1. Riley's first law will be hard to beat [AP, BN, MA, p.1]

2. Jockeying begins for possible replacement for Pryor [MA, p.2]

3. Lawmakers upset by Christian Coalition letter [AP, MA, p.2]

4. Committee OKs bill requiring booster seats [AP, p.3]

5. Committee approves homeland security legislation [AP, p.4]

6. Nursing home battle lands before legislators [AP, p.5]

7. Hearing slated on annex bill [BN, p.6]

8. Senator backs Eutaw expansion [BN, p.6]

9. Alabama Power dam blamed for Tallapoosa's listing as endangered [AP, p.7]

10. Bush nominates Pryor to federal judgeship [AP, p. 7]

11. Alabama starts Amber Alert system soon [MA, p.8]

12. PAC-to-PAC ban key election reform [MA, p.8]

13. Good Morning Governor [MA, p.9]

1. Riley's first law will be hard to beat

• Gov. Bob Riley signed his first piece of legislation into law Wednesday, and it's a political achievement he will never be able to top. [AP, "Riley's first law will be hard to beat," 04/09/03]
• Gov. Bob Riley signed his first bill into law Wednesday. [MA, "Riley approves cash for prison bailout," Sherman, 04/10/03]
• "This bill is not a magic elixir that will cure all that ails the Department of Corrections, but it is good preventative medicine against a fatal crisis occurring within our state prison system," Riley said. [MA]
• The legislation -- an extra appropriation of $4.5 million for the state prison system -- is the first bill passed by the Legislature this year, and it passed both houses without a dissenting vote. [AP]
• At a bill-signing ceremony in his office, the Republican governor credited two legislative budget chairmen -- Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, and Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Albertville -- for guiding the administration's bill through the Legislature with a perfect voting record. [AP]
• The prison system plans to use the money to comply with a federal court order to ease overcrowding at the women's prison in Wetumpka, expand community corrections programs and add beds for other prisoners. [AP]
• Riley said his commitment to getting the bill passed stemmed from the tour he made of state prisons in Atmore on March 7. He said the prison system is operating at 200 percent capacity and is "a ticking time bomb." [AP]
• "This bill is not a magic elixir that will cure all that ails the Department of Corrections, but it is good preventative medicine against a fatal crisis occurring within our state prison system," Riley said. [AP]

• A former judge, several prosecutors, and two gubernatorial aides are being mentioned by Republicans as possible successors to Bill Pryor as Alabama's attorney general. [AP, "Jockeying begins for possible replacement for Pryor," Rawls, 04/09/03]
• Republican Gov. Bob Riley will get to appoint Pryor's replacement if Pryor is approved by the U.S. Senate for a seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. President Bush nominated him for the federal bench Wednesday. [AP]
• That process could take several months. Riley said Wednesday he's focusing on legislative and budget issues, not Pryor's replacement. [AP]
• "Until he is confirmed, we're not going to spend a lot of time looking for a replacement or even trying to determine who that replacement should be," Riley said. [AP]
• Some have already expressed interest in the job, including former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Terry Butts, who helped Riley in last year's election dispute, and Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone. [AP]
• Members of the State Republican Executive Committee and Republican legislators said others they expect to be considered include: Troy King, the governor's legal adviser; Toby Roth, the governor's chief of staff; U.S. Attorney Alice Martin of Birmingham, who is leading the investigation of HealthSouth's finances; U.S. Attorney Leura Canary of Montgomery; former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom; and Will Sellers, a Montgomery attorney who has worked in many Republican campaigns. [AP]
• Windom said Wednesday that he has just opened his own solo law practice and is not seeking the appointment. [AP]
• Likewise, Roth said he is happy serving in the governor's Cabinet and is not interested in a new job. [AP]
• Riley said King will certainly be considered if he's interested. "Troy is a very bright, very articulate young man," the governor said. [AP]
• Sellers said he has 30 years of experience working in Republican campaigns, which would be important because the person appointed to the job will be expected to run for a full term in 2006. [AP]
• "It would make a difference to have someone who has run a statewide campaign," Sellers said. [AP]
• For anyone interested in being the next attorney general, Riley offered a bit of advice Wednesday: "Bill Pryor represents the type of attorney general I'd like to have. Bill, even when he doesn't agree with the law, always adheres to the law," Riley said. [AP]

