MONTGOMERY – HOUSTON COUNTY: Local legislation was introduced into the Alabama House this past week concerning the salaries of the Houston County Sheriff and Houston County Coroner.
The local legislation would bring the salary of the Sheriff up to $150,000 per year. This is needed to widen the gap between the Sheriff and Chief Deputy, and bring the Sheriff in line with other counties. The Houston County Sheriff manages a department of close to 200 people between the Sheriff Patrol, Civil Division, Court Detail, School Resources Deputies and Corrections Deputies. The Sheriff also manages the Houston County Jail where the population is equal to some small cities. In a jail with a capacity of about 370 people had 430 people in the jail.
Currently the Houston County Coroner has a salary of $18,000 per year. The legislation will bring the Coroner salary to $22,000 per year. The proposal was by the Houston County Commission. The salary “SHOULD” be the same as that of a County Commissioner, which begins at $33,000 per year plus $3,000 a year for furnishing their own car. Both a commissioner and coroner are part-time, with the Coroner being full-time on call. And no person makes an appointment to die. But the commission refused to bring the Coroner in line with the pay of that of a part time county commissioner.
CELL PHONES IN SCHOOLS: The Alabama Legislature debated to ban cell phones in schools. The FOCUS ACT would prohibit cell phones on school property. The academic and discipline referrals in Montgomery schools with their own cell phone ban. There are exceptions in the law. The bill will be voted on at a later date.
DUAL ENROLLMENT: The Alabama Senate passed House Bill 102. This bill, which is on the way to Governor Kay Ivey, reads schools “shall” allow high school students to enroll in any dual enrollment course that is offered by a local community college or university and approved for dual credit by the State Department of Education.
RESISTING ARREST: The Alabama House passed Senate Bill 265 in a 78-14 vote. This legislation enhances Resisting Arrest to charge from a Misdemeanor to a Class D felony. The legislation now moves to the Alabama Senate.
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS: House Bill 3 passed out of the Alabama House to the Alabama Senate in a 76 – 3 vote with 24 abstentions. This legislation enhances criminal penalties in cases where undocumented immigrants are alleged to have committed and the victim is a minor child.
GLOCK SWITCH BAN: The Alabama House voted 77-23 with 4 abstentions to outlaw machine gun conversion devices. This device makes the firearms able to fire at machine gun speed.
