September 2022 Group Watch: Local Communities Showing Support for Medical Cannabis

In news related to the above, cities and counties all over the state are voicing their support of the new medical cannabis industry, voting to approve licenses for dispensaries in their communities and adopting other needed changes like re-zoning. It’s still a longshot than any of these areas will actually get a dispensary. Applications to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission are already exceeding the number of licenses that state law will allow the Commission to approve for next year. Read more here.

September 2022 Group Watch: Struggling AL Schools Getting Funds for “Turnaround”

Fifteen of Alabama’s most challenged elementary schools are getting a multimillion-dollar infusion of support through a new initiative championed by Governor Kay Ivey. Earlier this year, Ivey added a $10 million line item in the state budget for what is being called the Turnaround Schools Initiative. The state department of education added another $5.4 million initially allocated for a measure that failed to pass the legislature, which means more than $15 million will go to support these 15 schools. State Superintendent Eric Mackey said the communities where the schools are located are dealing with high levels of poverty and “overwhelming “needs. Many of the schools, located primarily in urban and some rural areas, are already receiving support from the Alabama Department of Education. A spokesperson for Governor Ivey said the Departments of Mental Health, Early Childhood Education and Human Resources will all be a part of the turnaround efforts.

September 2022 Group Watch: Grant Dollars Target Small Biz Growth

The Alabama Innovation Corp. announced the awarding of its first round of grants designed to help small businesses expand their operations within the state. The 31 grant awards, which total more than $4.5 million, will be distributed under the Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant Program. According to the corporation, the funds will enable small business owners to further commercialize modern technology and contribute to the Alabama regional and national economic footprint. The program assists advancing the state’s economy through numerous avenues, including boosting research and commercialization efforts, developing exportable products and services, and generating high-wage job opportunities.

September 2022 Group Watch: Dispute Over AL Transgender Law Continues; Gets Out-of-State Aid

Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit to block enforcement of Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which bans hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgeries for minors. Last month, the U.S. Attorney’s office served Eagle Forum of Alabama, a nonprofit that supports the law, with a subpoena. Multiple elected officials and other groups have called the move an obvious effort by the federal government to “chill speech” with which it disagrees. Earlier this week, another group, the North-Carolina-based John Locke Foundation, joined the cause, filing a federal friend-of-the-court brief challenging the use of the subpoena. Read more here.

September 2022 Group Watch: Former House Dem Leader Is New Gadsden Mayor

Craig Ford was just elected mayor of Gadsden. The Gadsden native and former Alabama House of Representatives Democratic leader won the runoff election handily, defeating Heather New. Read more here.

September 2022 Group Watch: Senator Shelby Secures $17.8 Million in Grants for AL Airports

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $17.8 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants to 10 Alabama airports for infrastructure upgrades, according U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. In a statement announcing the grant awards, Shelby, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke to the important role airports play in supporting local communities. The grants will be administered through the 2022 fiscal year Airport Improvement Program. The program was funded in the consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. The grants were awarded to:

• Mobile International Airport: $6.7M to reconstruct an apron and $940,000 to improve drainage and erosion control
• Tuscaloosa National Airport: $4.2M to reconstruct an apron
• Auburn University Regional Airport: $2.5M to construct, extend and improve a safety area
• Prattville Airport-Grouby Field: $2.5M to reconstruct an apron
• Isbell Field Airport (Fort Payne): $829,227 to reconstruct a taxi lane
• Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport: $456,716 to rehabilitate an apron
• Chilton County Airport (Clanton): $261,736 to extend a runway
• Abbeville Municipal Airport: $236,700 to extend a runway
• Enterprise Municipal Airport: $160,000 to extend a runway

September 2022 Group Watch: Mercedes-Benz Launches EV Production in Alabama

Mercedes-Benz has launched production of the all-electric luxury EQS SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant, part of a global strategy of next-generation technology that is ushering in a new era for Alabama’s auto industry. Mercedes has invested $7 billion in the state since it arrived in the early 1990s, and Alabama workers began producing the M-Class SUV in 1997. Multiple expansions, new model launches and innovation upgrades have followed, with more than 4 million vehicles shipped from the plant around the world. Mercedes-Benz marked a milestone with the recent production launch of the EQS sports utility vehicle, the automaker’s first EV built in the U.S. About 300 workers cheered as the Alabama-built EQS SUV was officially unveiled.

September 2022 Group Watch: Ozark Scores New Manufacturing With 84 Jobs

Ecore International plans to invest $25.5 million to open a state-of-the-art manufacturing and recycling facility in the southeast Alabama city of Ozark, where it will create 84 jobs. The new full-time positions will pay an average annual salary of nearly $42,500, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Ecore specializes in transforming reclaimed materials into high-performance flooring and surface products. The privately held company is the largest converter of reclaimed rubber in North America, and its largest raw material is scrap truck tires. 

September 2022 Group Watch: State Continues to Rank High for New Biz

Area Development, a national economic development publication, reports that site-selection professionals it surveyed have again ranked Alabama among the top states for business, citing a broad range of factors contributing to a fertile growth environment. Alabama ranks No. 6 overall in its 2022 ”Top States for Doing Business” analysis, the same as the two previous years. The showing continues a sustained run in the survey’s overall Top 10 that reflects the state’s commitment to facilitating economic growth and job creation. In addition, Alabama earned Top 10 rankings in 11 out of 13 different individual categories in the survey, spanning the spectrum of critical economic development issues. Alabama Commerce data shows that companies announced new facilities and expansion projects involving $7.7 billion in new capital investment last year, the second highest annual total recorded by the state.

August 2022 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House

Both of the state’s major political parties met earlier this month. The Democrats elected a new chairman. The GOP party voted in several resolutions, including one that voices the state party’s support for former President Donald J. Trump and one that calls for closing primary elections to all except registered party members. 

Alabama’s medical cannabis industry is one step closer to getting medical cannabis in the hands of patients suffering with approved conditions; it will soon begin the process to license entities that wish to grow cannabis and to process, test, transport and sell medical cannabis products.

Keep reading for more details. And with elections coming up in November, it should be an interesting and action-packed fall, so stay tuned to Group Watch.