Gov. Bentley: Senate acted "poorly" - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Governor Robert Bentley said the Alabama Senate acted poorly during the 2012 regular legislative session because of its failure to act on a pair of his administration's priority bills.

The Senate passed a watered-down version of charter schools legislation last week, and senator's didn't approve a technical vote to bring up a proposed constitutional amendment that if approved would have allowed companies that create jobs in Alabama to withhold their employees personal income taxes.

"It's just that the Senate has killed some major pieces of legislation that they said they were for" Gov. Bentley said. "So I would just like to say that I think they have done very poorly."

The governor said the House of Representatives however, "did a great job" in passing some of his top priorities.

When the Senate passed its version of the School Options Act last week, one senator quipped that under that proposal, it would have been impossible to have a charter school anywhere in the state. Rather than a sweeping proposal to allow for charter schools and flexibility, the Senate passed a bill that limited where charters could even locate. Under the proposal they could only be in or near Mobile, Huntsville, Birmingham, and Montgomery which have some of the state's lowest performing schools.

The bill also would have required the approval of every member of the local delegation in order to establish a charter.

"The bill that came out of the Senate really didn't do anything" Gov. Bentley said.

The House Ways and Means Education Trust Fund Committee did not give the bill a favorable report out of committee, basically killing it.

House Speaker, Rep. Mike Hubbard (R – Auburn) said of the bill's failure to reach the House floor, "What passed through the Senate was so meaningless that it wasn't worth passing."

House Bill 160 passed the Alabama House at the beginning of the legislative session. Supporters said the proposed constitutional amendment would bring jobs to Alabama and in the long-term help support the Education trust Fund because more people would be paying various kinds of taxes.

Opponents, which included the Alabama Education Association, argued allowing companies to withhold their employees income taxes would hurt the Education Trust Fund.

HB160 failed to come up for debate in the Alabama Senate Wednesday.

"Every Republican stood with me and said my number one priority is to create jobs for this state" Gov. Bentley said. "And then for them to kill the only major jobs stimulation bill that we had in the legislature is just unacceptable."

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R – Anniston) could not reached for comment but his Chief of Staff, Philip Bryan issued a statement on his behalf.

It said, "We don't believe that you can evaluate the success or failure of an entire legislative session by merely looking at two pieces of legislation." He continued and said, "While the Pro Tem has fully supported the Governor's legislative initiatives, the Senate is not designed to be a rubber stamp - with each of the body's 35 members having equal ability to stall or stop legislation."

Bryan also pointed out that the Senate in fact passed a charter schools bill while the House never acted on its own proposal.

May 16 is the last day of the regular legislative session.

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