Category: Blog

The State of Working Alabama 2021: What policy barriers should Alabama remove on this Labor Day?

By Carol Gundlach

State of Working Alabama logo

It’s Labor Day weekend. The days are ever so slightly cooler. Football season has started. And Alabama’s economy is officially “open for business.” So why are so many jobs still going unfilled in our state? Why are employers looking for workers and not finding them?

A look at some very interesting data can provide a few answers.

Unemployment vs labor force

Alabama’s unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the nation, a very impressive 3.2% in July.  But another number doesn’t get as much attention as the unemployment rate: the labor force participation rate. Labor force participation is the number of people who are either working or looking for work divided by the total number of working-age, non-institutionalized people in the state.

Alabama’s labor force participation rate is one of the nation’s lowest. That means many people here are neither working nor looking for work. And that low number may tell us about why a lot of available jobs are not being filled.

In 2008, Alabama’s labor force participation rate was 60.6%. That means 60.6% of potential workers were either employed or looking for employment. By July 2021, our labor force participation rate had declined to 48th nationally at 56.7%. Alabama is also 44th nationally in the share of our adult population who are employed ‒ only slightly under 55%.

Barriers to work

We all know how hard-working the people of Alabama are. We pride ourselves on our work ethic, independence and resilience. But many Alabamians face significant barriers to employment that the pandemic has exacerbated. And those structural barriers have left many jobs unfilled while potential employees are unable to work.

One important explanation revolves around child care. In the recent study, “Where Are They Now? Workers with Young Children during COVID-19,” M. Melinda Pitts of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that the workforce exits of women with children under age 13 accounted for much of the decline in employment. And she attributed much of this decline to the unavailability of quality child care during the pandemic and continued unwillingness to use child care services with the virus still raging. Even with schools and child care centers reopening, Pitts concluded, the continued risk of COVID-19, low vaccination rates and uncertainty about school closures would continue to depress employment rates among women with young children.

Pandemic’s effects

Every couple of weeks during the pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau has conducted a survey in every state called the Household Pulse Survey. This survey asks a sample of people about how the pandemic has affected their lives, from food security to employment and income. The most recent results from Alabama, for the weeks of Aug. 4-16, provide meaningful insight into why Alabamians may not be taking advantage of the supposedly booming job market. (Arise calculated the following percentages based on survey results.)

Alabama findings

  • Despite the low unemployment rate, many Alabamians, especially women, are not yet employed. Among Alabama women who responded to the survey, 47% were not employed in the seven days preceding the survey, compared to slightly more than 37% of men who were not working.
  • When asked why they were not working, nearly 12% of Alabamians who are not retired and do not have a disability said they were caring for children not in school or day care. Another 5% said they were caring for an older adult.
  • About 5% of Alabama respondents who are not retired and don’t have a disability said they weren’t working because they were afraid of getting COVID-19.
  • More than 11% of Alabamians who are not retired and don’t have a disability said they had lost their job because of the pandemic.
  • About 4% of Alabama respondents who are not retired and don’t have a disability said they weren’t working because they didn’t have transportation to work.
  • The Household Pulse Survey doesn’t break out non-employment rates for men and women by race. But it does show non-employment rates are higher in general for Black people (nearly 49%) and Hispanic/Latinx people (46%) than for white people (40%). Whether because of COVID-19’s impacts or employment barriers or both, people of color are disproportionately affected. This is consistent with research by the Economic Policy Institute which found that Black Alabamians had a 2021 unemployment rate 40% higher than did White Alabamians.

Alabama businesses are desperately looking for workers, and Alabamians want to return to work. But for this to happen, our leadership needs to support workers instead of blaming essential income supports or the workers themselves for vacant jobs. What should elected officials do?

Recommendations:

Wages

Many of the jobs that remain unfilled are in the service sector. These are the public-facing jobs filled by people we hailed as “essential workers” last year. People essential to our recovery from the pandemic and its recession need a living wage. They also need employment supports like health insurance, paid time off and protections from potential coronavirus infection so they can return to work and still take care of their children and families.

Child care

Congress has appropriated significant funds to support child care centers and the parents who need them. And the Department of Human Resources has done a good job of targeting money where it most needs to go. But the number of respondents listing child care or senior care as the reason they are not able to work indicates even more needs to be done. Alabama should redouble its efforts to ensure safe, affordable child care and senior care are available when people need to work, including evenings and weekends.

Public transportation

Alabama lacks public transportation in all but our biggest cities. Even there, transit is limited and often doesn’t get people to the jobs available to them. If Congress approves new infrastructure funds, Alabama should invest heavily in public transportation in both urban and rural counties. These investments would help residents get to work, school, the doctor’s office and other essential locations.

