Under existing law, the House members of the Legislative Council, the members of the Senate elected to the Legislative Council, the Joint Fiscal Committee, the Legislative Building Authority, and the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment 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, the Senate Legislative Council and the House Legislative Council.
The bill, among other things, would provide for the membership of the respective councils; assign the Legislative Council the responsibility of 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 establishing their salary schedules and other issues related to compensation, 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 Chief of Legislative Operations and the staff of the committee; and require the committee 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 committee 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 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.
Source: Alabama Legislature