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Home Rule
Home Rule is an attempt to allow the state to give up its responsibility and authority to county or local units of government.
The Constitution of Alabama currently requires that any legal action by local governments that involves authority that it does not already have, must be requested by resolution and presented to that county's legislative delegation. The legislative delegation must then pass a bill in the form of a Constitutional Amendment to allow the electors in that county to determine, by a majority of those voting, if they want to make that change. This is the purest form of Home Rule.
Advocates of Home Rule seek to have the legislative delegation removed from the process. Several important reasons should be considered as to why this should not be done.
- The counties are a creation of the State. The State is ultimately, by constitutional provision, responsible for all debt incurred by any or all of the counties. A county could incur more debt than its citizens would be willing to provide revenue for.
- There are several areas in the state in which two or more counties have entered agreements to provide certain services such as garbage removal and land use planning. This type of agreement was approved by the counties involved through a Constitutional Amendment. In this process, small counties could find themselves at a serious disadvantage when major issues confront them and they are out voted.
- County governments would have the power to:
A. Raise taxes without a vote of the people
B. Plan for and zone the use of land
C. Regulate business activity beyond current law (abate nuisances)
D. Exercise the power of eminent domain
E. Establish any form of
F. Regulate schools
G. Raise the debt limit allowed by current law
H. Enter into contractual agreements to form regional governments
The concept of Home Rule sounds good until the full consequences are considered. It basically gives the 67 counties relatively the same powers as the state, so you could have 67 independent states operating with one state.
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