State Sen. Orr: Legislative leadership could be willing to reach agreement with Ivey on special session agenda

Given the 2020 legislative session was abbreviated because of the threat from COVID-19, some have suggested the possibility of Gov. Kay Ivey calling a special session to take care of unfinished business from this year’s session. That includes big-ticket items such as prison reform, the continuation of economic development incentives and liability protections from COVID-19.

However, speculation is that Ivey has been reluctant to call the special session because the legislature could override her special session parameters with a supermajority, and seek to roll back authority granted to the governor and other elements in the executive branch of state government.

Tuesday, during an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile,” State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) proposed that the leadership in the Alabama legislature could reach an agreement with Ivey not to go beyond her set parameters, which would allow some of the unfinished business to be resolved.

“I think if she were to assemble the leadership of both chambers and say, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and there may be other pieces of legislation,” he explained. “I know Secretary [Greg] Canfield over the Department of Commerce needs additional authority for economic development incentives. If she were to bring us back — well, bring the leadership in and say these four, these five, however many things — this is what I want to call you back in, but nothing more, nothing else. ‘You want to talk about executive powers or other items. I’m going to ask that you not do that,’ and get a commitment from the Speaker and the Pro-tem and other leaders, that these other extraneous items would not be brought up in a special and we just do the agenda that she provides, and there would be a pre-agreement to that effect before we were ever called into a special session.”

“I know the Speaker and the Pro-tem and other leaders all to be honorable people,” Orr added. “They wouldn’t say, ‘Sure, governor,’ and then you get into a special and all heck breaks loose and other things start coming. I think they are all strong enough to keep the agenda tight and keep it as agreed to.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.