LWVAL logo gif Advocacy Positions of the League of Women Voters of Alabama:  
The Practices and Procedures of the
Alabama Legislature

Published November, 2006
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this paper.		 The League of Women Voters of Alabama recommends changes in the organization and operation of the Alabama Legislature to be considered by the new Legislature, beginning in its Organizational Session on January 9, 2007.  The recommendations are based on a three-year study of legislative practices and procedures; they embody League member consensus after studying objective research and debating alternatives. 

The Alabama Legislature: Facts and Issues, previously published by the LWVAL Education Fund, offers an objective account of League’s findings on eight issues studied. All legislators have received a copy of this publication.  It is available in hard copy from admin@lwval.org or at  www.lwval.org/legstudy/factsandissues/.  The complete advocacy positions adopted in 2006 and summarized here may be seen at www.lwval.org/positionslwval.html.


Position Statements

I.   The Legislature should be independent of the Executive Branch and strong enough to function effectively as a co-equal branch of government.  To maintain a separation of powers, the internal leadership of the House and the Senate should be elected by the membership of each chamber.

On the division of Senate leadership between the Lt. Governor and the President Pro Tempore, no specific recommendations are made.  The League agrees with those who propose research and a review of the 1999 decision.  The goal is to establish a sound policy for the institution without regard for which party holds a majority.


II.   The Committee System
The committee system, which is the core of the legislative process, should receive continuing attention to preserve existing strengths and eliminate weaknesses.

A.  Greater emphasis should be placed on committee jurisdictions.
  • Clear definitions of jurisdictional lines for each committee.    
  • Bill assignment based only on committee jurisdiction.
  • Greater weight in committee assignments for members’ expertise in the subject areas of the committees.      
  • Adequate support in the form of legal advice and non-partisan objective research to enhance the committee members’ expertise.
Potential Impacts
  • A more effective committee system in the Senate and balancing of Senators’ workloads by removing overlapping jurisdictions and reconsidering committees that meet infrequently.
  • Increased capacity in both chambers to evaluate bills on their merits through an exchange of views among more knowledgeable committee members.
  • Opportunities for members to develop expertise independent of lobbyists. 

B.  Committee Procedures

Each chamber should define committee rules in writing and ensure the rules are enforced.  Rules should include
  • Timely notice of meeting times, locations, and agendas to be posted on the Internet for use by both legislators and the public
  • Provisions for votes only in an open meeting, for accurate vote counts, and for roll call votes to be posted on the Internet.
  • Mechanisms for members to call committee meetings if the chair does not.
  • Open committee meetings to ensure public access to deliberations.
  • Provisions like those used by the House in the 2002-2006 legislature to achieve more representative committee membership with regard to race, gender, and party ratios within the chamber.  
According to legislators, such rules existed in the 2002-2006 legislature but some were not consistently enforced for various reasons.

C.   Increased interaction and shared accountability between committee chairs and members should be encouraged.  Committee chairs should be chosen by the committee, without regard to party affiliation. 


III.  Legislative Support: Research and Staffing   
  • A nonpartisan office of public policy research should be established to provide legislators with objective research on which to base public policy decisions.  It should address non-fiscal topics for committees and chamber leadership following the model of support by the Legislative Fiscal Office in fiscal matters.  One independent office should serve both chambers.   
  • Funding for the nonpartisan policy office and additional clerical support should first be sought by a thorough examination of all current legislative funding and a possible reallocation of those funds.
  • The Legislative Fiscal Office, which is nonpartisan and highly trusted, should be maintained. 
  • Objective legal advice, now provided to selected committees by the Alabama Law Institute, should be available to all committees.
  • Adequate clerical staff should be provided for members in Montgomery.
  • The staff for all legislative support offices should be non-partisan and professional. 
Potential Impacts
  • Confirming the  legislature’s commitment to informed and objective decision- making
  • Meeting a need expressed by 81.3% of lawmakers in the League survey for more objective analysis of existing circumstances and the projected impacts of proposed legislation.
  • Providing the nonpartisan staff preferred by 85.3% of legislators surveyed.
  • Enabling a part-time, citizen legislature to perform more effectively during its sessions.  Experts find nonpartisan offices of policy research successful in a majority of states with varying legislative structures, but regard them as especially valuable for part-time, citizen legislatures. Alabama legislators requested more objective information but not longer sessions.
  • Permitting the Legislative Reference Service to focus on its primary job of drafting legislation.
  • Permitting legislators to address their individual, partisan or special interest considerations with the benefit of objective information.  
  • Coordinating spending for policy research. It is now increasing on an ad hoc basis, sometimes by lump sum grants without established criteria to individual legislators, committees or caucuses.   
  • Promoting the effective and accountable use of state funds through a NOPR that can ensure the qualifications of researchers and access for the entire legislature to research funded by public money.


IV.  Legislative Budgets

To promote the informed participation of legislators and the public, the Legislature should post legislative budgets on the Internet, including the specific amounts budgeted to and spent from the following:
  • Funds for each chamber, the leadership, and the various standing Committees
  • Discretionary fund monies disbursed by the House and Senate leadership
  •  Discretionary funds under members’ control.

V.  Lobbying and Ethics

Concern about the influence of lobbyists was expressed by legislators in interviews with the League.  Lobbyists play an important role in the transmittal of information to legislators, but regulation of lobbying is necessary in order to prevent corruption and instill public trust.   The League, therefore, supports the following regulations:
  • A ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers because campaign funding and the threat of its withdrawal are major lobbying tool that may result in undue influence.
  • A substantial reduction in the $249 a day a lobbyist may spend on every legislator without disclosing the expenditure.
  • Procedures to ensure new clients of lobbyists are registered more promptly.
  • Funding of staff for the Ethics Commission to enforce the regulations.

Potential Impacts
  • The change could promote public trust by addressing the widespread belief that interest groups are too powerful in the legislature.  Alabama is ranked as one of five states with “Dominant” interest groups: “those states in which groups as a whole are the overwhelming and consistent influence on policy making.” 
  • Disclosure is one means of preventing undue influence.  With a disclosure threshold of $249 per day per legislator, quarterly reports by lobbyists most often require no information beyond checking a box to report that the threshold was not reached.



Related Legislative Topics Without
Specific Recommendations 

I.  Local Legislation
No changes in current procedures for handling local legislation have been recommended to solve the problems reported by local governments.  The generally-accepted solution, which LWVAL strongly supports, is for the legislature to permit localities to solve more of their local problems at the local level and free the legislature to address state issues more completely.  

II.  Parties and Caucuses
No specific recommendations are offered for changes in the operation of parties and caucuses.  At present a majority and a minority leader are to be appointed.  Each leader or a designee serves on every standing committee. Each caucus makes it own rules, subject to the general rules of the legislature.  The impacts of stronger parties and caucuses cited in interviews included:
  • Negative:  the danger of partisan gridlock 
  • Positive:   challenges to the most powerful lobbyists 
The improvements recommended for the committee system, which include an emphasis on jurisdictions, establishment of a nonpartisan policy research office and increased attention to balanced representation on committees, could affect how relationships between parties and caucuses develop.

III.  Citizens and Legislators
Both legislators and citizens seek better communication.  Citizens who wish to influence legislation should educate themselves about the legislative process.  The League is committed to promoting informed citizen participation.  Its web site,  www.lwval.org, offers an appendix to The Alabama Legislature: Facts and Issues that explains how to follow the progress of legislation during each session on the Alabama Legislative Information Service on Line (ALISON) and other information during the session.

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