Unemployment insurance benefits

More than 11% of Alabama Household Pulse respondents say they have lost jobs due to the pandemic. That may result from their employer laying them off, going out of business or closing temporarily. People unemployed because of the pandemic continue to need unemployment income (UI) benefits. Alabama’s unemployment compensation system unfortunately has failed to respond adequately either during the recession’s height or our slow recovery. The decision to reduce UI benefits in an effort to force workers back into jobs has only increased suffering without filling the vacant jobs. Alabama needs to invest in a robust unemployment compensation infrastructure. The state also needs to bolster benefits for laid-off workers still suffering the pandemic’s effects.

Health care

Nearly 9% of all the people who responded to the Household Pulse Survey in early August said they were not working because of disability or health problems. Adequate, accessible and affordable health care services can help people address health problems that make work difficult or impossible. Alabama must expand Medicaid to provide these health services if we want to jump-start our economy fully.

Public transparency

The Alabama Department of Labor should return to its former practice of releasing unemployment data via news releases. Months after cutting off the $300 federal supplement, UI claims remain at 297% of pre-pandemic claim numbers. This data shows that, contrary to the false narrative pushed by some officials, pandemic unemployment has never been a result of the increased benefits available through federal assistance. The state should return to publicly acknowledging the data that lays out recent policy mistakes and the number of Alabamians harmed by anti-worker decisions.

COVID-19 concerns

Finally, 5% of Household Pulse respondents who are not retired and do not have a disability said they had not reentered the workforce because of very realistic fears of COVID-19. Alabama and the nation need to ensure our investments in public health interventions and COVID-19 mitigation are science-based and effective. That includes efforts to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation in Alabama.

Special session(s) ahead in Alabama? How Arise is preparing

By Chris Sanders

Alabama Arise’s work for equity, justice and opportunity persisted after the Legislature’s regular session ended. We’ll renew our commitment to those principles when Arise members choose 2022 issue priorities after the Sept. 25 annual meeting. And we’ll keep up the drumbeat when lawmakers return later this year for one or more expected special sessions.

Alabama’s overcrowded and antiquated corrections system – a decades-long humanitarian crisis – may prompt a special session this fall. Gov. Kay Ivey and many legislators hope to build and renovate multiple prisons. Alabama may seek federal permission to use COVID-19 relief money for those purposes.

Arise believes meaningful sentencing reforms should accompany any plan for new prisons. Repeal of the outdated Habitual Felony Offender Act would be one long-term step to reduce overcrowding. Parole reform and stronger investments in community corrections and reentry supports would help as well. Arise will advocate for these policy changes and others during any prison-related special session.

Redistricting is another likely focus of a special session. Legislators will use new Census data to draw new districts for the Legislature, state school board and U.S. House. Arise urges members to participate in public hearings that the Joint Reapportionment Committee will hold across Alabama this month. Click here for more information and a full hearing schedule.

Arise will continue advocacy on federal funds, too. We’ll support efforts to make recent Child Tax Credit improvements permanent. We’ll urge legislators to use federal relief money for Medicaid expansion, public transportation and other long-term investments. And we’ll seek to build on an August federal rule change that permanently boosted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Redistricting in Alabama: How you can speak out

By Alabama Arise

Alabama legislators likely will return to Montgomery for a special session on redistricting later this year. Before then, the Joint Reapportionment Committee will hold a series of public hearings across the state beginning Sept. 1. These events are an opportunity for Alabamians to share their thoughts and concerns about the redistricting process.

Alabama Arise urges members to participate in the Legislature’s public hearings on redistricting. In-person and remote attendance options are available. Check out this hearing schedule from the Alabama News Network to find an event in your area. (Note: The link opens as a PDF.)

Every decade, Alabama lawmakers draw new districts for the Legislature, state school board and U.S. House. This redistricting, based on the latest Census data, is designed to adjust for population changes in the previous 10 years.

For more information on the public hearings, contact the Joint Reapportionment Committee at 334-261-0706 or district@alsenate.gov. And for more information and resources on redistricting, check out this overview from the Alabama Election Protection Network.

Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) in Alabama: What you need to know

By Carol Gundlach

P-EBT: Food assistance for Alabama's families. No application necessary. P-EBT cards will be mailed to eligible students. Simply activate the card and use it to purchase food. Hang on to the P-EBT card! More benefits may be deposited on the same card. Immigration status does not matter for P-EBT. Call the P-EBT hotline for more information: 1-800-410-5827, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The COVID-19 pandemic, its recession and increased food costs have created a second, quieter epidemic: hunger. This hunger epidemic has hit schoolchildren the hardest as school closures cost them not only classroom time, but also the school breakfasts and lunches upon which they relied. During the pandemic’s early stage, 13% of Alabama families with children told the Census Bureau that they either sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat. Hunger rates were more than two times higher for Black and Hispanic families in our state.

