Category: Alabama Legislature
Bill Would Expand Broadband Internet Access Grants
MONTGOMERY — Last year, the state enacted a program to expand access to broadband internet in rural Alabama. Now, lawmakers say they need to “iron out” the details to make sure the program works properly.
State Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville, is sponsoring legislation that would amend the law to allow more areas of the state to be eligible for funding grants. Read more.
Lawmakers Look at Ban on Driving While Talking on a Cell Phone
MONTGOMERY — Legislation seeking to curb distracted driving by making it illegal to hold a cell phone while operating a vehicle could be in position to pass the Alabama House of Representatives as soon as next week.
Under the bill, drivers would still be allowed to use Bluetooth and other hands-free connections for phone calls and interact with vehicle devices such as back-up cameras.
State law already prohibits the act of texting while driving, but bill sponsors say an outright ban on holding electronic communication devices will be more enforceable for police. Also, increased penalties for violations will help drivers think twice before texting or tweeting, lawmakers say.
House Bill 6, dubbed “Cici’s Law,” is being sponsored by Rep. Allen Farley, R-McCalla. He was motivated to develop the bill when he heard about a local teenager, Camryn “Cici” Callaway being killed in a distracted driving accident in February 2018. Read more.
New Bill Would Allow Cities, Counties to Cut Grocery Taxes
MONTGOMERY — For more than a decade, Alabama lawmakers have debated eliminating the sales tax on groceries, but no proposal has ever passed. Could they now choose to allow cities and counties to reduce grocery sales taxes of their own?
State Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, has filed legislation that would give counties or municipalities the ability to reduce or completely remove their sales taxes on groceries. England told Alabama Daily News that he developed the bill because Tuscaloosa City Council members recently decided they wanted to remove the city’s sales tax on groceries, only to learn state law prohibited them from doing so. Read more.
Medical Marijuana Bill With Bi-Partisan Support Filed in Alabama House
MONTGOMERY — Supporters of legislation to regulate the use of marijuana to treat dozens of medical conditions say it’s time for Alabama to join the growing number of states that already allow it.
“There are so many reasons to (allow patients access to medical marijuana), but we can’t until we have a regulatory body to do it,” said Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, who filed House Bill 243 when the House returned for its regular session last week.
The bill would establish the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission to administer a patient registry system for people with qualifying conditions and issue them medical cannabis cards. The bill lists about 30 qualifying conditions, including addiction, cancer, autism, epilepsy, terminal conditions and end-of-life care. Under the bill’s provisions, the commission could add more conditions. Read more.
Lawmakers Tackle Alabama’s Persistent Prison Problems
Alabama’s prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, and plagued by violence. A federal judge ruled mental health care for inmates is “horrendously inadequate.” There have been 15 suicides in as many months – including one earlier this month. Two inmates were stabbed and killed recently as well. While overcrowding has eased slightly, state lawmakers know there’s more work to do. WBHM’s Andrew Yeager spoke with state Sen. Cam Ward, a leading voice on prison issues, to get a sense of where lawmakers stand during this legislative session.
Lawmakers Get Ivey’s Budgets; One ‘Heartburn’ Issue Noted
MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey introduced her education and General Fund budgets to state lawmakers this week, with popular provisions like a teacher pay raise, increases for cash-strapped agencies and more money to expand the state’s First Class pre-kindergarten program.
State House budget leaders said Thursday they didn’t see major changes coming to Ivey’s proposed $2.1 billion General Fund budget and $7.1 billion education budget this week, with one possible exception.
Ivey’s proposed education budget — the largest in the state’s history — allocates about $35 million for Children’s Health Insurance Program, which historically has been paid for with General Fund dollars. Read more.
Church ‘Stand Your Ground’ Bill Advances
MONTGOMERY — A bill extending Alabama’s “Stand Your Ground” law to churches was approved by the House Judiciary Committee this week, despite concerns from some Republican and Democrat members. Read more.
Fast-Tracked Common Core Repeal Bill Passed by the Senate
Updated MONTGOMERY – A bill to repeal the state’s Common Core education standards cleared the Senate on Thursday, a day after being passed in committee.
Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, in previous years stood in the way of Common Core repeal efforts. But now he says removing the standards and charging the Alabama Board of Education to start over is aimed at improving Alabama’s lagging student performance.
“My position early on was that the (state) Department of Education and the board, elected by the people, should figure this out,” Marsh told Alabama Daily News this week. “That’s policy. We’re sitting here today with math scores in the eighth-grade level at 49th in the country and reading at 46th. I mean, you can’t justify that. So we’re saying after nine years with this program, it’s not working and we need to change direction.”
The bill would require the state board of educatiion to adopt new standards for the 2021-2022 school year. Originally the bill had called for the new standards to be in place for the 2020-2021 school year, and it required the state to revert to the previous standards in place during the 1990s and 2000s for the upcoming academic year. Some educators objected to changing the standards twice in two years and said making the changes would be a burdensome and costly task.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey said the bill would have a lot of unintended consequences.
Border Wall Bill Passes Senate
Updated: MONTGOMERY – A bill to allow Alabamians to donate some of their income tax return to the construction of a wall on the U.S. southern border by checking a box on their tax return documents passed the Alabama Senate this week.
The bill, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, passed the Senate Thursday on a vote of 23-6. Read more.
GOP: Without New Money to Fund It, Medicaid Expansion Unlikely
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Democrats hope their support of Gov. Kay Ivey’s gas tax increase got them further on possible Medicaid expansion, but legislative leaders last week said expansion can’t happen without new money.
“There is no plan to feasibly make it work,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said Friday. He’s chairman of the Senate General Fund committee.
Ivey met with many Democrats in the past two weeks as she drummed up support for the 10-cents-a-gallon gas tax increase that takes effect this fall. Democrats used those conversations to again push expansion, as they’ve done since 2012. This year, the calls for expansion seem louder, in part driven by the Alabama Hospital Association. Alabama is one of 14 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Thirteen Alabama hospitals, including seven rural ones, have closed since 2011. Another closure was announced last month. Read more.
