State representatives met with the Shoals Chamber of Commerce to recap a frustrating legislative session that ended in May and to talk about priorities for the next session.

Rep. Mike Curtis, D-Florence, Rep. Tammy Irons, D-Florence, and Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, spoke about the last session in which nearly three quarters of all 88 bills passed by the House died in the Senate.

"The House members asked not to be quizzed on why the Senate got nothing done," said Quinton Hanson, who oversees legislative affairs for the chamber, to the audience's laughter.

During a five-day special session, the Senate passed 16 bills.

Some highlights of the last session: passage of bills that included health-care insurance deductions for small businesses, juvenile justice reform and short-line railroad oversight.

The legislators said they would continue to push to bring back $5 million in lieu of taxes from the Tennessee Valley Authority that is distributed to non-TVA covered counties.

Issues that the legislators plan to push next session include:

Morrow, who is chairman of tourism and travel house committee, leaves Monday for his second trade trip to Cuba. Though a federal issue, he said that open trade and tourism with Cuba would impact Alabama as Mobile may become a significant port for Cuban travel. He said he envisions travelers on Interstate 65 who might stop along sites on the way to Cuba through the Mobile port.

He also said he would reintroduce a bill, originally passed in 2001 that died from lack of funding, that would set up a commission of outside educational experts to streamline the higher education system.

"Alabama each year - and we are a poor state - we can't continue to fund the duplication and competition in the education (system)," Morrow said.

Irons said she would push for the quality investment partnership bill that would collect the nearly $20 million in taxes lost to unpaid taxes from Alabama business partners who live outside the state. She said it would be attached to a bill that would give filmmakers incentives to produce movies in the state.

"It may not be the best bill, but it's a start," Irons said.

Curtis talked about transportation, mainly U.S. 43 connecting to the north of the Shoals, and establishing a regulatory commission on sewers, a nod to the recent east Lauderdale County controversy over a private sewer developer.

The legislators even mentioned talk of introducing a bill to abolish the Senate, similar to Nebraska, the only state with a unicameral or single level state government.

The issue of a higher education commission generated several questions, but Morrow said his intent was to talk about details later.

"We'll certainly take Morrow up on that suggestion to meet again just to discuss that issue," said Chamber President Steve Holt.

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com