Ted Little: It's time for the Alabama Senate to grow up

I have two observations about the most recent regular session of the Alabama Legislature. One, it was embarrassing. You deserve better.

And second, it is time for the partisan and political caucus politics to end. The Alabama Legislature, and indeed, the Alabama Senate, must realize that the 2006 elections are over, and temperaments and egos must lessen, so that the people’s work can be accomplished on time.

As you know, the last night of the regular session that ended May 19 was nothing but a filibuster on the education budget, and that budget eventually died. I want to explain how this happened.

Because of a shortfall in revenue, the education budget cut more than $300 million from our schools, colleges and universities. Higher Education wanted $25 million more for universities and colleges. The leadership in the state Legislature said there was no more money to give except for conditional appropriations.

So, a 14-hour filibuster began.

I am a tireless supporter for our colleges and universities. Their presence in our communities and my Senate district is critical to our regional economy. I fought hard for our district and for Higher Education. But at a certain point, a compromise has to be reached rather than killing the session without an education budget.

In the end, we could not get the extra cumulative amount of $25 million in firm money for Alabama’s 16 colleges and universities. S,o at 10:30 on the night May 19, the last legislative day of the regular session, with the education budget near death, it was time to stop the filibuster. At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to all levels of education.

I joined 16 other Democratic senators to end the daylong filibuster and save the education budget. But we needed one more vote, an 18th vote to accomplish that. Of the remaining 18 state senators, not a single one voted to end the filibuster on the State’s education budget. That’s how the education budget died.

I did what I thought was the responsible thing to do. I fought for Higher Education and lost. It was time to end the struggle and vote for an education budget. One that was not perfect, but one that, in order to be fiscally responsible, had to cut the budget of all levels of education. Because we did not pass education budget, other important legislation, like the food tax cut and immigration reform also died.

I have never seen anything like this in my career. The Legislature is in gridlock. Fights never end, battles continue for months, all in hopes of scoring political points in the next election. That’s not what you sent us to Montgomery to do. We were hired to work for you, not to go to Montgomery and play political games.

We did have important accomplishments. During this session, the state Senate passed a new college savings program that is now law, and we increased funding for the children’s insurance program, protected senior citizens and increased Medicaid funding by $150 million, and we passed the General Fund budget. We also passed a crackdown on sexual predators and a smoking ban in public places, but both pieces of legislation failed to pass both houses of the Legislature.

As you can see, good things happen when we work together. I dedicate my service to ending the political games that plague the state Senate and the Alabama Legislature.
I will reach out to members of both political parties. It is time to work for the people of Alabama.

Ted Little is a state senator representing District 27.