Alabama chancellor on familiar ground in political fight.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama's two-year college chancellor, Bradley Byrne, is fighting the Alabama Education Association in a partisan battle over regulation of the junior college system, and the contest is taking place on what used to be Byrne's home field.

But Byrne may not have a home field advantage in a battle that is playing out alongside the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in the two-year college system and the subpoenaing of legislators to testify in that probe.

The state Legislature is considering a measure that would authorize lawmakers to to review--and reject--polices that the State Board of Education adopts for two-year colleges.

Byrne served as a Republican on the Senate Education Committee until he resigned from the Senate last May to become Alabama's postsecondary chancellor. Republican Gov. Bob Riley supported Byrne for the post when the state school board selected him.

Now, Byrne and Riley are portraying the Democrat-backed regulatory bill as an attempt to stymie changes in a system where a former chancellor and a former state representative who worked for the system agreed to plead guilty.

"This law is a power grab to stop us from further reforms and I can't stand by and let that happen," Byrne said.

"It's a joke to think that the way to make something more ethical and accountable is to put legislators in charge of it," said Tara Hutchison, Riley's press secretary.

Alabama Education Association Secretary Paul Hubbert rejects criticism of the bill.

"It's just another level of review," he said.

The bill is sponsored in the Senate by the Democratic majority leader, Zeb Little of Cullman. Little said the legislation would bring more transparency to the operation of Alabama's two-year colleges and expose some of the politics.

"Had you not been a Republican leader in the Senate, you would not have been considered as a candidate for chancellor," Little told Byrne when the Senate Education Committee held a public hearing on the bill.

An identical bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Tammy Irons won approval in the House Education Policy Committee on Feb. 27 and is awaiting a vote in the full House.

The bills involve Alabama's Administrative Procedures Act, which allows the Legislature to review regulations issued by state agencies. The law exempts college boards of trustees from review.

Because of that, the State Board of Education submits its regulations for K-12 schools to the Legislature, but it does not submit its regulations for two-year colleges because it considers the board to be the trustees for the two-year schools.

Byrne said the bill would risk the accreditation of Alabama's two-year colleges because it permits too much outside interference.

Hubbert said all Southern states except Alabama and Georgia provide some degree of legislative review of junior college policies.

Hubbert was longtime friends with Byrne's predecessor, Roy Johnson. The AEA leader does not have that kind of relationship with Byrne, a former Mobile lawyer who served on the State Board of Education before moving to the Senate.

Byrne and some Republican legislators say the AEA-backed legislation is in reaction to the state school board's new policy prohibiting two-year college employees from serving in the Legislature after the 2010 election. AEA is helping challenge that policy in court.

Because of those accusations, the Democratic sponsors agreed to rewrite the bills so they wouldn't be retroactive.

"This is not an attempt to change any policy and we all know the policy we are talking about," Little said.

He said the bill is aimed at future decisions.

"By shining transparency, it makes it harder for purely political decisions to be made," he said.

Byrne doesn't buy that argument. He said the Administrative Procedures Act had never been raised until the State Board of Education cracked down on people who hold two state posts.

"It's because we've done those things that people are now saying "Wait, we need to take a look at this chancellor,'" he said.