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© 1999 - 2006 League of Women Voters of Alabama and
League of Women Voters of the United States

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The Voter
Winter 2006 Edition

Published February 20, 2006

The Voter is the quarterly newsletter of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. The printed edition is re-formatted here for web publication with index and links added. Web Editor's navigational notes are added in [bracketed italics].

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President's Message

It’s that time again:  the Legislature is in session and the team that tracks League priorities is focused on what’s happening at the State House.  Each year, LWVAL sets advocacy priorities. As you know, we support or oppose legislation based on existing positions.

For decades constitutional reform has been a League priority. We are grateful to ACCR who has provided statewide leadership on this important issue in recent years.  It was heartening to witness the outpouring of constitutional reform supporters on January 25th in Montgomery at the hearing on HB 109 and the following rally on the Capitol steps.  In this Voter, you can read about the hearing and the rally that followed.

Other Priorities for the current legislative session include campaign finance reform (Ban on Pac to Pac Transfers which has passed the House, Disclosure on Paid Advertising); election law, natural resources, tax reform and public transit issues.  Again this session, you can go to the LWVAL web site to follow the specific bills on the League list.  Elsewhere in this Voter Jean Johnson reminds you of the easy route to get to the site..

Speaking of Our Web Site:  Recently, we learned that LWVUS Director of Technology, Olivia Thorne, rated the LWVAL site “very good.”   Many we hear from agree with Olivia’s assessment.  We know Jean Johnson does a terrific job designing and updating the site, but it’s good to hear the same from others.  From the bottom of our hearts, Jean, thank you!

State Council:  Planning is underway for the State Council meeting in Auburn, Saturday May 6.  We will offer panels to cover natural resources issues in Alabama, election administration, and civil liberties and security. The selection of judges in Alabama is the topic of the luncheon speaker.  Delegates’ direction to the Board at the 2005 Tuskegee Convention had considerable influence on the panel topics and the legislative priorities.  Local Leagues will soon receive an email on Council issues.    

AJS Midyear Meeting:  The Selection of Judges is the focus of the American Judicature Society’s Midyear Meeting to be held at the Cumberland School of Law, in Birmingham February 24-25. The LWVUS Judicial Independence Project is a co-sponsor of the Meeting, so LWVAL has the opportunity to participate.  Mary Lynn Bates, Attorney and LWVAL board member, will represent the state League in the proceedings.  Look for future articles in League publications and come to Council for updates on the Selection of Judges in Alabama.

Hope to see you at Council in Auburn May 6. 

-- Becky Sylvester,
LWVAL President


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The LWVAL Legislative Report  


Stay informed about important League issues and critical legislation during the 2006 general session of the Alabama Legislature. Get the information you need to act in a timely manner at LWVAL’s  Legislative Report online. Go to www.lwval.org - then click “LWVAL Legislative Report.”  The LWVAL Advocacy Team has established the League's legislative priorities for this session based on LWVAL and LWVUS positions, League principles, and assessment of issues likely to be raised. The Legislative Report keeps you updated weekly about legislation that is key to this advocacy effort and to LWVAL Calls to Action.  Please share this resource with others - inside and outside League. Every voice is vitally important to bringing about positive change in Alabama! 


-- Jean Johnson,
LWVAL Technical Director


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Leaguers Attend Constitutional Reform Rally 


Members of five local Leagues were among the more than 250 people attending the ACCR rally on the Capitol steps January 25.  ACCR Co-Chair Lenora Pate presented to legislators four boxes of petitions containing more than 65,000 signatures asking for a constitutional convention. Among the speakers were Judge Pete Johnson, Rep. Demetrius Newton and Sen. Ted Little, (sponsors of the Constitutional Convention bills), and Mrs. Johnnie Carr, longtime civil rights leader and member of the Montgomery LWV. On the day before her 95th birthday, Mrs. Carr spoke movingly of her work with her friend Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, and the need for a constitution that respects all Alabamians.     

