is quickly approaching and I've been thinking about how I am going to vote.  Plus, I'm voting absentee since I will be in Illinois on Election Day.  I've pretty much made up my mind on who I'm voting for when it comes to the major races.  I'm still deciding on the local elections.  

There are sample ballots for every Alabama county on the Alabama Secretary of State website at this link:  SAMPLE BALLOTS.  We live in Jefferson County, so I clicked on the link and was amazed to find that are 350 pages of sample ballots just for our county!!!  At 2 pages per ballot - you do the math!

And YES there are proposed amendments to our famous state constitution on the ballot.  I searched Google for all of 30 seconds and it looks to me like there are currently 928 Amendments to our state constitution which is 44 times longer than the U.S. Constitution.  Some of those Amendments repeal other Amendments, but you get the picture.  We will be voting YES or NO on  4 proposed statewide amendments.

Charlton Heston and The 10 Commandments

Proposed Amendment 1 - The Ten Commandments  

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, providing for certain religious rights and liberties; authorizing the display of the Ten Commandments on state property and property owned or administrated by a public school or public body; and prohibiting the expenditure of public funds in defense of the constitutionality of this amendment. 

This Amendment comes to us from State Senator Gerald Dial representing Lineville and Clay County.  You can find the full text of the bill HERE.

Personally, I think if we are going to post The Ten Commandments, then we ought to post all 613 found in the Old Testament and require every legislator to memorize and recite them on a Sunday morning at their local house of worship.  But, then again, why put everyone through that ordeal of listening to yet another politician.  I have to ask myself why in Heaven and on Earth we need this Amendment.   The full text of the Bill (see the link above) says that the commandments:

 ...shall be displayed in a manner that complies with constitutional requirements, including, but not limited to, being intermingled with historical or educational items, or both, in a larger display within or on property owned or administrated by a public school or public body.

I added the underline because this says to me that we are going to now allow something that is already allowed and we are going to do it like it is supposed to be done.  We need a bill and an amendment for that????

And what about the part that says that no public funds can be spent defending the constitutionality of the amendment.  This sounds to me like a bill and an amendment to get somebody re-elected except I looked and Senator Dial is not running again.  I guess bottom line on this one for me comes from former Alabama Republican candidate for Governor, Bill Hightower, who said he would rather see the Ten Commandments written on someone's heart than on a wall.

Proposed Amendment 2 - Recognizing the Sanctity of Unborn Life

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended; to declare and otherwise affirm that it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful; and to provide that the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion. (Proposed by Act 2017-188)

Matt Fridy from the Alabama House of Representatives District 73 in Shelby County brought us this proposed amendment.  Apparently, there is nothing in the Alabama State Constitution about the sanctity of unborn life and no language that relates to abortion or funding of abortions using state funds.  This bill would put it in the constitution and make it the public policy of the state.  This amendment does not attempt to ban abortion or make it a criminal offense to have an abortion.

If you want to know my views on the sanctity of life, you have to ask me at St. Matthias.  Having absolutely nothing to do with my stance on the moral issue, I have to wonder again, do we really need this amendment or is it just another example of election-year legislation?   It doesn't seem to accomplish anything, but it also doesn't cost anything. 

I did look at Mr. Fridy's website and would encourage you to do the same at MattFridy.com.  He and his wife have 5 children and they attend a Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Montevallo where he serves as an Elder.  He is a lawyer in Birmingham.

Proposed Amendment 3 - University of Alabama System Trustees

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, relating to the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, to specify that the congressional districts from which members are appointed continue to reflect those as constituted on January 1, 2018, to remove the State Superintendent of Education from membership, and to delete the requirement that members vacate office at the annual meeting of the board following their seventieth birthday.

This amendment comes to us from a group of State Senators.  It was passed without dissent in both the House and the Senate.  It accomplishes 3 things that all make sense to me. 

1. It keeps the representation based on current congressional districts.  In 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to redraw congressional district lines which would impact the makeup of the Trustees.  Why go through all that hassle when the 2 really don't have much to do with one another.
2. The State Superintendent of Education is an ex-officio member and rarely attends.  Makes sense to me to take 1 more meeting off the Superintendent's schedule.  
3. The amendment will also abolish the 70-year-old age limit in the State Constitution.  The Trustees have already the extended the age limit to 75 years old (not sure how they did that but I didn't take the time to look into it).  This just catches the Constitution up with current practice.

The only opposition I could find to the bill was from the folks who want us all to vote NO to every amendment.  I definitely think we need a new state constitution, but not changing the current one makes no sense to me.

Proposed Amendment 4 - Legislative Vacancies

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of 7 Alabama of 1901, to provide that, if a vacancy in either the House of Representatives or the Senate occurs on or after October 1 of the third year of a quadrennium, the seat would remain vacant until a successor is elected at the next succeeding general election. 

This does away with special elections (and the cost) when there is less than a year before the next regularly scheduled election.  It passed by large margins in both the Alabama House and Senate.  I can't find any opposition to the bill.

There is at least one local amendment on the ballot impacting Homewood, AL but I will leave that one to the folks who live in Homewood.  I will be watching the election results from Illinois.  Take the all of 15 minutes required and VOTE on Nov 6.