March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Governor’s Regular & Special Sessions Priorities

Regular Session

• Provide a one-time tax rebate of $400 for working individuals and $800 for working families.
• Cut by 25 percent over the next two years red tape affecting businesses. This will be done by executive order.
• Invest more into locally owned businesses through a $200 million grant program known as our Main Street Program.
• Prioritize funding for Pre-K classrooms in the most challenged areas of our state.
• Require all children to complete kindergarten before entering the first grade.
• Increased funding for more reading and math coaches in K-12.
• Double the funding for computer science education in Alabama.
• A two percent pay raise for K-12 teachers.
• Provide startup funds for Charter Schools and reform the governance of the Charter School Commission.
• Establish a new healthcare high school in Demopolis, offering an innovative curriculum for 9th through 12th graders, exposing them to a diversity of STEM and healthcare opportunities.
• Direct state law enforcement to make traffickers of fentanyl their top priority.

Special Session

The Special Session is dedicated to allocating Alabama’s remaining ARPA funds. In her state of the State speech, Governor Ivey called for Alabama lawmakers to “invest these federal monies to overcome some of our biggest challenges while also paying off our debts,” The largest categories for the money are $339 million for healthcare related to the pandemic, $260 million for expansion of broadband internet access, and $400 million for improving access to clean water through water sewer infrastructure projects. The healthcare cost breakdown is as follows:

• $100 million to reimburse hospitals for eligible expenses.
• $100 million to reimburse nursing homes for eligible expenses.
• $5 million to reimburse state veterans homes for eligible expenses.
• $40 million to reimburse the Public Education Employees Health Insurance    Board for eligible expenses.
• $25 million to support mental health services.
• $9 million to facilitate the expansion and use of telemedicine.
• $20 million for a voluntary clinical trial and healthcare research program to enable greater access to personalized medicine.
• $175,000 to reimburse expenses related to coronavirus voucher programs for public university students.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Day-by-Day, Play-by-Play

Last Thursday, the second day of the special session, the House General Fund budget committee approved the bills outlining the state’s plan to spend $1 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act on a voice vote after a brief discussion. The committee’s action put the bills in line for a vote by the full House of Representatives this week.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: State Magnet School Proposal “Game Changer”

Another element of Governor Ivey’s state of the State address was her proposed establishment of a magnet high school for the state, the School of Healthcare Sciences to be located in Demopolis. Demopolis Mayor Woody Collins is excited about the concept and describes it as a game changer for the state’s Black Belt region. Wilson said the school would be located adjacent to Whitfield Regional Hospital, which is undergoing a $20 million renovation. The hospital is also a part of the UAB Health System.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Senator Shelby Honored for Years of Service 

In a joint session of the Alabama Legislature last Thursday, now-retired Senator Richard Shelby was honored. Governor Kay Ivey, State Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville), Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, Senate Pro Tem Greg Reed (R-Jasper) and State Senator Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) spoke and praised Shelby for his tireless work on behalf of Alabama during his 53 years serving in both the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. Senate. Fond recollections and laugh-out-loud funny stories joined the expressions of gratitude shared. Read more here.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Gov. Ivey Issues “Red Tape” Executive Order

Last week, Governor Ivey issued an executive order designed to make government more efficient, more accountable and less burdensome to both businesses and individuals. The order directs every state agency to review current regulations and administrative rules and find ways to “cut red tape.” Read more here.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Alabama-Australia Partnership

Alabama-based Cummings Aerospace announced its plans to team with an Australian company to develop defense technology solutions that would be produced and distributed in Australia. Cummings Aerospace, headquartered in Huntsville, was among six firms from Alabama that participated in a trade trip organized by the Alabama Department of Commerce. Cummings and Criterion Solutions, based in Canberra, announced they have initiated a trade agreement to enable cooperative planning for the development of technology that could be produced and marketed in Australia. Criterion Solutions offers intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and systems integration expertise for the national security industry. Cummings Aerospace, a Native American woman-owned small business, is an aerospace engineering firm specializing in defense system design and analysis that uses model-based systems engineering.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: Alabama One of Multiple States Ready to Stop Time Changes

There is currently talk of the federal government doing away with the annual time shifts that most Americans are now used to. A bill to keep the nation on daylight savings time permanently passed the Senate in 2022. Ahead of the bill passing the House and making it to President Biden, multiples states have already passed their own laws ending annual time changes. Alabama is among them, with the legislature almost unanimously passing a bill that Governor Ivey signed into law in 2021. Read more here.

March 13, 2023 Group Watch: DeSantis In Alabama Last Week

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a stop in Alabama last week as a guest of the Alabama Republican Party’s annual winter dinner. While he has yet to formally declare his intentions to run for president in 2024, his speech sounded a lot like a campaign stop. Read more here.

February 2023 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House

The next issue of Group Watch will provide you with details from the first week of the Alabama Legislatures 2023 regular session, which begins March 7, but bills are already being pre-filed and one hot-button issue some hope would be legislated — Medicaid expansion — has already been declared pretty much dead, at least by a leading senator.

And while lawmakers prepare to debate and vote over the next few months, Alabama’s economy and industry keep humming along, with new business announcements and some promising news on the state’s exports coming out last week. 

Keep reading to learn more on these topics and other #alpolitics activity and news.

February 2023 Group Watch: Tweet of the Week

@thbloomgroup
Feb 20
State health officer, mayors, school officials laud departing Jefferson County health officer Dr. Mark Wilson.

https://twitter.com/thebloomgroup/status/1627814340551225345/photo/1