Issue: Health

Alabama should expand healthy food access. SB 57 isn’t the answer.

By LaTrell Clifford Wood

Alabama should not be in the business of telling people what to eat simply because they have low incomes. But SB 57 proposes to do just that. The bill would limit food choice for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, by forbidding the use of SNAP benefits to purchase candy or soft drinks.

SB 57 would stigmatize Alabamians with low incomes. It would do nothing to remove the structural barriers that limit access to healthy food for many families. And it would cost state agencies millions of dollars.

The bill would require Alabama to apply to the federal government for an exemption (or waiver) from the standard definition for SNAP-eligible foods under federal law. Twenty-two other states have received similar waivers. Now, five consumers are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP, over the waivers it approved for five states. The plaintiffs argue that such waivers could narrow the definition of food without considering factors that can lead to infrastructural blockades to food access beyond the control of individuals. 

Alabama Arise members set our legislative agenda, and they voted overwhelmingly for us to oppose proposals, like SB 57, that limit the purchasing choices of Alabama families. We urge lawmakers to vote “no” on SB 57 and invest instead in no-cost school breakfast, Double Up SNAP Bucks and other policies that actually would advance health and nutrition for people across our state.

Read my testimony against SB 57 before a House committee for more on why Arise opposes this bill.

What this bill would do – and what we could do instead

SB 57 would penalize and patronize Alabamians with low incomes based on a false narrative about the factors that drive public health. It would limit food choice for hundreds of thousands of consumers, with no consideration for their individual circumstances. And it would force our state to pay millions of dollars to do so.

The Legislative Services Agency estimated that SB 57 would saddle taxpayers and state departments with a $10.6 million cost. In return, the state would increase complexity for retailers and leave many families at risk of seeing lower food access in their communities through no fault of their own.

As Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, asked during the House committee debate on the bill: “If we’re having a large amount of money to spend, wouldn’t it make sense that we would be providing an opportunity for eating healthier?” Here are three examples of things Alabama could do instead with that $10.6 million to improve healthy food access:

  • Use the same $10.6 million to help ensure that every Alabama public school student has access to a no-cost school breakfast. Alabama has shown more growth in fourth-grade math than any other state since 2019, according to the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA). We have seen access to no-cost school meals nearly double in the same period.
  • Increase the capacity of the Double Up Bucks program, which incentivizes fresh produce purchases for SNAP participants and supports our local farmers. State budgets for 2027 do not yet include funding for this program.
  • Restore funding for SNAP-Ed, a program that was cut by HR 1. SNAP-Ed provides free learning opportunities for SNAP participants about how to shop for and prepare healthy meals.

How SB 57 could harm the economy and send SNAP costs soaring

Instead of making important investments to improve food access, SB 57 would add red tape for retailers across our state. The bill includes a three-strike rule, which would allow retailers only three accidental acceptances per fiscal year before any “punishment,” as administered by the USDA Office of Retailer Operations and Compliance.

This provision could threaten revenue losses for 5,000 SNAP-authorized retailers across Alabama. It could even jeopardize the ability for many stores to accept SNAP or EBT altogether.

How SB 57 could increase SNAP costs and harm older adults in Alabama

In addition, SB 57 could increase the harm that Alabama faces as a result of HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act – or what I call one hell of an ugly bill. Alabama will have to appropriate an estimated $174 million or more to address HR 1’s shift of SNAP benefit costs to states, based on error rates. If the state does not allocate those matching funds, SNAP benefits could be reduced or disappear entirely for more than 750,000 participants across Alabama.

Often mistaken as a measure of fraud, the error rate is determined using a USDA assessment of a sample of 1,000 SNAP-eligible households per state. USDA staff calculate the number of underpayments or overpayments made to SNAP users by the state agency managing SNAP. In Alabama, that agency is the Department of Human Resources (DHR). This bill would divert some of DHR’s attention away from efforts to reduce the error rate in the name of an experimental pilot program over which several other states are suing the USDA. The risks of this experiment would include increased SNAP costs and potential litigation costs.

