Election: Nov. 8, 2022 (General)
Outcome: Passed
Categories:
Economy and FiscalUnder the current provisions of Amendment 772 of the Alabama Constitution, counties and municipalities are authorized to lend or grant public funds or things of value to an individual, public entitity, or private entity "for the purpose of promoting the economic and industrial development of the county or the municipality." Under Amendment 772, the county or municipality must adopt a resolution determining that the funds would serve a public purpose and must publish a notice of the proposed action in the largest circulating newspaper in the county or municipality for at least seven days.
This 2022 ballot measure retains counties' and municipalities' existing authority to provide for financing economic and industrial development through lending credit, granting public funds, issuing bonds, leasing property, or lending bonds to a private entity. The measure would remove the requirement that the newspaper publication be in the largest circulating newspaper, and instead allow the publication to be made in any newspaper in the jurisdiction. The amendment would also ratify all actions and agreements by counties and municipalities made under Amendment 772 unless they are subject to pending lawsuits.
Under the current provisions of Section 222 of the state constitution, local governments are required to receive voter approval to issue bonds. Under the 2022 ballot measure, local governments would be exempt from this provision unless the bond issue also had a repayment provision such as a tax increase.
See link below for sourced measure text.