St. Clair County legislative delegates don’t believe a constitutional convention should be held to rewrite the Alabama Constitution. "I’m for the article-by-article rewrite, not a convention," said Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Rainbow City.
He said membership of a constitutional convention would be limited because there’s not many people who could take the time needed to totally rewrite the constitution.
In addition, Galliher said he worries that there would be too much control from special interest groups in rewriting a constitution.
He said special interest groups could take a back-door approach, which could open the door for judicial intervention, like with education funding.
He said the constitution needs streamlining or shortening, and the racial language in the constitution needs to be addressed.
"We need to take out the Jim Crowe language," Galliher said.
However, he said the best way to do that is article by article.
"Then let the people vote on it," he said.
Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, serves on the House Constitution and Election Committee, where a bill proposing the rewriting of the Constitution died in a 7-7 vote.
His No. 1 concern was special interest involvement.
"They will come with their own agenda," Wood said.
He would also like to see changes to the constitution, but wants it done piece by piece, not all at once.
The bill voted down in the House committee could still reach the House floor, because the same bill is still in a Senate committee. The bill would have to pass muster by the committee and the entire Senate before it could be reconsidered by the same House committee that rejected it this week.
Wood said if that happened, the committee would probably approve it, allowing House members to decide whether a constitutional convention should rewrite the constitution.
"I think we would let it go the floor and let everyone decide on it," Wood said. "I can’t read the Senate, but I believe the House would vote it down."
Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, said he isn’t opposed to changes in the state constitution.
"I’m certainly not opposed to streamlining the constitution," he said.
He said a constitutional convention is not impossible.
"Our founding fathers did it," McClendon said, adding that other states have rewritten their constitutions.
He believes it would be best to address the constitution one article at a time and allow the voters to decide on individual pieces.
"A document that size would be hard for people to fully digest and understand," McClendon said. "Article by article is good, because it’s digested one bite at a time."
However, he doesn’t believe state legislators will consider a bill this election year.
"The fact of the matter, I don’t think it’s much of an issue," he said. "There’s too much opposition to it. I don’t see it as being something we will address this year. Ultimately, it’s something we are going to have to deal with, but not this year."
In other legislative matters, Galliher said he is introducing a local bill next week which would appeal annual appraisals in St. Clair County.
Instead of annual property appraisals, the county would go back to appraising property every four years.
He said St. Clair County voters would have the opportunity to vote on the bill.
"All it is to me is a back-door tax increase," Galliher said of the annual property appraisals. "This will give the people (in St. Clair County) the chance to vote on it."
He is introducing a similar bill for Etowah County.
Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, was not available for immediate comment Friday.
