Legislative Wrap-up
| Publication year | 2010 |
| Pages | 0315 |
| Citation | Vol. 71 No. 4 Pg. 0315 |
ROBERT L. MCCURLEY, JR.
For more information about the Institute, contact Bob McCurley at (205) 348-7411 or visit www.ali.state.al.us.
Being a Legislator
Here in the middle of the election cycle, where the initial primary was held June 1 and the runoff is six weeks later on July 13, a person wanting to be in the legislature has already expended great time and effort, knowing that there are almost four more months to go until the general election November 2.
Senators Bobby Denton, Kim Benefield, Charles Bishop, Larry Dixon, Hank Erwin, Hinton Mitchem, and Myron Penn all chose not to run for reelection. With 20 percent of the senate members certain to change, these will definitely be Alabama's most contentious and expensive senatorial races in state history.
The house of representatives will be losing only nine of its 105 members. Three of those are choosing to run for senate seats. There will be 13 new legislators while, typically, there are around 20 to 25 new members in the two houses.
Generations ago, lawyers dominated the state legislature and congress. Now that the demands of being in public office have become so time-consuming, the number of lawyers in the legislature has dropped to the lowest in history.
My former law partner, Congressman Albert Rains, often commented that during his 20 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress began in January and ended by Labor Day, when they could head back to their home districts to be with their constituents and find out what was on the minds of the voters. In the past 40 years, Congress has steadily met year-round. With the thousands of lobbyists often descending upon Capital Hill, it becomes much harder to know what their voters really want. There is some evidence that in 2010, many incumbents may rediscover their constituents and recognize the disconnection between Washington and their district.
The Alabama legislature met every other year until 1976, when it began meeting annually. The time restraints of being a legislator became much greater and more time-consuming with annual meetings.
Most citizens opt to let someone else run our government, since 39 of the 105 house members are unopposed and nine of the 35 senators are unopposed. It is certain that 47 percent of today's legislators will be next year's legislators.
The session each spring is for 15 weeks, and legislators meet only on Tuesday...
To continue reading
Request your trial