Tagged: Alabama House

One of the longest serving members of the Legislature, Democratic Rep. Richard Lindsey of Centre, says he's never seen state services cut to their current level.

Lindsey says cuts began in 2008, and they have continued each year since then. Lindsey says prison guards are at a bare minimum, schools don't have enough supplies, and fewer state troopers are patrolling the highways.

Alabama House members have moved forward with a bill to streamline courtroom procedures in cases where the defendant has entered a guilty plea.

Rep. Chris England of Tuscaloosa told fellow members of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the three-day trial procedure in the Amy Bishop case cost the state nearly $500,000.

A hearing known as a "mini-trial" is held when a defendant will not face the death penalty. In those cases, the hearing serves no legal purpose.

The Alabama House and Senate are divided over whether a school flexibility bill should include flexibility with teacher tenure laws.

The House passed a bill Feb. 14 to allow city and county school systems to have flexibility in complying with state education laws, including tenure. The Senate rewrote the bill Thursday to exclude tenure. The House refused to go along with the Senate's changes and sent the bill to a six-member conference committee to try working out the differences.

The Alabama House has voted to require repayment of $437 million that voters allowed to be transferred from a state savings account by 2026.

The House voted 80-19 Thursday for the bill by Republican Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery. It was the first bill passed by the House during the 2013 regular session.

Alabama House Democrats want to put an armed police officer in each of the approximately 1,500 public schools in Alabama.

Representative Merika Coleman-Evans of Birmingham says the measure is aimed at preventing incidents like the recent school shootings in Connecticut.

An Alabama House committee has defeated a bill that would have legalized the sale of medical marijuana.

The committee voted 12-2 against the bill by Democratic Rep, Patricia Todd of Birmingham.