Government

Woodfin Describes Battle With COVID, Sees Relief Coming for the City From the Biden Administration

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin urges Birmingham residents to continue taking the new coronavirus seriously, and he speaks from firsthand experience. Woodfin told BirminghamWatch on Saturday that he is mostly recovered after being hospitalized briefly with COVID-related pneumonia, but it’s an uphill battle, including neurological effects that left him barely able to walk for several days. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Alabama’s 2021 Session Starts With Two-Week Focus

MONTGOMERY — Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday kickoff a legislative session like none they’ve seen before. COVID-19 protocols are limiting public access to the State House, the number of committees that can meet at a given time and, some say, the amount of bills lawmakers will be able to consider. This year's schedule is largely tentative, as leaders acknowledge a virus outbreak could disrupt the session at any time. For now, leaders are planning to meet the first two weeks of February to pass essential bills, then take a week-long break to reassess their COVID-19 protocols and priorities. Lawmakers are expected to focus on bills to: clarify that federal COVID relief funds received by Alabamians and their businesses aren’t subject to state taxes; provide entities with liability protection from COVID-related lawsuits; and revise, revamp and expand economic incentives offered to businesses. Read more. Read the pre-session interview with Gov. Kay Ivey, Ivey Wants 2% Pay Raise for Teachers and State Employees, and more on the upcoming legislative session.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Woodfin Kicks Off Mayoral Reelection Campaign, Says He’ll Ramp Up Work on Neighborhoods, Education Priorities

Mayor Randall Woodfin officially kicked off his campaign for reelection at a drive-in rally at George Ward Park on Saturday, offering a slightly updated slate of second-term goals but maintaining his first campaign’s focus on neighborhood revitalization. He repeatedly invoked his new campaign slogan, “progress together,” and promised to “finish the job” he started in 2017 over the next five years. “We’re ramping up everything we’ve already put in place, making it tighter, putting more resources to it,” he said. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Long-Awaited Incentives Package Filed Ahead of Session

Legislation filed to renew and revamp state tax incentives for Alabama businesses includes new credits for women- and minority-owned enterprises, increasing the cap on one of the state’s “backbone” incentives and giving a break to automakers who will ship vehicles out of the Port of Mobile. House Bill 192, expected to be a high priority for passage when the 2021 legislative session begins next week, was pre-filed Thursday. Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield this week discussed some of the details with Alabama Daily News. “The bill reestablishes and builds on the success of Alabama’s performance-driven incentive tools,” Canfield said. “And those are specifically being addressed in the Alabama Jobs Act, the Growing Alabama Credit and the Alabama Port Credit.” Read more. More stories on legislative budget hearings held before the session starts Tuesday. Ivey Wants 2% Pay Raise for Teachers and State Employees Law Enforcement Agencies Ask for Increased State Funding; General Fund Budget Looks OK Mental Health Services in Schools Improving, More Help Needed Lawmakers Discuss Education Pay Raises, a Focus on Literacy and Learning Loss

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Jones Starts His Post-Senate Life as CNN Contributor

Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones made his debut Friday afternoon as a political commentator on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper broadcast. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

Ivey Wants 2% Pay Raise for Teachers and State Employees

MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey said she wants to give pay raises to state employees and teachers in the next budget year. In an interview Thursday with Alabama Daily News, Ivey said her state budget proposals, which are set to be presented to lawmakers next week, will include the pay raises in both the General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets. Read more.

by Todd Stacy, Alabama Daily News

Law Enforcement Agencies Ask for Increased State Funding; General Fund Budget Looks OK

MONTGOMERY — The outlook for the state's current General Fund budget is good, according to state lawmakers meeting this week for budget hearings. Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, who chairs the General Fund budget committee in the House of Representatives, said he did not expect any large COVID-19-caused cuts in the current budget as lawmakers begin to craft next year's budget in the upcoming legislative session. Lawmakers on Wednesday heard from law enforcement agency heads who were asking for budget increases to pay for more personnel and mitigating issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.

by Caroline Beck and Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Lawmakers Discuss Education Pay Raises, a Focus on Literacy and Learning Loss

MONTGOMERY — Pay raises for teachers are possible in next year’s state education budget, as are more school nurses, a greater focus on literacy and catching students up from learning loss left over from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to spending proposals discussed by state education leaders and lawmakers at budget hearings in the State House Tuesday. Read more.

by Caroline Beck and Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

City Council Approves Bid for Birmingham Real-Time Crime Center

The Birmingham City Council has approved a $940,030 construction bid for the city’s long-planned real-time crime center, though the identity of the bidder remains confidential. The development of a real-time crime center was first announced by Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith in 2019 as a technological hub that would give police “a very clear picture of what’s going on throughout the city.” He said information could be transmitted directly to on-beat officers “so they know exactly what they’re looking for and who they’re looking for.” The crime center will employ policing technology such as ShotSpotter and PredPol, as well as recently approved Motorola surveillance software that drew controversy last year for its facial recognition capabilities. Mayor Randall Woodfin has maintained that the BPD cannot use those capabilities without approval from the City Council. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Senate Confirms Alabama-Connected Austin as Secretary of Defense

Voterama in Congress WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 93 for and two against on Jan. 22 to confirm retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III as secretary of defense. Austin, who was educated at Auburn University and has sat on its board, is the first Black to hold the position in its 74-year history. Both Alabama senators voted in favor of confirming Austin. Read more.

by Voterama in Congress