Category: Alabama Legislature
COVID-19 Makes Kindergarten Requirement Bill ‘Priority’
MONTGOMERY — A bill to require Alabama public school students to attend kindergarten or take an assessment to go directly to first grade received its first vote of approval, passing the House Education Policy Committee Wednesday.
Bill sponsor Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said her goal is to offer a complete education to students.
“Pre-K is not available for every child in the state of Alabama, so if there is a child who misses pre-K and kindergarten, that child is not ready for the first grade,” Warren said. “So my whole thing is in support of the student being completely ready to go into the first grade when they get there.” Read more.
Also in the Legislature Thursday
House Approves Improved Benefits for Newer Teachers
Legislative Briefs: Alcohol Delivery, License Plate Data Among Bills Gaining Approval
Earlier This Week
Tax Reform, Economic Development Bills Sent to Ivey
Broadband Expansion Bill Passes First Vote in Legislature
School Funding Change on the Move in the Legislature
PTSD Coverage for First Responders, Wiretapping Bill Passes House
Read more on the legislative session.
Tax Reform, Economic Development Bills Sent to Ivey
The Alabama Senate on Wednesday gave final passage to bills preventing the taxing of federal relief funds and revamping the state’s economic development incentives, sending the first two of three priority bills to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature. Read more.
More from the Legislature this week
Broadband Expansion Bill Passes First Vote in Legislature
School Funding Change on the Move in the Legislature
PTSD Coverage for First Responders, Wiretapping Bill Passes House
Read more on the legislative session.
PTSD Coverage for First Responders, Wiretapping Bill Passes House
Several Bills Were passed in the House on Tuesday. Read more.
Wide-Ranging Gambling Bill Introduced in Legislature
MONTGOMERY — A wide-ranging gambling bill in the Alabama Senate could allow state voters to institute a lottery, expand casino gambling and legalize sports betting.
The proposal, introduced Tuesday by Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, comes after an extensive report from Gov. Kay Ivey’s study group on gambling showed such proposals could bring in hundreds of millions in revenue and that voters favored expanded gambling.
“I feel good about where the bill is right now,” Marsh told reporters in the State House Tuesday. “This takes a lot of the (study group’s) input into the bill. I think the people of the state are ready to address this issue and want to.”
Read more.
School Funding Change on the Move in the Legislature
Read more on the legislative session.
School Funding Change on the Move in the Legislature
Between the fall of 2019 and fall 2020, 59 public school systems’ enrollment grew by nearly 6,500 students.
But under the state’s current funding structure, systems have to fund most of that growth, including hiring the needed teachers, out of their local tax revenue, and state funding is slow to catch up, if it ever does, educators say. For some of the systems with the largest growth, that’s hundreds of students and millions of dollars.
Senate Bill 9 would amend the state’s Foundation Program to calculate growth so systems don’t have to wait a year for per-student funding, which this year is about $6,271. It would estimate non-virtual enrollment based on the previous years’ growth. Read more.
5G Infrastructure Bill Clears Senate
MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate on Thursday approved legislation to create a statewide standard for deploying 5G cellular infrastructure and setting limits on how much money local governments can charge providers for access to utility structures.
“This legislation provides a consistent framework for the deployment of small cells, giving providers some certainty as they invest in local communities to expand this very necessary infrastructure,” bill sponsor Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said. Read more.
More from the Legislature:
Medical Marijuana, Alcohol Delivery, COVID Liability Bills Pass First Tests
Legislative Session Starts With Caution, Big Bills
Bill Would Filter Emergency Health Orders Through Layman Board in Jefferson County
Read more on the legislative session, which began Tuesday.
Report: Changes to Habitual Offender Law Needed
A new report urges Alabama leaders to change state laws that mean “death in prison sentences” for inmates convicted of crimes in which victims were not injured.
“Condemned,” from the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, details how Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act is more punitive than most other Southern states’ laws and how keeping these men — many of them now senior citizens — in prisons is costing the state millions of dollars in medical care.
“We hope (lawmakers and other officials) realize that hundreds of people are still trapped in life without parole sentences for crimes where there was no physical injury and who if sentenced today would do a fraction of their current sentences,” Appleseed Executive Director Carla Crowder told Alabama Daily News. Read more.
More from the Legislature:
Legislative Session Starts With Caution, Big Bills
Marsh Steps Down, Reed Steps Into Pro Tem Role in the Senate
Bill Would Filter Emergency Health Orders Through Layman Board in Jefferson County
Read more on the legislative session, which began Tuesday.
Marsh Steps Down, Reed Steps Into Pro Tem Role in the Senate
MONTGOMERY — After ten years of leading the Alabama Senate as president pro tempore, Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, officially stepped down from the upper chamber’s top job Tuesday, relinquishing the role to Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper.
The friendly leadership transition, first reported in November, became official as lawmakers opened the 2021 legislative session. Turning in his letter of resignation to the secretary of the Senate, Marsh thanked his colleagues, staff and family for their support during his tenure as pro tem, the longest in Senate history.
“It has been a privilege to serve as pro tem of this body since 2010,” Marsh said from the Senate floor, choking up at moments. “I believe we’ve accomplished some great things together.” Read more.
COVID-19 Protocols Limiting Public Access to Legislative Session
Watch the Legislature remotely
The Legislature’s external website has been upgraded to add enhanced streaming video of all business in the House and Senate chambers, as well as the meetings and hearings in committee rooms around the State House. There now are video links to both chambers and five committee rooms. You can watch proceedings on the Legislature’s video services page.
In-person public access to the legislative session that starts Tuesday will be severely limited, and State House leaders are asking people to watch the action online and communicate with representatives electronically.
“We need public input in what we do down here because the things we do make decisions on taxpayer dollars and public welfare,” Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, said. But in-person interactions with House or Senate members will require appointments.
“You won’t be able to just walk through the front door and go up to the seventh floor,” McCutcheon said. “What we’re telling people is, don’t come to the State House anticipating to meet someone unless you have made some phone calls and you have a prior appointment.” Read more.
Read more on the legislative session, which begins Tuesday.
Ivey Signs Leases for Two Prisons, Part of $3 Billion Plan
Gov. Kay Ivey signed lease agreements for two men’s prisons on Monday, part of her plan for three new facilities the state will lease for 30 years at an estimated total cost of about $3 billion.
Construction for the two facilities is expected to begin later this year or the beginning of 2022.
The two lease agreements are with entities of prison builder CoreCivic. They will construct, own and maintain the facilities. It will be the Alabama Department of Corrections that staffs and administers the prisons.
Read more.
