Title 64. Walker County, Local Provisions, Alabama Constitution

Alabama Constitution
Preamble
Articles
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Local Provisions

Chapter 1

“ Chapter 1. Miscellaneous Provisions RESERVED ”

Chapter 2

“ Chapter 2. Courts Article 1. Court Costs §64-2.00. General Authority; Compensation of Certain Officials. (Amendment 127) The legislature may, from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, alter, and regulate the costs and charges of courts in Walker county, and the method of disbursement thereof. Also, the legislature may, from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, alter, and regulate the costs, charges, fees, commissions, percentages, allowances, and compensation to be charged or received by the judge of probate, sheriff, circuit clerk, register of the circuit court, tax assessor, and tax collector of Walker county, or any other county officer on a fee basis, and may place any of such officers on a salary, and provide that the costs, charges, fees, commissions, percentages, and allowances collected by such officers shall be paid into the county treasury from which their salaries and office expenses shall be paid. (Amendment 127) Article 2. Judges §64-2.20. Judge of Probate Jurisdiction. (Amendment 976) The Judge of Probate of Walker County may exercise equity jurisdiction concurrent with that of the circuit court in cases originally filed in the Probate Court of Walker County if the judge of probate is a member of the Alabama State Bar. In any case subject to this amendment, the judge of probate shall possess the power and authority of a circuit court judge trying the case and the case shall be treated in all respects in the same manner as a case filed in circuit court. The Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure shall apply in the cases except as otherwise specifically provided by law. This amendment is self-executing, but the Legislature may enact additional laws to implement this amendment if needed. (Amendment 976) ”

Chapter 3

“ Chapter 3. County Government, Finance, and Operations RESERVED ”

Chapter 4

“ Chapter 4. Economic and Industrial Development Article 1. Economic Development §64-4.00. Walker County and Municipalities Therein. (Amendment 596) For the promotion of local economic and industrial development of Walker County, Walker County and each municipality the corporate limits of which are located wholly in the county shall, other provisions of law or this constitution notwithstanding, have, independently or in cooperation with one or more of such governmental entities, full and continuing power to do all of the following: (1) To purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire land, or to utilize land heretofore purchased or otherwise acquired, and to improve and develop such land for use as industrial sites or industrial park projects, including, but not limited to, grading and the construction of roads, drainage, sewers, sewage and waste disposal systems, parking areas, and utilities to serve those sites or projects. (2) To lease, sell, grant, exchange, or otherwise convey, on terms approved by the governing body of the county or any such municipality, as applicable, all or any part of any site or project to any person, firm, or corporation, public or private, including any industrial development board, other public corporation or authority heretofore or hereafter created by the county or any municipality therein, for the purpose of constructing or developing, by a purchaser or lessee, and equipping and operating, industrial, transportation, distribution, warehouse or research facilities, and offices and other facilities auxiliary to the foregoing. (3) To grant public funds to the industrial development boards, public corporations, or authorities. Any action referred to in subdivision (1), (2), and (3) which has been taken subsequent to January 1, 1996, is ratified, approved, and confirmed. Nothing herein shall authorize the county, or any municipality therein, to construct buildings for the purpose of lease or sale. In carrying out the purposes of this amendment, neither Walker County nor any municipality located wholly within Walker County shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 93 or 94 of this constitution, as amended. The Legislature shall have the power, by special or local law, to create, or provide for the creation of, any public corporation, authority, board, agency, or other entity empowered or intended to assist or aid in any way the county or the municipality in carrying out the purposes of this amendment and the special or local law shall not be subject to the provisions of Sections 104 and 106 of this constitution, as amended. This amendment shall be self-executing and the powers granted hereby may be exercised as an alternative to, or cumulative with, and in no way restrictive of, powers otherwise granted by law to the county, or to any municipality, or to any agency, board, or authority created pursuant to the laws of this state and acting pursuant to this amendment. No action may be taken under this amendment by the county or any of the municipalities until after the question of whether the county and the municipalities shall have the authority to take the action shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the county, at an election called for that purpose by the governing body of the county and a majority of the qualified electors voting at the election vote in favor of the county and the municipalities having the authority to take action. (Amendment 596) ”

