Rep. Steve McMillan of Gulf Shores, a Republican who served in the Alabama House of Representatives for more than 40 years, has died. He announced in January that he had been diagnosed with three brain tumors and would be undergoing treatment. McMillan was the dean of the Alabama House. He
All things must end, including lawmaking, and the Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session came to a close last week; on Thursday, the House and Senate adjourned Sine Die. High-profile bills like those to authorize gambling didn’t make it, while a bill concerning transgender medical treatments did.Several groups got raises, and a bill to put new limits and requirements
@thebloomgroup April 7 No step too high for a high stepper.
Tuesday, 27th day of regular session: 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
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
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 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 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
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
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
