May 1, 2009
State House expansion nudges along
Several legislators feel the current State House does not have enough room for constituents who want to travel to Montgomery to participate in government.
By Sebastian Kitchen
The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would give a legislative panel the authority to sell bonds
to build a legislative wing onto the current Capitol in downtown Montgomery.
The House approved the bill 47-36. The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Lawmakers have said they are setting the groundwork for when the economy improves, and aren't going to start building yet.
"It's not like we're saying we're going to build a new statehouse any time soon," said House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn. Hubbard, who is a co-sponsor of the bill, also is chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
Hubbard said he might not even be a member of the Legislature when a facility is built.
"We have to have a new building," he said.
The state spends heavily for maintenance, including hundreds of thousands for regular roof repairs, and there is mildew, Hubbard said.
"It has outlived its usefulness," he said. "... This is not workable."
Hubbard, Rep. Richard Laird, D-Roanoke, and some other lawmakers said people are often not able to get into committee meeting rooms when they come to Montgomery to participate in government. Laird, the chairman of the Legislative Building Authority, is the sponsor of the bill.
Most of the opposing votes were members of Hubbard's party.
"I just thought the timing of this is very poor with the recession and education spending prorated," said Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka. "It sends a bad signal out to the voters that we're out of touch."
He said proponents are saying the bill only puts the mechanism in place to build a legislative wing, "but I don't think we need to be talking about a building."
Laird said the bill gives the authority the ability to start planning. He said the authority evaluated whether it was more cost effective to renovate the current building or to build a new one.
Renovating the current facility would cost $183 million while building onto the current Capitol would cost $167 million, Laird said referring to 2008 estimates.
The authority could sell bonds to fund building the facility or enter into an agreement with the Retirement Systems of Alabama, who would build it and lease the building to the Legislature.
"All of this is in preparing for when the time comes," Laird said. "It is going to be left up to some future Legislature."
He said public access is his biggest concern.
Laird said he was a member of the Legislature in 1986 when the members moved from the historic Capitol to the current State House, which was built to house the highway department in 1963.
House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, said he is for the authority moving forward when the economy improves and is against spending more money on the current facility. He said there are problems with the heating and air conditioning, some of the elevators, flooding in the basement, the roof, and mold and mildew.
The bill gives the building authority the power to take control of and close Union Street between Washington and Monroe streets, which separates the State House and the Capitol, and to control surrounding streets and parking lots.
The authority includes three House and three Senate members who are responsible for the management and upkeep of State House property.
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