law already on the books

By BETH LAKEY

Staff Writer

Oct. 14, 2000 10 PM

Passage of Amendment 3 will be putting in the Constitution what is already on the books.

On Nov. 7, Alabama voters will have before them several proposed amendments to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 and one of those is Amendment 3.

The proposed statewide amendment, if passed, would "provide that counties and incorporated municipalities in Alabama receive a minimum of 10 percent of the trust fund income from the Alabama Trust Fund when the trust income in the preceding fiscal year exceeds sixty million dollars ($60,000,000); and to provide that the funds distributed to the counties and incorporated municipalities shall be expended as provided by general law."

In other words, if the Alabama Trust Fund exceeds $60 million, 20 percent of the interest will be turned over to counties and municipalities for capital improvements. The counties will get 10 percent and the municipalities will get 10 percent.

Norris Green of the Legislative Fiscal Office said passage of the amendment will put an existing statute in the Constitution.

In doing that, changing the law would require a vote by the people, rather than giving the Alabama Legislature authority to make changes.

"It’s been a law for several years," Green said, adding that putting it in the Constitution is a way of preventing the Legislature from making changes without the public’s approval.