State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) believes he has better chances of getting his reform bills through the Legislature next year.
Elliott has already pre-filed bills on reforms to how local libraries and the Alabama Department of Archives and History appointment board members. He believes the debate over gambling in the Legislature stymied his ability to pass them during the 2024 session.
“Sometimes you truly do just run out of time, but those bills all had single digit numbers or single digit numbers, and they were ready for House action within the first couple of weeks in the session,” Elliott said Friday on FM Talk 106.5. “And so, the fact that they weren’t able to move through the House was based a lot on gambling and individual members’ position on gambling.”
SB-5 would reform local libraries making it explicit that “library board members serve at the pleasure of their respective appointing authority, and by two-thirds vote may be removed by their respective appointing authority.”
SB-6 would reform the Dept. of Archives and History by increasing “the composition of the board to 19 members and revise the manner in which members are appointed.”
“Hopefully, we won’t have that for the remainder of the quadrennium because we won’t have this gambling conversation anymore,” he argued. “That ends up getting in the way of good pieces of legislation, good conservative pieces of legislation that Republicans in both chambers would otherwise be in support of. Sometimes the back and forth is expected. It was unfortunate that it was as clear cut as it was last session, but clearly it was held up because of gambling, and positions in discussions about gambling.”
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Elliott is also hopeful that he can accomplish occupational licensing reform, which received new attention this week as Keith Warren, the contracted executive director for many of the state occupational boards, stepped down as the CEO of the Smith Warren Management Co., with heightened scrutiny expected soon.
“The problem is these folks that are involved in this occupational licensing administration aren’t doing it well,” he explained. “And that’s how it first came up on our radar.”
Elliott said it’s past time state lawmakers clean this mess up.
“There’s always those legislators who look at you and say, ‘am I messing with this? Why are you trying to make government run better? Just leave it alone. It’s not hurting anybody.’ It is,” he said. “It’s hurting small businesses. It’s hurting the credibility of the state of Alabama.”
“This is a problem in government,” he added. “It needs to get fixed, and we will continue to work on it and until it gets it gets fixed. And I’ve got good partners in the house that understand this as well and and we’re going to move forward with it along with the governor support, get it across the finish line.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
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