Alabama schools and communities responded heroically to this crisis, preparing and distributing “grab-and-go” school meals across the state. The state and federal governments also did their part by creating a new food assistance program called Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT). Thanks to P-EBT and other federal programs like the expanded Child Tax Credit, the share of Alabama families with children who sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat declined to 9% by the end of July 2021.

What is P-EBT?

P-EBT replaces missed school meals with cash assistance that families can spend on groceries. P-EBT is delivered to schoolchildren on a debit-like card. For children too young for school whose parents receive food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), P-EBT appears on their parents’ EBT card.

No one has to apply for P-EBT. Instead, it is automatically sent to most children who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals during the 2020-21 school year. Immigrant children who are undocumented are also eligible for P-EBT. P-EBT doesn’t affect immigration status for either the parents or the children.

P-EBT has complicated eligibility rules. Congress revised P-EBT through a legislative process called reconciliation, which made the program more complex for many participants. Alabama has worked to make P-EBT as simple as possible, but the program remains confusing for many eligible families. Alabama offers a toll-free hotline for P-EBT questions at 800-410-5827. The hotline is available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Who is eligible for P-EBT?

How schools provide school meals affects P-EBT eligibility. To qualify for P-EBT, a school-age child must attend a school participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The child also must have been eligible for free NSLP meals during the 2020-21 school year. Some schools provide universal free NSLP lunch and breakfast under a special option called community eligibility. Every child who attended those schools is eligible for P-EBT, no matter what their family income is. But other Alabama schools pay for free school meals with a summer feeding option that differs from community eligibility. Unlike community eligibility, this option does not automatically qualify children for P-EBT. (A list of Alabama schools that have adopted community eligibility is available here.)

Children who attend a school that provides free meals through an option other than community eligibility must get approved for free or reduced-price meals in an additional way to be eligible for P-EBT. This approval most often results from an approved school meal application or family participation in SNAP. This can be very confusing for parents, who rarely know which federal funding stream pays for their children’s school meals. Many parents didn’t apply for free meals because their children were already receiving them or were going to school remotely.

The 2020-21 school schedule also affects eligibility. Children approved for free or reduced-price meals under NSLP can receive P-EBT if they attended school remotely or partially remotely during the 2020-21 school year. To receive P-EBT for specific months, a child must have (1) attended a school that the state Department of Education listed as hybrid or virtual during those months or (2) attended remotely at parental request. Children who attended a school that was fully open and offering school meals are not eligible for P-EBT.

Can children who are too young to attend school qualify for P-EBT?

Young children in SNAP households also can qualify for P-EBT. Many children under age 6 who didn’t attend a public school still can receive P-EBT. They qualify if they live in a household that received SNAP assistance in any month between October 2020 and May 2021 and if a school in the child’s county was virtual or hybrid.

Young children’s benefits are calculated in the same manner as those for schoolchildren. These benefits are based on whether any school in their county was virtual or hybrid. Benefits for children under age 6 who receive SNAP and are not in school are retroactive only to October 2020. Congress passed legislation extending P-EBT to these children in October.

How much will P-EBT participants receive?

The amount of P-EBT assistance depends on the school’s 2020-21 schedule. The P-EBT amount is based on how the Department of Education defined the 2020-21 “learning plan” for the child’s school. Children whose school is defined as virtual receive $6.82 per day in benefits for 18 days per month or $122.76 for each academic month they’re listed as virtual. Children whose school is identified as hybrid receive $6.82 per day for nine days per month or $61.38 per month for each month their school is listed as hybrid.

The state updated schools’ status as “virtual,” “hybrid” or “fully in person” every two months. That means some children may receive different amounts for different months of the school year. Benefits are retroactive to August 2020.

How can Alabamians get P-EBT allotments for the school year and summer?

There are three rounds of P-EBT benefits. School-year P-EBT benefits went out in two rounds, each for approximately half of the 2020-21 school year. The first round of P-EBT benefits for schoolchildren went out in June, and the second round went out in August. Children under age 6 who receive SNAP and are not enrolled in school will receive their allotments later than schoolchildren. Officials will check their names against those of children in school (including pre-K) to ensure no one receives benefits twice.

Participants eligible for summer P-EBT benefits should receive them sometime in fall 2021. Schoolchildren are eligible for summer P-EBT if they were eligible for free or reduced-price NSLP meals, including through community eligibility, in May 2021. Aug. 31 is the deadline for parents to apply at their local school for 2020-21 free or reduced-price meals so their children qualify for summer P-EBT. Children who are under age 6 and not enrolled in school will be eligible for summer P-EBT if their families received SNAP assistance any time after October 2020. Eligible children will receive $375 each in summer P-EBT benefits.

