Governor Bob Riley on Wednesday reacted to a Supreme Court ruling issued in the ongoing case involving the State Board of Education's ban on double dipping in the two-year college system.
"I'm very pleased with this decision. It confirms that the board, acting in a bipartisan fashion, properly approved these policies to ban double dipping," said Governor Riley, who serves as president of the State Board of Education. "Now the AEA and the double dipping legislators who brought this lawsuit need to stop their litigation so these needed reforms can be put in place and double dipping can be brought to an end. It needs to end in all parts of government, not only in our two-year system, and I will again be pushing for legislation in the upcoming session to completely ban double dipping."
The Alabama Supreme Court rejected the claim by supporters of double dipping that the State Board of Education's policies were improperly approved because the board did not follow the Alabama Administrative Procedures Act (AAPA). The high court ruled that the policies "are internal-management policies and as such are exempt" from the definition of rule under the Act. The Supreme Court's decision means Montgomery County Circuit Judge Johnny Hardwick "erred in holding that the Board was required to follow the AAPA in adopting the policies" during the litigation's trial phase.