The Alabama House of Representatives breezed through its nearly $11 billion Education Trust Fund (ETF) budgets and supplemental appropriations bills on Wednesday with hardly any debate.
Medicaid expansion was notably absent in the 2023 session. But proponents are back with the same tired arguments, likely already eyeing another push in 2024, if not before.
The 2023 session saw the legislature enact the largest budgets in state history. And while progress was made on tax relief efforts, more of your money should be returned to you.
Time is running out. Many bills that sought to reduce the tax burden of Alabamians have officially died. But several tax relief bills remained alive as Wednesday’s committee meetings wrapped up.
The overarching theme of the two budgets is that the size and scope of Alabama’s government is growing to new record levels. Neither does enough to provide permanent tax relief to Alabamians, and time is running out.
More than halfway through the 2023 regular legislative session, strong momentum is building to partially repeal the state’s 4% sales tax on groceries.
“Alabama budgets are in a great shape. We are in a better position to weather a storm than we were ten years ago," said Kirk Fulford with the Fiscal Office of the Legislative Services Agency.
The first day of the 2022 Alabama Regular Legislative Session began on Tuesday, Jan. 11, with legislators being informed that revenues...