From 8 to 11 a.m. the House Constitution and Election Committee held a hearing on HB 109 that calls for a vote of the people to decide if a citizen convention will rewrite the constitution. Only six Committee members came to the hearing committed to voting favorably on the bill.  Opponents conjured up a vision of disasters if a new constitution is written, ranging from legalized gambling and higher taxes to a United Nations takeover of the state. Supporters reminded the Committee that the bill calls for three votes of the people:  one to decide if a convention will be held to rewrite the constitution, one to elect convention delegates, and another to approve or reject the document written by the convention. Supporters decried the discriminatory nature of the 1901 Constitution, the necessity for local governments to go to the legislature to get authority to provide the simplest services to their constituencies, and the 772 amendments that show the failure of the document as fundamental law.

The Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections Committee will hold a hearing on SB 52, companion to HB 109, on February 14.  February 15th, the House C & E Committee will vote on whether to recommend passage of HB 109.

[For updates on these bills, see the LWVAL Legislative Report.]



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Leaguer Honored, League Will Benefit

Scarlett Gaddy, Social Studies Department Chair, Hillcrest H.S., Tuscaloosa County Schools, and vice-president of the LWVAL, is one of ten teachers from a variety of academic fields chosen to participate in a program designed to improve classroom teaching in Alabama. According to the press release from the Alabama Best Practices Center,

“Ten teachers from schools across Alabama have been selected by the Alabama Best Practices Center to serve as 21st Century Fellows who will help raise awareness among educators about the best ways to teach today's Internet-savvy students.

“The Fellows program is a key component in a two-year ABPC initiative, funded by a Microsoft Corporation Partners in Learning grant, that will engage a network of 40 schools in Web-based "powerful conversations about 21st Century learning." The Fellows will serve as facilitators of this online professional development and will also work with educators and the public "face to face" at selected meetings and schools.

Scarlett says of her participation: “LWVAL can also benefit from the instruction and knowledge I have gained. In a sense, we in the League are faced with problems similar to the educational system.  We do not want a disconnect between ourselves and younger segments of our population.  To continue to grow as an organization we have to adapt and adopt new means of engaging our members.”

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Transportation Summit Planning Underway

The LWVAL is participating in the statewide Transportation Summit Planning Committee that formed last year, under the leadership of regional planning organization, Envision 2020.  Lynn Beshear of Envision 2020 serves as Chair.

The PURPOSE of the Summit as established by the Committee is to strengthen Alabama’s economy, workforce and consumer access by: 

  1. convening business leaders, government, shippers, transporters and citizens

  2. providing information and best-practice transportation mobility strategies, and

  3. forming a statewide transportation mobility coalition.

Members of the steering committee include representatives from LWVAL, ALDOT, community organizations, hospitals and health services, colleges and universities, Alabama ARISE, the Black Belt Action Commission, city planners, Alabama Association of Regional Councils, Office of Senior Citizens Services, ADEM, Business Council of Alabama, Chambers of Commerce, transportation organizations around the state, Development Partnership of Alabama, county leaders and Regional Planning Organizations throughout the state.

The committee will meet with administrators of regional planning organizations to gather facts about existing services. Then, the committee will conduct fact-finding sessions with a spectrum of business, university, senior citizen, youth and government entities. The Summit has been moved to the fall of 2006 to allow time for fact-finding.  For information, contact Nancy Ekberg, LWVAL Summit Planning Committee Representative, at 205 967-2897.

-- Nancy Ekberg,
LWVAL Transportation Chair

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Constitutional Reform Update

Waiting for the House Constitution and Elections Committee to bring HB 109 into the daylight, and for the Senate Committee to hold its Public Hearing on SB 52 must not deter us from continuing our volunteer efforts.  Now we need to capitalize on the rally momentum by telling the people of Alabama what a reformed constitution could do. The following quotes were collected from web sites and the LWVAL Constitution Reform position.

