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Arise Legislative Update: April 8, 2024
Arise's Dev Wakeley provides this week's legislative update with a look at bills related to workers' rights, including one that would disincentivize companies from voluntarily recognizing unions. To speak out about these bills and others that we're tracking in the Alabama Legislature, visit alarise.org and click "Take Action." |
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Alabama Arise: 230+ Alabama Arise Action supporters urge lawmakers to close state’s Medicaid coverage gap
“People are facing unimaginable challenges because they lack access to health care,” Arise's Debbie Smith said during our Legislative Day news conference. “Families are forced to make impossible choices between putting food on the table and seeking medical treatment. Individuals are delaying necessary care until it’s too late, all because they can’t afford it.” |
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Alabama Arise: Legislative Day 2024 video
Arise held our 2024 Legislative Day on Tuesday, April 2. More than 230 supporters joined us in Montgomery to urge their lawmakers to close Alabama's Medicaid coverage gap, invest in public transportation and fund a summer nutrition program for children. Thank you to everyone who spoke out for a better Alabama for all! |
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Capitol Journal: April 2, 2024
"We believe public policies should make it easier for people to get their rights, not harder," Arise's Clyde Jones said on Capitol Journal. The story starts at the 9:20 mark. |
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WSFA 12, Montgomery: Rally held for Medicaid expansion in Alabama
“Our hospitals are at risk. It’s something to the order of 80% of our rural hospitals now have operating losses, and so they are in critical shape,” Alabama Rural Health Association President Farrell Turner told WSFA 12 in Montgomery at Arise's Legislative Day. |
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Alabama Daily News: Cover Alabama urges state to close health coverage gap at State House event “[Closing the coverage gap] is an investment in Alabama’s future. It will create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars of economic activity,” Arise board president Clyde Jones told Alabama Daily News. |
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Alabama Arise: Say NO to union busting with public funds!
Workers should be able to decide whether to join a union without the Legislature trying to harm people for exercising their rights. SB 231, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, is copy-and-pasted from other states’ mistaken anti-worker efforts and could cause wide-ranging damage across many industries. It is particularly shortsighted because companies are increasingly seeing the benefits of voluntary recognition, including reduced turnover rates and quality training programs that result from a unionized workforce.
SB 231 would cut directly against the Legislature’s recent efforts to modernize Alabama’s workforce. It would skew the negotiation process against the workers who are the source of all wealth and unfairly try to keep people from being compensated fairly for their work. |
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Alabama Arise: Tell your representative to keep child labor protections
Teenagers shouldn’t feel the brunt of our state’s failure to invest in work supports for Alabamians. Current law protects 14- and 15-year-olds by the common-sense step of requiring work permits through their schools if they are going to work. This helps ensure that the teenager is capable of performing in school and working as well. SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would remove this guardrail for child workers. Your representative needs to hear from you that you oppose SB 53, and they should, too. |
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Cover Alabama: Tell your legislators to close Alabama’s health coverage gap
By closing the health coverage gap, we can ensure hundreds of thousands of working families, veterans and small business owners across Alabama can access high-quality, affordable health care and get the medications and treatments they need to stay healthy. Ask your legislators to urge Gov. Kay Ivey to close Alabama’s coverage gap! |
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Alabama Arise: Tell your legislator to fund public transportation
Many Alabama seniors, people with disabilities, and people with low incomes need public transit to go to work, get to the doctor and run essential errands. And a reliable public transportation system helps workers find and keep stable employment.
SB 91, sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, would provide significant dedicated funding for transit via a $5 fee on new car tag renewals. This would provide about $25 million annually for public transportation. Together with federal matching grants, this amount could allow Alabama to invest up to $125 million in public transportation every year.
Email your senator today and urge them to provide funding for public transit. |
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Alabama Arise: Tell your legislators to fund Summer EBT and keep kids fed
Every child needs and deserves healthy meals throughout the year. But in recent years, 94% of Alabama’s children who received free and reduced-price school meals during the school year did not have access to them over the summer.
The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program had a proven track record of reducing food insecurity and supporting healthy diets for children during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress recently replaced P-EBT with a new Summer EBT program, but Alabama has not yet provided the required state match for the new program. We need legislators to support providing $15 million for the Summer EBT food program to help prevent children from going hungry over the summer next year.
Budget chairs are actively working on the fiscal year 2025 budgets, so now is an important time to elevate Summer EBT as a budget priority. Email your legislators and let them know that Alabama’s children need Summer EBT! |
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Alabama Arise: Tell Sen. Katie Britt it’s time to act on the Child Tax Credit!
