In The News
Alabama voters reject $1 billion road amendment
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama voters have rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to spend $1 billion over a decade to pay for road construction projects across the state.
About 57 percent voted against Amendment Three in Tuesday's election. The other three constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot were also failing by smaller margins.
Amendment Three would have authorized authorizes taking $100 million per year for 10 years from a state savings account and using the money to build roads and bridges in every county. The legislative sponsor of Amendment Three, Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffee, was trailing in his re-election bid Tuesday night.
The amendment was pushed by the Alabama Road Builders Association as a job creation plan and was supported by a broad array of groups ranging from the Business Council of Alabama to the Alabama Education Association. It drew opposition from Gov. Bob Riley and state retirement chief David Bronner, who said the state should save the money in the Alabama Trust Fund to help recruit major industrial projects.
Amendment One would clarify a constitutional amendment enacted in 2006 that requires all city and county school systems to have a minimum of 10 mills of property taxes to support education.
Amendment Two would make it easier for counties to enact a special one mill property tax for education.
Amendment Four would prohibit any city located entirely outside of Blount County from imposing any regulation, including taxes and zoning, on its police jurisdiction that extends into the county. This amendment is aimed at Warrior in Jefferson County because Warrior's police jurisdiction extends into Blount County.
The statewide vote on Amendment Four didn't kill it. A second, identical constitutional amendment was also on the ballot in Blount County only, where it passed with 76 percent of the vote
Kevin Jones of
The Trucker
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