Earlier this year Yellowhammer published a short piece on the significance of the Budget Isolation Resolution (BIR) in the legislative process. In short, the BIR is a procedural vote that allows a bill to come to the floor for debate prior to the budgets being passed. Passage of a BIR requires a 3/5 vote but it is fairly rare for a bill to fail on the BIR vote. However, this past week in the Senate, that’s exactly what happened.
HB 160, which passed the House in February, was being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Phil Williams. The Alabama Job Creation and Retention Act (as it and its companion bill HB 159 were known) has been one of this session’s most controversial pieces of legislation. Regular Yellowhammer readers will be familiar with our coverage of the AEA tactics used to block its passage (see: here, here & here). We pointed out in March, “Unless the GOP unites behind this proposal, Senate Democrats (who often take their cues from the AEA) will be able to block the BIR and prevent Alabama from gaining a valuable tool in attracting and retaining companies and putting folks back to work.” Ever the optimists, we believed the GOP would stick together to get this done.
We were wrong.
Job creation supporters were short one vote on the BIR (Vote was 18-13 in favor, needed 19 to reach 3/5 threshold). As the clerk of the Senate announced the result, a celebration broke out in the Senate gallery and in the halls of the 7th floor. AEA and Democrat lobbyists, as well as left wing onlookers, erupted into applause.
Let’s not forget, this proposal passed the Senate unanimously last year before the AEA placed it on their kill list. So what changed, Senators? Take a look below to see how your Senator voted.
Republicans:
Yay -
Allen
Beason
Blackwell
Brewbaker
Brooks
Bussman
Glover
Holtzclaw
Marsh
McGill
Orr
Reed
Scofield
Taylor
Waggoner
Ward
Whatley
Williams
Nay -
Dial
Holley
Sanford
Abstain -
Pittman
Democrats:
Yay -
–
Nay -
Beasley
Bedford
Coleman
Dunn
Figures
Fielding
Irons
Keahey
Ross
Sanders
Singleton
Smitherman
Present -
Smith
Cliff: You nailed it with your earlier article about how vulnerable the Republican caucus could be if they didn’t stick together, with Budget Isolation Resolutions being the real critical issue.
I’ve cut and pasted an “amended” version of what I posted on last week’s “Best and Worst”. It follows…
The real killer this week was not getting the jobs bill, HB 160, to the Senate floor for an up or down vote. We needed three more votes to pass the BIR. When it comes to job creation, HB 160 was arguably the most important piece of legislation of the session.
There were four votes Alabamians should have been able to count on for the BIR: Unfortunately, Dial, Holley and Sanford voted “NO” with Roger Bedford, AEA and the dems . Tripp Pittman just flatly wimped out and abstained.
Paul Sanford’s vote was really a disappointment and I honestly expected better of Pittman. I can’t honestly say I was surprised at Dial and Holley, who appear to conveniently forget they changed parties.
Amazing the difference in Republican attitudes from one year to the next. Memories are short for politicians. Not so for the voters.
Dial, Holley, Sanford. Never would have put Pittman in that bunch. I’d rather have Fielding than either Dial or Holley. I disagree with Sanford a lot but must admit he votes the way he wants without much reservation or concern for what anyone else has to say. As for Pittman, he’s ran around this whole session stomping on legislation and other senators like ants.
Wait a second. If my information is correct Trip Pittman is the Senator who has been holding this bill up for months. Then when it’s time to vote he ABSTAINS?! I think arguments can be made for or against this bill (much better arguments for in my opinion) but to ABSTAIN on a tough vote after YOU were the reason the vote was held up? Say whaaaa?
lol if people think if bentley actually has real power
You just don’t get it. True Republicans are not on board with the Governor deciding which companies are on some A list and should get taxpayer money. What about this do you not get?
Yea, they were tore up about that last year too when they voted in favor of it unanimously. Also, the Governor wasn’t even close to the only person who would be involved in the decision making process.