Archive for: March 2007

Who said it? No hints. And no cheating!

I advocate hatred of no man, because hate will only compound the problems facing the South.

No cheating. Guess in comments.

Taken by Brian
Botanical Gardens
Huntsville, AL

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Last year Rep. John Knight (D) was the primary architect of the Knight-Lindsey Plan, which finally brought Alabama’s lowest income earners from tax hell to tax purgatory. The bill increased the tax threshold so that families of four don’t start paying taxes until they make more than $12,400. Before that, families of four paid taxes if they made more than $4,600.

Knight wants to continue his plan this year. He apparently wants it to remain revenue-neutral for the Alabama government. This means that if he cuts taxes somewhere, he’ll have to raise taxes somewhere else. If he’s cutting taxes for the poor, he may have to raise taxes for the wealthy. That’s not popular in many circles, but it’s hard to argue against it in Alabama. According to aladems.net, the proposals include:

1. The Knight Plan will remove the 4-percent state portion of the grocery tax, leaving Mississippi as the only state with a state tax on groceries with no rebate. ($300 million lost revenue).
2. The Knight Plan will expand the standard deduction to $10,700 for all couples and index it to inflation. Middle-income Alabama couples now have a standard deduction of only $4,000 – the same it’s been since 1982. ($188 million lost revenue).
3. The Knight Plan will expand the dependent deduction to $2,000 for every child, no matter what the family’s income is. Having the same deduction for every child will make our tax code more simple and fair. ($90 million lost revenue)
4. Remove the tax deduction for federal income tax. Alabama is one of only 3 states that still offer this deduction. It mostly benefits the top 1% of tax payers who will see an average of $9,425 in extra taxes. The middle fifth of taxpayers will pay an extra $66. ($540 million in extra revenue)

If these numbers are correct, the plan would still lower taxes to all Alabamians by a total of $38 million. So there’s less taxes for everyone by removing the grocery tax, less taxes for everyone by increasing the standard deduction, less taxes for everyone by increasing the dependent deduction. More taxes for the richest by removing the federal income tax deduction. I’d like to see a percentage of who will actually end up paying more in overall taxes if you consider the amount everyone will be saving from groceries and the deductions and the amount a few will be paying by taking away the federal income tax deduction.

I’ll need to see some numbers from a more unbiased source before I sign onto anything, but I think I can dig this.

Alabama Improper has awarded me a meme. I didn’t know what a “meme” was, so I looked it up and it is apparently some sort of term referring to an internet fad. Here are the rules, apparently:

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!

Sounds like a bunch of emails I get. So I’ve got to pick 5 bloggers that make me think.

1. The Alablawg
2. Birmingham Blues
3. Doc’s Political Parlor and Home of Lawnmower Repair
   
4. Give Me the Booger
5. Alabama Elections

I had to throw Alabama Elections in there even though it’s defunct because it’s the sole reason I started this blog. And it was because I sat back and thought, “Man, I’m not the only person who obsesses over the minutiae of state politics.” It doesn’t mean I don’t like the rest of you, but these are blogs that have had several posts that made me sit back and think about it for a little while. That’s pretty rare for me.

Earlier this week I guessed that Senators Erwin, Dixon and Byrne were able to refuse their pay increase because the extra $20,000 or so a year wasn’t that big of a deal to them. I admitted that I didn’t know for sure, but I said it was possibly because they were independently at least well off. It’s easy to be “principled” when you can afford it.

After checking into some files from the Alabama Ethics Commission via The Center for Public Integrity, I found the following information. Many thanks to Susan for pointing me to this resource:

• Bradley Byrne reported over $200,000 in income from professional services last year. It is likely much more, up to a half million from reported sources. The $20,000 pay raise isn’t likely to hurt him.

• Larry Dixon’s report is harder to read because most of his income was from the state government for his work with the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, so it only shows that he made more than $10,000 from that source. He did, however, claim between $10,000 and $20,000 a year in interest and dividends, so he has a few hundred thousand in income-earning assets. He also has over $250,000 invested in real estate in Orange Beach. He doesn’t seem to be hurting for money.

• Hank Erwin, however, doesn’t seem to be rolling in the dough. His only government paycheck comes from the Alabama Senate. He made a little side money with the Save America Foundation and some contracting work, but not more than $20,000. He even seems to owe a few ten thousand dollars, so he could probably use the money.

I want to make it clear that I’m not saying these guys aren’t making a statement just because they can afford it. I’m just saying that, before they get all high and mighty about how they are the only senators so far to refuse the pay raise, they should consider that not every senator and representative can so easily dismiss $20,000 in annual income.

Except Hank Erwin. It should be obvious that I’m not usually a big fan of his outlook on life, but this has really shown me that he’s serious about what he believes in. The Ethics Commission report doesn’t tell all, but it looks like he’s making a serious sacrifice for his principles. If I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t have done that.

Damn, Senator Hank Erwin impressed me. You guys should frame this and hang it up.

Now you have no excuse. Just to make it easier for you to find your House (and Senate) member, here’s an easy form where you can put in your zip code and get your legislators’ numbers. Remember, the House vote is Tuesday, so be sure to call that person and tell them that you support consumer choice in chosing their beer. You want them to vote FOR HB195. It lists emails too if your member has one published.

UPDATE: Form is now Disabled, but you can go to the Search by Zip Page via the Alabama legislature.

Free the Hops!

The following is a message sent to Free the Hops members. I am reprinting it here with permission. I am calling Rep. Robert Bentley right now.
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Supporters of FTH,

I have great news across the board.

As many of you probably read in the Birmingham News or the Huntsville Times last Thursday, our House bill (HB195) passed the House Tourism committee on March 21st. And now today, our Senate bill (SB211) passed the Senate Tourism committee. A bill’s passage through committee is a critical step in the process to becoming law.

But the biggest news I have to announce is that our House bill has been put on the calendar for a floor vote this Tuesday, April 3rd. That means Tuesday will be the single most critical day in the history of Free The Hops. Our bill must pass a vote in the House to become law. If HB195 passes the floor vote Tuesday, it will then proceed to the Senate, where it will go through a Senate comittee before being voted on by the full Senate body. At which point we expect Governor Riley would sign it, and all your favorite Trappist ales and American double IPAs will hit the shelves of fine retailers across the state.

Hopefully I have conveyed how pivotal Tuesday, April 3rd is for the FTH campaign. It is absolutely crucial that everyone who gets this newsletter calls his or her Representative before the House convenes Tuesday morning. Please have a conversation with your Rep. If you can manage an email too, do that as well. Even if you have already written and/or called, you need to do it again now. If you already know your Rep supports our bill, call to thank them for their support, and tell them you are looking forward to seeing the passage of the Gourmet Beer Bill reported in the news Tuesday evening. If you know your Rep is opposed to our bill, call and politely convey that as a voter you hope they’ll reconsider. Make sure they understand the bill will bring a better selection of expensive gourmet beer, and that 46 other states already have these beers available. And the data proves there is no link between the availability of these beers and underage drinking. NO LINK. They are too expensive and the flavors are too strong.

There is a vocal anti-alcohol opposition that will be making a last-ditch effort to stop our bill from passing. They will be making phone calls and personal visits to members of the House in an attempt to convince them HB195 is bad legislation. Their only argument is that the beers we’re trying to legalize will appeal to underage drinkers. That is simply not true, and we have the data to prove it. Please see http://www.freethehops.org/UnderageDrinking.php if you haven’t already.

We need the phone calls and emails from supporters of HB195 to drown out the phone calls from the anti-alcohol opposition. Make your voice heard, and Wednesday morning you can enjoy reading about The Gourmet Beer Bill being sent from the House to the Senate.

It’s time to liberate beer in Alabama.

The following link will help you identify who your Representative is:
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/house/house_zipsearch.html

Danner Kline, President

I know most people probably don’t care about the beer bill quite as much as I do, but the leader of Free the Hops, Danner Kline, is telling me that the Gourmet Beer Bill just passed its Senate Committee and has been placed on the House calendar for Tuesday!

Free the Hops!

Some other committee updates from yesterday, according to the AP:

• Troy King’s crime package bills cleared a House committee. See Wheeler’s post to learn more about Troy’s Package.
• Another House subcommittee discussed, but did not vote on a bill which would legalize midwivery in Alabama. See Demopolite’s post to lern more.
• Another House committee cleared a bill that would keep the Presidential preference primary on the same date of February 5, but would allow Mobile and Baldwin Counties to vote early to avoid Mardis Gras. I guess no one else voting in Alabama gets to go to Mardis Gras next year.
• The same committee cleared a bill which would require write-in candidates to follow the same financial disclosure rules as ballot candidates. Maybe they should let them on the ballot if they have to follow the same rules.
• The House Public Safety Committee continues to delay a vote on letting cities put red light cameras on the streets. Good.

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• Loretta Nall links to this post with Alabama Bloggers Roundup 

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk on the House floor lately about transparency. There are many members of the House from both parties who genuinely desire more transparency within our state government. I believe they include Rep. Jeff McLaughlin (sponsor of the pac-to-pac ban) and Rep. Oliver Robinson (sponsor of the pass through pork ban).

It is in the spirit of transparency that I am introducing a simple little bill that would require any state elected official who has another state income (or spouse) the simply report it to the Secretary of State along with the compensation and an exact description of the work performed.

I was fortunate to be able to retire with 25 years as a Trooper when elected, but I certainly would have had not objection to posting my employment on the internet had I not retired. I would have been proud of it.

I can’t imagine why anyone would oppose such a measure. There will be opposition to it, but I’m still naive enough to think this simple bill might stand a chance.

Governor Riley expects legislation to be introduced this week to prohibit legislators from “double-dipping” with the two-year college system.

Riley spokeswoman Tara Hutchison said she wasn’t sure whether the legislation would include a grandfather clause to exempt legislators currently holding college system jobs or require them to choose between the Legislature and their job.

Riley’s move comes in the shadow of ongoing criminal investigations of the two-year college system.

It seems a little bit reactionary, even though it was a Riley campaign promise. But what about people who also work for the Board of Education or a 4-year university? Or any other government agency? As of now, it seems that legislators are happy little piggies in the two-year system, but if you ban that, they’re likely just to move elsehwere. In the meantime, perhaps a few really decent two-year employees who also ran for office will be out of their day job.

I hear there’s another piece of legislation being introduced by a certain other representative that might be a nice compromise.

Doc’s Political Parlor has an interesting write-up about Terry Everett’s US House district. It’s likely to be the only kind of election drama in Alabama for Congress in the 2008 election. If he retires, it will be a very interesting race. If he doesn’t, it’ll just be kinda fun to watch the Democrats try so hard for the only Republican seat in Congress they have a snowball’s chance of scoring.

Three state senators have so far refused the 62% pay increase. Senators Bradley Byrne (R), Larry Dixon (R), and Hank Erwin (R) have opted out of the pay increase as allowed by state law. I guess Senator Zeb Little’s little spat on the Senate floor didn’t reach anyone else.

I know that Sen. Byrne is a practicing attorney in Mobile, which I’m sure brings in some decent money at least. I don’t know about the other two. I know Larry Dixon has some involvement in the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, but I’m not sure how much compensation that involves. I know more about Erwin’s ideology than his paycheck, but he’s got to make some money from the radio show.

My potential point is that these guys might be more able to refuse the payraise than others. Being required to live in one location while working for a few months in another and having a family isn’t easy at $30,000 a year. I don’t want people to get the impression that I’m “pro-pay raise” now, but I really wonder how much of a sacrifice these guys really made in refusing their pay increase.

No House member has yet refused the pay increase. Here’s my disclaimer. If I were in the legislature, I wouldn’t refuse the increase even if I had voted against it.

It looks like the uphill Democratic campaign to oust Jeff Session from the United States Senate is going to start early.

http://www.sacksessions.com

There’s nothing descriptive enough from the domain registration info. to get any information, but I’ll do some checking.

I thought the Huntsville Times was a little premature in calling it last week, but it seems that the Alabama senate has indeed been officially “shut down” by the Republicans. Just a quick question — I wonder what these same senators were saying about filibusters last year when when the US Senate was going through essentially the same thing and the Democrats were using stalling tactics.

Either way, it’s hard to call it anything but shut down at this point. Yesterday, they were only able to pass a $32 million supplemental appropriation for the Enterprise schools. The majority wasn’t even able to move enough votes to get a bill up to a vote most of last week – they kept falling short of a BIR to even vote on legislation. Except for some procedural action and some “feel-good” resolutions congratulating people, the senate seems to be dead.

Senate Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem (D) is supposed to be working out a compromise between the two sides so they can operate, but so far the majority Democrats (Lowell Barron in particular) don’t seem to be budging on the new rules.

The House passed HB99 yesterday 101-1, which will include a description of “small glass tubes” as illegal drug paraphernalia. The only person who thought this was stupid was apparently Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham). It nows goes to the senate.

Patricia Todd guest blogs at Birmingham Blues. The three other representatives who guest blog — Mike Ball here and Randy Hinshaw and Cam Ward at Doc’s Political Parlor — all voted for the legislation. I guess it’s not bad, but it also just doesn’t seem that important. Why can’t I have a crack pipe if I don’t have crack in it? Maybe they look cool or something, I don’t know.