What is the future of P-EBT?

Advocates are working hard to extend P-EBT into the future. Congress authorized P-EBT only for the 2020-21 school year and summer. However, Alabama Arise and other advocates are working hard to convince lawmakers to extend P-EBT into the future. Stay involved by signing up for updates and action alerts on these efforts from Alabama Arise and Hunger Free Alabama.

To help ensure children remain eligible for P-EBT if Congress extends it, many parents should apply for free or reduced-price school meals even if their school already provides free meals. Applications for free meals aren’t necessary for children attending schools already participating in the Community Eligibility Program.

Community eligibility offers an enduring path to food security for Alabama schoolchildren

By Celida Soto Garcia

Image of smiling children sharing a meal. Text: Community eligibility can help build a better normal in Alabama. All children deserve to receive the nutrition they need to survive and thrive. Now is the time to contact your local school superintendents and urge them to opt into the Community Eligibility Provision to secure a dependable source of food and nutrition for Alabama’s children.

At least one in four children experience hunger in Alabama ‒ a terrible reality even before the onslaught of COVID-19. Many gaps already existed in policies surrounding fair access to food and nutrition in our state. And the pandemic abruptly reminded policymakers of the importance of maintaining fortified safety net systems.

State agencies swiftly stepped up to ensure Alabama was on the forefront of implementing support systems. One particularly important program has been Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), which offers extra money for food during months when children are out of in-person school.

Information gathered from street-level story collection revealed that caregivers were grappling with drastic changes to their work environments, as well as new learning environments for their children. In many instances, “going to work” and “attending school” happened in the same place ‒ the family’s kitchen or living room.

Meanwhile, school districts were left to decipher complex and rapidly changing federal guidelines for serving school meals. Alabama’s schools found innovative ways to reach their students with nutritious meals, but not without overcoming many challenges.

Schools with community eligibility had a head start on pandemic response

Some school districts faced more challenges than others in serving school meals during the pandemic. Schools that opted into the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) before the pandemic were best prepared to provide meals quickly because time-consuming eligibility considerations were not a factor. Child nutrition staff could focus instead on feeding families.

CEP is a federal option available to schools and districts where at least 40% of students meet the family income requirement for free and reduced-price meals. Eligible schools can use this option to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all of their students.

Schoolwide eligibility means no burdensome application requirements for struggling families, less time-consuming data and fee collection for school administrators, and no embarrassing lunch-line interactions for students with low balances. It’s a win-win for all.

Additional flexibility to keep children fed

This reality was clear to federal agencies tasked with determining food and nutrition policies during the pandemic. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) handed down a series of school meal waivers to ensure schools could serve meals outside of the usual cafeteria setting. The first, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), is a federally funded, state-administered program that reimburses community providers who serve free healthy meals to children and teens in low-income areas during the summer months when school is not in session.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) also recognized that schools needed “additional support and flexibility to continue serving meals to children while maintaining appropriate safety measures and managing the impacts of COVID-19.” In response, FNS issued a waiver allowing states to receive funding to operate a seasonal feeding program called Seamless Summer Option (SSO) beyond the summer months through the entire 2021-22 school year.

These programs play an important role in offering much-needed financial support to schools and communities. During a time when much is uncertain, one truth is indisputable: Programs that facilitate universal school meals at no cost ease fears and concerns for both school districts and families.

Community eligibility can help build a better normal in Alabama

A new wave of COVID-19 and a new school year bring a new round of uncertainty. But even as community activities resume, Alabamians with low incomes will experience the strongest aftershocks of pandemic-era disruptions. For this population, “things going back to normal” means scarce resources and disjointed avenues to accessing even the most basic resources, like food.

The pandemic taught us many lessons. Most notably, we learned that reliable sources of food and nutrition are vital to extending a sense of support and stability to communities. SFSP and SSO strengthened the safety net during uncertain times, but these programs are temporary. CEP offers a more stable, reliable, enduring system for serving school meals to all children, at no cost to families.

All children deserve to receive the nutrition they need to survive and thrive. Now is the time to contact your local school superintendents and urge them to opt into the Community Eligibility Provision to secure a dependable source of food and nutrition for Alabama’s children.

Good news for Alabama families: The expanded Child Tax Credit is here!

By Robyn Hyden

Monthly payments from the newly enhanced federal Child Tax Credit begin today, marking a historic breakthrough in fighting child poverty. The payments are part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which will help reduce child poverty in the United States by more than 40%.

Child Tax Credit payments are coming to help! $300 per month for kids under 6. $250 per month for kids 6-17.

How does the expanded credit work?

ARPA boosted the maximum Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child. It also increased the maximum for children under age 6 to $3,600 per child. And ARPA made the credit fully refundable. This means families will receive the full value of the tax credit even if they have little or no income.

