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Growing constitution
Constitutional rewriters say the Alabama constitution is bloated
with inane amendments and gives some examples. Rewriters never say what section in the Alabama Constitution requires
an amendment to accomplish the inane tasks.
Consideration is never given for the fact that maybe a
politician wanted an amendment for person reasons and not that an amendment was actually required.
What section of the Alabama Constitution requires that
a constitutional amendment is necessary before Limestone County can dispose of dead farm animals and to excavate
human graves?
What section of the Alabama constitution requires an amendment
to the constitution before Mobile County can control mosquitoes and rodents?
The same question must be asked for every inane amendment
mentioned in the article below.
An amendment a day keeps insomnia away
If you set aside a day to read each section and amendment to the Alabama Constitution of 1901, it would take almost
three years. While that kind of pace may not sound like such a tough chore, keep in mind that the amendment creating
the state's wilderness preservation program is longer than the U.S. Constitution.
All of this assumes, of course, that the Alabama Constitution wouldn't grow while you were reading it, which is
a lousy assumption. In its 100 years, Alabama voters have tacked on more than 700 amendments in an effort to overcome
the constitution's willful straitjacket on state and, especially, local governments.
The constitution's effect has been disastrous, as illustrated in News reporter Thomas Spencer's story Sunday, 100
years after the document's drafters were meeting. Their malevolent handiwork has led to some truly inane amendments
that either undo what the constitution had done, or do what it won't allow governments to do.
Some examples:
Amendment 482 grants Limestone County the power to dispose of dead farm animals and to excavate human graves.
Three separate amendments give Mobile County the ability to control mosquitoes and rodents.
Amendment 558 allows schools to award trophies or plaques to teachers.
Amendment 497 gives Jefferson County the power to control overgrown weeds and the accumulation of junk cars and
trucks.
Amendment 688, passed last November, bans prostitution in unincorporated areas of Jefferson County.
In fact, at least 181 amendments authorize higher property taxes for city and county governments and school districts;
121 give more power to counties and cities to deal with local problems; 15 allow bingo in specific counties and
cities; 63 allow local control of court costs and compensation of local employees, which the constitution mandates
must be uniform across the state; 51 exempt local governments from the ban on working with private companies toward
economic development.
As cumbersome as these amendments have made the Alabama constitution - it's 40 times longer than U.S. constitution
and more than 11 times longer than the average state constitution - the overall length isn't its main problem.
Rather, the restrictions that force local governments to seek legislative help through constitutional amendments
and local legislation doom state and local governments to inefficiency, especially as they attempt to deal with
21st-century problems hamstrung by a 19th-century document.
It's not efficient for a county commission to have to ask a lawmaker to sponsor a bill in the Legislature that
would allow a county to pick up dead animals, and run the risk that lawmakers don't approve the bill or that voters
could defeat it at the polls. Nor does it make sense for the Legislature to spend so much of its time on issues
better handled by county commissions.
It's at least as inefficient as trying to read the constitution a section or amendment a day.
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