House passes bill restructuring Alabama Department of Archives' governing board
The Alabama Department of Archives and History, as seen on February 8, 2023. The Alabama House Tuesday approved a \bill that restructures the board of trustees for the Alabama Department of Archives & History, which the House passed along party lines on Tuesday.(Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill along party lines Tuesday that restructures the board of trustees of the Alabama Department of Archives & History.
Currently, the Alabama Department of Archives and History has two trustees from each congressional district and two additional at-large members, plus the governor or their designees. The board nominates its own members.
SB 5, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Josephine, would make the governor the appointing authority for most seats, including members from each congressional district, with eight at-large appointments coming from the speaker, president pro tempore, and the minority leaders of the House and Senate. The bill strips the board from nominating its own members.
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'This bill reconstitutes the board of directors to make it more in line with our other two flagship museums in the state: the battleship and the rocket center,' Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, who carried the bill in the House, said.
Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, offered an amendment that takes away the Senate confirmation process from the appointment by the Speaker of the House.
'The basis of that is: Why would the Speaker have an appointment and that appointment be confirmed by the Senate?' Lovvorn said.
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Mobile, said he is concerned about how people will be appointed and removed from the board.
'This has just been a messy situation from the start, I think we can all kinda agree on that,' Bracy said.
The bill passed the Senate 26-5 on April 18.
Elliot was one of several Republicans who attacked the Archives Department for hosting a presentation on LGBTQ+ history in Alabama in June 2023, claiming the board is not accountable to elected officials, calling it a 'unicorn.'
Elliott then introduced a bill in the redistricting special session in mid-2023 to strip Archives of $5 million, which did not pass.
He also introduced a similar bill for the 2024 legislative session that would have given state officials and legislative leaders the power to appoint board members, while keeping the board size the same. The bill passed the Senate and a House committee but did not reach the House floor.
The bill received approval from the House State Government Committee on April 23 with some audible 'no' votes from Democrats.
Lovvorn's amendment on Tuesday passed 96-0.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, questioned why the board needs to be restructured now.
'The staff that's at the Archives, they're incredibly professional. They're historians. They're the experts that are doing their best to honor all people in the state. That's incredibly important, making sure we're telling the full true history of Alabama,' Ensler said.
He claimed the bill is government overreach.
'It seems like it's big government where we're all of a sudden micro-managing what this board can do,' he said. 'This just feels like a personal attack on their expertise, their professionalism.'
The bill passed 74-29. It goes to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. There are two days left in the legislative session.
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