Chapter 5

“ Chapter 5. Education RESERVED ”

Chapter 6

“ Chapter 6. Health and Environment RESERVED ”

Chapter 7

“ Chapter 7. Gaming Article 1. Bingo §64-7.00. Operation of Bingo by Nonprofits. (Amendment 549) The operation of bingo games for prizes or money by certain nonprofit organizations for charitable, educational, or other lawful purposes shall be legal outside of the corporate limits of the City of Jasper in Walker County, subject to any resolution by the county governing body as provided by law regulating the operation of bingo. The governing body may promulgate rules and regulations for issuing permits or licenses, and for operating bingo games, within its respective jurisdiction. The county governing body shall insure compliance pursuant to any ordinance and the following: (1) No person under the age of 19 shall be permitted to play any game or games of bingo, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. No person under the age of 19 shall be permitted to conduct or assist in the conduct of any game of bingo. (2) No bingo permit or license shall be issued to any nonprofit organization, unless the organization shall have been in existence for at least 60 months and owned real property at least five years immediately prior to issuing the permit or license. (3) Bingo games shall be operated only on the premises owned or leased by the nonprofit organization operating the bingo game. If the premises are leased, the rate or rental shall not be based on a percentage of receipts or profits resulting from operating the bingo games. (4) No nonprofit organization shall enter into any contract with any individual, firm, association, or corporation to have the individual or entity operate bingo games or concessions on behalf of the nonprofit organization. No nonprofit organization may pay consulting fees to any individual or entity for any services performed relating to operating or conducting any bingo game. (5) A nonprofit organization shall not lend its name or allow any other person or entity to use its identity in operating or advertising a bingo game in which the nonprofit organization is not directly and solely operating the bingo game. (6) Prizes given by any qualified nonprofit organization for playing bingo games shall not exceed the cash amount or gifts of equivalent value, set by the Legislature, during any bingo session. The Legislature shall set a maximum amount for any calendar week. (7) No person or organization, by whatever name or composition, shall take any expenses for operating a bingo game except as permitted by law. (Amendment 549) ”

Chapter 8

“ Chapter 8. Officials and Employees Article 1. Compensation §64-8.00. Certain Public Officials. (Amendment 50) The legislature of Alabama may hereafter from time to time, by general or local laws, fix, regulate and alter the fees, commissions, allowances and salaries, including the method or basis of their compensation, to be charged or received by the tax assessor, tax collector, probate judge, circuit clerk, sheriff, and register of the circuit court, and including the right to place anyone or all of said officers on a salary and provide for the fees charged and collected by said officers to be paid into the treasury from which their salaries are paid, and provide for the method and basis of their compensation in Walker county, Alabama. No salary fixed under this amendment shall affect the compensation of any officer already elected to either of said offices during the term for which elected, and said salaries, except for the register, shall be fixed at not less than three hundred and not more than five hundred dollars per month. The balance of said fund or savings shall be used for old age pensions in said county. (Amendment 50) Article 2. Employee Personnel Boards §64-8.20. Participation of Sheriff’s Employees. (Amendment 655) Effective the first day of the sixth month after the ratification of this amendment, all employees of the Office of the Sheriff of Walker County are subject to the authority of the Walker County Civil Service Board, or its successor. (Amendment 655) Article 3. Officials §64-8.40. Removal of Certain Public Officials. (Amendment 656) In Walker County, the appointing authority of any municipal or county board, commission, or authority may remove for cause any member of the board, commission, public authority, or utility appointed by the appointing authority after a hearing before the appointing authority by a two-thirds (2/3) vote. (Amendment 656) Article 4. Retirement §64-8.60. Phase-out of Supernumerary Program; Participation in RSA. (Amendment 977) (a) No elected or appointed Walker County official, including the sheriff, may assume a supernumerary office after the effective date of this amendment. Any person who, on the effective date of this amendment, is participating in a supernumerary program as a supernumerary sheriff shall not continue to participate in that supernumerary program, and may purchase service credit in the Employees' Retirement System for the time the official served in office. Any person who, on the effective date of this amendment, is participating in a supernumerary program other than serving as a supernumerary sheriff may continue to participate in that supernumerary program, which shall include the assumption of a supernumerary office according to the terms and conditions of the law which established that supernumerary program. Every elected or appointed Walker County official, including the sheriff, may participate in the Employees' Retirement System of Alabama upon the same terms and conditions as may be specified by law for any other employee in the same retirement system. Walker County officials holding office at the time of ratification of this amendment shall be eligible to purchase service credit in the Employees' Retirement System for the time the official has served in the current office; provided, however, the official shall forego the assumption of a supernumerary office. (b) For purposes of this amendment, "elected or appointed Walker County official" does not include a judge, district attorney, legislator, constable, school board member, or any official elected from a judicial circuit. (Amendment 977) ”

