With the 2015 legislative session winding down and a $250 million shortfall in the General Fund looming, Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R) has formed the Commission on Earmarking and Budget Reform.

 

"Proud to announce the formation of the Speaker's Commission on Earmarking and Budget Reform. Since Republican passage of the Proration Prevention Act, our first budget reform effort in 2011, devastating mid-year cuts have been eliminated. I'm confident that this commission will recommend similar commonsense solutions to Alabama's budget challenges."

- Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn), Alabama Speaker of the House

Members of the Commission on Earmarking and Budget Reform:

• Rep. Will Ainsworth (R-Guntersville)
• Re. Elaine Beech (D-Chatom)
• Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur)
• Rep. Steve Clouse (R-Ozark)
• Rep. Allen Farley (R-McCalla)
• Rep. Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa)
• Rep. Rod Scott (D-Fairfield)

"In years past, whenever a new tax was approved, its proceeds were earmarked for one specific purpose or another.  Some of these earmarks are constitutional, which means the voters, in their wisdom, dedicated the taxes to an agency, initiative, or spotlighted need during referendum elections.

Many of Alabama's statutory earmarks, however, were put in place many years ago through back room bargains between lobbyists and long-retired politicians who no longer roam the State House halls.  The only way to avoid new taxes is to remove these earmarks and set priorities based on need, not on decades-old, money-hoarding schemes that lobbyists locked into our budgets."

- Rep. Will Ainsworth (R-Guntersville)

Alabama is one of only three states with two separate budgets: the General Fund and the Education Trust Fund.