Alabama Civics: How Your State Government Works

by bam

A practical, non-partisan guide to how the state of Alabama governs itself, and how you take part where you live. Alabama's constitution is famous for one thing: length. Its 1901 constitution grew into the LONGEST constitution in the world (hundreds of thousands of words and hundreds of amendments), largely because power was centralized in Montgomery and even local matters required statewide amendments. In 2022, voters approved a recompiled 'Constitution of Alabama 2022.' You'll learn why Alabama's constitution is so long, its weak-home-rule tradition, its large plural executive, its Legislature of 35 senators and 105 representatives, its PARTISAN elected judiciary, and its 67 counties. Time-sensitive facts are flagged, pointing to sos.alabama.gov. Cited to Alabama's own official sources (legislature.state.al.us, sos.alabama.gov, judicial.alabama.gov).