MONTGOMERY — After years of agitation from members of the Alabama House of Representatives, members spent the first day of the legislative week railing against lawmakers in the upper chamber for the gridlock induced by some senators holding up House bills.
Alabama's legislative rules vary between the House and Senate. While House members are permitted some freedom to hold up legislation, that power is substantially amplified in the Senate, granting them wide latitude during debate to slow the legislative process.
For years, especially towards the end of the session, Senate members have used their allotted debate time to hold up bills on the calendar, often to protest or for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Last year, tensions boiled over, leading to a brief but tense civil war between the two bodies.
The Senate filibustering is driven by two usual culprits: Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and State Sen. Roger Smitherman (D-Birmingham). The Republican supermajority can cloture debate on a bill, a power it rarely exercises. Even so, cloture on debate can only slow the filibuster and often seems to create a more vindictive attitude among the censured party.
On Tuesday, when the House gaveled in for the next-to-last week of the session, State Rep. Allen Treadaway (R-Morris) took the podium. Holding up a piece of paper containing the bills awaiting Senate consideration, Treadaway lambasted the upper chamber, its rules and procedures, and the seeming lack of appetite on Senate lawmakers to change things.
"We just passed a lot of bills that went up to the Senate," Treadaway said. "What do you think [are] the chances of these bills passing given the current situation and the rules they have up there?"
He continued, "I'm not willing to sit idly by anymore, year after year, and watch it happen, I promise you that. I'm not willing to sit here and take it when a senator gets on the Senate floor and brags about it and calls me out by name."
Treadaway presented information he claimed demonstrated that Alabama has the "weakest lieutenant governor in the Southeast, probably the country" because of the office's limited power. Treadaway also questioned the Senate's appetite to change the rules that cause the yearly contention, calling on lawmakers to reciprocally hold up Senate legislation until matters are fixed.
"I'm convinced they don't have the willpower up there to do it," Treadaway stated. "The only way that we can balance the power between these two chambers is that we have the willpower to do it here."
He continued, "I read in the paper yesterday that they're looking to change the rules again because they started to filibuster last week. Get that? They're going to change the rules again. They're not going to change them, folks. Why? You've got all that power invested in you; you're going to vote to give it up? Doesn't happen."
The consternation with the Senate antics was nonpartisan in the House. State Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) also spoke against the gridlock, offering to aid Treadaway in his crusade.
"We get down to the last few days, and their power is on steroids, because one person can prevent a bill from being transmitted, and it's like a toilet that won't flush up there," England said. "So, we get here, we do all this work all session long, work together, pass bills only to watch them die in the Senate. So, if y'all won't help Treadaway, I will dadgummit."
Not all Democratic lawmakers supported a Senate rule change. State Rep. Napolean Bracy (D-Prichard) defended the rules in both houses and the tools they provide to lawmakers in the superminority to engage the legislative process.
"People are not up there filibustering just because, I believe that," Bracy said. "Just like I believe we wouldn't be down here just because. It would be because of something."
Senate leadership invoked cloture on Tuesday over multiple bills, prompting maximal-stall tactics from Singleton. State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) also proposed a rule change to be debated on Thursday. The proposed rule change would further limit the lieutenant governor's authority.
The change would also require Senate members to remain at the podium whenever a bill is read at length, a tactic often deployed by filibustering senators to slow a bill's progress. The rules do not address the majority of the tools in the Senate's arsenal that hinder progress.
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