HB211 Alabama 2015 Session

Under existing law, the House members of the Legislative Council, the members of the Senate elected to the Legislative Council, the Joint Fiscal Committee, and the Legislative Building Authority have statutorily imposed functions with regard to supervising certain staff services and performing specified legislative functions. This bill would abolish those entities and transfer their responsibilities to a newly reconstructed Legislative Council and a newly created Senate Legislative Council and House Legislative Council

The bill, among other things, would provide for the membership of the respective councils; would assign the Legislative Council the responsibility for recommending persons working with the Legislative Reference Service, Legislative Fiscal Office, the Alabama Law Institute, the Speaker of the House, and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, for establishing their salary schedules and other issues related to compensation, for budgeting, accounting, and general administrative functions for all entities in the Legislative Department, and for maintaining a website listing legislative expenditures that includes the names and salaries of and any expenses paid to members, officers, and employees in the Legislative Department and any contracts into which the council enters on behalf of any entity in the Legislative Department; would assign the Senate Legislative Council and House Legislative Council responsibilities with regard to employees of the Senate and House respectively, and their compensation and benefits; and would revise the procedure for the appointment and tenure of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House

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 Legislative Council upon the recommendation of the Alabama Law Institute Council, and would authorize the director to employ the staff for the institute

This bill would also provide for the continuation of the office of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and would revise the membership of the Alabama Commission on Uniform State Laws

Relating to the Legislative Department, to reconstitute the Legislative Council and create the Senate Legislative Council and the House Legislative Council; to transfer to the councils functions from the House Legislative Council, the entity consisting of the Senate members elected to the Legislative Council, the Joint Fiscal Committee, and the Legislative Building Authority, and abolish those entities; to assign additional administrative functions to the council; to delete a provision for an automatic appropriation to the Legislature; to revise the procedure for the appointment and tenure of the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House; to specify the Alabama Law Institute is part of the Legislative Department, revise the membership of the governing council of the institute, and grant additional authority to the council and the president and director of the institute; to restructure the Commission on Uniform State Laws; to provide for the continuation of the office of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and to amend Sections 29-2-52, 29-2-200, 29-2-201, 29-4-20, 29-4-22, 29-4-25, 29-4-30, 29-4-32, 29-4-35, 29-4-40, 29-4-42, 29-5-2, 29-5-3, 29-5-4, 29-5-13, 29-6-1, 29-6-2, 29-6-3, 29-6-4, 29-6-7, 29-7-4, 29-8-1, 29-8-2, 29-8-3, 29-8-4, 29-8-5, 41-9-370, 41-9-374, 41-19-3, and 41-19-3.1 of, and to repeal Sections 29-1-22, 29-4-41, and 29-7-5 of, the Code of Alabama 1975.