• Some House members are upset about a letter they received from Alabama Christian Coalition President John Giles chastising them for voting in favor of a gambling bill. [AP, "Lawmakers upset by Christian Coalition letter," Johnson, 04/09/03]
• The letter from Giles expressed his "disappointment" in the way the legislators voted on a bill to allow unlimited cash payoffs of electronic gaming machines at greyhound dog tracks. The letter encouraged them to vote in the future "to defend family values" and reminds the legislators that the Christian Coalition will in two years be publishing a scorecard on how lawmakers have voted. [AP]
• The letters went to representatives who voted in favor of bringing the electronic gaming bill up for consideration in the House last week. The 53-45 vote was six votes short of the three-fifths tally needed for the House to consider the bill. [AP]
• One of the lawmakers getting the letter was Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, a minister who often quotes from the Bible when making speeches on the House floor and is sometimes referred to as "the preacher" by fellow representatives. [AP]
• Jackson, who has been married for 25 years and has four children, said he felt the letter was questioning his faith and his commitment to family values. [AP]
• "They want to make everybody conform to what they believe religion is all about," Jackson said. [AP]
• Giles said the letter was not an attempt to question anyone's faith. He said the Christian Coalition's scorecard includes a disclaimer that grades given to lawmakers are "not a reflection of one's faith." [AP]
• "Thomas Jackson is one of those who repeatedly votes for gambling and has to answer to his constituency on gambling," Giles said. [AP]
• Jackson said he voted for the bill because he is concerned about the jobs of people who work at the state's four greyhound race tracks. He said he also doesn't think it's fair that the gaming machines operate on Indian lands, but not at the tracks. [AP]
• Rep. Locy Baker, D-Abbeville, quickly threw his letter from Giles in the trash. [AP]
• "I'm not going to think about it. I'm just going to do what I think is right," Baker said. [AP]
• Some lawmakers complained that the letter violated the legislative tradition of debating bills with passion, but remaining friends after the debate is finished. [AP]
• "I thought it was an odd thing for a group to do. Usually you write a letter thanking people for supporting a bill, not this," said Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile. [AP]
• Giles said he is still friends with lawmakers who voted in favor of the video gaming bill. [AP]
• "I think they understand that I have the job of educating voters," Giles said. [AP]

• A bill that would require many children between the ages of about 4 and 8 to sit on booster seats in vehicles was approved by a House committee Wednesday. [AP, "Committee OKs bill requiring booster seats," 04/09/03]
• The House Public Safety Committee passed the bill on a voice vote. The bill, which passed the House and died in the Senate last year, now goes to the full House. [AP]
• The sponsor, Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville, said the purpose is to protect children who are too big for child restraint seats, but are too small to be protected by lap belts and shoulder harnesses. [AP]
• Since Alabama law does not require back seat passengers to wear seat belts, Gipson said many children are now riding around without any protection. The bill leaves it up to the judgment of police officers to decide if a child should be in a booster seat, a seat that boosts the child up enough so that he or she can safely be restrained with a lap belt and shoulder harness. [AP]
• Gipson said he has one of the seats in his car for his 7-year-old granddaughter, Hannah. [AP]
• He said he believes booster seats would reduce the number of deaths in automobile accidents of children between the ages of 4 and 8. [AP]
• "Any one child who dies is too many," Gipson said. [AP]

