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ALABAMA STATE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
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Agency Services
- Legislative Legal Staff
For over 25 years the Alabama Law Institute has provided legal counsel for both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. More recently the House committee procedure was revised and increased its staff support for its committees.
Beginning with the 2000 Regular Session, the Alabama Law Institute was asked to secure additional legal counsel for all standing committees in the House of Representatives. Committee counsel is available to assist committee members to interpret and understand the bills presented to the committee. They are also be available to assist with any needed committee amendments. In 2010, the Institute also provided legal counsel to six committees in the Senate.
- Legislative Issues Conference
The Alabama Law Institute held the first of several issues conferences on September 30, 2008. It was the 2010 Census Preview: Effect on Reapportionment and Revenue. Both the Senate and House met in the Joint Conference Room in the House of Representatives Chamber at the State House. The 2010 Census Preview was presented by Catherine McCulley. Ms. McCulley is the chief in the Census Redistricting Data Office in Washington, D.C. John Tanner, Visiting Fellow with the Alabama Law Institute and Former Chief of the Voting Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., was the second distinguished speaker. He spoke on Reapportionment : What This Means for Your District. In February 2009, the Institute held a conference on Practical Ethics which was presented by Joe Espy and Matt McDonald.
- Website
The Institute has developed a website to fully utilize the technological advances that enable a faster and more efficient transfer of information.
Our address is www.ali.state.al.us.
Through the use of the ALI website, legislators, counsel members, as well as the general public, will be apprised of the projects under study and their current status. Once the bills are introduced, the bill's position in the legislative process is easily tracked.
- Model City Ordinances
The Institute, in conjunction with the University of Alabama School of Law and the Alabama League of Municipalities developed a model set of municipal ordinances. Law students have been trained and are made available to cities to compare the cities' ordinances with the Model Ordinances to determine a need to update the municipal laws and to fill voids in the city ordinances.
This model set of ordinances is primarily for the over 400 small municipalities in the state of Alabama that do not have a full-time city attorney. A number of cities have already utilized this service since 1991.
Cities who desire to avail themselves of these services should contact the Alabama Law Institute directly. The current cost for the service is $450.00 for three days of review plus mileage and expenses. If additional time is needed to complete the project, it is billed at $15.00 per hour. For more information, click here.
- Probate Judges Orientation Course
The Institute has a three-year long training course to acquaint Probate Judges with various legal aspects of their office. This course includes sessions on: (1) General Responsibilities of the Probate Office, (2) Estates, (3) Commitments, (4) Real Estate, (5) Eminent Domain, (6) Guardianships, (7) Adoptions, and (8) various laws affecting their office as elections, corporations, etc. This course is conducted with the assistance of experienced judges and faculty members from the University of Alabama School of Law. This course focuses on the judge and his or her judicial role and includes not only lectures but practical demonstrations and practical exercises.
The Institute also assisted the Probate Judges with the creation and continues maintenance their website: www.alabamaprobatejudges.org
The next ALI Probate Judges' Conference is scheduled for September 15-17, 2010.
- Sheriffs' Orientation
After the legislature passed a comprehensive criminal code in 1980, the Law Institute was asked to assist in the training of sheriffs and law enforcement officers. The Institute conducted a orientation on February 12-15, 2007 for all Alabama Sheriffs. The program focused primarily on the administrative duties of the sheriff's office.
The program included information about service of process, records, administrative duties, repossessions, detinue and attachments. A number of topics relating to their jail responsibilities will be discussed, including work release and detention and care of juveniles.
Representatives from the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement, and other agencies with which the sheriffs will be working were included on the program. They explained the assistance their agencies can provide to each sheriff's office.
The next Sheriff Orientation Conference is scheduled for February 15 - 17, 2011.
- Examiners of Public Accounts
FY 2009 Annual Training Conference
The Annual Training Conference for the Examiners of Public Accounts was held in Tuscaloosa on October 20-24, 2008 with approximately 230 participating. On the first day of the conference, Mr. Randy Roberts of the Auditor General’s Office from the State of Arizona discussed Auditing Standards and gave general updates.
On the second day there were four concurrent sessions. They were: 1.) Working Papers & Report Writing; 2.) Detecting and Investigating Fraud; 3.) Information Technology (IT) Auditing; and 4.) Legal Research and Overview of Departmental Duties.
On Wednesday, Dr. Robert Brooks, President of Financial Risk Management, spoke in general session on Municipal Rate Swaps and Derivatives. Mr. Eddie Crumbly, the Director of the Investigations Divisions of the Alabama Department of Revenue spoke on Preserving Evidence for Fraud Investigations. On Thursday, the same concurrent sessions were repeated to allow all of the participants to attend each session.
On the final day of the conference, the program was divided into division specific training. The division training was divided as follows: County, State, Education and Operational training.
- Circuit Clerks
Election Conference
In November 2009,, the Circuit Clerks met in the morning to discuss their responsibilities with regard to Absentee Ballots and Provisional Ballots. At lunch they joined the Sheriffs and Probate Judges to hear the luncheon speaker, John Tanner, Chief of Voting Section, U. S. Justice Department, Washington, DC. In the afternoon they continued a joint meeting for Probate Judges, Circuit Clerks, and Sheriffs.
The Secretary of State, Beth Chapman, spoke to them about state officials election responsibilities. They also reviewed the time table for elections, the county officials election day responsibilities, the appointment of poll workers, and the duties of canvassing board, and their responsibilities in recounts and contests. The groups considered the development of an Election Day Emergency Plan. The final topics covered were provisional ballots and the state-wide voter list. This was the second joint continuing education conference for the three groups to meet together and discuss both their joint and individual election day responsibilities.
- Election Conference
The last Election Conference was held on November 5 & 6, 2009. The Conference was the second of its kind for Probate Judges, Circuit Clerks, and Sheriffs.
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