Alabama voters will decide on four proposed constitutional amendments in next month’s general election. The measures range from controversial to more perfunctory.
WBHM’s Richard Banks spoke with Alabama Reflector editor Brian Lyman for an overview of the measures.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Let's talk about this year's Amendment 1. That has to do with filling a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office and some ancillary sort of things like setting salaries.
For example, if the person elected lieutenant governor this year for some reason was no longer in office in 2028, under current law, they couldn't have another election for that office until 2030. This amendment would allow the state to schedule an election for the office in 2028. The [amendment] also cleans up some things with expenses, and things like that, that are essentially de facto right now in the Alabama Senate. (Editor’s note: The measure would allow the legislature to set the lieutenant governor’s salary by resolution and require travel funds expended by legislators to be approved by officers elected by the House and Senate, respectively.)
And it's really not much of a controversial amendment, is that correct?
No, I don't know of anybody who really opposes this. The lieutenant governor is essentially a powerless creature at this point. So, it's not something that's going stir up a nest of hornets if it passes.
The other three amendments do have some controversy about them. The second concerns the process to consolidate school systems. If at least 25% of the qualified voters in any of the county school systems object to a merger via a written protest, the merger would be placed on a ballot. It seems the measure presents a high hurdle for the opposition to a merger. It’s pretty complicated. Please explain that.
Yeah, so this is an amendment that would allow county boards of education to consolidate. Supporters are saying it could save money on administrative costs. Obviously, there are several rural school districts that have seen significant population losses in the last few decades. So, on paper, consolidation could be attractive to some of them. The negative side the critics would say is that a larger school district may have larger transportation costs, so you may not necessarily see the savings.
The other objection, as you mentioned, was the threshold to send this to a referendum. You need at least 25% of voters in an affected county to file a protest, which is a kind of a high hurdle to overcome, especially with elections where you may get 5 or 10% tops of voters coming out. If you get that, if you were able to find 25% of electors to object to the consolidation, then you have a referendum where the merger can only move forward if a majority of voters in the entire affected area approve it.
The third amendment requires a Pledge of Allegiance, and it allows student prayer. Talk a little bit about that.
It's important to note that Alabama law since 1976 has required the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited every day in schools. School prayer or student-led prayer is already protected under federal law. So, the sponsor of the amendment says that this is a way to stave off potential litigation in the future. Constitutional scholars are still concerned about how this would be applied on a daily basis. One scholar who spoke with us said, how is a school district going to handle it if a student wants to get up and offer a prayer to Satan? That's going to be really disruptive and how are you going to handle that?
Critics have also said the measure doesn't specify how non-participating students will be accommodated. So considerable controversy surrounding this. And then the fourth – The Star-Spangled Banner will have to played in schools once per week, or at least one refrain of The Star-Spangled Banner. Is that correct?
That is correct. It would be either a broadcast or a performance once a week. If you talk to people, it sounds like it's just something not a lot of folks really object to at this point. People may ask why the legislature spent time doing this, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of legal concerns about what they're proposing.
