A bill that would change the appointment process for the governing board of the Department of Archives and History suddenly has a chance at becoming law after advancing out of the House and a Senate committee last week.
Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, filed HB169 in mid-January and the bill got approval from a House committee in February. But it only made the House calendar on the last day of March—two days later it passed a Senate committee to prepare it for a final vote on the Senate floor.
The bill is the latest version of a bill originating from Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, years ago in response to the Archives Department hosting a speaker who discussed the difficulty of archiving LGBTQ history in a state that has historically opposed same-sex relationships.
The bill would give greater political control over the Archives board, which has been self-appointing for more than a century. It would effectively give the governor a majority of the voting members, allowing the state’s top executive to appoint eight of the board’s 17 members while also having a vote of his or her own. The other appointees would come from Senate and House leadership.
If the Senate does approve the bill, it is likely that it will be in a different form, as Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, signaled in the Senate committee that he will be presenting an amendment on the floor. He did not divulge what those changes would be.
These changes are often approved simply by the other house, but a disagreement must be settled by a conference committee. With only three days left in the session, that could spell trouble for the bill as last year’s version of the bill passed both chambers before being sent to conference committee, where it died as the final days of session devolved.
