MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House Judiciary Committee voted down Rep. Juandalynn Givan’s (D-Birmingham) HB 8, a bill that would amend the Memorial Preservation Act of 2017. The Act prohibits the removal and alteration of monuments and buildings more than 40 years old that are on public property. The committee considered a substituted version of the […]

Alabama is set to host a virtual conference next month where national leaders in the field of workforce development will convene to share knowledge and best practices. Attendance will be free for what is being called the 2021 Alabama Interstate Talent Development Convening. It will occur on the afternoon of April 5. Opening remarks will […]

MONTGOMERY — Senator Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) has been sworn into his new office after winning Tuesday’s special election in Senate District 26. Hatcher had been serving in the House of Representatives until his swearing-in on Wednesday at noon in the Senate chamber. He delivered remarks at the ceremony, which was attended by an intimate number […]

Pandemic. Did someone say pandemic? The term obviously failed to resonate with the Madison County real estate industry during 2020. While there was a slight pause in the second quarter, the robust activity for the remainder of the year provided an astounding overall growth increase of 25% for the past year. Total of all sales […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee on Wednesday morning took up a slate of important bills. To start things off, HB 396 was first on the agenda. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville), would legalize no-excuse absentee voting in the state. Before any discussion on the measure, Hall requested […]

Legislation sponsored by State Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville) that would allow for no-excuse absentee voting has attracted a lot of attention as of late because it initially received support from Secretary of State John Merrill. Although Merrill has backed off his support of the bill’s premise, it remains a concern for Republicans, according to Alabama […]

MONTGOMERY — Rep. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) on Tuesday won the special general election in Senate District 26. Hatcher defeated Republican nominee William Green by a 78%-22% margin. Green is a former Montgomery City Council member. According to unofficial results provided by Montgomery County Probate Judge JC Love, 5,827 votes were cast in the contest, equating to […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday convened for the 10th day of its 2021 regular session. Both chambers worked off of respective special order calendars that contained a mixture of controversial and non-controversial bills. The House gaveled in at 1:00 p.m. and adjourned for the day at 6:30 p.m.; the Senate got in at […]

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama House of Representatives met Tuesday and passed six pieces of legislation, including bills that would increase oversight of executive branch agencies and update language in the state’s policy on sex education. After convening shortly after 1:00 p.m. the chamber spent much of the next five hours in extended debate on two […]

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday that would prevent the state government from designating which types of businesses were allowed to stay open in situations such as the one experienced during the advent of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020. Sponsored by Rep. Jamie Kiel (R-Russellville), HB103 would […]

MONTGOMERY — On a party line vote, the Alabama Senate on Tuesday passed SB 10, the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. Sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville), the bill would ban the performance of medical procedures and the prescription of puberty-blocking medications and sex-change hormones used as transgender therapies for minors, with certain exceptions. […]

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Lynda Blanchard on Tuesday called upon the Alabama House Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections Committee to vote down a bill that would legalize no-excuse absentee voting in the state, among other alterations of Alabama’s elections laws. The committee is set to meet on Wednesday regarding HB 396, which is sponsored by State Rep. […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday afternoon gave a favorable report to SB 259, which is sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road). This bill would allow the legislature to call itself into a special session through a joint proclamation by the Senate president pro tem and the speaker of the House. […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday gave a favorable report to SB 235, a bill that would ban curbside voting in the state. The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook). No Democrats were present for the committee meeting, and the favorable report came on an uncontested voice vote. […]

The rate of new coronavirus cases in Alabama is holding steady at a rate far below its previous peak, and hospitalizations from the virus have continued to decrease in recent days as a decision on the state’s mask mandate rapidly approaches. Alabama averaged 657 new COVID-19 cases each day for the last week. That average […]

Last week, Secretary of State John Merrill raised a lot of eyebrows when he gave an endorsement to legislation proposed by State Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville), which would allow no-excuse absentee voting. However, Merrill is distancing himself from the no-excuse absentee voting provision of Hall’s legislation. During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s […]

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced on Tuesday a set of 21 road improvement projects that will receive state funding as part of the 2019 Rebuild Alabama Act that raised the gas tax. The projects are being made possible by the Annual Grant Program, a provision of Rebuild Alabama that takes $10 million of the annual […]

Alabama Power Company in recent days was the focus of a joint webinar organized by the Edison Electric Institute and the National League of Cities (NLC), as the kick-off to NLC’s Emerging Tech Webinar Series. The webinar featured a remote panel discussion moderated by John Smola, director of Business Transformation and Administration for Alabama Power. Panelists […]

The Alabama House will consider a bill on Tuesday, backed by the chamber’s leaders, that would create a joint legislative committee with the authority to approve contracts, leases and agreements made by the executive branch. Sponsored by Rep. Mike Jones (R-Andalusia), chair of the powerful Rules Committee, HB392 comes in the wake of Governor Kay […]

Congressman Jerry Carl (AL-01) on Monday filed his first-ever piece of legislation, titled “The American Heritage Protection Act of 2021.” The Republican freshman representative from Mobile noted that his bill comes after the D.C. Facilities and Commemorative Expressions Working Group (DCFACES) last fall recommended 150 sites in our nation’s capital be either removed, contextualized or have […]

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday will convene for the 10th day of its 2021 regular session. There is also one committee meeting scheduled for the day, as well as one subcommittee meeting. Read about what occurred last Thursday on the ninth legislative day here.

Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell officially launched on Monday his campaign to take back the office he held from 2010 through 2017. Bell, 71, was prevented from earning a third term in office when Randall Woodfin, then-president of the Birmingham City School Board, beat him at the ballot box in 2017. In his nearly three-minute […]

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Monday delivered his maiden speech on the floor of the United States Senate. In his remarks, which spanned more than seven minutes, the freshman senator thanked the people of Alabama for sending him to Washington, D.C., spoke about his background as an educator and mentor, and emphasized that he […]

Federal regulators in recent days approved a third vaccine product for use by the public, a decision that is set to enhance Alabama’s vaccination efforts. Developed by the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the newly approved vaccine is administered in a single dose. The other two approved products, from Pfizer and Moderna, require […]