We know that food-insecure seniors who participate in SNAP are 46% less likely to be hospitalized than non-participating seniors with low incomes. This bill puts that access at greater risk. We also know that SNAP participants eat a better diet, more frequently access preventative health care, adhere to medication, experience fewer hospitalizations and ER visits, and have lower health care costs for older adults.

Why would SB 57 not really address health? Access to healthy food is a structural issue 

On the surface, it might seem as though SB 57 would improve the health of Alabamians with low incomes. Some legislators referenced obesity as a sort of flat concept, solely correlated to soft drinks and candy. However, getting to the root of a public health issue is almost never that simple.

When you think of SB 57, I want you to imagine getting in a car and expecting to drive to France from Florence, Ala. Would you make it there? No. Why? Because the built world, or infrastructure around you, does not support the vehicle. The same is true for communities that have limited food access due to factors like affordability and transportation.

SB 57’s definitions draw many arbitrary lines. Most chewing gum, for example, is sweetened with Aspartame instead of sugar, so it still would be SNAP-eligible based on SB 57’s current text. And more to the point, making some foods more unaffordable does not make other food more affordable.

‘Do not legislate dignity away from Alabamians’

Some legislators, including Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said they found the bill patronizing in principle. “I see this really as a discrimination against SNAP recipients,” Warren said during a House committee discussion of the bill.

Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Mobile, emphasized the cost vs. the benefit of the bill in its current form. “I just don’t understand why we have to always legislate things all the way down to a person’s grocery basket as if it’s really going to fix a major overall obesity problem,” Bracy said.

Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, said protecting food choice for SNAP participants is a matter of fundamental respect. “It’s important … that we do not legislate dignity away from Alabamians,” Stewart said.

Ultimately, members of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee approved the bill on March 18. But the decision came only after an agreement not to schedule a House vote on it until many members’ concerns are resolved.

“[We are simply] not ready … to move forward on this,” said Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, who chairs the committee. “There’s just too many issues. We’re seeing lawsuits in other states. A lot of that’s got to do with the administrative ability to move this bill forward.”

Who might SB 57 impact?

  • Alabamians with low incomes
  • Retailers across Alabama, especially in small towns and rural areas
  • DHR and other state agencies
  • Potentially anyone who buys candy or soda

What should our legislators do instead?

To get to the root of the problem of healthy food access, we must start by asking the real questions:

  • Why do some Alabamians struggle to access healthy food?
  • Why do some Alabamians lack the resources to eat healthy?
  • What policy choices underlie poverty in Alabama?
  • Why are legislators not incentivized to improve the common good?

Many of our legislators unfortunately are not asking and working to answer these questions. But in the meantime, they still can do better.

Lawmakers should vote “no” on SB 57 and use any additional funds to support a full $14 million appropriation to provide a no-cost school breakfast for every child in Alabama’s public schools. We know that since 2019, access to no-cost meals has doubled in Alabama. In that time, reading and math scores across the state have improved for children across all household income levels.

Greater access to school meals helps improve student behavior and learning and reduces absenteeism, reducing the risk of incarceration. With streamlined funding for school breakfast local school districts have less paperwork and administrative costs. Moreover, continuing and increasing state investment in access to no-cost school breakfast supports local farmers and helps schools serve more local produce.

We must remove barriers to food access for Alabama communities

As an undergraduate student at Stillman College, I helped to co-found a sustainable healthy food initiative in west Tuscaloosa, because my campus was situated in what some social scientists call a food desert. Food Insecurity is not natural, but it is determined by your environment.

The intentional separation of people from resources is the result of a built world that does not support the presence of those resources. Before the 1960s, Stillman was a farm worked by students from the Black Belt, because no one would sell food to The Colored Institute.

As an Academic Scholar on a full-ride scholarship, it was my first time having access to breakfast, lunch and dinner in many years, so I work to repay that. Frankly, It is disrespectful to leverage the desperation that communities face as a result of our built world to pass harmful legislation like SB 57. Our lawmakers can and should do better for Alabama.

