Ala. lawmakers face wide range of issues

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - There are a lot of important issues expected to come up during the legislative session that started February 5 in Montgomery. One fight that is gearing up could affect Murphy High School, which was badly damaged by the Christmas day tornado.

A quickly called meeting of lawmakers inside a conference room on the fifth floor pulled Mobile County School Superintendent Martha Peek from another engagement in Montgomery.

"Representative Buskey got in touch with me, and he said, ‘Can you be at the capital in 20 minutes?’ I said, ‘Yes I can,’" Peek said.

Peek didn't hesitate to meet with House members of the Mobile County Legislative Delegation, and two representatives of the State Finance Department.

They're trying to come up with a bill that could potentially get money to restore Murphy High School which was devastated by a tornado on Christmas Day.

"When you look at Murphy, and you realize we can repair it,” Peek said.

Peek said the restoration would cost $50 million which is long way from the $8 million in insurance which will simple repair the school.

One option proposed by the finance representatives would be to add money on to an existing bill for bond money for technical schools.

"What we're trying to do is essentially piggy back on that with additional bond money to repair Murphy and also a number of other schools that were hit across the state some years ago that still have some outstanding issues," Representative Randy Davis of Daphne said.

There's no guarantee the bond proposal will make it through the legislature, but local lawmakers and the superintendent are encouraged.

"We all recognize that Murphy is really a landmark in the State of Alabama, and we need to be sensitive to trying to restore it to its glory days," Representative Jamie Ison said.

If local lawmakers are not able to add on to the existing bill, they said they may seek a separate bond issue for Murphy.