CCAA/BCA Partnership Update, April, 2009

To: CCAA Chamber Executives
From: Ralph Stacy, CCAA President & CEO
Date: April 9, 2009
Re: Partnership Conference Call

The third in a series of legislative update conference calls sponsored by the CCAA/BCA Partnership featured a special guest this week as Alabama Gov. Bob Riley briefed participants on the status of his agenda and answered submitted questions.

Riley, who was introduced by BCA Chairman and Huntsville-based financial advisor Phil Dotts, said he believes the legislative progress is being hampered by a coalition of lobbyists and lawmakers dedicated toward passage of a bill that legalizes the presence of electronic gaming machines in several locations across the state.  The governor is strongly opposed to the bill and said he does not believe that advocates will achieve the votes necessary for its passage, but the focus on gambling has pushed other, more pressing, issues aside.

Among those issues, according to Riley, is the need for comprehensive ethics reform in state government.  A package of bills to toughen ethics standards introduced on behalf of the governor several weeks ago has languished in committee with little to no action taken.  He noted that the state’s ethics law has not been updated since 1973 and said frequent headlines of public officials being indicted and convicted demonstrates the need for reform.

“Alabama is beginning to develop a reputation for corruption, and if we do not begin to address it, in the next five or ten years, international companies will think twice about locating here,” Riley said.  “How can anyone be against ethics?”

The governor labeled efforts by some legislators to accept new federal dollars for unemployment compensation that Riley has already turned down as “short sighted” and “missing the big picture.”  He said accepting the additional funding would require Alabama to rewrite its unemployment compensation laws, and once the federal dollars are depleted, businesses across the state will be forced to pick up the burden in the “tens of millions of dollars” annually.

“The Midwest and Northeast have a hard time competing with the South, so congressmen from those areas trying to change the south,” Riley said.  “They want to qualify more people for unemployment and drive up the cost of doing business in Alabama so their areas of the country can compete for the projects we’ve successfully recruited over the past few years.”

Turning his attention to education, Riley said a looming fight in the legislative budget process will decide whether state tax dollars are invested into classroom programs or into employment benefits for teachers and support personnel.  He credited nationally-recognized programs like the Alabama Reading Initiative and the Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative with raising standardized test scores and providing rural students with a level playing field in terms of education quality.

If spent wisely, according to Riley, funding from the federal stimulus package should help Alabama shore up its state budgets over the next two years.  By that time, he hopes, the economic downturn should be in full recovery.

Riley closed his remarks by noting that Alabama’s economy, while less than robust, is in better condition than all of our sister southeastern states and highlighted successful industrial recruitment of companies such as ThyssenKrupp as one reason.  Though our state’s unemployment rate has doubled, the governor said individual income earnings remain high, which is one sign of economic health.

Kirk Mancer, president of the Cullman Chamber and CCAA chair-elect, questioned the governor on the status of his bill granting subpoena power to the Ethics Commission when conducting investigations.  Riley said the bill remains in committee, and all he wants is an “up or down” vote on the floor so citizens may know where legislators stand.  He reiterated that two years of ethics abuses within the community college system and other areas of government could begin to retard economic development if allowed to continue.

The governor also mentioned that he has placed all state government contracts and expenditures in an on-line searchable database for taxpayers to review.  Such transparency should be the norm, according to Riley, not the exception, and he encouraged conference call participants to demand action on ethics reform legislation.

Before ending his presentation and returning to matters of state, Riley congratulated The Partnership for becoming a significant and effective grassroots movement with considerable influence in state government.   “Pick up your phones, make calls and put your influence to work,” Riley concluded.

BCA Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs Quentin Riggins provided a brief overview of other legislation affecting Chamber officials and their members.  He said legislation to remove the state sales tax from grocery items remains a central issue in the Alabama House, but hopes that efforts to remove the federal income tax deduction from the state tax code will begin to lessen as the end of the session draws near.

Negotiations continue over NRA-backed legislation allowing employees to bring firearms onto workplace property, according to BCA Director of Legislative Affairs Elizabeth Kennedy Lawlor.  A compromise version of the bill has moved from committee in the House after the NRA accepted BCA-drafted exceptions based upon Georgia law.  Employers such as car manufacturers, construction companies, utilities and others have policies governing firearm possession in the workplace, and the substitute version of the bill works to address their concerns.

In order to fully educate Chamber officials and their members on the issues surrounding additional federal unemployment dollars and their long-term impact on business expenses, BCA Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications Marty Sullivan said an informative packet, including talking points, has been emailed in .pdf format to conference call participants and other stakeholders.  She suggested the material would be useful in contacting legislators on this important matter.

Riggins concluded the call by telling participants that House Speaker Seth Hammett will be invited to participate in the next briefing to provide his view of the session and its major legislation.  The date and time of that call should be scheduled sometime within the next week.