Government

Gas Tax Bill Means Millions for Birmingham Area

Alabama’s more than 400 cities and towns currently share about $22 million a year from the statewide gas tax. They would get an additional $26 million a year under a proposed 10-cent-a-gallon increase. Alabama’s counties now receive a combined $176.5 million; if House Bill 2 becomes law, they would receive an additional $80 million. “It’s enormous,” said Greg Cochran, deputy director of the Alabama League of Municipalities, about the potential impact of the gas tax. Read more.

Local Gas Tax Payouts

Under House Bill 2, the gas tax increase bill, municipalities would receive an additional $26 million a year, bringing their total to $48.7 million. Counties would receive an additional $80 million, bringing their total to $256.4 million a year. Here’s how much area counties would receive under the gas tax increase. Click here for the list of municipalities. Jefferson Co.: $6.53 million         St. Clair Co.: $1.32 million Shelby Co.: $2.41 million             Walker Co.: $1.13 million

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Local Gas Tax Payouts

Under House Bill 2, the gas tax increase bill, municipalities would receive an additional $26 million a year, bringing their total to $48.7 million. Counties would receive an additional $80 million, bringing their total to $256.4 million a year. Here’s how much area counties would receive under the gas tax increase. Click here for the list of municipalities. Jefferson County: $6.53 million             St. Clair County: $1.32 million Shelby County: $2.41 million                 Walker County: $1.13 million

by Alabama Daily News

Gas Tax Headed to Senate After Passing the House

The House of Representatives approved an increase Friday in gas taxes to fund infrastructure improvements, sending the bill to the Senate. The proposed 10-cent-a-gallon increase is expected to generate more than $300 million a year. It’s being fast-tracked in a special session Gov. Kay Ivey called to consider the issue and could be approved by early next week.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Senate OKs Larger ATVs

Alabamians could have larger, heavier all-terrain and off-highway vehicles under a bill that cleared the Alabama Senate Friday. “All the bill does is increase the weight allowed and the width of the wheel base, which at the end of the day makes the vehicles safer from flipping over,” said Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. Orr said the bill was at the request of Polaris Industries. Its 1,700-employee factory is in Orr’s district in Limestone County. The popular Ranger side-by-side is made there. The bill now goes to the House.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Ivey’s Release of Proposed Budgets on Hold as She Focuses Legislators on the Gas Tax

Details of Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed 2020 General Fund and education budgets won’t be released until lawmakers dispense with her proposed gas-tax increase. Traditionally, the budgets are made public the day after a governor’s State of the State address, which Ivey delivered Tuesday. State law says the governor has until the second legislative day of a regular session to submit budgets to the Legislature. But that second day won’t happen for almost two weeks because the special session on the gas tax that began Wednesday has put the regular session on hold. Daniel Sparkman, Ivey’s spokesman, said the budgets are important to the governor, but they won’t be presented until March 19, after lawmakers are finished dealing with the “task at hand.” “During her State of the State address, Governor Ivey laid out her proposals for the 2020 budgets to the people of Alabama,” Sparkman said. “Though the budgets are important, right now the Legislature must focus on the task at hand, the Rebuild Alabama plan. This critical infrastructure legislation package is vital to improving public safety, economic development and quality of life in Alabama." Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

PARCA Tackling Research on Alabama’s Prison Problems as Legislature Begins to Meet

The Alabama Legislature will face tough choices this year on solving problems of the state’s crowded, obsolete and under-funded prison system, and the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama is preparing a series of briefings to address “a system in crisis.” PARCA, a non-profit organization that does nonpartisan research on issues facing state and local governments in Alabama, outlined problems that it said could lead to a federal takeover of the prisons system if they are not solved. Gov. Kay Ivey has proposed the construction of three new men’s prisons at a cost of $950 million as one step toward dealing with the issues of crowding, health care and crumbling facilities. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

Hoover, Pelham Strike Deal for Hoover to Handle Vehicle Maintenance, May Look for Other Chances to Share the Load

Gary Waters remembers joking with Hoover Administrator Allan Rice about possibly annexing Pelham, the city of which Waters is mayor. “We were just joking around and I said, ‘Would you annex Pelham? It would make my life a lot easier,” Waters recounted. “He laughed and I said, ‘How about our fleet maintenance?’” That, Waters learned, Hoover could do. Wednesday, Waters, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, the city councils of both cities and other officials were on hand as the cities announced that Hoover will performance maintenance on the vehicles of both cities. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Gas Tax Got First Vote Thursday

By Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News The gas tax was passed by a House committee Thursday and is now heading to the full House for debate. MONTGOMERY — The proposed 10-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase to fund infrastructure improvements is expected to get its first vote in committee Thursday morning. A new version of Gov. Kay Ivey’s priority bill was filed Wednesday afternoon in the special session dedicated to the issue. The tax is expected to generate more than $300 million a year. House Bill 2 increases the allocation for improvements at the Port of Mobile from the originally proposed $10.2 million a year to $11.7 million. Some critics have raised strong objections to redirecting gas tax revenues toward the port. Expanding the port to take on greater capacity is a priority for U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who last year secured federal matching dollars to deepen and widen the Mobile Bay shipping channel. Several north Alabama lawmakers said they supported sending money to the port to improve and expand it. “I am in favor of it, because it is critical to the entire state,” said Rep. Parker Moore, R-Decatur. Read more.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Gas Tax Proposal Punishes Clean-Fuel Vehicles, Ties Alabama For Nation’s Highest Fees, Groups Say

Environmental groups are alarmed that the gas tax bill filed in the Legislature today would make owners of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles pay more to the state than owners of gas-fueled vehicles. A summary version of the special session bill makes it less onerous than an earlier version but still is causing concern that the EV and plug-in hybrid owners would be penalized for using technology that pollutes less or not at all, conservation advocates say. After the concessions, Alabama’s fee would be tied with Georgia for the highest in the nation. The gas tax would fund the Gov. Kay Ivey-backed infrastructure bill, called the Rebuild Alabama Act, and is estimated to cost the average driver an additional $55 a year in gasoline tax, according to authors of the legislation. But EV owners would pay a $200 annual license and registration fee; plug-in hybrid vehicle owners would pay $100. There would be no fee for conventional hybrid vehicles. That’s down from the original bill’s $250 for EVs and $150 for hybrids. Read more.

by Hank Black

MLB Youth Foundation Reassessing Plans for Youth Academy at George Ward Park

“It’s truly a sad day for Birmingham,” Birmingham City Councilor William Parker said Tuesday after revealing that Major League Baseball Youth Foundation was “reassessing” its plans to build a youth academy at the city’s George Ward Park. The announcement preceded a long series of monologues from councilors, Mayor Randall Woodfin and members of the public, all of whom had differing opinions on what had scuttled the deal. Some councilors attributed the MLBYF’s decision to a racially charged campaign by residents who opposed the academy. But others, including Council President Valerie Abbott and several members of the public who spoke at the meeting, pinned the plan’s apparent failure on a lack of communication between the council and neighborhood associations. Eventually, the council opted to set a public meeting with residents to clarify details about the project — which councilors said they hoped would save the deal with the MLBYF. The Major League Baseball Youth Foundation had planned to construct a $10 million youth academy in the 120-acre George Ward Park, located in the city’s Glen Iris neighborhood. The academy, which would take up about 20 acres, would serve as a free, year-round training center — for baseball, softball, and “life skills,” according to the MLBYF’s proposed contract with the city — for the city’s youth. There are 11 such academies throughout the country; it would be the first for Alabama. Read more.

by Sam Prickett