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May 07, 2008
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State Legislature Kills Hundreds of Bills during Session
Associated Press
2008-05-07 18:00:00.0
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Hundreds of bills have died in the Alabama Legislature because time ran out. Among them is legislation to crack down on performing groups that use the name of a vocal group from the 1950s and 60s, but have no original members and no legal title to the name.
State Senator Bobby Denton of Muscle Shoals sponsored the legislation. He recorded some hits in the late 1950s as a solo act. Denton says he was disappointed that his bill died last night when time ran out for bills to have passed at least one house of the Legislature during the 2008 session. 24 states have enacted laws like Denton proposed for Alabama, but his bill got caught up in stalling tactics in the Senate.
Some of the other bills that died would have ended Alabama's ban on the sale of sex toys, made it a crime to sell the mind-altering plant salvia divinorum, and allowed Alabama voters to decide if they want a constitutional convention.
Hundreds of bills have died in the 2008 session of the Alabama Legislature because they did not pass in the house where they were introduced. Some of them would have:
- Repealed the state's ban on sex toys.
- Required vocal groups performing in the state to have at least one original member or legal title to the name.
- Applied the state's marijuana laws to the mind-altering plant Salvia divinorum.
- Allowed Alabama voters to decide if they want a constitutional convention to rewrite Alabama's 1901 Constitution.
- Required additional physical education classes for high school and elementary school students.
- Required schools to submit lunch menus to a state nutritionist for approval.
- Required all workers in Alabama to carry state-issued identification cards.
- Allowed cities to place cameras at traffic lights and issue tickets to motorists running red lights.
- Protected teachers from being fired for giving personal opinion while teaching controversial subjects like evolution.
- Allowed Alabama voters to decide if they want to legalize electronic bingo games at greyhound dog tracks in Mobile and Birmingham.
- Changed how electronic bingo games are regulated at the dog tracks in Macon and Greene counties and protected the machines against adverse court rulings on gambling elsewhere in the state.
- Reduced the number of signatures required for an independent or third-party candidate to get on the ballot in Alabama.
- Allowed laws to be passed through a process known as initiative and referendum.
- Required elected officials to post on the Internet if they have any other jobs or contracts with government agencies.
- Prohibited judges from imposing a death sentence in capital murder cases where a jury recommended life in prison without parole.
- Changed Alabama's primary election day from Tuesday to Saturday.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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