73 The Alabama Lawyer 76 (2012). LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP.

• Author: Robert L. McCurley, Jr.

Alabama Bar Journal

2012.

73 The Alabama Lawyer 76 (2012).

LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP

LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UPRobert L. McCurley, Jr. Goodbye and Hello

Othni J. Lathram

After serving as director of the Alabama Law Institute for the past 37 years, I retired December 31, but will continue to assist the Constitutional Revision Commission during their four-year, article-by-article study of the 1901 Constitution. Othni Lathram was selected as the new director and began earlier this month. Elected were the following officers and members of the Executive Committee:

Officers

President: Senator Cam Ward

Vice President: Representative Marcel Black

Executive Committee

LaVeeda Battle

David Boyd

Senator Ben Brooks

James M. Campbell

William N. Clark

Representative Paul DeMarco

Peck Fox

Representative Demetrius C. Newton

Senator Arthur Orr

Representative Bill Poole

Senator Rodger Smitherman

Emeritus Members

Senator Roger Bedford

Fred Gray

Oakley W. Melton, Jr.

Yetta Samford

Constitutional Revision

In 1974, when I was being recruited to be director of the Alabama Law Institute, I was told that the two biggest items the Institute would be working on were the newly-drafted revision of the 1901 Alabama Constitution and a new criminal code for Alabama. Thirty-seven years later, we are working on a new revision to the 1901 Constitution and a review of the now 32-year old Criminal Code.

Alabama has had six constitutions: 1819-statehood; 1861-succession; 1865-reorganization after the Civil War; 1868-reconstruction or radical constitution; 1875-conservatives abandoned the objectives of the radical constitution; and the current 1901 Constitution.

For more than 40 years, constitutional reform as been a "hot" item.

In the 2011 regular session, the legislature again made it a priority item. Senate Pro Tern Del Marsh introduced and passed a Senate Joint Resolution (SJR-82) calling for a commission to revise the constitution article by article. The resolution also requested the Alabama Law Institute to staff the commission and prepare proposed revisions.

In 1969, with Albert Brewer as governor, the "Alabama Constitutional Commission" was created by Act No. 753 of the legislature. This commission was continued by Act No. 95 in 1971. Conrad Fowler, then probate judge of Shelby County, chaired the committee. Dean Leigh Harrison, with the University of Alabama School of Law...