Maybe it’s just because we’re working this week, but Bama Fact Check has noticed that Spring Break is a hard time to get hold of people. With kids out of school for what used to be known as “AEA week,” plenty of lawyers and legislators also seem to have taken some time away from the hustle and bustle. Who knew child care was so hard to find? We’re jealous. Fortunately, oddness never takes a holiday. And Bama Fact Check’s partners did spot some unusual bills over the last week. No, there was nothing like Sen. Gerald Allen’s Wikipedia-inspired bill on Sharia law. But it’s not every day a legislator wants to roll back enforcement of seatbelt laws or ban sales of bulletproof vests. Or vague up an ethics bill -- at the Ethics Commission’s request. There’s also an effort underway to ban the use of the gas chamber -- for dogs. Touching, yes, but a bit of an odd play from legislators who say they want less government regulation, not more. Lawmakers will be back from the beach next week, so expect a raft of new proposed regulation.

The Anniston Star's Patrick McCreless takes a look at Gov. Robert Bentley's Commission on Improving State Government, which was designed to recommend ways to trim state spending without significant reduction in state services. What's missing on the board? Anybody who represents the vast majority of people who receive state services. Education makes up the bulk of the state budget, but educators aren't represented. Neither are children's advocacy groups. There's no seat on the board for groups that represent the poor. Instead, the board consists largely of CEOs. And it's largely white, and male. From The Anniston Star -- Diversity lacking in governor's advisory commission

The Decatur Daily reports that since the Alabama State Legislature banned teachers from having their union dues deducted from their paychecks, the membership registration in the Alabama Education Association has dropped. AEA representatives say membership is running at about 85 percent of pre-ban levels. Mary Bruce Ogle, AEA's assistant executive secretary, says she's "pleased" with the numbers -- though the group had hoped to hit 95 percent. Ogle's comment is in keeping with the AEA's stiff-upper-lip approach since the ban was passed. While AEA representatives have denounced the deduction ban as an attack on their group, they've insisted repeatedly that they'll find some way to keep up the group's membership numbers. AEA filed a lawsuit to stop the deduction ban in federal court last week. From The Decatur Daily -- Sign-up numbers pleasing to AEA

The new Legislature got off to a bang in December, with a special session to pass ethics bills that had been stalled on Goat Hill for years. Today, of course, was when the real work began –- the start of the regular session. With a new party in control, and lots of talk about paring down inefficient government, this session promised to be something the likes of which we’ve never seen before. But now that the session is underway, it’s clear that a lot of familiar Montgomery themes are still in the air on Goat Hill. For one thing, Alabama is still run by a strongly centralized government. Thus The Dothan Eagle has a story on the bill that would allow Dothan to raise property taxes. Another bill would allow counties to raise gas taxes. And so on. Expect to see more local governments coming to Montgomery to ask permission for this or that in coming weeks. And then there are the state’s many regulatory boards. In an interview with The Anniston Star, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said he’d like to sunset a lot of those boards. But today, there’s a bill that would create a new board to regulate private investigators, and it has Marsh’s name on it. And just in case you were missing the culture wars of old, Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, has introduced a bill to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom. Meanwhile, the effort to repeal the lawmakers’ pay raise appears to be completely dead in the water. Welcome back to Montgomery. Some things have changed. And some things stay the same.