Governor Robert Bentley said his order sending gambling enforcement back to the county level is aimed to clarify “the right approach” to the issue. According to the governor, constitutional officers such as sheriffs and district attorneys have the responsibility to interpret the law and make decision on whether they will
As the day to give thanks approaches, we at The Bloom Group have spent a little time counting our many blessings, not the least of which are our colleagues and clients. Thanks for being a part of a very interesting 2015 with us, and we look forward to continuing to
With the state’s budget woes solved (for now), the legislature is currently pretty quiet, and this month’s news comes from other areas. RSA Briefs Legislative Study Commission The Joint Legislative Committee on Public Pensions recently received a briefing regarding the Operations of the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) in Montgomery.
Long-time State Senator Gerald Dial (R) from Lineville recently published an op-ed chronicling the saga of not enough revenue to meet the needs of the citizenry, and proclaimed that the state has a revenue problem and not a budget problem. Dial says enough is enough, and he will stand firm
The Bloom Group would like to congratulate our friend Governor Bentley’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration Blake Hardwich as she begins to co-lead Governor Bentley’s new leadership management team along with Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Jon Bargainer.
Seth Hammett resigned as chief of staff to Governor Robert Bentley effective October 8, 2015. Hammett will be replaced by a new leadership management team co-led by Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration Blake Hardwich and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Jon Barganier. Barganier will serve as the primary
2nd Special Session Update The Alabama Legislature returned to start work in the second special session of 2015 on September 8. Over the next several days, legislators looked for ways to raise revenue to cover shortfalls and finally pass a FY2016 General Fund budget. Here’s how they raised approximately $107
Special Session Update The Alabama Legislature returned to start work in the first special session of 2015 on August 3. The issue STILL at hand is the $200 million shortfall in the FY2016 general fund budget and how to best close this gap. The governor and the legislature remain at
The Legislature just adjourned a special session without passing a General Fund budget and with no known plan to address the budget shortfall. This is eerily similar to 1975, when then Governor Wallace called three special sessions to get General Fund and Education budgets without success. In mid-September of that
Governor Robert Bentley announced he was terminating an agreement between the Alabama Medicaid Agency and Planned Parenthood. Records from the Alabama Medicaid Agency show it has paid Planned Parenthood’s two clinics in Alabama $4,351 over the last two years. Bentley said that as a doctor, the issue of human life, from