Chapter 9

“ Chapter 9. Public Safety RESERVED ”

Chapter 10

“ Chapter 10. Taxation Article 1. Miscellaneous Provisions §64-10.00. Occupational Tax Prohibited. (Amendment 133) No municipal corporation in Walker county, Alabama shall have power or be authorized to levy, impose, assess, or collect any license, excise, tax, or fee on the right to work for wages or on salary in the service of an employer; and any such levy heretofore made shall be null and void. (Amendment 133) Article 2. Infrastructure §64-10.20. Special Road Tax. (Amendment 19) Section 1. The county of Walker, state of Alabama, shall have power to levy and collect a special road tax not exceeding fifty cents on each hundred dollars worth of taxable property in said county in addition to that now authorized or that may hereafter be authorized for the erection, construction or maintenance of the necessary public roads, bridges or ferries and in addition to that now authorized under section 215 of article XI of the Constitution, which special county tax so levied and collected shall be applied exclusively to the purpose for which the same was so levied and collected, provided, that the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have first been submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the county, and voted for by a majority of those voting at such election. Section 2. Twenty-five per centum of all moneys derived from property lying within the municipalities and arising from the tax proposed herein shall be paid to such municipality and shall, by it, be expended for upkeep of its streets. Section 3. The court of county commissioners, boards of revenue, or other governing body of said county may, or upon written petition of ten per centum of the qualified voters of Walker county, shall call and submit said election provided for and authorized by section 1 hereof to the qualified electors of Walker county either at the time of the general election or at a special election called for that purpose; provided, that said election shall be called and held in accordance with the law now or that may be enacted governing county bond elections, and in conformity with the general election laws of the state. (Amendment 19) Article 3. Schools §64-10.40. Special Tax for Public School Purposes. (Amendment 204) Section 1. If authorized at an election held for such purpose, the governing body of Walker county may levy and collect a special county tax at a rate not exceeding one-half of one percent on the value of the taxable property within the county as assessed for state taxation, the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively for public school purposes; provided, however, that the governing body of Walker county shall not levy the special county property tax authorized by this amendment in addition to any tax authorized by a constitutional amendment proposed by the legislature at the same session of the legislature at which this amendment was proposed authorizing the governing body of each of the several counties in the state to levy an additional property tax for school purposes [Section 269.04]. This tax shall be apportioned among the county and city school systems on a teacher unit basis in the manner that minimum program funds are distributed. Section 2. An election shall be ordered by the county governing body to determine whether or not a special tax shall be levied for public school purposes as authorized herein upon the request of the county board of education, and the election shall be held and conducted in accordance with general laws providing for school tax elections pursuant to Sections 269.01 through 269.03. (Amendment 204) Article 4. Health §64-10.60. Public Hospital Purposes. (Amendment 276) In addition to any taxes now authorized or that may be hereafter authorized by the Constitution and laws of Alabama, the governing body of Walker county shall levy and cause to be collected annually a special district tax, not exceeding 50 cents on each 100 dollars assessed valuation of taxable property in district two of Walker county, Alabama, to be used exclusively for public hospital purposes (as the term "public hospital purposes" is defined in Section 215.03) within said district two; provided that the time during which such tax is to continue and the purpose thereof shall have been first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors in district two of Walker county and voted for by a majority of such electors voting at such election. The governing body of Walker county may call an election at any time, and it shall be the duty of such governing body to