14 Alabama Constitutional Amendments on the ballot for 2016
Channel: Gary Wright II
Date: 2016-11-06

Activist Gary Wright II discusses each of the fourteen Constitutional Amendments that are on the 2016 ballot in Alabama.  With the exception of voting YES on Amendment #13, Gary is voting NO on all of the other amendments.

Amendment #1 – NO: Auburn University Board of Trustees shall have terms that expire in the same calendar year and to add two additional at-large members to the board to enhance diversity on the board 

Amendment #2 – NO: State Park funds go to General Fund. No! And no privatization using public lands for personal or corporate profits.

Amendment #3 - NO: Local Constitutional Amendment Commission (although flawed Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Attorney General, and Secretary of State) will be abolished, and the final decision on whether a proposed constitutional amendment should be voted on locally or statewide will instead be made by the Legislature. 

Amendment #4 - NO:  would give counties essentially the same authority granted through the Alabama Limited Self Governance Act without the need for seeking approval from a majority of voters in the affected area.

Amendment #5 - NO: Senator Albritton the parts of the State Constitution that deal with the separation of powers between the branches of state government will remain separate and will still contain outdated language.

Amendment #6 - NO: adds the entire State Board of Education and removes the Superintendent of Education, who is appointed by and can only be removed by the Board, from the impeachment process. Alabama will modify the process to remove the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Auditor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Superintendent of Education, State Board of Education, Commissioner of Agriculture, and the members of the Alabama Supreme Court. 

Amendment #7 - NO: all Etowah County Sheriff’s employees, except chief deputy, chief of detention, chief of administration, chief of investigation, director of communications, and food service manager, will be under the authority of the Personnel Board of the Office of Sheriff of Etowah County. There shouldn’t be exceptions, so no. all or nothing.

Amendment #8 – NO: would place these identical right-to-work provisions from the Code of Alabama in the State Constitution.  I don’t like most “right-to-work” provisions. We need to remove from both.

Amendment #9 - NO: Pickens County Judge. There shouldn’t be age limit, but shouldn’t be favoritism either. There should be amendment to cover all judges. See Amendment #13? 

Amendment #10 - NO:  a city or town that is completely outside the county boundaries of Calhoun County cannot exercise any police or planning jurisdiction inside Calhoun County. 

Amendment #11 - NO:  would give the city or county sole discretion to determine the sale price of property meeting these conditions, regardless of the property’s fair market value. 

Amendment #12 - NO:  No toll roads. Use the tax money you have! BP Settlement Money!

Amendment #13 - YES:  No age limit. Roy Moore story. See #9

Amendment #14 - NO:  Budget Mess! local laws passed by the Legislature between 1984 and November 8, 2016, will remain in place unless and until determined otherwise. In 1984, Amendment 448 was added to the State Constitution. It was supposed to encourage the Legislature to pass budget bills before passing any other bills. Any exceptions required the Legislature to pass BIRs or “Budget Isolation Resolution,” on every bill it considered before passing the budgets. A BIR needed approval from 60% of the legislators present. But they got lazy and did what they called a “local courtesy,” and lots of bills were approved that passed by 60% of those PRESENT AND VOTING but not always the 60% PRESENT. Fix House Rules and Let’s Clean House!

Source: https://www.alabamavotes.gov/