Need Help?

MONTGOMERY (AP) - Dozens of bills died in the Alabama Legislature Tuesday, the final day that proposed legislation could pass either the House or the Senate and still have a chance of passing the other chamber.

Bills that are dead for the 2005 session would have:

• Switched annual property reappraisals to every four years.
• Allowed local governments to install cameras at traffic signals to catch motorists running red lights.
• Created a commission to run the Alabama Development Office and to appoint the ADO director.
• Changed the mandatory attendance age in Alabama schools from 7 to 5 and from 16 to 18.
• Legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
• Allowed teachers to mention alternative theories when discussing issues like evolution without fear of losing their jobs.
• Prohibited schools from spending public funds on books or other materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.
• Made it a crime to leave a young child unattended in a car.
• Restricted removal of feeding tubes from a patient who does not have a living will, which specifies the degree of medical care desired, or a clear legal guardian.
• Legalized electronic bingo games at the dog tracks in Jefferson and Mobile counties and tax those machines, plus the machines already installed at the dog tracks in Macon and Greene counties, to benefit the state Medicaid program.
• Taken away the Alabama Historical Commission's control over artifacts in Alabama's waterways and give divers greater access to the artifacts.
• Imposed a three-year moratorium on executions in Alabama.
• Expanded Alabama's death penalty law to cover anyone who commits a murder with an assault weapon that has been banned by the federal government.
• Raised the earnings threshold at which Alabama starts imposing an income tax.
• Required all public schools to display the Ten Commandments.
• Prevented anyone under 18 from renting or buying some violent and sexually graphic video games.
• Created a new state board to operate the Governor's Mansion. Required the use of booster seats in cars for children who weigh less than 80 pounds.
• Transfered money from the state's Forever Wild land acquisition program to volunteer fire departments, soil and water conservation organizations, and the state environmental regulatory agency.
• Eliminated a temporary parole board created in 2003 to speed up the release of nonviolent inmates from prison.
• Created a sales tax holiday for back-to-school purchases.
• Removed the state's supervisor of voter registration from the secretary of state's office and make it a separate position.
• Restricted what services the state could offer to illegal aliens.
• Required some people convicted of DUI to install an interlock ignition device.

Our Legal Agreements