Special Session Begins Today

The highest priority is passage of the General Fund budget. The Governor is also proposing a constitutional amendment that would limit local governments' eminent domain authority.

Riley's office said in a statement released last week that the official proclamation for the session would ask lawmakers to consider a bill that would "prohibit municipal and county governments from using eminent domain to take property for retail, office or residential development."

Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson promises that the Governor's bill would give Alabama "the strongest private property rights in the nation." The bill's main sponsor is Rep. Jack Venable (D. - Tallassee).