Republicans in the state legislature will again take advantage of their super majorities to push a raft of bills through the 2012 session that could change how regulatory agencies work and establish charter schools.

House Majority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, told members of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce on Friday that Republicans have assembled a legislative agenda that includes regulatory reform, business-friendly tax incentives and policies, and workforce development. He also said the controversial immigration law, which he defended, will be altered to make it more workable for businesses and government agencies.

One thing that won’t be on the agenda is tax reform.

Hubbard said while Republicans are moving toward an article-by-article rewrite of Alabama’s lengthy and archaic constitution, property taxes won’t be addressed. He said he worked to pass former Gov. Bob Riley’s revenue-raising Amendment 1 constitutional amendment a decade ago, and it was soundly rejected by the voters.

“The people of Alabama have an aversion to property taxes, so I don’t see that happening,” he said. “It’s too controversial.”

Hubbard said he supports Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposal to unify the General Fund and Education budgets as a way to more efficiently distribute money where it’s needed. He said Alabama is one of only a handful of states that operates with separate budgets.

“That’s hard to manage, especially with all the earmarks,” he said.

The General Fund faces a shortfall of as much as $400 million, and Bentley proposes using money from the Special Education Trust Fund to help fill the gap.

Hubbard said he won’t support stripping schools of money. He said too much progress has been made in the past eight years with reading, math and science programs to risk defunding them in favor of the General Fund.

He said one of the most significant problems facing the state is the 40 percent student dropout rate. It not only hurts economic development efforts, it costs the state millions of dollars annually in social services and incarceration expenses.

Republicans also plan to introduce bills to establish charter schools, Hubbard said. Charter schools are public schools that are free from much of the bureaucracy and regulations of traditional public schools.

One of the bills atop the Republican agenda is pushing through another version of temporary state income tax incentives that will help foreign companies offset start-up expenses when bringing an operation to the state. The Alabama Education Association sued to stop the bill from taking effect, claiming it deprives the education budget of badly needed money. The lawsuit has kept the law from being enacted.

Hubbard said when the bill passed in the 2011 session, more than 150 Chinese companies inquired about operating in Alabama within a month.

He also hinted that re-establishing the incentive could lead to an important economic development announcement for the Shoals area.

Robert Palmer can be reached at 256-740-5720 or robert.palmer@TimesDaily.com.