State lawmakers struck a last-minute compromise Tuesday night, clearing the way for operations at the Port of Mobile to continue without interruption after weeks of uncertainty over legislation governing the licensing board that oversees the port’s bar pilots.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, reauthorizes the licensing board responsible for bar pilots, the specially trained mariners who guide large commercial vessels safely through the Mobile shipping channel. The legislation also expands the board by adding a fourth member. Both chambers of the Alabama Legislature passed the measure, sending it to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for her signature, according to Pittman.
The version that ultimately passed included an amendment added in the House that changed how the board’s newly created fourth seat would function. Under the amendment, that member would serve in a non-voting capacity, and the Alabama State Port Authority would be given the authority to recommend to the governor who should fill the position.
The compromise removed the immediate risk that operations at the port, the nation’s 10th largest, could have been disrupted. It also headed off what officials described as a possible move by some parties to bypass the state licensing structure altogether by seeking federal control over the shipping channel, an outcome port and business officials had been working to avoid.
“We appreciate the last-minute efforts of our legislators who affected the compromise language as well as our shipper and business stakeholders who weighed in on this critical issue,” Alabama State Port Authority spokeswoman Judy Adams said in a statement following the vote.
The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce relayed news of the bill’s passage to its members in an email Wednesday morning, following an earlier message earlier in the week that had urged members to contact lawmakers about the risks of the bill failing before the legislative session ended.
“Thanks to your phone calls, texts and emails (the bill) was passed late last night and now sits on Governor Ivey’s desk for signature,” Chamber CEO Bill Sisson wrote in the message to members.
The bill’s path through the Legislature had grown tense as the session neared its close. Despite passing the Alabama House of Representatives via two separate bills, and despite plans back in February for a straightforward vote, the measure had stalled in the Senate, leaving the fate of licensing for the port’s pilotage system, and by extension a significant piece of the region’s shipping and maritime economy, in question until the eleventh hour.