SB204 – Legislative Pick of the Day – February 8

Well, after glancing through the flurry of bills filed at the start of the session, I came across one that…took my breath away.  See what you think of SB204.  It is sponsored by Senators Taylor, Williams, Pittman, McGill, Bussman, Brewbaker and Orr.

It allows legislators to revert back to the pre-2007 pay amounts and to provide the difference in the pre- and post-2007 amounts to the legislator’s LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT to be used for classroom supplies. [Here’s a refresher about the pay raise controversy, and how then-Governor Bob Riley’s veto was overridden.] If a legislator represents multiple school districts, the money will be split among the districts based on Average Daily Membership (ADM).

So, let me get this straight.  Should this bill get signed into law, a legislator will be allowed to say “no thank you” to the pay raise approved in 2007 and instead have the amount that constituted the raise sent instead to his local school districts to be used for school supplies for the children in his district?

What do you think the odds are of this getting passed?  Would your legislator turn his pay raise over to our children’s classrooms?

(And it looks like some GOP lawmakers have their own plan for past and future pay raises.)