Alabama House passes Senate Bill 330, reshaping the Birmingham Water Works Board
The Alabama House has passed a bill which revamps the makeup of the .
SB330 passed 69-29 after more than two hours of debate Thursday morning. The bill passed the Alabama Senate in a unanimous vote last week.
Here's how restructuring of the appointed board will work. There will now be eight regional board members instead of the five they wanted when the bill was originally drafted.
Birmingham's mayor, the city council of Birmingham, and the Jefferson County Commission will each get to appoint one person.
The governor and lieutenant governor will also have a say, with one appointee each.
State Rep. Juandalyn Givan who strongly opposed the bill, said this is a disappointing moment for the city, calling the vote a "politically motivated power grab."
She issued the following statement: "The passage of House Bill 330 represents a blatant overreach 鈥� a takeover of an authority that rightfully belongs to the City of Birmingham and its residents. This move is not only absurd, it is dangerous, and its long-term consequences could be devastating in ways we may never fully recover from."
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin issued the following statement: "My concern is for the Birmingham ratepayers.
"This bill is not in their best interest. The city does not own the water works nor operate it but the passage of this legislation clearly weakens the voice of a major portion of the utility鈥檚 ratepayers.
"While I have raised concerns about BWWB over the years, the current board has taken steps to improve. That momentum has now been halted by this power grab from state lawmakers in Montgomery who clearly did not consider the best interest of our residents."
Both sides of the power battle
Under SB 330, Shelby County will get one appointee because it is the biggest county outside Jefferson. Shelby will get another board member as will Blount County because each has a major reservoir.
鈥淲e have a reservoir in Blount County that provides holds 47 million gallons of water per day. So, representation there. I can show the acts that passed in 2015 and 2016. In those acts they realized they could not sponsored by a local bill was passed out of this legislature establishing the Blount County and Shelby County which is the largest customer based," added "We currently will have Jefferson County representation on this board but we're trying to pull some of the best minds to be a part of making a difference to make this board."
City of Birmingham leaders and water works representatives disagree, saying Jefferson County and the city of Birmingham should have more seats because they have the most customers.
The current board has nine people, mostly appointed by the city of Birmingham. Birmingham city councilors and the mayor appoint a total of six representatives.
The Jefferson County Mayors Association has one appointee.
Blount County and Shelby County only have one each.
鈥淭he city of Birmingham, without a doubt, built this utility and expanded it as other municipalities asked to come on board because they did not have the financial wherewithal to create their own water system. Now, we know that there has been issues with this utility in years past, but we are very proud of this current board and everything that they have done to overcome the issues,鈥� said Hunter Williams, a councilor.
Williams says, while standing next to BWWB general manager and the chairperson, "It's local government that understands the needs of its people are closest to the people. But every time you get bigger, every time you get a level outside of that bubble. Inefficiencies come up. Different type of political actions come up that are not in the best interests for those local people. And my biggest concern is that we have seen state Republicans get away from what the Republican Party has traditionally stood for in the state of Alabama."
Birmingham Water Works and city leaders mentioned that the bill takes away the ability to offer public comments. We have not found that information inside the bill.
The legislation now awaits signature by Gov. Kay Ivey.