May 19, 2013
Gov. Don Siegelman said an attorney general's opinion on state contracts doesn't stop his ability to issue contracts in his final weeks in office.
Pryor issued an advisory opinion Tuesday saying that the Legislature's Contract Review Committee cannot legally meet until the new Legislature organizes itself and appoints new members next month.
Pryor's opinion forced the panel to cancel its monthly meeting Thrusday -- the committee was supposed to review 110 contracts totaling $40 million. Most of them were for the state Department of Transportation.
Some of the contracts proposed by Siegelman's Cabinet members in the final weeks of his administration would run for two years, which is halfway through Governor-elect Bob Riley's term.
Montgomery state Representative Alvin Holmes said there is a state law that voids all contracts for personal and professional services if they are not reviewed by the committee.
Riley has asked Siegelman not to enter into contracts that go beyond the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2003.