Taken by Dan
Hurricane Creek
Tuscaloosa County, AL

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Want to participate? Send me your pictures!
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This is a hidden little spot off of a certain highway in the middle of two small towns. Some of the teenagers around here come during the day in the summer to play in the water and see each other in bathing suits. Some also come at night and leave beer bottles, apparently.

Thanks for the concern, but I am not going to be recalled as part of the 1,800 Marine inactive reservists who are being reactivated and sent to Iraq. The Corps has decided to exempt any reservists in their first or last year of inactive reserve status, and I’m in my last year (last 5 months, actually).

Interesting side note, however. While frantically looking for more information after Brian sent me the original heads up, I went to the Marine Corps’ website and started looking at the ALMARs (All Marine Messages) from the Commandant. One of them from the Commandant refers to the “Long War.” So apparently, the Corps is officially using that term as the combined Iraq War / War on Terror. He doesn’t even call it the “Long War on Terroism” like he did in the letter he sent me. Just the “Long War.”

Much of the debate that a legislative body conducts is about money. Where’s it coming from? Where’s it going? How much is going there? Is it enough? Is it too much? How much will the federal / state / county / city / nonprofit / corporate bodies contribute?

So when I saw a bill about some Development Commission for Dekalb County, I just ignored it. There’s all sorts of arrangements where the state gives money to counties equal to some percentage of benefit of something. But on a tip from Don and an al.com forum, I decided to check it out. SB199 is being sponsored by Sen. Lowell Barron (D), and a companion bill is being sponsored by Todd Greeson (R) in the House. It’s a little complicated, but here’s the gist of it.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally-owned power company in northern Alabama. Because the feds don’t have to pay local property taxes on land they own, they instead give the state “payment in lieu of taxes.” Accordingly, the state gives this money back to the counties. Dekalb County gets about $3 million a year this way from the TVA, but in 2006 Barron sponsored a bill that would give Dekalb County a slightly bigger share of the money. So Dekalb County is expected to get an additional $120,000 next year.

This year, however, Barron is sponsoring another bill that creates a “Community Development Commission” for Dekalb County. The sole purpose of this commission is to expend funds from the “Community Development Fund” for Dekalb County, also created by the legislation. This fund is to be funded from two sources:

1. The extra money that Dekalb County is getting from the TVA because of Barron’s legislation last year, which will be around $120K next year
2. Dekalb County’s proceeds from the state beer tax, which isn’t much

Dekalb County is a dry county, but Fort Payne allows alcohol sales. The county only gets about $5,000 a year as their share of the revenue.

So a special commission will be formed to spend $125,000, which is just a little more than pocket change in government. “Why can’t the local government just get this money like they do now?” you may ask. Well the answer is in who gets to appoint the 3-person Community Development Commission:

1. Sen. Lowell Barron (D)
2. Rep. Todd Greeson (R)
3. Probate Judge Ronnie Osborn (R)

A majority of the commission is appointed by the two state legislators from Dekalb County, Greeson and Barron. Instead of allowing the county commission spend the county’s extra money, the state senator and representative get to. I guess it’s the best of all worlds for them. If Barron and Greeson gave the money to the county, they wouldn’t get any publicity when they spent it. If they gave it to the state, they would have to get the entire legislature to approve all of their pork. This way, they can spend the money themselves, essentially paid for by the county but without their input and without obstruction from the other legislators.

Does this remind anyone else of the older version of Community Service Grants? The older version gave each legislator “discretionary funds” to spend in his or her own district, but were declared unconstitutional by the Alabama Supreme Court a couple years ago.

The bill loosely defines what the commission can spend money on:

1. Economic development
2. Education
3. Conservation
4. Fire protection

It sounds like they already have an idea about what they want to do. The only purpose this ridiculous legislation has is to shift power of funds from the local government to a two- (maybe three-) man show. There’s no way this benefits anyone else except these three people. They get the benfit of publicity when spending money on education, conservation or fire protection, and the benefit of paybacks for spending money to help businesses with “economic development.” And of course there’s the benefit of controlling large amounts of money.

And why would they include the beer tax money? Maybe Barron and Greeson are banking on increasing legalization of beer in Dekalb County. There’s really not much more reason why they would want to include the $5,000. I don’t know anything about Dekalb County, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that another municipality was wanting to legalize alcohol sales.

The bill passed a Senate committee last week. Its companion House bill is still in committee.