HB147 Alabama 2013 Session

Under existing law, the Legislative Council, the House members of the Legislative Council, the members of the Senate elected to the Legislative Council, the Joint Committee on Administrative Regulation Review, the Legislative Committee on Public Accounts, the Joint Fiscal Committee, the Legislative Building Authority, the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment, the Legislative Reference Service, and the Legislative Fiscal Office have statutorily imposed functions with regard to supervising certain staff services and performing specified legislative functions

This bill would abolish those entities, create a Joint Committee on Legislative Operations, the House Committee on House Administration, the Senate Committee on Senate Administration, and the Legislative Services Agency and transfer the functions of the entities to the joint committee, the two single house committees, and the agency

The bill, among other things, would provide for the membership of the committees; assign the agency the responsibility of recommending persons for employment by the Examiners of Public Accounts and the Alabama Law Institute, establishing their salaries, and additional responsibilities for budgeting, accounting, and general administrative functions for all entities in the Legislative Department; provide for the appointment by the committee of the Director of Legislative Services; and require the agency to maintain a website listing legislative expenditures that would include the names and salaries of and any expenses paid to employees in the Legislative Department and any contracts into which the agency enters on behalf of any entity in the Legislative Department

Existing law also provides for additional funding for the Legislature when available funds are less than a specified amount. This bill would repeal that provision

Under existing law, the Alabama Law Institute has such members, officers, and committees as determined by the Board of Commissioners of the Alabama State Bar. The institute also has a governing council consisting of ex officio, appointed, and elected positions

This bill would specify that the institute is a part of the Legislative Department, would transfer powers previously granted to the Alabama State Bar to the council, would revise the membership of the council, would specify the director would be appointed by the President of the Alabama Law Institute, and would authorize the director to employ the staff for the institute

Relating to the Legislative Department, to create the Joint Committee on Legislative Operations, the House Committee on House Administration, the Senate Committee on Senate Administration, and the Legislative Services Agency; to provide for the Director of Legislative Services; to transfer to the committees and agency functions from the Legislative Council, the House Legislative Council, the entity consisting of the Senate members elected to the Legislative Council, the Joint Committee on Administrative Regulation Review, the Joint Fiscal Committee, the Legislative Committee on Public Accounts, the Legislative Building Authority, the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment, the Legislative Reference Service, and the Legislative Fiscal Office; and abolish those entities; to assign additional administrative functions to the agency, to delete a provision for an automatic appropriation to the Legislature; to specify the Alabama Law Institute is part of the Legislative Department, to revise the membership of the governing council of the institute, and to grant additional authority to the council and the president and director of the institute; to add Chapter 5A (commencing with Section 29-5A-1) to Title 29 of the Code of Alabama 1975; to amend Sections 8-6-53, 8-19C-3, 9-11-68, 9-11-69, 11-100-4, 16-5-8.3, 16-6B-11, 17-11-42, 29-1-22, 29-1-24, 29-4-20, 29-4-22, 29-4-25, 29-4-30, 29-4-32, 29-4-35, 29-4-40, 29-4-42, 29-8-1, 29-8-2, 29-8-3, 29-8-4, 29-8-5, 30-3-8, 33-2-185, 34-14B-5, 36-7-24, 36-7-25, 36-13-30, 36-25-4.2, 38-7A-4, 40-2-9, 40-23-203, 41-5-3, 41-5-6, 41-5-9, 41-9-374, 41-9-715, 41-10-44.5, 41-16-27, 41-16-82, 41-19-3, 41-19-3.1, 41-20-4, 41-21-4, 41-21-7, 41-22-3, 41-22-22, 41-22-23, and 41-22-24, Code of Alabama 1975; and to repeal Article 4 (commencing with Section 29-2-50) of Chapter 2, Article 11 (commencing with Section 29-2-200) of Chapter 2, Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 29-5-1), Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 29-6-1), and Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 29-7-1) of Title 29 of, and Sections 41-5-18 and 41-5-19 of, the Code of Alabama 1975.