  • “Take the state’s notorious tax system out of the 1901 Constitution and make it a matter of Statutory Law.”  The statutes must pass three tests:  adequacy, fitness, and fairness. (Jim Williams of PARCA cites Thomas Corts)  

  • “Fair-minded delegates can restore representative democracy that can stretch across party, class and racial lines to unite Alabamians in favor of positive change.”  (Bailey Thomson)

  •  “The Alabama Constitution should protect the people in the exercise of their civil liberties and provide a framework for government. It should contain neither statutory law nor restrictive details that necessitate continual amendment. (LWVAL, Constitutional Reform Position 2002)

See the following web sites for the above quotes and more: http://parca.samford.edu/ and http://www.constitutionalreform.org and http://www.arisecitizens.org

See the LWVAL web site Legislative Report to follow the progress of HB 109 and SB 52. Then, get upset because we have to petition for the right to say whether or not we want to rewrite the 1901 Constitution.  Contact your Legislators over and over again. 

--  Jeanne Lacey, 
Constitutional Reform Chair


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LWVAL Awards Recognize Outstanding Citizenship

The League Of Women Voters Of Alabama now gives two awards at its biennial convention. The Jane Katz Award, named for the late League lobbyist, given for the first time in 2005, recognized the work of the Alabama Press Association in securing the passage of a meaningful sunshine law. The Joyce Woodward Award, named for the longtime leader of the former Shoals League, honors a League member who has made an outstanding contribution to the work of the League on the state level or through a significant local project.

Criteria for the existing awards are as follows:

Jane Katz Award:  This award is to be given biennially at the LWVAL Convention to an organization or individual (not necessarily a League member) who has contributed significantly to the accomplishing of the League of Women Voters purpose of promoting “the informed and active participation of citizens in government.” The contribution may be a one-time action or a record of persistent work in this area over a period of time.

Joyce Woodward Award:  This award is to be given biennially at the LWVAL Convention to a local League or an individual League member who has made a significant contribution to the work of the LWVAL. Contributions would be leading a statewide study that led to effective action, leading the action or lobbying efforts of the LWVAL, preparing study materials or “Facts and Issues,” leading petition campaigns, etc. Accomplishments of Leagues working at the local level are also eligible for the award.

Individuals or local Leagues may make nominations for both awards. Individual nominations should be accompanied by one or more seconding letters. The final choice for recipients of the awards will be made by the LWVAL Board upon the recommendation of a committee appointed to consider the nominations. Nominations must be received by January 10 of each odd-numbered year, and acted upon by the Board at the meeting preceding the Convention.

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Update on the Legislative Study and Requests

Encouraging reports from the six Local Leagues and the MALs from Greater Gadsden establish that all have held at least one meeting on the Legislative Study.  The
discussions were described as lively and informed.  All seemed primed to meet the April 1 deadline for Consensus Reports to LWVAL.  If Leagues can possibly send reports
before April 1, that will greatly assist the Study Committee and the State Board to complete the study process before Council on May 6 in Auburn.

A few reminders and requests:

  • To study committees:  Please write up your reports as soon as possible after each Consensus Meeting, while memories are fresh.  Use the Consensus Report form and also the cover form for the report.  (See Consensus Report in box for Study Leaders at http://www.lwval.org/legstudy/leaders/index.html or ask for copies to be re-sent from ruthlwright@mindspring.com.   
  • To Local League Boards:  Remember that each Local Board must approve the  report from the study before it is sent.  Board members who attended the consensus meeting(s) must affirm that the report is accurate, on which points consensus has been reached and on which points disagreement exists.  Minority opinions or more nuanced responses to the scaled questions should be noted in the space for General Comments.  Please send LL reports as soon as your local process is complete. 
  • If your reports to LWVAL can possibly be sent by email, please do so. These Local League Reports will be circulated to the Study Committee on April 1 and later to the state Board.
Next Steps:
  • On April 8 the Study Committee will meet to prepare a report for the state Board on the points of membership agreement and disagreement and to draft proposals for possible positions based on whatever consensus is achieved. .  
  • The state Board will also receive the reports from Local Leagues (the raw data) because it must assess the level of consensus across the Leagues in the state.
  • A state Board meeting in April will discuss the study results and agree on what positions it will recommended to Local Leagues at Council, May 8.  Local Leagues should receive the Board’s proposals at least two weeks before Council.
  • After Council’s decision, positions can be announced and used for Advocacy at the discretion of the State Board.