About 94% of Alabama’s children ‒ more than 1 million kids across the state ‒ will benefit from improvements to the credit. By default, most households will receive half of the money in the form of monthly payments from July through December. Those payments will be up to $250 per child, or up to $300 per child under age 6.

Families will receive the other half of the money in a lump sum after filing 2021 income taxes next year. If households choose to opt out of monthly payments, they can receive a single lump-sum payment after filing 2021 taxes.

The expanded credit is a great start to boost economic security for Alabama families, but the improvements are only temporary. The expansion is due to expire next year unless Congress agrees to renew it. That’s why lawmakers urgently need to expand the credit permanently in the next federal COVID-19 relief plan.

What do you need to do to sign up for the expanded credit?

  • Most families are already signed up for Child Tax Credit payments. If you’ve filed tax returns for 2019 or 2020, or if you signed up with the Non-Filer tool last year to receive a stimulus check from the Internal Revenue Service, you will get the monthly Child Tax Credit payments automatically. You do not need to sign up or take any further action.
  • If you aren’t already signed up, you still can do so by clicking here. Even better, if you haven’t yet received any stimulus payments for which you are eligible, you can get those by signing up as well. Note: These payments do not count as income. Signing up won’t affect your eligibility for other federal benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or WIC.
  • To opt out of monthly payments and get your refund as a lump sum after filing 2021 taxes, click here.

Who is eligible for the expanded credit?

ARPA increased the maximum Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for most kids. The maximum credit increased from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under age 6. The credit also now covers 17-year-olds.

All families will get the full credit if they make up to $150,000 a year for a couple or $112,500 a year for a family with a single head of household. Couples who make up to $440,000 a year or heads of household who make up to $240,000 are eligible for partial credits.

How can you help spread the word?

Make sure your family, friends and neighbors know about the expanded Child Tax Credit! You can send them this helpful two-minute video, courtesy of the Economic Security Project and the Groundwork Collaborative.

You also can share this flyer, courtesy of the Coalition on Human Needs, with people who may not have filed a federal income tax return recently because they did not make enough to owe income taxes.

Voting rights reforms face uphill climb, anti-democratic political sentiments

By Dev Wakeley

All Alabamians should be able to exercise the right to vote without facing suppression, administrative hurdles, or manipulation by elected officials. But the infrastructure of democracy in Alabama falls short of that standard. Efforts to protect and expand voting rights for Alabamians in the past session took place amid a national atmosphere of outlandish conspiracy theories and outright lies about election security. Some states have used these lies to pass bills restricting voting rights.

For example, Georgia passed a broad voter suppression bill this year that shortens time frames for absentee ballot applications, allows state-level election officials to remove local officials, and criminalizes giving food or water to voters while they wait in line.

And like voters in neighboring states, Alabamians faced varied voter suppression attempts. For example, bills to restrict voter assistance in filling out ballots (HB 575, by Rep. Mike Holmes), prevent response by elected officials to emergency election concerns (HB 399, Rep. Wes Allen), and forbid payment to voter outreach organizations based on the number of voters who vote (HB 70, Rep. Jamie Kiel) were all introduced this session.

Alternative methods of voting attacked

Additionally, the Legislature delayed and killed multiple bills that would have increased access to voting for eligible Alabamians. Rep. Laura Hall’s HB 396 would have allowed voters to cast absentee ballots without providing an excuse from a list of state-approved reasons for absentee voting.

Early in the session, Hall had bipartisan support for this bill. Secretary of State John Merrill sent a staffer to the public hearing on HB 396 in the House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections (CC&E) Committee meeting to speak in favor of the bill. But partisan opposition arose in the committee during that hearing and soon after on talk radio. By the next week, Merrill had abandoned the bill and distanced himself from his longstanding if quiet support of no-cause absentee voting.

The right to vote received this same unabashed political consideration in other bills as well. Rep. Wes Allen introduced a bill to prohibit mail-in voting and prevent the secretary of state from responding to disasters by issuing emergency election rules. If that bill had been in effect during the 2020 election, Alabamians could not have voted an absentee ballot to avoid a crowded gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But HB 399 wasn’t the only bill to pander to the false claim that the 2020 election was somehow insecure or flawed. Other bills also sought to restrict executive branch officials from responding to emergencies that affect elections, and those bills also failed to become law. Rep. Arnold Mooney’s HB 638 would have prevented local officials from extending voting hours in response to emergencies.

Both sides saw voting rights issues essentially reach a stalemate

While Arise advocates and our partners stopped many of the worst bills, positive reforms faced severe opposition across the board. Bills to allow early voting, same-day voter registration, and automatic voter registration through DMV record updates didn’t advance at all. In fact, most reform bills were never even placed on the calendar in the House CC&E Committee.

