12/8/95

By Janet McCoy (mccoyjl@mail.auburn.edu)

ALABAMA'S CONSTITUTION OUTDATED BY NUMEROUS AMENDMENTS

AUBURN -- Trivia question -- What do trash collection, malaria, elected officials salaries and bingo have in common. The answer: Alabama's 1901 Constitution.

Not many people would think the state's most important document would deal with such issues, but that's just the tip of the problem, says Bill Stewart, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama, who will speak at a symposium Dec. 13-15 in Montgomery on the Constitution.

The symposium is sponsored by Auburn University's Center for Governmental Services and financed by Alabama businesses.

More than 100 legislators and key state officials, city and county government leaders and business and civic executives are invited to attend the three-day symposium at the Embassy Suites Hotel. The symposium will conclude Friday, Dec. 15, with a mock convention at the Alabama Statehouse.

Stewart, one of the state's foremost Alabama Constitution experts, says the 1901 Constitution is the longest of any in the nation with more than 570 amendments and "deals with very specific issues in specific areas on obscure issues."

"For instance, Amendment 34 deals with malaria control in Limestone County and Amendment 239 is about trash collection in Jefferson County," he said." There are a series of amendments that deal with bingo." At this rate, he says, Alabama could easily pass the 600 amendment mark by the turn of the century.

Stewart will lead a 9:15 a.m. panel session Thursday titled "A Historical View of Alabama Constitution Revision Efforts" with retired Alabama Supreme Court Justice C.C. "Bo" Tolbert; retired Alabama Supreme Court Judge Oscar Adams; former Alabama Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley; former Shelby County Probate Judge Conrad Fowler; former Jefferson County Commissioner Chriss Doss; and former state Sen. Ryan DeGraffenried of Tuscaloosa.

Keith Ward, director of AU's Center for Governmental Services, says because the Constitution is restrictive, local governments in Alabama are not empowered to make decisions like those in other states.

"In 1901, they wanted to make sure the governor of the state did not have the power to govern broadly," Ward said. "This Constitution was declared obsolete in 1915 by the governor and in 1995 we are still using it in spite of a half-dozen efforts to revise it."

Ward said state leaders at the symposium will take an honest look a the Constitution and answer questions such as "can we get by with the Constitution we have today, can we revise today's Constitution and get rid of some of the repetitive verbiage and shorten it or should we call a citizens Constitution convention, develop a new Constitution and ask the public to ratify it?"

During Friday's session in the Statehouse, participants will discuss five articles, Ward said, including home rule, taxes and executive, legislative and judicial articles.

dec95:AU-constitution

CONTACT: Ward, 334/844-4781; and Steward, 205/348-5981.