New State Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) wants to help improve Alabama’s labor force participation rate and “codify the common sense understanding of male and female in state law.”
DuBose said in a recent interview with 1819 News that she wants to “work on getting Alabamians working again.”
“I’m working on this right now with Gov. Ivey’s Office and doing a deep dive into our workforce participation problem,” DuBose said. “As you know, only 57% of able-bodied Alabamians are even looking for a job. The low unemployment rate of 2.7% sounds wonderful until you look at the fact that 43% of Alabamians that are able are choosing not to work. I’m doing a real deep dive into that. What we’re finding is that it’s by choice. It’s not because they can’t find a job. They’re choosing not to. A lot of that is because of the assistance provided by our government. It’s really affecting the number of people that work. In 1955, 97% of the men worked. Clearly, there have been changes and it’s not the fact that job opportunities are not available. It’s just that there are too many other incentives for them to stay home and we really need to fix these disincentives to get people working again. I’m looking at some of that. We can lift some barriers through occupational licensing reform. That’s an area I want to look at. Maybe reintegrating incarcerated people. We’ve started to work on that, but that’s another way to get people back to work. I really want to work on getting Alabamians working again. It’s the economic engine that drives our state.”
DuBose told 1819 News that “if we expand Medicaid, that’s just another reason for people to stay home because then they don’t even need to work to pay for insurance because now we’re going to provide everyone with insurance.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m not in favor of Medicaid expansion besides the fact that it would be extremely, extremely expensive for our state,” DuBose said.
With legislators deciding what to do with the sizable state budget surplus in the upcoming session, DuBose said she prefers “some sort of tax cut” over a tax rebate.
“I’m in favor of people keeping more of their own money,” DuBose said. “The hardworking Alabamians should keep their own money. If we have a surplus, it should go back to them. I’m not in favor of sending it back in the form of a rebate. I’d like to see it in the form of some sort of tax cut even if it’s just (to) cut the personal income tax rate by a half a percent across the board. I know you’ve heard a lot about the grocery tax, the four percent state tax. That’s one way also. I think just sending a rebate to everybody doesn’t necessarily help the people that have worked hard. It’s part of the problem with inflation right now that there’s just been too much money that’s just been sent out. I’d like to have people that are actually working be able to take home more of their money. I want their paychecks to be bigger. If people get to keep more of their own money, that gives them more of an incentive to work as well.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall signed the Women’s Bill of Rights in September along with nine other state attorneys general. The document is sponsored by Independent Women’s Voice and “affirms the legal basis for maintaining single-sex spaces, such as rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, athletic teams, locker rooms and sororities,” according to a press release by Marshall.
DuBose said she’s working with the Attorney General’s Office on legislation related to the Women’s Bill of Rights.
“It’s basically to codify the common sense understanding of male and female in state law,” DuBose said. “Just a common sense, biological definition. It seems like golly that’s just common sense and haven’t we already covered it and it’s just overkill, but the fact of the matter is there are so many different issues that are coming up that this would be sort of an overriding law, a blanket law so to speak, that would cover future issues and current issues. I was thinking about another bill which would be to take the women’s sports bill to the college level. We currently protect women athletes in K-12 by stating that you have to be female, a biological female, to participate in female sports. We don’t have that at the collegiate level yet in the state of Alabama. Most states that have passed that law have taken it to the collegiate level. I thought about first just limiting it to that bill, but then when I started talking to the Attorney General’s Office about this Women’s Bill of Rights…it would already include that. It would help clarify the issue in an overriding way.”
DuBose won the House District 45 seat after defeating incumbent State Rep. Dickie Drake (R-Leeds) in the Republican primary in May.
DuBose credited the victory to “the personal interaction that made a difference” with voters.
“I really tried to get them to come to the door and talk to them,” DuBose said. “I knew if I got face-to-face with somebody (and) had a conversation I could win them over. People really, really appreciated just that personal touch. It was a lot of just personal interactions. As soon as I got home at 5 o’clock, I’d start making phone calls. I would just say, ‘I want to call and personally ask for your vote. I want to introduce myself.’ It was me and not a recording. It was the real me.”
DuBose said pro-life, election integrity, and education were three consistent issues that kept coming up with voters while on the campaign trail.
“Election integrity because I would get questions like, ‘Why should I even vote?’” That was a very important issue to me,” DuBose told 1819 News. “I was able to speak to them. I have worked the polls before. I understand how our system in Alabama works. I think we have a very good system in Alabama. I think we can button up a few things. I was able to really talk to people and encourage them to vote and to let them know that we do have good, safe elections in Alabama.”
DuBose said “as far as schools go, most people in my district are happy with their schools” and “the one thing they cared most about was indoctrination of children.”
“There’s just a lot of crazy stuff going on in schools and that was the concern,” DuBose said. “They don’t want their children subject to this gender ideology-type stuff that’s going on. They want to focus on the essentials of education and I’m right in line with that.”
DuBose is a member of the Health, Education Policy, and Fiscal Responsibility committees.
According to her campaign site, DuBose graduated from the University of South Alabama with a bachelor’s of science degree in finance. She has an M.B.A. from Springhill College. She’s a retired residential, commercial, and construction loan officer and business development officer with Compass Bank. She was the 2021 President of the Republican Women of North Shelby County. She’s married to Dennis and they have a son, Drew, and a daughter, Danielle.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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