Editorial: Worthy legislation left on table

The Alabama Legislature’s 2009 general session can’t be viewed as a disaster as in some years.

Time didn’t expire without an education budget, as it did last year. Votes weren’t cast by some sneaky legislators for House members who weren’t actually there. And there weren’t any punches thrown, though Mother Nature landed a shot below the belt with a State House flood last Thursday.

But a handful of important pieces of legislation didn’t make the State House’s final cut and remain nothing more than ideas on paper.

The most disappointing failure of this session was the removal of the state’s 4 percent grocery tax. This bill went before lawmakers four times and was defeated four times. Alabama is one of few states in the nation to implement such a tax. One would think this regressive tax would be lifted to help those less fortunate financially. Lawmakers disagreed.

It’s about time judges in this state were elected on merit and potential alone rather than running under the flag of a political party. Judges are supposed to be impartial. Then it makes no sense to have judges run in politically partisan elections. Judges should not be influenced by the wants and desires of their party. Judges should not be Republican, Democratic, conservative or liberal. Judges should be fair. A bill to run judges in non-partisan elections failed in Montgomery. That’s too bad.

A bill was introduced to strengthen the state ethics law and limit the amount lobbyists can spend on public officials. We wouldn’t want the men and women making the state’s rules bought by special interest groups, would we? Whether or not they are influenced by lobbyist gifts, the perception of being influenced is bad in itself. Legislators don’t seem to mind and defeated the bill.
Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, is a fighter. She gets knocked to the floor, gets up and battles again. Her legislation to restrict smoking in certain public places has been beaten in Montgomery for 11 years running. We expect Figures to introduce similar legislation next time. We hope it passes, but aren’t holding our breath.

The state’s Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Plan is in trouble. A bill proposed to use state tax dollars to help the system and give more high school graduates a better opportunity for higher education without a higher price tag. Legislators snubbed their noses at it. Perhaps an altered version of the bill can find success in the future. Education is the key to success. We can’t afford for our children not to be able to afford college.

The Legislature got much accomplished this spring. We anticipate even more the next time around.