Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Legislature is moving swiftly to pass a bill that will redesign how lawmakers write the state education budget and place limits on how much money they can appropriate.
The bill by Republican Rep. Greg Canfield of Vestavia Hills cleared a Senate committee Wednesday morning after winning approval in the House on Tuesday afternoon. Proponents say they hope to get the Senate to pass it Thursday, which would make it the first bill to clear the 2011 session of the Legislature.
Canfield says the bill would end the legislative tradition of basing the education budget on forecasts of how much money the state will receive. Instead, the budget will be based on historical revenue trends from the last 15 years.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)