AMENDMENT 707 RATIFIED
Home Rule in Shelby County.
Section 1. Home rule.
(a) Except as herein provided, the Shelby County Commission may adopt ordinances, resolutions, or regulations relating to its property, affairs, and county government for which no provision has been made by general law and which is not inconsistent with this Constitution or any local law enacted by the Alabama Legislature. Notwithstanding the general grant of power in the preceding sentence, the Shelby County Commission may not establish or levy any new tax or raise revenue except as authorized by this constitution or by general or local law enacted by the Legislature of the State of Alabama.
(b) The Shelby County Commission may fix the salary, compensation, expenses, and other benefits and terms of employment of those employed by the Shelby County Commission except for those subject to the jurisdiction of the Shelby County Law Enforcement Personnel Board, and establish and maintain retirement or pension systems, insurance, workers' compensation, hospitalization, and medical benefits for those employees. The Shelby County Commission shall employ a county manager and other professional staff as it deems appropriate to be authorized and directed to perform any applicable management and administrative function associated with the management of county property and services.
Section 2. Supplementary powers.
(a) The Shelby County Commission, in addition to, and supplementary of, all powers possessed by or conferred upon Shelby County or otherwise provided by general law, may by ordinance or resolution exercise the following powers, provide and regulate the following services, activities, programs, and facilities related thereto, and establish and provide for civil penalties for violation of its ordinances, rules, and regulations applicable thereto:
(1) Police and fire protection.
(2) Garbage and solid waste collection and disposal.
(3) Public health facilities and services, including hospitals, ambulance and emergency rescue services, and control of dangerous animals and animal nuisances.
(4) Public street and road construction and maintenance, including curbs, sidewalks, street lights, and devices to control the flow of traffic.
(5) Parks, recreational areas, programs, and facilities.
(6) Storm water and sanitary sewage collection and disposal systems.
(7) Development, storage, treatment, purification, and distribution of water.
(8) Public housing, public buildings, and parking facilities.
(9) Public transportation.
(10) Libraries, archives, and arts and sciences programs and facilities.
(11) Economic development and tourism initiatives, developments, and projects.
(12) Adoption of codes, including building, housing, plumbing, and electrical codes for the protection of the public.
(13) Litter, trash, and rubbish regulation and control on or adjacent to public roads, streets, or highways, or on or in public buildings, public parks, and public properties.
(b) Unless otherwise provided by an act of the Legislature in effect upon ratification of this amendment or unless otherwise provided by general law, Shelby County may not exercise any of the powers listed in subsection (a) or provide any service listed therein inside the corporate limits of any municipality or within any other territory in which a municipality or an instrumentality of a municipality is authorized by an act of the Legislature to exercise the power or provide those services, or within any other county, except by contract with the municipality, municipal instrumentality, or county affected.
Section 3. Eminent domain.
The Shelby County Commission may exercise the power of eminent domain as is authorized by general law.
Section 4. Liability.
The Legislature may waive or limit the liability of Shelby County by law.
Section 5. Debt limitation.
The debt incurred by Shelby County, including debt incurred on behalf of any special district, may never exceed 10 percent of the assessed value of all taxable property within Shelby County.
Section 6. The Legislature of the State of Alabama, by local law, may provide criminal penalties for violations of certain activity and certain conduct in Shelby County if the activity or conduct involves the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the county or involves any of the following:
(1) Litter, trash, and rubbish regulation and control on or adjacent to public roads, streets, or highways or on or in public buildings, public parks, or public properties.
(2) Control of public nuisances caused by noise levels or noxious odors, or substances.
(3) The use and control of public parks, lands, buildings, equipment, and real or personal property.
(4) Control of dangerous animals and animal nuisances.
Section 7. The Legislature, by local law, shall provide for the combination of the county offices of tax assessor and tax collector into one elected position of County Property Tax Commissioner.
Section 8. The powers granted to the Shelby County Commission by this amendment shall not be construed to extend to any matters which the Legislature by general law has heretofore preempted by operation of law, nor shall the powers be construed to extend to any of the following matters:
(1) Action affecting any elective county office, the salaries thereof, or the personnel thereof, except the personnel subject to the jurisdiction of the Shelby County Commission.
(2) Action affecting the composition, form, procedure for election or appointment, compensation, and expenses and allowances in the nature of compensation of the Shelby County Commission.
(3) Action defining any criminal offense or providing for criminal punishment beyond that authorized by local or general law or by the Alabama Constitution.
(4) Action extending the power of regulation over any business activity regulated by the Alabama Public Service Commission beyond that authorized by local or general law or by the Constitution.
(5) Action affecting the exercise of the power of eminent domain.
(6) Action affecting any court or the personnel thereof.
(7) Action affecting any public school system.
(8) Action affecting pari-mutuel betting or any pari-mutuel betting facility.
(9) Action affecting in any manner the property, affairs, boundaries, revenues, powers, obligations, indebtedness, or government of a municipality.
(10) Action affecting the private or civil law governing private or civil relationships, except as is incident to the exercise of an independent governmental power.
Section 9. The Legislature, by local law, may provide for the implementation and administration of the provisions of this amendment.