call an election to be held within ninety days after receipt by it of a petition signed by not less than 5% of the qualified electors of said district two, requesting that such election be called. The governing body may call such election to be held at the same time that this amendment is submitted to the electors of the state for ratification and such election shall be effective to require the levy and collection of such tax in the event that this amendment shall be ratified. The notice of such election, ballots to be used at such election and procedures for holding and determining the results of such election shall be prescribed by the governing body of Walker county. No election shall be held hereunder within one year from the date of the last election so held. Whenever such tax shall have been authorized by vote of such qualified electors, and levied by the governing body of Walker county, such governing body may anticipate the proceeds therefrom for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted, by issuing, without further election, interest-bearing tax anticipation bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said county payable solely from and secured by a pledge of a sufficient amount of the annual proceeds from said tax received by the county. The governing body of Walker county shall have power to designate as the agency of the county, to construct, acquire, equip, operate and maintain public hospital facilities for said district two, any public corporation heretofore or hereafter organized for hospital purposes in the county. When a public corporation shall have been so designated, the proceeds of said tax thereafter collected shall be paid to it and shall be used by it for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted; provided, that payments of the proceeds of said tax to said public corporation shall be made only to such extent as will not result in the impairment of the obligation of any contract theretofore made with respect to said tax. Said public corporation may anticipate the proceeds from said tax so required to be paid to it by issuing, for any one or more of the purposes for which the tax shall have been voted, the bonds, warrants, or certificates of indebtedness of said corporation, and may pledge for the payment of the principal thereof and interest thereon a sufficient amount of the annual proceeds from said tax so paid to it. No securities issued or contracts made by Walker county under the authority of this amendment, which are payable solely out of the proceeds of said tax, and no securities issued or contracts made by any such public corporation, whether or not issued or made under the authority of this amendment, shall be construed to be bonds of Walker county or of a political subdivision thereof within the meaning of section 222 of the Constitution, or construed to create or constitute an indebtedness of the county within the meaning of section 224 of the Constitution. Said securities shall be construed to be negotiable instruments notwithstanding the fact that they may be payable solely from a limited source. All pledges of said tax and all contracts, made with respect thereto pursuant to the provisions of this amendment shall take precedence in the order in which they are made and shall create a charge on the proceeds of said tax prior to the expenses of operating and maintaining any public hospital facilities. District two of Walker county herein referred to is the commissioner's district two now established in Walker county as authorized by law. (Amendment 276) ”

Chapter 11

“ Chapter 11. Zoning, Planning, and Utilities RESERVED ”

See also

• State constitution
• Constitutional article
• Constitutional amendment
• Constitutional revision
• Constitutional convention
• Amendments
  • Initiated constitutional amendment
  • Legislatively-referred constitutional amendment
  • Publication requirements for proposed state constitutional amendments
  • Rules about constitutional conventions in state constitutions
  • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures

External links

Suggest a link

• Text of the Constitution
• An Overview of Alabama's Six Constitutions
• Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform

Additional reading

• Connor, George E. Connor, and Christopher W. Hammons (2008). The Constitutionalism of American States. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press.
• McMillan, Malcolm Cook (1955). Constitutional Development in Alabama, 1798-1901: A Study in Politics, the Negro, and Sectionalism. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.