Uses of the study materials:

Because Education and Advocacy must be kept strictly separate, the objective research collected for the study will be published as soon as possible, before the Consensus Process is complete. It will appear as a Facts and Issues both on the public portion of the LWVAL web site and in a limited number of hard copies.  Each League will receive 6 hard copies for Local League files and for distribution to local libraries or schools. Additional copies may be purchased.

The Facts and Issues should appear in time to be used for questions for candidates’ forums for the June Primary and the November General Election.  It is important that no mention of League’s advocacy positions occur in such a Forum. The objective presentations in the Fact and Issues will establish that the issues included are under public discussion.

The chief advocacy efforts for any positions LWVAL adopts, will occur between the legislative elections in November and the Organizational session in early January 2007, when the Rules and organization for the next four years will be established.               

-- Ruth Wright,
Legislative Study Chair

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Post - Katrina Environmental Concerns for the Gulf Coast

Although Katrina devastated Coastal Alabama, she has also provided a wonderful opportunity for some changes in the way we protect our natural and man-made environments. We need to prepare wisely, and to rebuild safely.  The Gulf Coast members of our Natural Resources Committee (Barbara Caddell, Casi Calloway, Jeanne Lacey & Margaret Sollberger) make the following recommendations:
  1. Urge the appropriate agencies to redraw flood maps regularly and institute a moratorium on construction in floodplains until these new floodplain determinations are made.


  2. Tie the coastal construction line to the actual geography of the dunes and require that this coastal construction line be redrawn every five years or after a hurricane season that produces a category 3 or above hurricane.  This would assure protection of the primary dune line.


  3. Eliminate variances when building/developing in the coastal zone and refrain from waiving (or watering down) permitting following a natural disaster.


  4. Upgrade all emergency response systems, shelter designations, and utilities to meet the needs of a community facing a Category 3-5 Storm.


  5. Require clean-up efforts to be done in a timely and environmentally sensitive manner


  6. Create a Coastal Area Board with “teeth” (our current one is only advisory) and divest coastal zone management responsibilities from ADEM.


  7. Scrutinize how monies from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, the Ford Foundation, and FEMA are allocated by ADEM and work to ensure that they are spent wisely


  8. Keep pressure on the Governor regarding LNG terminals; work for closed-loop facilities and keep them off-shore.                        
-- Barbara Caddell
Natural Resources Chair

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JESSIE TEHRANCHI: THE LEAGUE MOURNS
ITS “WHEELCHAIR WARRIOR”

“Wheelchair Warrior” – that’s the term applied to Jessie Tehranchi in the Birmingham Voter last month, when colon cancer ended her long battle with MS. It must have been twenty years ago that I first encountered Jessie, when she could still get around for short distances without the chair. She was a ball of fire for the causes dearest to her heart, public transit and health care, and full time confinement to the chair didn’t dim the blaze. She was still active almost to the day of her death, and, ever practical, in her last statement urged her friends to get a colonoscopy!

League was not her only interest, her longtime Birmingham League friend and co-worker, Ruth Wright, reminded me. She loved life in every aspect and lived it fully. She loved to cook and sew and garden, and to share the things she grew with her friends. Jessie had a lot of friends, because she knew how to be one. Her family and church were blessed with the gift of herself as well.

As the League of Women Voters of Alabama remembers Jessie and mourns her passing, we can do no less than persevere as she did in the fight to get public transportation appropriately funded and systems in place not only in our cities but in those rural areas where people stay entrenched in poverty because they cannot get to either training or jobs that would give them a way out. As to the battle for health care, we haven’t begun to fight, but Jessie did.

-- Charlotte Ward
Voter Editor




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LWVAL Board of Directors

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