Medicaid

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter Thursday, February 25, the Alabama Senate passed a $1.8 billion State General Fund (SGF) budget for fiscal Year 2017. This SGF budget level-funds most State agencies, including State troopers and Corrections, and contains no tax increases. The new Chairman of the Senate General Fund Budget Committee Trip Pittman said, … Continued

By Kimble Forrister Gov. Robert Bentley is right to urge Alabama to confront rural poverty before he leaves office in 2019. Tens of thousands of families are struggling to make ends meet in rural areas across the state, and better state policies could make a meaningful difference in their lives. Here are seven pragmatic proposals … Continued

By Susan Britt Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—The Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee passed the General Fund Budget on Wednesday. Most agencies were level-funded, and they will receive the same amount of funding as last year, without any adjustments for inflation. In most agencies, this is akin to a cut, since many have been level-funded … Continued

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter On Tuesday, February 9, the Alabama Legislature met for the third day of the 2016 Legislative Session.  While neither House has passed either budget yet (the primary purpose of even having a legislative session) the first bills began moving out of their houses of origin. State Senator Shay Shelnutt … Continued

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter Tuesday, February 2, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) delivered his sixth State of the State Speech to a joint House of the Alabama Legislature in the historic Alabama Capital Building. Gov. Bentley said that on the State’s 150th anniversary, a state man also first landed on the moon. That … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—In a recent interview with Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), the new Chairman of the Education Trust Fund, he told the Alabama Political Reporter that one of his top priorities for the 2016 Legislation Session is a pay increase for teachers: “If the unpublished or unofficial projections bear out, and … Continued

By Rep. Darrio Melton If you’ve turned on a TV lately, you might have caught Senator Richard Shelby’s latest TV ads, the ones of him driving a Ford Explorer through the Alabama country roads and talking about how he fights Obama in Washington every day.  Sound familiar? Senator Shelby isn’t the only Alabama politician who … Continued

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter MONTGOMERY—Pallets stacked with expensive Cisco phones, perhaps representing millions in State tax dollars, sit silently gathering dust in a warehouse, because someone at the State Department of Finance thinks they have a better idea. After reporting on the botched rollout of the STAARS accounting system, more than two-dozen confidential … Continued

By Brandon Moseley Alabama Political Reporter On Wednesday, January 6, Congress passed HR3762, a budget “reconciliation” bill that repeals components of Obamacare and places a one-year moratorium on Planned Parenthood funding. The bill will now go to President Obama’s desk. US Representatives Gary Palmer (R-Hoover), Bradley Byrne (R-Montrose), and Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) released statements supporting … Continued