• The Alabama Legislature moved a step closer Wednesday to creating a state Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the state's response to acts of terrorism. [AP, "Committee approves homeland security legislation," Johnson, 04/09/03]
• After postponing public hearings twice, the House Public Safety Committee approved a bill to set up a state Department of Homeland Security that would coordinate a response to terror attacks. [MA, "House bill addresses security," Sherman, 04/10/03]
• The House Public Safety Committee approved the bill, despite concerns expressed by some lawmakers and local officials that the new agency would be too costly and would perform duties already assigned to state or local agencies. The proposed legislation now goes to the full House. [AP]
• The bill, supported by Gov. Bob Riley, is needed because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the need to prevent and possibly respond to future attacks, said Rep. Jack Page, D-Gadsden and sponsor of the bill. [AP]
• "We're trying to think outside the box," said Page, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran. "As of Sept. 11 everything we understand about disaster has changed. We have not had foreign troops on our land since 1812." [AP]
• Riley has appointed Jim Walker, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, to be homeland security director. The bill approved by the committee Wednesday would set up an agency under Walker that would coordinate prevention efforts and statewide response to terrorism. [AP]
• During a public hearing, Chambers County Emergency Management Director Donald Smith expressed concern the new agency would take over the services being provided by local public safety workers. [AP]
• "I feel like we do an excellent job. This creates massive duplication of services. I think we are creating a new multimillion-dollar bureaucracy at a time when we can least afford to do it," Smith said. [AP]
• Rep. Bobby Humphryes, R-Pleasant Grove, said there is a need for the new agency. [AP]
• "We've got to have someone in charge. We've got to have someone coordinating. That's why we need to do this," Humphryes said. [AP]
• Rep. Albert Hall, D-Gurley, questioned how much help the new agency would be to counties isolated from Montgomery. [AP]
• "Where I live up on the Tennessee line, if we have to depend on Montgomery for help, it's not going to get there," Hall said. [AP]
• Page and other representatives have been working for much of this session to try to resolve problems various groups have had with the bill. House Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, said most of the opposition was coming from groups that don't want to lose power. [AP]
• "We will never get a homeland security bill as long as everybody keeps trying to protect their own turf," Newton said. [AP]
• Rep. Eric Majors, D-Birmingham, asked the committee to delay the bill for one more week to give members more time to study the issue. [AP]
• Page said he felt there was no need to continue to delay a vote. [AP]
• "We could sit here until the cows come home from Capistrano and we're not going to get everyone to sign on, but we've certainly tried," Page said. [AP]
• The committee defeated Majors' motion on an 8-5 vote and then approved the bill on a voice vote. [AP]

• The ad war that has been waged on TV -- with lawyers portraying nursing homes as abusive and nursing homes portraying lawyers as greedy -- finally arrived at the Alabama Legislature on Wednesday. [AP, "7. Nursing home battle lands before legislators," 04/09/03]
• More than 400 people, many shouting slogans and at each other, attended rallies at the State House Wednesday for and against bills that would restrict lawsuits against nursing homes. [BN, "Nursing home bills spark lively hearing," Chandler, 04/10/03]
• Three Senate committees held a public hearing on a package of bills to limit lawsuits against nursing homes. Both sides had been urging people to call their senators and to turn out for the hearing. [AP]
• It worked, with 400 people -- about evenly divided between each side -- overflowing the committee hearing room and filling hallways. It was the largest crowd this year for any legislative hearing. [AP]
• "It's really good to see government work this way," said Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals, who moderated the public hearing. [AP]
• The package, which is divided among the three Senate committees, did not receive any votes Wednesday. Committee chairmen said no votes would be taken before next week, and that it would take compromises on some of the bills before they could win committee approval. [AP]
• Melissa Gavin, former state director of senior services and now a spokeswoman for the nursing home industry, told the committees that Alabama nursing homes are in a crisis. She said liability insurance rates have risen 402 percent since 2000, with the average Alabama nursing home of 116 beds now paying nearly $200,000 annually. [AP]
• The industry's bills would: cap noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, in both death and nondeath cases at $250,000, orten the deadline for filing a lawsuit from two years after a death to two years after the alleged negligent act occurred, create a complaint review board to look at cases before they go to court, designate who can make decisions for a patient and provide protections to nursing homes that follow those directions, create a patient's compensation fund to which all nursing homes would contribute. It also contains a $250,000 cap on payments. [AP]
• "If enacted, Alabama would treat nursing home residents worse than any other state, giving less legal protections to our most vulnerable citizens," said Barbara Evans, executive director of Alabama Watch, a consumer group. [AP]
• Ralph Cook, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice who is now secretary of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, said that capping the damages could lead to worse care in nursing homes. [AP]
• "Under this bill, your worst nightmare could occur," he told the committees. [AP]
• The television campaigns that preceded the committees' hearings were on the minds of many who attended. [AP]
• Joanne Bunch, director of nursing at Dunn Nursing Home in Selma, said she was tired of trial lawyers' ads that portray nursing homes as abusive and uncaring. [AP]
• "We do a very difficult job because we care about people who reside in Alabama nursing homes," she said. [AP]
• Birmingham lawyer David Marsh said he was hurt by nursing home ads that show a lawyer taking food off of a senior citizen's plate. He said the ad hurts the chances of the two sides compromising. [AP]
• Both sides in the dispute got consumers to tell stories about good and bad experiences in nursing homes. [AP]
• Mobile County Commissioner Sam Jones said he helped look after an aunt and uncle who were in a nursing home for five years. [AP]
• "I learned to appreciate the professionalism of those people in the nursing homes," he said. [AP]
• "Nursing homes will be forced to close or operate without insurance by year's end," said Melissa Galvin, a gerontologist and spokeswoman for the industry. [BN]
• Annual liability insurance costs have jumped from $400 per bed in 1995 to $3,120 today, according to the Alabama Nursing Home Association. [BN]
• Opponents said the bills would give nursing homes the freedom to abuse and neglect residents without fear of punishment. [BN]
• "The safety and security of nursing home residents will be in jeopardy," said Joan Carter, state director of AARP. "There is nothing fair about treating the worst cases of nursing home abuse as just another cost of doing business." [BN]
• The debate, pitting plaintiff trial lawyers against the industry, is over a three-bill package that would put a $250,000 cap on damages in civil lawsuits, including those involving accusations of wrongful death; create a complaint review board, and designate who can make decisions for a patient. [BN]
• Lawmakers don't expect the committees to vote before next Wednesday. [BN]
• Most of the testimony at the public hearing was from members of advocacy groups, nurses and people who were satisfied or horrified with the care their relatives received in nursing homes. No nursing home owners spoke. [BN]
• Nurse Joanne Bunch, director of nursing at Dunn Nursing Home in Selma, said she was tired of seeing her industry trashed by trial lawyers. If there are bad homes, she told lawmakers, "tell the state to come in and shut them down." [BN]
• Wednesday's rallies were some of the best-attended and noisiest at the Alabama State House in recent years. Later, more than 100 people packed the hearing and spilled into hallways. [BN]