Congress has an opportunity to provide meaningful help for Alabama’s working families – and we need your help to ensure it happens. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in January for a tax package that includes an expansion of the Child Tax Credit. But the bill is stalled in the Senate, and we need to get it moving forward again. Email Sen. Katie Britt and ask her to vote “Yes” on the bipartisan tax bill. |
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Alabama Arise: Help improve indigent defense in Alabama
The right to a fair trial is one of the foundations of our legal system, and we should do everything we can to ensure all Alabamians have equal representation. SB 83, sponsored by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, would take several steps to strengthen the indigent defense system in Alabama, including increasing the rates at which indigent defenders are paid, depending on the severity of the charge. Please reach out to your representative today and let them know you support SB 83. |
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Cullman Times: New bill would prohibit companies from voluntarily recognizing unions
“As a pro-labor organization, voluntarily recognizing our staff union was an easy choice for Arise,” Arise's Robyn Hyden said. “As a leader, I think our greatest accomplishment is supporting and growing leadership at all levels of our organization. I believe everyone has something to contribute to building a strong and healthy workplace, and I’m so proud of our staff for taking this step.” |
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Alabama Reflector: UAW says it will call for union election at Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance
"An Alabama Arise report published in November said workers in the state’s automobile industry make an average of $64,682 a year, higher than the median household income of $59,674. But the report also found that Alabama workers make less than their national counterparts and that real wages in the industry have fallen 11% over the last two decades," Brian Lyman reported in the Alabama Reflector.
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Alabamians for Fair Justice: 2024 Lobby Day Alabamians for Fair Justice (AFJ) will gather in Montgomery on Tuesday, April 16, to advocate for reforms of the state's criminal justice system. Alabama Arise is a member of the AFJ coalition. |
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Alabama Channel: Live and recorded legislative meetings
The Alabama Channel is a searchable library of live and recorded videos of floor debates and committee meetings at the Alabama Legislature. It is a project of the League of Women Voters of Alabama Education Fund. |
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Bills We're Watching: -
HB 144 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, is a supplemental appropriation for 2024 from the Education Trust Fund budget. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 144 on Tuesday, April 9, at 1 p.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 144.
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HB 145 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, is the 2025 Education Trust Fund budget. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 145 on Tuesday, April 9, at 1 p.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 145.
SB 270 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would establish procedures for requesting and obtaining public records. The Senate County and Municipal Government Committee will consider SB 270 on Tuesday, April 9, at 1 p.m. Alabama Arise supports SB 270.
SB 231 by Sen Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would prohibit voluntary union recognition by companies receiving state or local economic incentives. The Senate could vote on SB 231 as early as Tuesday, April 9. Alabama Arise opposes SB 231.
HB 258 by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would revise the sales tax for goods purchased on the internet. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 258 on Wednesday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 258. -
HB 346 by Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, would create a workforce housing tax credit. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 346 on Wednesday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 346.
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HB 358 by Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, would create a child care tax credit and grant program. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 358 on Wednesday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 358.
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HB 381 by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, would create child care tax credits for employers and child care facilities. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 381 on Wednesday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 381.
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HB 407 by Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, would change the definition of gross income for the calculation of overtime income tax liability. The House Ways and Means Education Committee will consider HB 407 on Wednesday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 407.
HB 373 by Rep. Kelvin Lawrence, D-Hayneville, would create alternative pathways to high school degrees for students planning to enter the workforce immediately after high school. The House Education Policy Committee will consider HB 373 on Wednesday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 373.
HB 299 by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would allow for appeals of parole denial and make other reforms related to medical parole. The House Judiciary Committee will consider HB 299 on Wednesday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. Alabama Arise supports HB 299. -
HB 409 by Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, would create absolute immunity for advice given to law enforcement by a district attorney. The House Judiciary Committee will consider HB 409 on Wednesday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. Alabama Arise is monitoring HB 409.
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HB 411 by Rep. Rolanda Hollis, D-Birmingham, would establish pre-incarceration probation for pregnant women who have been arrested. The House Judiciary Committee will consider HB 411 on Wednesday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. Alabama Arise supports HB 411.
SB 119 by Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, would increase penalties for violation of child labor laws. The House Judiciary Committee will consider SB 119 on Wednesday, April 10, at 1:30 p.m. Alabama Arise supports SB 119. -
SB 53 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would eliminate the school eligibility to work form for child labor. The House Commerce and Small Business Committee will consider SB 53 on Wednesday, April 10, at 3 p.m. Alabama Arise opposes SB 53.
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Alabama Arise
P.O. Box 1188, Montgomery, Alabama 36101
(334) 832-9060 · [email protected]
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