Entries Tagged 'State News' ↓

Two days before the new fiscal year, Gov. Bob Riley on Tuesday declared a 7.5 percent cut to the pending education budget.

Riley announced that across-the-board cuts, also known as proration, will reduce to $5.3 billion from $5.7 billion the state funding budgeted for public schools in fiscal 2009-10.

“With less revenue coming in and the escalating costs of employee health insurance, there’s no way to avoid it,” Riley said in a statement

In Baldwin County, which is in the midst of dealing with a series of deep budget and staffing cuts, the governor’s announcement “only makes the situation worse,” said school system spokesman Terry Wilhite.

The proration means about $7.5 million less for Baldwin schools.

Riley declares 7.5 percent proration for coming year’s education budget

A Baldwin County teacher said that one of the main reasons he wants to become lieutenant governor of Alabama is to stop the federal government’s “coercion, intimidation and blackmail” of states.

Gene Ponder of Daphne wrote in a recent e-mail that federal authorities have violated the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which requires that powers not specifically granted to the federal government be left to the states or the people.

The e-mail included a proposed resolution, championing states’ rights, that he wants the Legislature to adopt.

But lieutenant governor candidates on both sides of the aisle questioned the strong tone of Ponder’s resolution and whether he could wrest away any of Washington, D.C.’s control from the lieutenant governor’s office.

Gene Ponder, candidate for Alabama lieutenant governor, rebukes federal government

People in south Alabama will get their chance to weigh in on the national debate over healthcare.

Congressman Jo Bonner will hold town hall meetings around the Gulf Coast to discuss President Barack Obama’s controversial health care reform plan.

The meetings will be held:

Wednesday

Stockton

Stage Coach Restaurant

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Thursday

Bay Minette City Hall

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Friday

Robertsdale City Hall

9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Magnolia Springs Community Center

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Perdido Beach Volunteer Fire Department

1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Orange Beach City Hall

3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Bonner plans town hall meetings

Greg Albritton won today’s GOP primary to face Democrat Marc Keahey for the Senate District 22 seat, according to unofficial returns.

The seat became vacant upon the death of state Sen. Pat Lindsey, D-Butler, in January.

Returns showed Albritton, a former state representative from Range, outdistancing rivals Judy Belk and Danny Joyner in all but one of the eight counties in the L-shaped district. The Alabama Republican Party reported Albritton had won approximately 57 percent of the vote in the district.

Greg Albritton takes GOP primary for Pat Lindsey’s seat

Here’s your opportunity to get your very own Alabama Senate Roll Call Ringtone.

Yep. It’s yours. It’s free for the downloading for the state political junkies among us.

It’s from a roll call vote at the end of the 2008 session, so you nostalgia fans get to hear “Mr. McClain!” if you listen long enough.

Click through to listen and download.

Your Very Own Alabama Senate Roll Call Ringtone

The state Senate on Thursday approved legislation that could extend insurance discounts to homeowners who fortify their homes.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, would allow those who own homes that meet international building codes to claim a credit on their insurance premiums.

Insurers would be required to submit a schedule of rates and plans for the credit

State Senate approves coastal insurance bill

Baldwin County lawmakers pledged that other Republicans would join them to block road-building bills in the state Legislature until money is provided to ease insurance problems in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

“Before money is spent on other projects, we’re going to get some help,” state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, told a group of more than 200 people gathered Monday night at the Baldwin County Coliseum.

The senator said he wants $40 million to $50 million to fund a proposed captive insurer, or for some other kind of mechanism to lower insurance premiums in coastal areas

Lawmakers tell Baldwin group they’ll block road bills to force action on insurance rates

Two coastal insurance bills passed out of a state Senate committee Wednesday, and two key insurers said that they won’t block their way.

The bills, sponsored by state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, would allow the Department of Insurance to:

Establish a series of premium discounts for homeowners who build or upgrade homes to be more storm-proof

Coastal insurance bills advance in Alabama Legislature

One took out a reverse mortgage to meet his premiums. Another explained how people were being forced out of their Habitat for Humanity homes by high insurance rates.

One by one, homeowners from Mobile and Baldwin counties told their stories Wednesday to a joint hearing of the state House and Senate Banking and Insurance committees, and urged members to address insurance woes plaguing coastal Alabama.

“I have to pay my insurance out of my home equity, which as you know is declining,” said Stan Virden of Gulf Shores. “I’m getting to the point where I’m almost upside-down.”

Coastal county residents press Legislature for insurance help

The government watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense compiled a list of earmarks included in the 2009 omnibus spending bill. Use this form to search for earmarks that will benefit Alabama.

Alabama Earmarks

Coastal insurance bills face a crucial test this week in the state Legislature.

The House and Senate Banking and Insurance committees are scheduled to meet in joint session Wednesday morning to take up legislation aimed at providing relief to homeowners along the coast.

“This could be one of the best opportunities for citizens concerned about this issue to come and let legislators know this is a crisis in Mobile and Baldwin counties,” said state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, one of the leading sponsors of the bills. “And citizens are going to have to take the time to come up here

Coastal insurance bills face crucial test in Legislature

A joint legislative hearing is scheduled to be held Wednesday, March 11, 2009 beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the House Chamber on the 5th floor of the State House in Montgomery.

The hearing will focus on legislative initiatives to address Coastal Insurance problems. Individual citizens may testify before the legislators holding this public hearing, either in support or opposition to the legislation under consideration.

The following bills related to Coastal Insurance have been introduced in the House of Representatives by the Baldwin and Mobile delegations during the 2009 Regular Session.

Insurance issues?

Cartoon pig in chef hat and apronOur own Richard Shelby (R) is second on the list of the Senate’s top earmarkers, behind only Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia. According to a report from Taxpayers at Common Sense (via Politico.com), Shelby brought home over $114 million of federal money to Alabama. Byrd brought almost $123 million to West Virginia.

Sen. Shelby 2nd on Earmarkers’ List

Something else to remember on election day. I should start a list.

Baldwin County commissioners will try to break another 2-2 impasse on an issue this week, but the idea of changing their membership to an odd number is dead for now, a legislator said.

State Rep. Harry Shiver, R-Bay Minette, said that after hearing complaints from the public about several tie votes on the four-member commission, he had wanted to introduce local legislation to change the membership to five. Another commissioner would also represent fast-growing Baldwin better, he said.

But when the Baldwin delegation was deciding what local bills to support in this session, state Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, and state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, expressed opposition to changing the makeup of the board, Shiver said

Representative says commission change bill ‘dead’

Insurers would be forbidden from canceling homeowners’ policies without cause under a bill filed Thursday by state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose.

The legislation, first introduced last year, would prevent insurance carriers from canceling policies for homeowners who had not filed a claim in the preceding five years unless they had a “justifiable cause.”

The bill lists justifiable causes as failure to pay premiums, fraudulent methods of obtaining the policy, filing of a false claim, failure to maintain the property and “grounds as provided by the Commissioner of the Department of Insurance

Pittman’s bill would limit cancellation of homeowners’ policies

How can you be against BHO’s stimulus package and government interference in the markets but support this government interference in the insurance industry?