One reform bill did make significant headway, though. SB 118, by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, would have streamlined the process for people returning from prison to regain their right to vote. This bill also would have removed the requirement to pay fines and fees to regain the right to vote. That requirement is effectively a poll tax and prevents many Alabamians from full participation in civic life.

But in order to advance the bill through the Senate, the anti-poll tax provision was stripped out after it became clear that the bill would not pass without removing it. And even after the Senate passed SB 118, the House CC&E Committee failed to advance it further.

Through nearly the entire session, the voting rights issue remained fairly stalemated. Voting rights advocates found their bills slowed and killed by legislators hostile to expanding voter access, and voting rights opponents found their bills stalled because of ardent public opposition to new restrictions.

Legislature forces through anti-democratic, racist bill at end of session

Unfortunately, on the last night of the session, SB 235 / HB 285, sponsored by Sen. Dan Roberts and Rep. Wes Allen, respectively, passed the Senate, the final step it needed for legislative passage. This bill prohibits curbside voting, even though no jurisdictions offered curbside voting in the 2020 election cycle.

This bill directly furthers the false conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election. The 2020 Alabama general election saw no accusations of systemic problems for voters, no accusations of election fraud, and no curbside voting available for the public. And during the initial Senate debate on SB 235, even senators who ended up voting for it admitted it was unnecessary because curbside voting was unavailable, because the recent election was secure, and because the Secretary of State’s office prohibited the practice by rule already.

Further, SB 235’s passage will almost inevitably get the state sued, and the state should lose the lawsuit. In passing this bill, the Legislature has inscribed in the state code that Alabama refuses to grant accommodations to voters with disabilities, older voters, and pregnant voters.

While polling places are required to be accessible to voters with disabilities, too many Alabama polling places fail to meet that legal obligation. Allowing election officials to meet those voters at the curb is a way to meet the needs of voters who can’t access their designated polling place on election day. Sen. Bobby Singleton introduced SB 377 to remedy this looming legal problem, but this bill was voted down in committee 1-8 along straight party lines.

SB 235 faced a filibuster when it was placed on the calendar on the session’s last day. In the state’s long tradition of hostility to voting rights for all Alabamians, SB 235 fits the pattern of wealthy, influential areas oppressing voters with less power. SB 235’s purpose is to prevent local jurisdictions populated and run by Black Alabamians from making voting more accessible to their citizens. After Black senators opposing the bill repeatedly pointed out this bill is born from hostility to voting rights and furthers inequity, the Senate voted 25-6, again on a straight party line, to silence debate on the bill and force a vote.

The feds aren’t coming to save the state from itself, so where do we go from here?

At the federal level, the House passed HR 1, the For the People Act, an omnibus voting rights bill that contains many of the provisions Arise has supported at the state level. Among them, HR 1 would force states to implement automatic voter registration, no-cause absentee voting, and early voting for federal elections.

This bill would also return Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required some states, including Alabama, to submit proposed changes to election procedures to the U.S. attorney general. Section 5’s preclearance provision was held unconstitutional in Shelby County v. Holder, and since that ruling, the Alabama Legislature has faced dozens of attempts to make voting more cumbersome, inconvenient, and difficult.

HR 1 has passed the House, but it faces stiff opposition in the Senate. The archaic, elitist rules of the U.S. Senate – combined with some Republican senators’ desire to fend off conservative challengers in next year’s primary and some conservative Democrats’ refusal to change filibuster rules – mean the For the People Act is unlikely to pass that chamber.

But federal dysfunction on top of political manipulation at the state level doesn’t mean progress is impossible. Alabama’s status outside the group of battleground states means that the policy arguments Arise has been making in favor of increasing democratic participation may be evaluated less on a political basis than how they improve access to democracy for all people. Automatic voter registration will still save the state money. No-cause absentee voting will still distribute the administrative workload for election officials more broadly, enabling efficiency increases.

Policies created to maintain Alabama’s longstanding racist social and economic structure can be overcome with sufficient public pressure. And in fact, that public pressure is what killed most of the bad bills facing the people of Alabama this year. The Legislature did not prevent the governor from responding to emergencies. Local election officials did not have their ability to extend hours curtailed when facing disasters.

These significant defensive victories happened because legislators heard from Alabamians who do not believe the right to vote should be a political football. The next major undertaking will be moving from defensive victories to bold steps forward that free Alabamians from the chains of the state government’s past hostility to equitable voting rights. The racially divided, partisan and nakedly political passage of SB 235/HB 285 shows we have a steep hill to climb. But transformational victories will come as advocates build power and push legislators toward a just Alabama that welcomes full democratic participation.

