Alabama Arise just wrapped up one of the most successful legislative sessions in our history this year. Life will be better for people across the state as a result – and members like you made it all possible.

Arise members’ advocacy and support pushed legislators to enact numerous laws to reduce hunger and promote healthier families. By the time the Legislature’s 2025 regular session ended May 14, our members were celebrating many important, far-reaching victories:

• Alabama will reduce its state grocery tax and end the state sales tax on many items for infants and new parents.
• The state will guarantee paid parental leave for teachers, two-year college workers and state employees.
• A new law will remove barriers to Medicaid coverage for many expectant mothers.
• Alabama will invest more in efforts to improve child nutrition.

Arise got results in a big way in 2025. Now the work continues. Congress is considering deep federal cuts and harsh barriers to food assistance and health coverage. State lawmakers also enacted some harmful bills this year and will seek to advance others in 2026. Through it all, Arise members will keep speaking out for policies to improve life for Alabamians marginalized by poverty.

Major victories for tax justice in Alabama

For the second time in three years, Alabama is reducing its state sales tax on groceries. HB 386 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, will reduce the tax from 3% to 2% starting Sept. 1. It also gives cities and counties more flexibility to reduce local grocery taxes.

The law built on the momentum of a 2023 grocery tax reduction, and it passed the House and Senate unanimously. Energy for this change was high all year: More than 200 people packed the State House in Montgomery to urge lawmakers to untax groceries during Arise’s annual Legislative Day on March 20.

HB 386 will help families keep food on the table and is an important step toward tax justice in Alabama. The grocery tax drives many Alabamians deeper into poverty and contributes heavily to our state tax system’s regressive, upside-down nature. Arise will keep advocating to end the grocery tax in a sustainable way that protects funding for public schools.

Another law to help new and growing families make ends meet is HB 152 by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham. This law will remove the state sales tax on numerous items for infants and parents, including baby formula, diapers, maternity clothing and menstrual hygiene products. The exemptions start Sept. 1 and will expire on Aug. 31, 2028, unless renewed.

New policies for healthier families and children

Arise also advocated successfully for other pro-family, pro-worker legislation. SB 199 by Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, will ensure paid parental leave for public school teachers, two-year college workers and state employees starting July 1. The law will provide eight weeks of paid leave to mothers after childbirth, adoption of a child aged 3 or younger, stillbirth or miscarriage. Fathers will receive two weeks of paid leave in those circumstances.

SB 102 by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, is another step forward for maternal health in Alabama. The law, effective Oct. 1, will expand presumptive eligibility, allowing doctors and other health care providers to determine Medicaid eligibility for expectant mothers who likely qualify. This will permit thousands of women to receive prenatal care earlier in their pregnancy.

Arise advocacy also helped increase Alabama’s child nutrition investments. SB 112 and SB 113 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, allocated $17.3 million to expand school breakfast and continue Summer EBT. Arise members last year successfully pushed for Alabama to participate in Summer EBT starting in 2025. The program will help reduce food insecurity for more than 500,000 children statewide.

One setback this year was enactment of HB 477 by Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook. This law authorizes unregulated health plans that could cap benefits for enrollees and charge higher premiums or deny coverage based on preexisting conditions. Arise sought amendments to help mitigate the law’s worst provisions.

The work continues

Several Arise-backed bills made major progress but fell just one step short of going to the governor. Garrett’s HB 389 would have reduced state income taxes for households with low and middle incomes. Coleman-Madison’s SB 153 would have improved Alabama’s voting rights restoration process. And SB 22 by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, would have allowed the state to remove tax incentives for companies that violate child labor laws.

Arise also helped prevent numerous bad bills from passing. These included proposed new barriers to unemployment insurance benefits, food assistance and Medicaid coverage.

With your support, Arise will keep advocating for essential policy changes in 2026 and beyond. We will keep working to close the health coverage gap and untax groceries forever. And we will continue strengthening our movement for a better, more inclusive Alabama for all.