• A bill that would allow Center Point to annex property in the Echo Valley community was placed on hold Wednesday until a public hearing is held. [BN, "Hearing slated on annex bill," 04/10/03]
• Members of the Jefferson County legislative delegation who asked for the public hearing said they support the annexation but the delegation's procedures require a public hearing for any annexation request. [BN]
• A hearing was set for 7 p.m. Monday in Center Point, at a location to be determined. The delegation expects to vote on the bill next week. [BN]
• Rep. Arthur Payne, R-Birmingham, sponsored the legislation and said he had not set a public hearing because Echo Valley residents asked to be annexed into Center Point. [BN]
• "I required these gentlemen to get a signed petition from every property owner and to get a resolution from Center Point saying they want them," Payne said. [BN]
• The Echo Valley subdivision is in unincorporated Jefferson County and has about 125 residents. Wink Chapman, an Echo Valley homeowner, said that when he worked to get Center Point incorporated, he anticipated the day when he would join the new city. [BN]
• A lobbyist for the City of Birmingham said the city opposes the annexation because Birmingham surrounds the community and its annexation would create "an island." [BN]

• State Sen. Charles Steele says he supports a plan by Eutaw's mayor to boost the size and population of the Greene County town, but he wants the Department of Transportation to make major street repairs in part of the area targeted for annexation. [BN, "Senator backs Eutaw expansion," Gordon, 04/10/03]
• A bill that would roughly double Eutaw's size and add about 1,000 people to the Black Belt town's population has passed the Alabama House of Representatives. Steele, a Tuscaloosa Democrat whose district includes Greene County, supports the bill, saying the population boost would enable the town to legally become a city again and make it eligible for grants. [BN]
• But the lawmaker also said he will push the bill only when DOT officials say they'll work to get financing for street repairs in the Branch Heights community. It contains most of the population that would become part of Eutaw under Mayor Raymond Steele's plan. [BN]
• Annexation opponents and the Town Council want a town-wide referendum. Opponents are concerned that the town could get stuck with a street repair bill of more than $2 million. [BN]

• An environmental group has placed the Tallapoosa River in Georgia and Alabama on a list of the nation's 10 most endangered rivers and says a hydroelectric dam operated by Alabama Power Co. is the cause. [AP, "Alabama Power dam blamed for Tallapoosa's listing as endangered," 04/10/03]
• The upper reaches of the river in Georgia and northeastern Alabama "are a true wonderland and among the most biologically rich in the world," wrote American Rivers, the Washington, D.C.-based group that produces the annual list. [AP]
• The river is captured by the R.L. Harris Dam. Alabama Power holds back water until peak electricity demand, then releases it in a torrent. Sometimes the river is nothing but a few rocky pools, but at other times the water rushes out, the said the report released Thursday. [AP]

