April 11, 2022 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Tweet of the Week

@thebloomgroup April 7 No step too high for a high stepper.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Legislature Day-by-Day, Play-by-Play

• The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to create the Alabama Second Amendment Preservation Act to provide prohibitions on the use of certain public resources and personnel to enforce certain federal actions relating to firearms, accessories and ammunition.
• The House Ways and Means General Fund Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to create the State Employee Retirees’ Trust Fund Funding Act to establish a separate fund to provide for future periodic retiree bonuses.
• The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to increase the per semester loan repayment award for qualified math and science teachers.
• The House gave final passage to Senate-passed bills to: further provide for virtual court hearings in criminal cases; postpone until 2024-25 school year the third-grade retention requirement in the Literacy Act; provide for virtual meetings of governmental bodies; and to further provide for telehealth and telemedicine.
• The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved House-passed bills to: provide for virtual meetings of the board of trustees for the Alabama Trust Fund; require criminal justice agencies to annually submit a report with certain information relative to sexual assault cases and sexually-oriented criminal offenses; and to prohibit the state and any of its political subdivisions from teaching certain concepts relating to race, sex or religion in certain training.
• The Senate gave final approval to House-passed bills to authorize the Secretary of State to provide digital copies of all bills, resolutions and memorials; to provide that up to $6,000 of taxable retirement income is exempt from state income tax for individuals 65 years of age or older; to further provide for the duties and membership of the Literacy Task Force; and to further provide for service of garnishment notice.

• The House passed several Senate-passed bills including bills to allow county licensing officials to contract with a third party with county commission approval for materials provided for print-on-demand validation decals; and to require individuals to search for work a certain number of times per week to be eligible for unemployment compensation.
• The Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee approved several bills including House-passed bills to: increase the per semester loan repayment award for qualified math and science teachers; require the State Board of Education to phase in the employment of auxiliary teachers to assist classroom teachers with instructional and non-instructional activities in all public schools in the state providing instruction in grades K-3; and to increase the optional standard deduction and expand the adjusted gross income range allowable for the maximum dependent exemption.
• The Senate passed a number of House-passed bills of local application only and House-passed general bills including bills to: establish the State Employee Retirees Trust Fund Funding Act to provide for future bonuses; provide for local approval of solid waste management sites; provide that a judge may use discretion in the length of sentence a defendant must serve if his or her probation is revoked; and to create a 180-day grace period for inmates to repay court-imposed debt after release.

• The House gave final passage to a number of Senate-passed bills of local application only and general bills including bills to: prohibit medical procedures for minors intended to alter the appearance of gender; increase the optional standard deduction amount and increase the adjusted gross income range allowable for maximum optional standard deduction and dependent exemption; and to prohibit the state enforcement of certain federal firearm laws.
• The Senate passed several House-passed bills of local application only and general bills to: increase the loan repayment award for qualified math and science teachers per semester; authorize the Board of Optometric Scholarship Awards to conduct remote meetings and to expand the program to include loans and revise program parameters; and to require a mental health service coordinator for each school system subject to a legislative appropriation.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Bill Limiting How Much Municipalities Can Keep From Traffic Fines Passes

The legislature gave final approval to a bill intended to stop cities and towns from using traffic in an excessive way to fatten their budgets. The legislation came in response to the traffic trap scandal in Brookside, a Jefferson County town of about 1,200 people that used an oversized police force to triple its revenue over five years, with half the money from fines and forfeitures, which increased more than 600 percent. The new law would prohibit cities and towns from retaining money from traffic fines in amounts more than 10 percent of their general operating budgets. Municipalities would have to transfer any money above 10 percent in equal portions to the state’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund and the Fair Trial Tax Fund.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Legislature Passes New Requirements for Unemployment Compensation

The Alabama Legislature approved a bill to add new requirements to qualify for unemployment compensation. The House passed the bill along party lines after cutting off debate. The measure, which had already passed the Senate, returned to the Senate due to House changes. The Senate accepted the changes and gave the bill final approval, sending it to the governor, who is likely to sign it into law. State law already requires a “reasonable and active effort” to find work as a condition for unemployment pay. This bill further defines that as “systematic and sustained efforts to find work including contacting at least three prospective employers for each week of unemployment claimed.” The Alabama Department of Labor would require proof of work search efforts. The Department of Labor would conduct random reviews of at least 5 percent of the work search claims.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Lawmakers Pass Ban on Transgender Medical Treatments For Minors

The legislature passed a bill to criminalize medical treatments to help transgender minors affirm their gender identity. The Senate-passed bill passed the House by a vote of 66-28. The vote came after the Republican majority passed a petition to cut off the debate after a short time. The vote to pass the bill was mostly along party lines, with Republicans supporting it, and Democrats opposed. The bill would make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for doctors to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones or to perform surgeries on transgender minors to help them transition. Doctors who provide the care say no such surgeries are done on minors in Alabama.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Lawmakers Approve Delay of Reading Retention Requirement

The legislature voted to delay a high-stakes requirement to hold back third graders who don’t meet reading benchmarks. The bill now goes to Governor Kay Ivey, who previously expressed support for a one-year delay. Many lawmakers expressed concern about putting the requirement on students after the pandemic interrupted classrooms for two years. There had been disagreement over how long to delay the requirement. The promotion requirement, part of the 2019 Alabama Literacy Act, stated that to move on to the fourth grade, students would have to make above a “cut score” on a standardized test or demonstrate mastery of reading standards through a reading portfolio. Earlier this year, state officials said 23 percent of students scored below the set cutoff score on the latest assessment.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: $225M in ARPA Funds to Go to Water & Sewer Projects

Gov. Kay Ivey recently announced that $225 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds has been provided for statewide water and sewer infrastructure improvements. The agreement signed between the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and the Alabama Department of Finance states that ADEM will distribute grants to qualifying public water and sewer systems for the purpose of improving access to clean water and sewer infrastructure projects and the economic impact thereof. The following is a breakdown of how the $225 million in grants will be utilized:

• $120 million for grants to public water or sewer systems with previously identified emergency or high-need projects and do not require a local match
• $100 million for grants to public water and sewer systems that may require local matching funds based on their ability to pay
• $5 million for grants to demonstration projects in the Black Belt to address sewage disposal problems prevalent in rural, low-population-density areas where poor soil conditions prevent wastewater from septic systems from being absorbed into the ground.

Approximately one-third of the state’s 1,061 water and sewer systems have already applied for grants.

April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Alabama’s “Small Town Downtowns” Making a Comeback

Cities in rural Alabama are seeing a rebirth in their downtowns, with a blitz of new business opening, property renovations and multimillion-dollar investments. Pop-up shops, green spaces, art festivals and social media buzz are among the trends that are helping drive the efforts to bring merchants, residents and visitors back to the heart of the community. Some areas are seeing an increase in downtown living and Airbnbs. The pandemic proved that people can live anywhere and continue to work virtually. More entrepreneurs are investing in downtowns, and much of that activity involves small-scale producers, such as breweries, distilleries, fabric makers and coffee roasters. In the past two years 23 communities with a population under 50,000 have reported 160 net new business openings, along with 450 property improvements from private investment totaling $38.5 million.

April 4, 2022 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House