§ 45-37A-54.66 — Sunday Activities; Ordinance Procedures

Alabama § 45-37A-54.66

• Jurisdiction: Alabama
• Title 45: Local Laws
• Ch. 37A: Jefferson County Municipalities
• Art. 5: Birmingham
• Part 5: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism

Text

It shall not be unlawful for the authority to conduct, operate, manage, or promote on Sunday any amusement or recreational activity within the corporate powers of such authority, or for any other person to participate or engage in such amusement or recreational activity on Sunday, if such amusement or recreational activity is conducted or operated in a public park situated in the city and under the control of such authority. All or any of such amusements or recreational activities on Sunday may be prohibited by an ordinance adopted pursuant to this section. Any proposed ordinance prohibiting all or any of such amusements or recreational activities may be submitted to the commission or other governing body of the city by petition signed by at least 5,000 qualified electors of the city. All petitions circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance shall be uniform in character and shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and have printed thereon the names and addresses of at least five electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purposes hereinafter named. Each signer of a petition shall sign his or her name and shall have placed on the petition after his or her name his or her place of residence by street and number, if there be such street and number. The signatures to any such petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each such paper there shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof stating the number of signers to each part of the petition and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and was made in the presence of the affiant. All papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the judge of probate of the county in which the city is situated as one instrument. Within seven days from the filing of a petition with the judge of probate he or she shall ascertain whether it is signed by the required number of qualified electors. Upon completion of his or her examination the judge of probate shall endorse upon the petition a certificate of the result thereof. If the certificate of the judge of probate shows that the petition is insufficient he or she shall at once notify each member of the committee of the petitioners hereinbefore provided for and the petition may be amended at any time within 10 days from the date of the judge of probate’s certificate of examination by filing with the judge of probate an additional petition in the same manner as provided for the original petition. Upon the filing of such amendment the judge of probate shall notify each member of the committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. When the certificate of the judge of probate shows the petition to be sufficient, he or she shall submit the proposed ordinance to the commission or other governing body of the city at its next regular meeting. Such commission or other governing body of the city shall either pass and adopt the ordinance without alterations within 20 days after attachment of the judge of probate’s certificate to the accompanying petition, or within that time cause to be transmitted the papers and petition to the election commission which shall call a special election unless a general municipal election is fixed within 20 days thereafter, and at such special or general election, if one is so fixed, such ordinance shall be submitted without alteration to the vote of the electors of the city. The ballots used when voting upon the ordinance shall contain these words, for the ordinance (stating the nature of the proposed ordinance), and against the ordinance (stating the nature of the proposed ordinance), and the voter shall express his or her choice by a cross mark. If the majority of the qualified electors voting on the proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, such ordinance shall thereupon become valid and binding ordinance of the city, and any ordinance proposed by petition and which shall be adopted by vote of the people cannot be repealed or amended except by a vote of the people. Any number of proposed ordinances may be voted upon at the same election in accordance with the provisions of this section, but there shall not be more than one special election in any period of six months for such purpose. A proposal for the repeal of such ordinance or for amendments thereto may in like manner be submitted to be voted upon and adopted at any succeeding election. Whenever any ordinance or proposal is required by this section to be submitted to the voters of the city at any election, such ordinance or proposal shall be published in the same manner as other referendum ordinances or proposals in or of the city are required to be published. The election to be held under this section shall be in accordance with general election laws governing elections in such city and all laws governing elections generally applicable to such city shall be applicable to elections held hereunder.

Legislative History

(Acts 1947, No. 215, p. 81, §7.)