1 SB125 2 216502-3 3 By Senator Scofield (Constitutional Amendment) 4 RFD: Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development 5 First Read: 01-FEB-22 Page 0 1 SB125 2 3 4 ENGROSSED 5 6 7 A BILL 8 TO BE ENTITLED 9 AN ACT 10 11 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of 12 Alabama of 1901; to authorize the state, a county, or a 13 municipality to grant certain monies to public or private 14 entities for broadband infrastructure. 15 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA: 16 Section 1. The following amendment to the 17 Constitution of Alabama of 1901 is proposed and shall become 18 valid as a part thereof when approved by a majority of the 19 qualified electors voting thereon and in accordance with 20 Sections 284, 285, and 287 of the Constitution of Alabama of 21 1901, as amended: 22 PROPOSED AMENDMENT 23 The state, a county, or a municipality is authorized 24 to grant federal award funds or any other source of funding 25 designated for broadband infrastructure by state law to any 26 public or private entity for the purpose of providing or 27 expanding broadband infrastructure. The granting of funds by a Page 1 1 county or a municipality to a private entity pursuant to this 2 section must be approved at a public meeting held by the 3 appropriate county or municipality. 4 Upon ratification of this constitutional amendment 5 and contingent upon the ratification of the Constitution of 6 Alabama of 2022, the Code Commissioner shall number and place 7 this amendment as appropriate in the constitution based upon a 8 logical sequence and the particular subject or topic of the 9 amendment. In this amendment, the Code Commissioner may change 10 capitalization, spelling, and punctuation for the purpose of 11 style and uniformity; correct manifest grammatical, clerical, 12 and typographical errors; and correct incorrect 13 cross-references. When publishing the Constitution of Alabama 14 of 2022, as amended, the Code Commissioner may omit this 15 instructional paragraph. 16 Section 2. An election upon the proposed amendment 17 shall be held in accordance with Sections 284 and 285 of the 18 Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Sections 284 19 and 285 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of 20 Alabama of 1901, as amended, and the election laws of this 21 state. 22 Section 3. The appropriate election official shall 23 assign a ballot number for the proposed constitutional 24 amendment on the election ballot and shall set forth the 25 following description of the substance or subject matter of 26 the proposed constitutional amendment: Page 2 1 "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of 2 Alabama of 1901, to authorize the state, a county, or a 3 municipality to grant federal award funds or any other source 4 of funding designated for broadband infrastructure by state 5 law to public or private entities for providing or expanding 6 broadband infrastructure. 7 "Proposed by Act ________." 8 This description shall be followed by the following 9 language: 10 "Yes ( ) No ( )." Page 3 1 2 3 Senate Read for the first time and referred to the Senate4 5 committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development.......................................6 0.1-FEB-22 7 Read for the second time and placed on the calen-8 dar 1 amendment..................................9 0.9-FEB-22 10 Read for the third time and passed as amended ....11 1.0-FEB-22 Yeas 2812 13 Nays 0 14 15 16 Patrick Harris, 17 Secretary. 18 Page 4