Pubdate: Sun, 15 May 2005
Source: Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2005 The Birmingham News
Contact:  http://al.com/birminghamnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author: Kim Chandler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

LEGISLATORS TO VOTE ON ANTI-METH BILL

College Savings Plan Tax Exemption Also One Of Many Bills Facing Their Last 
Chance

MONTGOMERY - Alabama lawmakers will decide Monday if certain cold medicines 
will be put behind store counters and if the state's 529 college savings 
plan will be exempt from state income taxes.

Monday is the final meeting day of the 2005 legislative session, and 
legislators will be greeted by a backlog of bills. Filibusters knocked the 
state Senate out of operation for most of the year.

One of the bills up for consideration would exempt the Alabama College 
Education Savings Program, the state's 529 plan, from state income taxes.

Named after the section of federal code that created them, 529 plans allow 
families to save money for college in state-sponsored investment plans 
without paying federal income tax on the interest and benefits. Most states 
have exempted their state plans from state income taxes; Alabama has not.

"This bill, when passed, will encourage Alabama parents to save rather than 
to incur debt for their children's college education," State Treasurer Kay 
Ivey said. "It just makes sense to do this."

The House of Representatives approved the bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard 
Lindsey, D-Centre, by an 89-0 vote earlier this year. The bill is pending 
in the Senate.

"We should not be penalizing Alabamians for saving," Ivey said.

Also pending final passage Monday is a proposal that would put Sudafed and 
some other cold medicines behind store counters and would require customers 
to show identification to buy them.

Lawmakers say the changes are needed to clamp down on the manufacture of 
the illegal stimulant methamphetamine.

Under the bill, products with the sole active ingredient pseudoephedrine or 
ephedrine - the key component in cooking meth - would have to be kept 
behind store counters or in a locked case.

Customers would have to show ID and sign a state register to purchase the 
pills. Drugs with multiple active ingredients could be kept on store 
shelves, but the products would have to be under video surveillance.

The proposals also would limit to two packages the pseudoephedrine or 
ephedrine that could be bought at any one sale.

The Legislature's final meeting might also bring another skirmish in the 
battle to secure state funding for a proposed domed stadium in Birmingham.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said he might hold up a bill that 
would give the state docks in Mobile $80 million for a container port 
unless Gov. Bob Riley agrees to commit money to the dome project.

Smitherman said the Jefferson County project is deserving of state funds.

"Conversations are going on right now," he said. "Nothing is concrete. 
We're trying to work something out."

Also on the agenda

Other bills up for consideration Monday would:

Give counties limited home rule powers for weed control and nuisance abatement.

Move Alabama's presidential primary from June to the first Saturday after 
the New Hampshire primary. That would make Alabama the third state in the 
country and the first in the South to take part in the process of choosing 
Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.

Require nonprofit groups to disclose the source of money used to buy 
advertising to influence the outcome of a constitutional amendment 
referendum, such as a lottery vote.

Allow lenders to charge $3 monthly account maintenance fees on certain 
consumer credit transactions.

Require schools systems to levy at least 10 mills of property tax for 
public schools. The proposed constitutional amendment, if approved by 
voters, would require 30 school systems, including Walker and Blount 
counties, to raise property taxes.

Raise the salary of the Jefferson County sheriff to $115,000 a year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom