By Eric Marchan – Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY- Alabama voters will have several amendments to vote on in the 2020 elections, on March 3 and November 3.
Most bills will be in the November general election with some exceptions such as K-2 education governance amendment. The other bills that will be voted on are on the state level will be on topics such as:
-Only Citizen Vote
-Alabama Constitution
-Judiciary Changes
Other amendments will be voted on in the local level. Such as these amendments:
These are amendments to the Alabama State Constitution. Some bills are considered to be ordinary bill, but others are not. One such example are bills that call for a change in the state’s constitution. Such bills are considered amendments.
The Alabama Constitution amendment is HB 328. It was sponsored by Democratic Representative Merika Coleman. The bill would authorize the Legislature to recompile the Constitution during its 2022 regular session. Other attempts to do this failed in 2012 and 2004.
The Only Citizen Vote amendment would make it a requirement to be an Alabama resident and a U.S. citizen in order to vote.
The Judiciary Changes will bring forth a couple of changes. One of them is SB 216 and it would allow the full Supreme Court to make appoint the administrator of courts. As of right now, the Alabama chief justice appoints the administrator of courts. Another amendment would extend the time appointed circuit and district court judges could fill a vacancy.
The last amendment that will be discussed in this article is the K-12 education governance. It was first proposed by Republican Senator Del Marsh. This would replace the State Board of Education and replace it with a commission. The commission members would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. It would also eliminate the state superintendent position and appoint secretary of education. The Secretary of education would be appointed by the new commission.
Other amendments will be on the ballots in the March 3 and November 3 elections. Other local amendments will be voted on at the local level. For a list of election dates go to https://www.sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/upcoming-elections.
