| @toddcstacy April 3 Alabama lawmakers are planning a rare work week of four legislative days to conclude the 2022 regular session, an ambitious challenge that shows how eager some are to return home in an election year. Read more in @ALDailyNews –> https://aldailynews.com/lawmakers-plan-rare-four-day-week-to-end-the-session/… #alpolitics |
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Governor Ivey and other public officials took part in the grand opening of the $120 million AUBix data center in Auburn last week. The 40,000-square-foot center near the Auburn University campus will offer private and public organizations more secure and efficient access to fiber networks and more content for consumers. AUBix would serve companies in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and other sectors, as well as academia and state and local governments. Auburn University intends to use AUBix to meet federal requirements for cybersecurity.
Gov. Kay Ivey recently signed the law to create the nation’s first elder abuse registry. The new state database, created by legislation called “Shirley’s Law,” will include the names of anyone convicted of mistreating senior citizens. The law’s namesake Shirley Holcombe died in 2018 after becoming a victim of forgery by a caretaker, and the legislation was the result of Shirley’s daughter Jo Holcombe’s efforts. The law will allow family members to see whether someone being considered for a job involving older adults has ever been convicted of elder abuse. It will also provide information about people who have come under protection orders for elder abuse. There were 11,122 reports of elder abuse in 2021, including physical abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
The Alabama House approved a Senate-passed bill aimed at improving the state’s performance on standardized math testing. The bill known as the Numeracy Act would set minimums for instruction of math and allow state intervention in public schools that fail to meet certain testing requirements. Legislators have long expressed frustration with Alabama’s performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The Numeracy Act would require teachers from kindergarten to fifth grade to devote at least one hour a day to math instruction. It would require schools to intervene with students who show mathematics deficiencies. Intervention could mean anything from additional instruction time to small group work to home-based math instruction. The bill would create an Office of Mathematics Improvement in the Department of Education. The office would identify the schools with the lowest math performance as full support schools, where teachers and staff would be required to engage in support and training on math standards. Another tier would be limited support schools that would have to implement standards and cooperate with direction from the Office of Mathematics Improvement.
A bill officially authorizing telehealth and telemedicine in Alabama passed the state Senate last week, marking the first piece of legislation regulating digital access to healthcare for Alabamians. The bill, sponsored by Senator Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, would limit the number of virtual visits citizens could use to four times every 12 months for the same illness. The number of telehealth visits between patients and doctors would reset if an individual seeks care for another illness. Prescriptions of controlled substances are prohibited under the bill, and all patient-physician relationships established via telehealth must be initiated by the patient to prevent fraud and exploitation. The bill, a substitute of a previously filed version, passed unanimously and now moves to the House Health Committee for consideration.
In an attempt to keep good teachers working in Alabama’s classrooms, a plan to give pay raises ranging from 10-20 percent to teachers with nine or more years experience is moving through the legislature. If the plan passes, all teachers will get a 4 percent raise, but those with a longer tenure would get double-digit salary increases. Read more here.
Governor Ivey announced that the state’s portion of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding designated for broadband expansion has successfully been transferred to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). By way of a memorandum of understanding, ADECA will be the state agency that oversees the administration of the $276 million. The legislature made the funding appropriation during the special session in January. ADECA will deploy the funds through the department’s Alabama Digital Expansion Division via grant programs to provide high-speed internet access to under-served portions of the state.
Tenax Corp. plans to invest $1 million in improvements and new production machinery at its manufacturing facility in Evergreen, where it has operated for three decades. Tenax will create 8-12 new jobs tied to a new initiative to make the Evergreen facility more efficient and environmentally friendly. The project is expected to be complete by fall 2022. Maryland-based Tenax is known for its trademark orange plastic safety fencing at building sites, a product that has inspired many imitators. The company also makes specialty products for netting, pipe protection, construction, agriculture, gardening and DIY applications.
Alabama’s innovation economy will not reach its full potential unless it is inclusive. That was the message from Alabama Director Bill Poole who chairs the board of the Alabama Innovation Corporation. Poole said the innovation economy needs input from women and other groups to ensure that all ideas are being captured and all are being represented as the state pulls in unison to grow in areas of entrepreneurship, technology, research and development, and the broader knowledge-based economy. The Corporation board includes two women, including Gov. Ivey and Alabama native Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state and director of the Hoover Institution. Poole said there are a number ways Alabama can grow the innovation economy, but one key will be to convince more college graduates to remain in Alabama.
