State Representative
One of no more than one hundred and five members of the Alabama House, elected for four years at the same election as the Senate (Sections 46, 50 and 198).
One of no more than one hundred and five members of the Alabama House, elected for four years at the same election as the Senate (Sections 46, 50 and 198). Seats are apportioned among the counties “according to the number of inhabitants in them … as ascertained by the decennial census” (Section 198).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- To State Senator: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.
State Senator
A member of the upper chamber of the state legislature. A bill has to pass both chambers.
One of no more than thirty-five senators — “The legislature shall consist of not more than thirty-five senators, and not more than one hundred and five members of the house of representatives” (Section 50). Alabama elects its whole legislature at once, every four years, and the session that follows is capped at thirty legislative days (Sections 46 and 76).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Representative: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.
- To Governor: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
- To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.
- From Justice of the Supreme Court: A state supreme court has the last word on what the state's own constitution and statutes mean. A law the legislature passes and the governor signs can still be struck down here, and in most states only an amendment undoes that.
Governor
The state's chief executive. Signs or vetoes what the legislature passes, and runs the state agencies.
Alabama's chief executive: “The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled ‘The Governor of the State of Alabama'”, who “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” (Article V, Sections 113 and 120). Four years, and no more than one consecutive additional term (Article V, Section 116). The veto is unusually weak — a simple majority of the whole membership of each house overrides it — and unusually interesting, because the veto message may propose the amendment that would satisfy the governor (Article V, Section 125).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Senator: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
- To Attorney General: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.
- To Secretary of State: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.
- To State Treasurer: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.
- To State Auditor: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.
- To Lieutenant Governor: In most states the lieutenant governor succeeds the governor and presides over the senate. Whether the two run on one ticket or are elected separately differs by state, and each page says which.
- To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.
Secretary of State
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116).
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116). Alabama's elections, business filings and records sit here by statute rather than by any enumerated constitutional duty, so what the office can do is what the legislature says.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.
Attorney General
The state's lawyer: brings and defends the state's cases, and advises its agencies.
Alabama's elected chief legal officer, one of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years with a two-consecutive-term limit (Article V, Sections 112 and 116). The constitution makes the office exist and elective and leaves its powers to statute, which is why its reach over local prosecutions, consumer cases and state litigation is a legislative question.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.
State Treasurer
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years, who holds the state's money (Article V, Sections 112 and 116).
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years, who holds the state's money (Article V, Sections 112 and 116). Alabama elects both a treasurer and an auditor, so the officer who holds the money and the officer who counts the property are separately accountable to voters.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.
State Auditor
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116).
One of the executive officers Article V names, elected for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116). Alabama's auditor is elected in its own right rather than appointed, and its duties are statutory — which is why what this office actually does has been a live political question in Alabama rather than a settled constitutional one.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.
Lieutenant Governor
Alabama's second executive officer, elected separately from the governor for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116).
Alabama's second executive officer, elected separately from the governor for four years (Article V, Sections 112 and 116). The constitution gives this office one standing job: “The lieutenant governor shall be ex officio president of the senate, but shall have no right to vote except in the event of a tie” (Article V, Section 117). It is also the only statewide officer the constitution excuses from living at the capital.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: In most states the lieutenant governor succeeds the governor and presides over the senate. Whether the two run on one ticket or are elected separately differs by state, and each page says which.
Justice of the Supreme Court
A seat on Alabama's highest court, filled in a contested statewide election: “All judges shall be elected by vote of the electors within the territorial jurisdiction of their respective courts” (Article VI, Section 152). The court “shall be the highest court of the state and shall consist of one chief justice and such number of associate justices as may be prescribed by law” (Article VI, Section 140(a)).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- To State Senator: A state supreme court has the last word on what the state's own constitution and statutes mean. A law the legislature passes and the governor signs can still be struck down here, and in most states only an amendment undoes that.
Counties, cities, towns and school districts
Every local government in the state. None of them can tax or spend outside what the legislature allows.
Elected separately, each at its own level.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Senator: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.
- From Governor: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.