Government

This Siren Is for You

Joe Knight offered a word of warning after the Jefferson County Commission’s committee meeting today. With a chance of severe weather back in the forecast this weekend, the commissioner urged residents to not ignore a weather warning. “Before, if there was a storm coming through in Hoover, the sirens would go off in Warrior,” he said. “But now we’re on the polygon system. If you hear the siren, that siren is for you. You take cover immediately and go through your plan. Have a plan, go through your plan, go to your safe space. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Jefferson County Commissioners Told Sewer Ratepayer Lawsuit is Effectively Over

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the appeal of Jefferson County sewer ratepayers from the 11th Circuit Court, effectively ending the county’s bankruptcy proceedings, Jefferson County Commissioners were told today. “It’s been a long time coming,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said following the commission committee meeting. County attorney Theo Lawson said the ratepayers who sued have 25 days from Monday to take further action. That is unlikely, he said. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Ivey’s Budget Proposes Shifting Funds, Including Moving CHIP Costs to Education Fund, as Part of Plan to Improve Roads and Bridges

MONTGOMERY – Gov. Kay Ivey is proposing a redistribution of some tax revenue — including more than $30 million from the Education Trust Fund to the General Fund — to help sell her initiative to raise more revenue for building roads and bridges. Read more.

by Todd Stacy and Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Congressional Votes for the Week Ending March 1

Bills to expand the list of people who must request federal background checks on individuals before selling guns to them split Alabama’s congressional delegation along the usual party lines last week. Democrat Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham voted for that bill while the Republicans voted against it. Alabama’s representatives also split along party lines on other gun-related bills. Read more.

by Voterama in Congress

Gas Tax, Lottery, Teacher Pay Raises Are Issues to Watch in 2019 Legislative Session

MONTGOMERY – Gov. Kay Ivey's first legislative session since winning a term in her own right will feature a laundry list of contentious issues when it begins Tuesday. On the top of that list is Ivey's proposal to raise the state’s gas tax to pay for improving roads and bridges, which could be one of the first votes the GOP-led Alabama Legislature will be asked to take. Ivey's infrastructure plan will be the predominant issue of the 15-week session. Advocates for the first statewide gas tax increase since 1992 say bad roads are dangerous, cause costly congestion and hinder economic development. But passage of the legislation is not a sure thing in the 140-member Legislature where 41 members are new this year. Other potential high-profile bills include a proposal for a statewide lottery, a likely teacher pay raise request and continued attempts to address the state’s understaffed and aging prisons. In a recent interview with Alabama Daily News, Ivey said she knew that confronting difficult issues was going to be necessary when she decided to run. "When I was trying to wrestle with the idea of even making a race for governor, I had to face the fact that our state has some very difficult challenges and needs," Ivey said. "Because they’ve been, with the prisons and the infrastructure, neglected for years and years and decades. I knew if I was successful in running for governor, I was going to have to deal with those. And you don’t look forward to dealing with difficult things, but that was one of the soul-searching questions that I had to answer for myself. Was I willing, if I was going to run for governor, would I be willing to take on the high priority needs that the state has because of neglect by others through the years? "And it was a hard decision for me to make because we have some heavy lifts." Read more.

by Mary Sell and Todd Stacy, Alabama Daily News

Jones Has Introduced a Bill He Said Would Incentivize States to Expand Medicaid

Senator Doug Jones, D-Alabama, is sponsoring a bill that would incentivize states such as Alabama to expand Medicaid. The States Achieve Medicaid Expansion Act would provide states that choose to expand Medicaid after 2014 the same level of federal matching funds as states that expanded earlier under the terms of the Affordable Care Act. In an interview with Alabama Daily News, Jones said he hopes this bill will incentivize states such as Alabama that haven’t expanded Medicaid to do so soon. “Even though I can’t vote to expand Medicaid, I can do things that I hope will give the states the incentive to expand Medicaid because I truly believe it’s in the state’s interest and the people of the state’s interest,” Jones said. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Birmingham Council Plans Quarterly Night Meetings to Make It Easier for More Residents to Attend

The Birmingham City Council will hold three evening meetings this year in an effort to increase accessibility and transparency at City Hall. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the council approved a measure spearheaded by District 1 Councilor Clinton Woods to hold one meeting per quarter at 5:30 p.m. starting in April. The evening meetings, Woods said, would allow members of the public whose schedules cannot accommodate the council’s regularly scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting time. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Report Highlights Alabama’s Poor Roads as Officials Consider the ‘T Word’

By WBHM The state’s roads are in bad shape. Those potholes and accidents cost the average driver in the Birmingham area about $1,800 a year, according to a new report from a transportation group. The report comes as state lawmakers prepare to convene next week in Montgomery for the start of the legislative session. Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to announce a plan to improve state infrastructure Tuesday. She supports a gas tax increase for roads and bridges. More than 40 percent of Birmingham’s major roads and highways are in poor or mediocre condition according to Trip, a national transportation nonprofit research group. Read more.

by Sherrel Stewart, WBHM

Reaching Everyone in the 2020 Census Might be Harder in Alabama

By WBHM A census reminder might not be the most memorable part of an inaugural speech. But that didn’t stop Gov. Kay Ivey from mentioning next year’s decennial count in her address in January. Leaders in Alabama say the 2020 Census is especially important for the state. It’s for two main reasons. First, billions of federal dollars a year are divvied up based on census numbers. Secondly, Alabama could lose a congressional seat. That’s because the state’s population hasn’t been growing as quickly as other states. Meanwhile, Alabama has been a historically difficult state to count. Read more.

by Andrew Yeager, WBHM

New Birmingham Councilor Woods Is a Quiet but Focused Addition to the Council

Compared to his predecessor, Clinton Woods has been a quiet presence on the Birmingham City Council since he took office in January. He was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lashunda Scales, who resigned in November to join the Jefferson County Commission. Scales defined her role as councilor as that of a vocal advocate for her district, and she rarely missed opportunities to speak at length about items that came before the council. “When you saw me with my mouth in those long meetings, (it was because) my district had been overlooked for a long, long, long time,” she said at her last council meeting. Woods has yet to deliver any soliloquies from the dais, but he said he has spent considerable time speaking to the constituents in his district, finding out what their priorities and needs are. In his interview with councilors before he was appointed, he lamented “that people have come to city council meetings for entertainment value,” and instead presented himself as someone focused on delivering results. “I’m not going to sell 100 … things I’m going to do,” he said then. “I want to tell (residents) about three things I know I can do.” After the Feb. 5 council meeting, Woods spoke with BirminghamWatch about what those priorities are, as well as his stance on the issues facing the council in 2019. Read more.

by Sam Prickett