In most years, the Alabama Legislature begins its yearly session in the month of February. However, in the final year of each quadranium (four-year-term) the House and Senate begin the term in early- to mid-January due to upcoming primary elections. 2010 just happens to be such a year.

The first official day of the session is set for Tuesday, Jan. 12, and the legislative session will run through Monday, April 26.

In a typical week, legislators meet every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

So, as everybody gets ready for Christmas and New Year’s, here at the Shelby County Legislative Delegation we’re gearing up for what could be a wildly exciting and entertaining 2010 Legislative Session.

At the current time, each member of the Legislature is preparing bills to be presented during the session.

A number of those bills have recently been pre-filed, and many more will continue to be pre-filed until the start of the session.

If you would like to learn more about these bills, visit the State House website at alisondb.legislature.state.al.us.

You can also see copies of the bills on the Web site.

In order to further educate yourself and to get more involved by giving ideas and suggestions, I recommend contacting the legislator that represents you in either the House or Senate.

You can easily do so by visiting our Web site at Shelbycolo.com, where you can find links to each legislator and learn how to contact them.

After the New Year, we will give you more information on what our legislators are working on and give you more resources to help you stay up-to-date during this, the last Legislative Session before the 2010 elections.

Until then, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.