June - Special Session Delivers Results

June 20, 2008

Special Session Delivers Results

Senator Ted Little

The special session which ended on Saturday, May 31, 2008 was everything that the regular session should have been.

The Alabama House of Representatives and the Alabama Senate worked at record speed, passing the education budget in just five days in the special session, the minimum amount of days required by law.

I am proud of my work and my votes in the special session. Despite tough financial times that required almost $400 million in education cuts, we funded our priorities. Auburn University’s budget was passed at a near $294 million, down some $43 million from this year’s budget, all due to the economic downfall of revenue that all states are now suffering. We doubled the size of our nationally recognized Pre-K program, increased funding for our successful Math and Science Initiative, for the Alabama Reading Initiative, and for distant learning programs.

At the same time, we passed the stimulus rebate income tax cut, a tax cut worth more than $57 million for the families of Alabama, a tax cut for most families in my Senate district. This year it was a major Democratic policy to make sure the Federal Stimulus checks were exempt from state income tax.

We passed a tax cut for small businesses, helping business men and women provide health care for their employees. And we created a “rainy day” savings account for the General Fund budget, putting away tax dollars for tough financial times. We had already passed a “rainy day” savings account for the Education budget.

Compare that with the regular session. The regular session was dominated by partisan bickering, finger-pointing and intentional parliamentary maneuvers to end the session without the Education Budget being passed. And on the final night of the regular session, when the Education Budget failed, and it was obvious that the Governor would have to call a special session, I gave notice at that time that I would accept no legislative pay for the special session. I’m sure some of my colleagues felt the same way.

Lost in the haze of filibusters during the regular session were legislative achievements. We protected the children’s health insurance from any cuts, ensuring that no Alabama child lost his or her health coverage, we protected senior citizens programs, and we increased funding for Medicaid by $150 million. We passed a new college savings program for our families. All of this is now the law of Alabama.

We passed a ban on smoking in public places, cracked down on sexual predators, and passed three important measures to fight illegal immigration, but, unfortunately, these bills died in the House of Representatives did not pass both houses of the Legislature

So the question before us is: How do we build upon the success of the special session and avoid the fractious, disabling environment of the last regular session? I think the answer is obvious. It is time for the partisanship and political gamesmanship to end. We must put politics aside and focus on our priority: the people of this state.

I have served you in the Legislature for several terms now. I believe it is always proper to fight over important issues that impact you. But in the end legislators must stop the partisanship, come together, and do what is best for the people of this state.

That’s what we did in this most recent special session.

And I will continue to focus upon those kitchen-table issues that impact your daily lives, issues like tax cuts, school funding, health care and crime -- what is in your best interest. That has been and will continue to be my focus as I proudly serve you.

Senator Little can be reached at tedlittle@mindspring.com or www.tedlittle.com.