Alabama House pass Birmingham Waterworks reform legislation

April 25, 2025 – The Alabama House of Representatives voted to pass reform legislation of the troubled Birmingham Waterworks Board. The new Board will be a more representative regional utility than what the current Board is.

Senate Bill 330 (SB330) is sponsored by Senator Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook). It is carried in the House of Representatives by Representative Jim Carns (R-Vestavia Hills).

"This is an attempt to correct some of the problems," said Rep. Carns. "This bill sets up a regional utility board with seven new directors."

Currently the City of Birmingham appoints six of the nine members of the Birmingham Waterworks Board. The Birmingham Waterworks Board provides residents to people in the City of Birmingham, people in Jefferson County not in the Birmingham City limits, as well as residents of Shelby, Walker, Blount, and St. Clair County.

Carns said that Birmingham has only 195,000 residents, but the Birmingham Waterworks has 775,000 customers.

"The Birmingham City Council will have one appointment, the President of the Jefferson County Commission will have one appointment, the Shelby County Commission will have one appointment, the Blount County Commission will have one appointment, the Lieutenant Governor will have one appointment, and the governor will have one appointment," explained Givan.

"The process for which all of this happened should never have happened," said Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham). "The City of Birmingham has been the appointing authority for all of these years." "It is a taking because you are going to dissolve a Board."

"You are taking the power from the largest city (Birmingham)," said Givan. "I understand that 90% of the customers come from the county and are outside the city."

"I have a problem with the bill coming from the Senate," continued Givan.

Givan is a declared candidate for Mayor of the City of Birmingham. She attacked incumbent Mayor Randall Woodfin for not taking a stronger stance.

"We are down here fighting for somebody who didn't fight for themselves," said Givan. "This is an abomination for the hard-working people of the City of Birmingham."

Given was also angry about comments by Sen. Roberts where he accused the existing Birmingham Waterworks Board of being, "incompetent.

Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham) objected to this legislation not coming from the Jefferson County legislative delegation and accused the House Rules Committee of "Circumventing the county delegation."

Rafferty argued that the delegation knows the history of government fragmentation in Jefferson County while, "A statewide committee does not have the knowledge."

"There are 34 municipalities in Jefferson County," continued Rafferty. "The extreme fragmentation did not happen naturally but resulted from decades of racial strife."

"What message does this say about local control?" asked Rafferty. "This inflammatory and patronizing."

Rafferty also objected to public criticism of the competence of the Birmingham Waterworks Board.

"The Birmingham Waterworks has an AA bond rating and meets all the standards of water quality required by the federal government," said Rafferty. "This is about control this is not about improving service. This is about shifting power away from Birmingham in order to dilute political power of Black communities

Rules Committee Chairman Joe Lovvorn (R-Auburn) said, "Five Counties are served by this. This affects more counties than just one," explaining why this bill was not assigned to the Jefferson County Legislative Committee.

Rep. Rolanda Hollis (D-Birmingham) said, "We have to think about what our constituents wants rather than what we want

Rep. Patrick Sellers (D-Birmingham) brought an amendment to alter the composition of the Board of Directors.

Carns asked that the Sellers amendment be tabled. The House easily voted to table the Sellers amendment.

Rep. Ontario Tillman (D-Birmingham) asked, "What is the purpose behind this bill?"

Carns said that his goal was to provide for a Board of Directors that provided better service, lower rates, and a more secure future for the region.

"I never said anything about the quality of the water," said Carns.

Carns said that the original bill that he and Waggoner had written had five directors

Tillman introduced an amendment taking away the Blount County appointment and give that appointment to the Birmingham City Council.

Carns asked that the Tillman amendment be tabled. The House voted 70 to 26 to table the Tillman amendment.

Carns said that he has been working on this for 20 years.

Rep. Danny Garrett said that this issue "has come up every year that I have been here," in the Legislature.

SB330 passed SB330 with bipartisan support 30 to 0.

"That's remarkable," said Rep. Garrett of the bipartisan Senate vote.

Garrett said that Birmingham is the hub of the metro area and that we all need to come together to support Birmingham and establish this as a regional utility board.

"Most of these customers are outside the city limits. The needs have changed. The times have changed. We need to change what we are doing."

Rep. Jim Hill (R-Odenville) said, "My job is to represent Moody and St. Clair County." "Rep. Carns says we are not big enough to participate in this. In 1990 Moody had 2,000 people. In 2025 Moody had 15,000 people. The Anniston Star reported that Moody is the site of a $100 million retail development."

"I don't want anybody's seat. I do not want to take a seat from Blount County, Jefferson County, or Shelby County, I want my own seat," said Hill.

Hill said that the Governor's appointment is limited to someone from Jefferson County. Hill asked that the Lt. Governor's appointment be similarly constrained, but for someone from St. Clair County, "To constrain the Lt. Governor's appointment in such a way that he must appoint someone form Moody in St. Clair County."

"I am a customer. My law firm is in Moody, Alabama," continued Hill. "We contribute $3 million in revenue to a year," to the BWWB.

"This is local to me, this is important to me, this is personal to me," said Hill. "I want a board member."

"When I moved to St. Clair County we had 30,000 people, today we have 100,000," said Hill. "We are one of the fastest growing counties in the state and we are going to continue to keep growing.

Hill offered an amendment to require that the Lt. Governor appoint someone as Director from St. Clair County.

Carns asked the body to table the Hill amendment.

"Only about one percent of the customers are in St. Clair County," said Carns.

The House voted to table the Hill amendment in a 54 to 38 vote.

Rep. Hollis asked, "Are you setting up a job for yourself?"

"No, I am not," said Carns. "I will not be the director of this Board. I will not serve on this Board."

Carns said that the Senate would not take a requirement that the director from Birmingham have any qualifications.

"That is the only appointment that does not have qualification requirements," said Carns.

Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham) said that the sewer debt that Jefferson County accrued under the late Larry Langford (D).

Rep. Rafferty also brought an amendment that was tabled.

The City of Birmingham does not own the Birmingham Waterworks Board. The assets were sold to a public corporation.

SB330 passed the House by a vote of 66 to 27.

It now goes to the governor for her consideration.