• President Bush on Wednesday nominated Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor for a position on the federal appeals court in Atlanta. [AP, "Bush nominates Pryor to federal judgeship," 04/09/03]
• After a long ride on the Washington rumor mill, Alabama Attorney General William Holcombe "Bill" Pryor Jr. received a nomination to the federal bench Wednesday from President Bush, who tabbed him for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. [MA, "Pryor nominated to federal bench," Kleffman, 04/09/03]
• President Bush nominated Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor on Wednesday for a federal appeals judgeship, a permanent post in Atlanta one step below the U.S. Supreme Court. [BN, "Bush nominates Pryor for federal appeals bench," Orndorff, 04/10/03]
• Pryor, 40, was nominated for a judgeship on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles appeals from Alabama, Georgia and Florida and is one step below the U.S. Supreme Court. [AP]
• Pryor said he was honored to receive the nomination. [AP]
• "I look forward to the confirmation process," he said in a statement. "In the meantime, I will continue to strive, as attorney general, to represent the people of Alabama, with integrity, to the best of my ability by upholding the Constitution and laws of our nation and state." [AP]
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a former Alabama attorney general whose own nomination for the federal bench was scuttled years ago by Senate Democrats, called Pryor "one of the most exceptional lawyers I've ever met." [AP]
• "He has an incredible commitment to the rule of law," Sessions said Wednesday. "He does what he believes is the legally correct thing, regardless of political pressure." [AP]
• "I think Bill Pryor is well-qualified. He's young, smart and conservative," Shelby said. [BN]
• Not everyone is so complimentary. People for the American Way President Ralph Neas said Pryor's nomination was "an unfortunate continuation of this administration's efforts to pack the appeals courts with divisive far-right nominees." [BN]
• A spokeswoman for the top Democrat on the judiciary committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said his office was still reviewing Pryor's record but expected to hear from groups opposed to his nomination. [BN]
• Opponents have begun digging through the volumes of Pryor's published work. Unlike some nominees who have limited public records to reveal their political leanings, Pryor's could hardly be more clear. He's weighed in on most major social and legal issues of the day, giving Democrats and liberal-leaning organizations plenty of ammunition. [BN]

• Amber Alert, the system to quickly notify police and the public when a child is abducted, will begin operation throughout Alabama in about six weeks, a state Department of Public Safety official said Wednesday. [BN, "Alabama starts Amber Alert system soon," Bailey, 04/10/03]
• Jerome Grant, head of investigative support services for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, said law enforcement officers are being trained to operate the system, which he expects to begin operation about June 1. [BN]
• Whenever there is a confirmed abduction of a child 17 or younger, who is considered at risk of death or serious harm, the Department of Public Safety will send out an alert and periodic updates to radio and television stations. [BN]
• Participating stations, which Grant said include almost every broadcaster in the state, will broadcast the alert every 30 minutes for the first three hours. [BN]

12. PAC-to-PAC ban key election reform

• Money has been described as the mother's milk of politics, and surely no one could discount its influence. Given that, voters ought to be able to find out who is giving money to political candidates. [MA, "PAC-to-PAC ban key election reform," 04/10/03]
• But that's not so easy in Alabama; in fact, it can be impossible. Under Alabama law, there is no prohibition against political action committees contributing to other political action committees.
• That allows what amounts to money-laundering, to essentially the same sort of hiding of the fiscal trail that criminal enterprises employ.
• Under the current law, a contribution may be made to a PAC, which can then contribute to another PAC, which can then contribute to another PAC, and so on. By the time some PAC writes a check to a candidate, the real source of the money is hard to trace.
• Under this system, an individual or interest group could arrange for a contribution to end up with a candidate who wants the money, but doesn't want to be identified publicly with the contributor. That's dishonest, and the voters of Alabama deserve better.
• Legislation has been introduced to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers, but the bill is not moving and doesn't seem likely to move. The key language in House Bill 130, by Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, reads: "It shall be unlawful for any political action committee to make a contribution to any other political action committee, other than a principal campaign committee."
• That is eminently sensible. If Candidate A is getting campaign money from a particular interest group or individual, voters ought to be able to see that, openly and clearly.
• As long as PAC-to-PAC transfers are permitted to obscure the trail of the money, that can't happen.

• You signed your first piece of legislation -- a bill increasing the appropriations for prisons -- into law Wednesday, having shepherded it through the Legislature without a single dissenting vote. Enjoy it, but don't believe it will always be so easy. [MA]