Incremental isn’t enough: Alabama’s continued need for criminal justice reform

By Dev Wakeley

Alabamians deserve a criminal justice system that treats people fairly when they are accused of crimes, rehabilitates people as quickly as possible and releases people once they’re ready to rejoin the community. But Alabama’s criminal justice system doesn’t meet those standards, and the state’s prisons are dangerous warehouses, not rehabilitation centers. Three inmates were murdered in a single five-day span just last month.

These murders occurred after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the state in December 2020, citing rampant inmate-on-inmate violence, guard-on-inmate violence and sexual assaults. More than two dozen people incarcerated in Alabama prisons have been murdered since the DOJ informed the state that prison conditions are unconstitutional. The Justice Department filed the ongoing lawsuit only after the state failed to take steps to fix the shortcomings outlined in the DOJ’s April 2019 report on the prison system’s failures.

Alabama’s prisons have been severely understaffed and operating well above their designed capacity for years. And too many state officials either have ignored the issues or actively made these problems worse. During former director Charlie Graddick’s tenure, the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles contributed to the overcrowding problem by sharply reducing the number of prisoners released under supervision.

Bureau of Pardons and Paroles problems are part of broader failure

Graddick’s replacement is former state Sen. Cam Ward, who took charge in December 2020. Ward sponsored a criminal justice reform package that passed in 2015 and worked toward other reforms while in the Legislature. Ward also served on Gov. Kay Ivey’s criminal justice study group two years ago.

This group made several concrete recommendations to improve conditions for people in Alabama prisons. Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, a member of Ivey’s study group and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sponsored several bills this year to implement some modest reforms endorsed by the study group. But none of Hill’s proposals became law. The legislation that Hill introduced included:

  • HB 24 to allow resentencing for some people sentenced under the Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA).
  • HB 71 to strengthen alternative court programs.
  • HB 72 to ensure people don’t leave prison without reentry assistance through supervision.
  • HB 73 to create community corrections programs in each judicial circuit.
  • HB 110 to allow some inmates to serve sentences in county jail instead of prison.
  • HB 520 to provide time credits for prisoners who complete education and training programs.

Defensive victory, significant incremental improvements build momentum

Several positive criminal justice bills did make it through the Legislature, and one particularly damaging proposal was stopped. HB 445, by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, would have chilled free speech by expanding law enforcement’s powers to arrest people at protests like those after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer last year. The bill passed the House, but it stalled in the Senate.

This bill’s death was notable because several Black legislators were clear about its parallels to segregationist punishments of protest during the 1960s. That comparison helped drive home the point that HB 445 would have been a major policy mistake.

Among the positive reforms that passed was SB 117 by Coleman-Madison, which greatly expanded the availability of expungements. (The bill also increased the application fee by $200, however.) HB 106 by England will ensure the Alabama Department of Corrections transmits relevant data on operations to the Legislature. This measure will help erase the institutional secrecy that has contributed to current atrocious prison conditions.

In another significant victory for reform, the Legislature overwhelmingly passed SB 210 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. The bill restricts the use of civil asset forfeiture, an often abused practice that allows law enforcement to seize property without a criminal conviction. These forfeitures most heavily burden people who cannot afford to fight back against the seizures in court.

As originally introduced, SB 210 would have banned nearly all forfeitures without criminal convictions. But lawmakers significantly weakened the bill in the legislative process. Even so, SB 210 places some important limits on a subjective, racially biased practice that historically has had little oversight. The final, narrower version reins in abuses by exempting some property from forfeiture and strengthening protections for innocent owners.

Systemic change faced fierce opposition

Other broader attempts to remedy criminal justice issues died amid stiff, and sometimes loud, resistance from some legislators. Opposition by district attorneys blocked a proposal by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, to repeal the archaic, Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA), Alabama’s “three strikes” law. England’s effort to create a commission to study and evaluate fines and fees — HB 499 — likewise encountered delays until passage became impossible.

HB 129 by Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, would have eliminated the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and fees. This bill, too, ran into repeated delays in the House. HB 544 by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, which would have abolished the death penalty, also failed to move.

SB 118 by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, would have eliminated the requirement for people to repay fines and fees ‒ effectively a poll tax ‒ to regain their right to vote after release from prison. SB 118 passed the Senate but failed in the House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee.

Small steps aren’t enough

The Legislature took several significant steps forward on criminal justice reform this session. But those steps still leave Alabama a great distance behind modern justice practices in many areas. The influential law enforcement lobby, especially in the House, acted as a roadblock to broader reforms to put the state on a path to a more just, sustainable and humane corrections system.

This refusal to act decisively and fix previous policy mistakes could come at a steep cost amid the DOJ lawsuit. Some of Ivey’s study group’s recommendations would alleviate overcrowding in prisons directly. Others would divert people away from imprisonment in the first place and into programs that would prevent them from ever setting foot in a prison.

