There are only three legislative days left in the Alabama Legislature’s 2021 regular session. Two will take place this week; then the body takes a week off before returning for the final day on May 17. And there is a lot of work yet to be done, with several major bills, including
Alabama’s sex education law passed in 1992 contained instructions for sexual education programs in Alabama schools to instruct, with emphasis, that homosexuality is both unacceptable and illegal (in Alabama). Last week, Governor Ivey signed a bill into law that will remove this language. Read more here.
Alabama has been chosen as one of six locations in the United States designated a Defense Manufacturing Community as a result of collaboration among the Department of Defense (DoD), Redstone Arsenal and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). UAH has been awarded a $3.7 million DoD grant under the
A lawsuit was filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court seeking to stop the progress on the state’s mega-prison construction plan that carries a $3 billion dollar price tag. Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn are named as defendants in the case. Ivey signed two contracts with CoreCivic in
Public education in Alabama will receive its largest ever amount of state dollars in the annual budget passed by the House of Representatives last week. The budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which starts October 1, appropriates $7.7 billion from the Education Trust Fund. The budget funds a 2-percent raise
The Alabama Senate approved a House-passed General Fund Budget with minor changes. The $2.4 billion budget represents a 3.6-percent increase year-over-year. Most agencies saw small increases or level funding. The largest increase was a more than doubling of the budget for the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, who will
Alabama was projected as a state likely to lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but results from the 2020 Census show Alabama’s population count was high enough to prevent that from happening. Alabama’s population count of 5,030,053 was more than 108,000 higher than a previous U.S. Census
Governor Kay Ivey signed bills that broaden the offenses eligible for expungement and create a database to track the movement of police officers. The expungement bill will allow individuals convicted of misdemeanors or violations to apply for expungement of their convictions. Applications could take place three years after conviction and
On Tuesday, U.S. Army veteran Kenneth Paschal won the special Republican primary runoff election in House District 73. Paschal defeated Helena City Councilwoman Leigh Hulsey by 64 votes. The safely Republican seat was left vacant by Rep. Matt Fridy’s election to the Court of Civil Appeals. Paschal served 21
The Alabama Legislature passed the Literacy Act in 2019 to emphasize the importance of making sure children learn to read in the earliest grades. The House Education Policy Committee held a public hearing on a Senate-passed bill that would delay its implementation until the 2023-2024 school year. The bill’s sponsor, Senator
