Governor ponders special session

MONTGOMERY – Gov. Bob Riley is considering calling the Legislature into special session Feb. 26 to get approval for the state to borrow millions necessary to recruit new industry, including a project in the Shoals that would employ at least 1,500 people.

Among the other projects on the table is a giant steel manufacturer that is looking at Mobile County. That project was originally seriously considered for Lawrence County.

In all, there are about 10 “major projects on the table” that Alabama is trying to lure, according to the governor’s communications director, Jeff Emerson.

Before leaving Saturday on an industry recruiting trip to Germany, where ThyssenKrupp is based, Riley talked with some legislators about his ideas for a special session that would boost the state’s bond-issuing capacity by $400 million.

His staff has continued the conversations in his absence, legislators said Tuesday.

ThyssenKrupp is the steel operation that is considering Mobile.

Emerson said Riley would make a decision about the special session in about a week. The special session would last only about a week and would end before the Legislature’s regular session starts March 6, he said.

Riley returns to Alabama today from his trip to Europe.

Louisiana, Alabama’s only competitor for the $2.9 billion ThyssenKrupp plant had a special session in January, during which its Legislature approved using $300 million to lure the German company.

Emerson said Alabama needs to show the companies – all 10 of them – that it is willing to make money available to lure them to the state.

“We expect (site location) decisions on three or four of these projects to be made within the next couple of months,” Emerson said.

He said confidentiality contracts prohibit him from discussing individual contracts, but he said the project looking at the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park in Colbert County is on the list of projects that could benefit from the increase Riley is considering.

As governor, Riley heads a five-member commission that oversees the Capital Improvement Trust Fund. The commission can borrow up to $350 million for economic development projects and currently has $305 million committed.

Legislators and Emerson said the governor wants to raise the borrowing limit to $750 million. To do that would require more than just legislative approval. Alabama voters would have to approve it in a special election that would likely be held in early June, Emerson said.

If the governor waited for the regular session to address the issue, his proposals would be competing for attention with many other issues and could take much longer to pass, Emerson said.

Riley’s special session agenda also may include the creation of two trust funds to save money for paying the health-care costs of retired state employees and educators. Creating those trust funds is necessary for the state to keep a good bond rating, and keeping a good bond rating will save the state interest payments on the millions Riley wants to borrow for use in industrial recruitment, legislators said.

“Looking at the big picture, I think there would be support to pass what he’s proposing,’’ although the Legislature might tinker some with it, House Majority Leader Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, said Tuesday.

A special session would avoid slowdown tactics and filibusters that Senate Republicans are threatening for the regular session.

The Republicans feel their influence has been cut by the Senate’s new operating rules, and they hope stalling tactics will force the Democratic majority to make changes.

If the governor calls a special session, Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner predicts Republicans will work with Democrats to pass the governor’s proposals.

“With a five-day special session and with the stakes on the table, we’d avoid the threat of a slowdown or filibuster,’’ Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, said.

State Rep. Mike Curtis, D-Greenhill, said he generally favors appropriating more money to economic development in Alabama because he has seen the benefits of similar projects in the Shoals. He added that having a project on the board could result in a quick payoff for the Shoals.

“It’s something we need to look at,” Curtis said. “The cap on the fund was set back in the late-1980s, and it’s probably a good time to evaluate it. (Economic development) is a different game now.”

The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House left Saturday on an industry recruitment trip to Germany and Austria.

Riley announced plans for the trip one day after ThyssenKrupp named Alabama and Louisiana as the finalists for the steel plant that would employ 2,700 people and that would be larger than any Alabama auto assembly plant.

Staff Writer Bernie Delinski contributed to this report.