Yellowhammer broke the news last week that House Education Budget Chairman Jay Love will be resigning from the House seat that he has held for the last 11 years to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Yellowhammer caught up with Rep. Love Monday morning to discuss his reasons for stepping down and to get some thoughts on his decade of public service.

Yellowhammer:
What’s compelling you to leave the House of Representatives at this time?

Rep. Jay Love:
It is something I have been thinking about for the last year and my wife and I have been discussing it and praying about it for several months.

After 11 years of public service I felt like it was the time for me to leave. As my leadership role expanded after the 2010 elections, the time demands of being a budget chairman increased dramatically. I took my role very seriously and dedicated much of my available time to learning as much as I could about where all the funding goes in the Education Budget. This past year I spent over 150 days dealing with the duties of my office. After this past legislative session I was ready to focus back on my family and my business. I am excited about a new opportunity to be announced soon, which will allow me to work with education advocacy.

Yellowhammer:
Of all the policies you have helped create since being elected to the House in 2002, which one are you most proud of?

Rep. Jay Love:
When the Speaker selected me to be the Chairman of Education Ways and Means, the State was coming off its 4th consecutive year of proration, the $2.4 billion in stimulus money from Washington had been exhausted and the State had borrowed $427 million from the Education Rainy Day account that had to be paid back by 2015.

The Speaker charged me with the goal as budget chairman to put the state’s finances back on solid ground and to stop the seemingly endless cycle of proration. The newly elected Republican Legislature, along with Governor Bentley, passed common sense financial reforms in 2011. This resulted in our last two budgets not only avoiding proration, but creating a surplus. At the end of 2013 fiscal year we will pay back somewhere in the neighborhood of $240 million toward the Rainy Day Account and with the passage of next years budget, the remaining balance should be paid off. More importantly, we were able to keep in place those programs that allowed the kid’s in Alabama to excel in academic performance over the last ten years.

Yellowhammer:
2010 was a historic year for Alabama Republicans. The GOP won every statewide office on the ballot and super majorities in both houses of the legislature. What role did you play in that effort, and what was it like to make history?

Rep. Jay Love:
What happened in 2010 was the result of a tremendous amount of work starting in the aftermath of the 2006 elections. Mike Hubbard and Del Marsh along with then Governor Riley put together the plan and raised the money necessary to put us in the best possible position to win in 2010. I was selected by Mike to be on the leadership team in the House. We were each assigned candidates to advise and communicate with throughout the campaign. I fully expected us to get to 53 members in the House but as the returns kept coming in on election night, I was blown away by the scope of our victory. Along with the Bentley landslide, we won 62 seats in the House and 22 seats in the Senate. My role was minor compared to what Mike, Del and Governor Riley did.

Yellowhammer:
Could you give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it has been like to serve as one of House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s top lieutenants?

Rep. Jay Love:
Effective leaders are not people who always micro-manage but they surround themselves with like-minded, smart people who the leader has confidence can do the job. That is the kind of leader Mike is. He has been unfairly attacked as someone who is involved in every decision and is heavy handed. That is very far from the truth. He has allowed me, along with my committee, complete autonomy in crafting the House Education Budget. He certainly has input, but the Speaker has so many issues to deal with during the Legislative session, he has to have confidence in his Committee Chairs to do their job — and Mike Hubbard does.

Yellowhammer:
Have you seen a significant difference in the legislature since Republicans took over the majority?

Rep. Jay Love:
Absolutely! I spent 8 years being in the minority party in the House and I can tell you that it was not very much fun.

In 2006, the Democrats in the House came up with their “Covenant with Alabama.” I believe they had 19 Legislative priorities they promised they would pass in the first 10 days if they were re-elected. Only 3 of their “Covenant” bills became law, and many were never even introduced.

By contrast, the Republicans in 2010 introduced our “Handshake with Alabama”, which were our Legislative priorities. After we were elected, we passed every single one of them out of the House within the first 10 days of the first session and they all became law before the session ended. We did what we promised we would do.

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