By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Montgomery attorney Mark Montiel says he's preparing a new legal challenge against the Legislature's community service grants program. He's the lawyer who filed the suit that stopped the system before. He'll argue the new system usurps the power of the governor just like the old system did. Legislators use the community service grants program to spend money on projects in their home districts. Critics call it legislative pork. The state Supreme Court ended the practice last year when it determined the legislature could not use the program because it did not have executive branch oversight. This year, lawmakers reinstated the program and added an executive branch committee, but that committee still doesn't include the governor. Governor Riley vetoed the bill but the legislature overturned it.