As England noted two years ago when a bill to lessen sentences for marijuana convictions was killed, the state will have little room to argue it has attempted to alleviate overcrowding when the Legislature has dragged its feet on all major sentencing reforms in the past two sessions while the state is being sued over unconstitutional prison conditions.

Lawmakers know state prisons are dangerous and overcrowded. Their failure to fix these problems almost certainly will lead to more lives lost through more violence. The Legislature’s inaction also will lead to more lawsuits from people who are harmed by these policy failures. And depending on the DOJ lawsuit’s outcome, it could contribute to a complete federal takeover of state prisons.

A path forward for Alabama on criminal justice reform

The Legislature is likely to return for a special session later this year to deal with the issue of prison financing. Because the governor’s original $3 billion lease financing plan for new prisons failed, Alabama will need to find a new way of financing the cost for multiple new prisons if that remains the chosen infrastructure strategy.

But construction alone isn’t a cure for the problems of Alabama’s criminal justice system. To move the state forward toward lasting solutions, Ivey should include major reforms in her call for the special session. Those measures should include:

  • Full repeal of the HFOA and resentencing of all people sentenced under its draconian provisions.
  • Sentencing reductions for drug crimes and other nonviolent offenses.
  • Major expansion of alternatives to prison.
  • Significant efforts to reduce the economic damage that incarceration causes people. This should include greater investments in job training and community corrections, an end to driver’s license suspensions for reasons unrelated to traffic safety, and an end to policies that make voting rights restoration contingent on the payment of fines and fees.

Each murder, rape and assault in state prisons is partly attributable to the Legislature’s refusal to do its job. Further failure to act will only increase the human suffering and the eventual financial cost of enacting meaningful policy solutions.

Lawmakers have refused to address the dire conditions in Alabama’s prisons over the past two regular sessions. They must implement the improvements that have been in the works for years at the next available opportunity. Otherwise, they may lose the ability to make those choices when a federal court decides the state has too much blood on its hands and a stubborn unwillingness to fulfill its obligations on its own.

Federal relief funds could transform Alabama’s future

By Carol Gundlach

How often have we gotten to say that it’s raining money in Alabama? That’s the image that comes to mind as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), passed in March, begins to direct more than $4 billion in new federal funds into the state over the next three years.

The funding could help Alabama make historic progress in public health, education, family well-being and community viability if spent wisely and equitably. It also offers generous incentives that would more than offset the state’s initial cost to expand Medicaid. This new COVID-19 relief comes on top of $1.9 billion Alabama got under the CARES Act last year.

The state government will receive more than $2 billion under ARPA. Counties will get nearly $1 billion. Alabama’s 21 largest cities will receive more than $400 million, and other municipalities will get nearly $400 million as well. Both the state and localities may use funds to offset the pandemic’s strains on families, small businesses, public health and infrastructure like water and sewer systems and high-speed broadband networks.

Portions of ARPA money are earmarked for direct payments to local school districts. Other funds are dedicated to provide rental assistance and make child care more affordable and accessible.

The act also temporarily boosts the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit and temporarily increases food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC. In addition to these supports, ARPA also provides one-time cash payments ($1,400 each for most Americans). And it provides direct assistance for health care, funeral expenses and other essential needs.

Arise will continue to follow these funding streams with the goal of ensuring equitable distribution and transparency. And we will advocate to make the temporary improvements permanent in the next round of federal relief.

The dark road not taken in the 2021 regular session

By Jim Carnes

Predicting actions and outcomes of a legislative session is never an easy bet. When the Alabama Legislature opened its 2021 regular session in February, our crystal ball was even cloudier than usual.

Strong currents of anxiety were sweeping the country amid fear and frustration over COVID-19 and precautionary measures, conflicting beliefs about racial justice and law enforcement, and the aftershocks of a bitter presidential election. In state after state, lawmakers proposed harsh reactions to each of these pressures, and Alabama appeared ready to follow suit.

On the pandemic front, governors and public health officials faced new limits on their emergency authority. Basic freedoms of assembly and speech came under threat by officials seeking to prevent protests like those that followed George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer. Dissatisfaction with election results fueled efforts to narrow access to the electoral process, particularly for communities of color.

Harmful bills targeting all of these goals began surfacing when the Legislature convened. And limited public access to the State House only raised the stakes.

But Alabama bucked the trend. Thanks to strong, persistent advocacy from Arise members and our partners, legislation that would have tied the hands of public health officials, rolled back civil liberties and erected more barriers to voting mostly died. We also made some progress on several important Arise priorities this year.

In the Legislature as in life, mistakes avoided are often a big measure of success. Alabama’s refusal to follow the reactionary path of neighboring states is a victory to celebrate. Thank you to our members for helping make that happen.