May 2022 Group Watch: Macon County Logistics Park Preps For Initial Construction

Construction is scheduled to begin soon on the first building in a logistics park along Interstate 85 in Macon County that backers say could have a massive economic impact when its three phases are developed. The project, called the Regional East Alabama Logistics Park, stems from a partnership between the Macon County Economic Development Authority, Farpoint Development and local businessmen Jimmy and Wayne Bassett. The park will encompass 683 acres at the site of Beck’s Turf Farm off Exit 42 on I-85. The project envisions around 13 buildings offering a combined 5 million square feet of space once the three phases are completed in seven to 10 years. Construction is expected to begin this summer on the first building, a 169,000-square-foot expandable industrial commercial structure. The park is located two miles north of Tuskegee and 15 miles from Auburn. The location is less than 35 miles from the Kia auto assembly plant in West Point, Georgia, and around 50 miles from the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Montgomery.

May 2022 Group Watch: Novelis Plans $2.5 Billion Alabama Aluminum Mill with 1,000 Jobs

Novelis Inc., a world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, plans to invest more than $2.5 billion to build a new low-carbon recycling and rolling plant in Baldwin County. The facility at the 3,000-acre South Alabama Mega Site, located in Bay Minette, will create approximately 1,000 jobs, which Novelis projects will pay an average annual salary of $65,000. Atlanta-based Novelis said the Alabama facility, the first integrated aluminum mill built in the U.S. in 40 years, will leverage the company’s long-term relationships with leading beverage, packaging and automotive brands seeking sustainable aluminum solutions. The facility will be powered with renewable energy, use recycled water and be a zero-waste facility. Novelis is committed to being a carbon-neutral company by 2050 and plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2026. The Baldwin County plant will make use of advanced automation and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, augmented reality and robotics. The facility will have an initial 600 kilotonnes of finished aluminum goods capacity per year.

May 2022 Group Watch: Governor Announces Two Additional Mental Health Centers

Governor Kay Ivey recently announced the funding of two additional Mental Health Crisis Centers, further expanding the Alabama Crisis System of Care. The two centers add to the four existing centers in Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile, currently serving individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders at staged levels of care. The fiscal year 2023 awarded Community Mental Health Centers are Indian Rivers Behavioral Health in Tuscaloosa County and SpectraCare Health Systems in Houston County. Mental Health Crisis Centers are designated places for community members, law enforcement and first responders to take an individual who is in mental health crisis. Services include critical crisis intervention and stabilization services, discharge planning and connections to ongoing behavioral health care services.

May 2022 Group Watch: Caddell Construction To Build Specialized Care Prison

Alabama has hired Caddell Construction Co. to build a specialized men’s prison facility in Elmore County. The contract with Caddell, which is based in Montgomery, was effective in mid-April. The contract is the latest step in a process the Ivey administration has pursued for several years to overhaul Alabama’s prison system. Alabama has not built a prison since the mid-1990s. During a legislative special session in October, 2021, a plan was approved to build two 4,000-bed men’s prisons, one in Elmore County and one in Escambia County. The two new prisons will be much larger than any of Alabama’s 13 existing men’s prisons. The two prisons are the first of several phases of construction, renovations and prison closings planned. B. L. Harbert International, based in Birmingham, is expected to be the main contractor for the Escambia County prison.

May 2022 Group Watch: AL Innovation Corporation Approves Budget, Creates Exec Director Position

The Alabama Innovation Corporation, a statewide public-private partnership tasked with promoting the state’s innovation economy, recently held its second board meeting. At the meeting, the corporation’s board of directors approved the creation of an executive director position and its associated job description. The executive director position will be charged with overseeing strategic operations, staff management and program implementation for the corporation. The position will also assist in advancing the corporation’s mission through partnership, developing core programs and managing the innovation-oriented directive of the entity. The board also adopted a budget and bylaws and updated the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program. Included in the $10 million budget is funding for the Innovate Alabama Matching Grant Program, the addition of administrative and professional staff and executive director, and strategic communications partners for marketing purposes. Alabama State Finance Director Bill Poole is chair of the corporation board.

May 2022 Group Watch: Longtime Baldwin County House Member Dies

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.