Alabama's House of Representatives reconvenes Tuesday for the 16th day of the 2012 Regular Session to discuss new legislation.
Two bills passed unanimously in the House March 22 are now awaiting Senate approval and Gov. Robert Bentley's signature before becoming law. House bills 288 and 340 came about in the wake of last year's April 27 tornadoes.
The first was sponsored by Rep. Mac Buttram (R-Cullman) and deals with lowering the price of storm shelters. Rep. John Merrill (R-Tuscaloosa) sponsored H.B. 340, which would make looting during declared emergencies a felony.
"Prior to April 27 of last year, storm shelters were not regulated at all," Buttram said.
The attorney general's office first decided the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission should regulate storm shelters after last year's storms, Buttram said.
However, adhering to the regulations and fees of the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission raised the price of storm shelters by $1,000 or more.
"This bill removes residential storm shelters from Manufactured Housing Commission," Buttram said.
Also in the wake of the tornadoes, Merrill was informed of extensive looting in affected towns and cities and went to talk about it with the attorney general's staff.
"They had had numerous instances reported to them all over the state where this had occurred," Merrill said. "So they drafted the legislation and I sponsored it in the House and got 53 cosponsors. That's one of the reasons why the bill passed 102 to nothing."
By making looting a Class C felony, it is punishable by incarceration of one to 10 years and a $15,000 fine.
Other House bills being discussed deal with creating incentives to bring film, coal mining, data processing and aviation and aerospace jobs to Alabama. There are bills which propose to enhance education, restrict funeral disruptions and reorganize the Alabama Department of Transportation.
On March 20, the Senate passed the Heroes for Hire Act, which will offer businesses in Alabama a $2,000 tax credit to employ veterans.
Todd Stacy, communications director for Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn), said students should learn about the many bills being discussed and voted on because they will be affected by the decisions made in the legislature.
"There are students right now preparing to graduate and preparing to embark on a career," Stacy said. "They want to be able to land a job, and we want them to be able to start their career here in Alabama to keep their talents and their art and their learned skills in the state."
Stacy said several of the new bills are working to create jobs by recruiting companies to Alabama.
"The unemployment rate has gone down, which is a good sign," Stacy said. "We're obviously moving in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work to do."
Buttram said students should be aware of how the government can affect them.
"Government can get overly involved in our lives and when they do, it ends up costing, ultimately, the consumer." Buttram said.
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