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Alabama House to address both budgets Thursday

The Alabama House of Representatives met in Montgomery to consider legislation as the 2020 legislative session winds down. The House has yet to act on either budget, but that is scheduled to change Thursday, when they pass both the state general fund (SGF) and education trust fund (ETF) budgets. House Ways and Means General Fund … Continued
May 7, 2020

Proposed 2021 General Fund budget has $167 million increase

The Alabama legislature returns to Montgomery Monday to finish the 2020 regular legislative session and work on the state General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets. The first item to be considered will be the SGF. The 2020 SGF budget was $2,222 million. The proposed 2021 budget is $2,389 million — a $167.3 million increase … Continued
May 4, 2020

You get what you pay for

State lawmakers will return to Montgomery on Tuesday, February 4th and education will be one of the primary issues they will be taking on. Lawmakers expect an increase in both the Education and General Fund budgets for the coming year, and that means more resources available to address the issues facing our public schools. One … Continued
January 23, 2020

Speaker McCutcheon: There aren’t the votes to pass the lottery

Thursday, Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, spoke to reporters about the prospects of reconsidering controversial lottery legislation. “There are not the votes,” McCutcheon told reporters. “It would be a waste of money and time to bring back the lottery.” This was in response to Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh’s, R-Anniston, comment that … Continued
May 24, 2019

The bad bills aren’t dead yet

The end is near for the legislative session, but it’s not over yet, which means there is still time for a few more bad bills to slip through. In fact, if you’re going to slip a bad bill through, now is the time. Attention is waning. The kids are out of school and families are … Continued
May 24, 2019

General Fund Budget goes to a conference committee

Tuesday the Alabama Senate approved the fiscal year 2020 state General Fund Budget. The general fund budget funds all non-education state spending: including prisons, Medicaid, mental health, state law enforcement, forensics, courts, public health and dozens of other state agencies. All education funding meanwhile is in the education trust fund budget. Most states do not … Continued
May 22, 2019

Lottery, budgets dominate as session winds toward a close

The Memorial Day holiday is approaching, and state legislators are saying privately that they are ready for this session to be over, but much work remains to be done. Only 21 of a possible 30 legislative days have been used, so this session could technically last through mid-June, but this session was sidetracked by a … Continued
May 20, 2019

Storm shelter tax credit bill advances out of committee

The House Ways and Means Education Committee gave a favorable report to an income tax credit for Alabama homeowners to build storm shelters on Wednesday. House Bill 428, the storm shelter tax credit bill, is sponsored by State Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn. Lovvorn is a professional firefighter, who earlier this year responded to the fatal … Continued
May 20, 2019

House Committee approves pay raises for corrections officers

On Wednesday, April 24 the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee gave a favorable report to a bill giving a substantial pay raise to Alabama Department of Corrections officers. House Bill 468 is sponsored by State Rep. Christopher John England, D-Tuscaloosa. England said the increase in pay has already been included in the state … Continued
April 29, 2019

Ivey submits $7.1 billion education budget, $2.1 billion state general fund budget

Wednesday, state Finance Director Kelly Butler briefed the Alabama Capital Press Corps on the state budgets. The economy has been doing really well and this means that Gov. Kay Ivey is anticipating substantially larger state revenues in the coming fiscal year. The legislature passes two budgets each year. One is for schools, the Education Trust … Continued
March 21, 2019