On Tuesday November 8, 2016 Bibb County voters will go to the polls to vote in a General Election. The ballot will include the dreaded “constitutional amendment” and there are several Amendments on this ballot that are important to Bibb County. Local voters should study the proposed amendments before you go to the polls. Please don’t allow someone to tell you how to vote, read the amendments and do your own research. To help you, the Alabama Secretary of State, John Merrill, posted all of the amendments on the Sec. of State website, which you can find by clicking on this link. The synopsis versions are linked to the full-text Legislative Acts, so if you want to read the full version, click and go to it.
You can find an alternate synopsis of the Amendments furnished by the Fair Ballot Commission at this link.
Bibb County Administrator Mark Tyner said in an interview that Proposed Amendments #3, 4, and 14 are of particular interest to Bibb and are supported by the Bibb County Commission.
According to Mark Tyner:
Amendment 3 creates a two step process for the approval of local legislation and makes it harder for the full legislature to block legislation that has been requested by local county commissions and passed either the House or Senate with the support of local legislative delegations.
Amendment 4 would allow the local county commission to pass local legislation that they have no authority to pass at the present time. For example, if they want a law enforcement officer to be able to keep his gun and badge upon retirement that requires approval by the legislature unless this Amendment is passed to allow commission approval at the local level. Municipalities already have this kind of authority under our State Constitution with a city council but a county government does not.
Amendment 14 acts to ratify almost 800 local acts that have already been passed and makes them permanent law. If the amendment does not pass then some acts that have been in place for years could be ruled invalid or unconstitutional and have to be scrapped or resubmitted for legislative approval.
There are 14 Statewide Amendments that will appear on the November ballot and numerous counties will have local Amendments to consider.
