Local laws could hang in balance depending on amendment outcome

When voters take to the polls Tuesday, there will be several things to consider.

In addition to the presidential and congressional elections, as well as a few circuit and district judge races, Alabamians have to vote on 14 amendments to the state constitution, covering a range of topics including impeachment, age restrictions for officials and the allocation of state park funds.

Of those amendments, Amendment 14 could have a direct impact on dozens of municipalities around the state.

“Everybody in the state will be impacted by this amendment one way or another,” State Sen. Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) said. Ward was the sponsor of the bill that was passed during the August special legislative session that brought about the vote.

Ward explained that the bill comes from an inconsistency between the state House of Representatives’ procedure and the state constitution regarding the required majority to pass a local bill before the state budget is passed.

In December 2015, a Jefferson County court ruled that the process itself violated the constitution. That decision is currently in the appeal process and set to go before the state Supreme Court, but should the court let the ruling stand, nearly 700 local laws would be “thrown out” due to a technicality, Ward said.

The amendment would rectify the procedural inconsistency, and would grandfather in any past local bills that would otherwise be affected.

“Every county in the state has some sort of local bill that would be affected by this,” Ward said.

Bills as far back as 1985 could be considered unconstitutionally passed, and any local laws affected would have to go back through the state Legislature in order to be back on the books.

For Homewood, that would include the 2001 ad valorem tax increase that helps fund the school system, as well as several county measures, including how the transit authority is set up and the countywide occupational tax.

The vote on the amendment will take place during the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8.