Alabama Arise testimony in opposition to SNAP food choice limits

By Alabama Arise

Alabama Arise hunger policy advocate LaTrell Clifford Wood testified Wednesday before the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee in opposition to SB 57 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. SB 57 would restrict which foods can be bought in Alabama with food assistance benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Here is the full text of Clifford Wood’s prepared remarks:

Mr. Chairman and esteemed committee members, my name is LaTrell Clifford Wood, and I am a hunger policy advocate with Alabama Arise. I am also an appointee to the Joint Study Commission on Grocery Taxation.

Alabama Arise is a member-based organization, and our members voted strongly for us to oppose SB 57. We support policies to improve the health of low-income people and to expand access to food and health care. However, those goals are not achieved by a bill that comes with sanctions for people experiencing poverty and unclear costs for our state.

It is government overreach for Alabama to be in the business of telling people who are living in poverty what to eat. This bill would not achieve its stated ends, nor was its introduction supported by any research about consumer behavior.

People on SNAP have similar purchasing habits to the average consumer. And while SNAP is the most effective program this nation has seen when it comes to addressing hunger, it is a modest program. SNAP benefits average $6 a day, meaning they only supplement grocery budgets. This bill would increase state costs, as well as increase the tax burden on low-income households, without making any investments to improve consumer access to healthy food.

Since it was introduced, SB 57’s estimated cost to taxpayers has increased to $10.4 million. It also threatens to undermine vital steps we have taken toward eliminating the state sales tax on food.

To put that cost in perspective, $10 million is 21 times the amount lawmakers annually allocate to increase access to fresh produce and support local farmers through SNAP incentives like Double Up Bucks. And it is more than enough to ensure every public school student in Alabama can access a no-cost school breakfast. Both of these policies are proven to improve the long-term health of Alabamians. 

I ask that you vote no on this bill. Do not resort to experimenting on our low-income communities. Let’s focus on stabilizing SNAP under the state cost shift. I am open to meeting with any of you all to discuss how we might improve access to healthy food, and I thank you for your time.

2026 Legislative Day – Close the health coverage gap: Enact policies to save lives in Alabama

By Debbie Smith

No one should have to choose between going to the doctor and putting food on the table. But for more than a decade, Alabama lawmakers have turned down the opportunity to expand Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes. This choice has cost lives, weakened our health care system and left billions of federal dollars unused.

Alabama still urgently needs Medicaid expansion to help more people get care and to keep hospitals and clinics open across the state. Unfortunately, while expansion remains essential, HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, has made financing more challenging and has increased the need for sustainable funding solutions.

Federal policy changes are reshaping Medicaid financing

Alabama remains one of only 10 states yet to expand Medicaid. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Alabamians are caught in the state’s coverage gap, earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford Marketplace insurance subsidies.

HR 1 eliminated a two‑year increase in the federal Medicaid match rate that would have brought Alabama an estimated $619 million in exchange for expanding coverage. This incentive would have been enough to cover at least the first two years of Medicaid expansion. Without it, expansion will cost more and will require identifying new, sustainable financing sources.

Provider tax changes create more budget constraints

HR 1 also restricts how states can use provider taxes to finance Medicaid. Under the law, Alabama would be required to reduce provider tax collections if it expanded Medicaid. This could result in the loss of more than $100 million annually in health care revenue. Alabama Arise will continue making the case that lawmakers should not pit current Medicaid enrollees against people who need coverage but cannot afford it.

Healthcare.gov enrollees face higher costs after the end of enhanced tax credits

Congress allowed enhanced Premium Tax Credits (ePTCs) for Marketplace coverage under the Affordable Care Act to expire on Dec. 31. This lapse left nearly 500,000 Alabamians facing steep increases in their monthly premiums. Early 2026 enrollment data from CMS shows that 20,000 fewer people selected Marketplace plans this year. We will not know the full number of people who have lost coverage until July, but the growing affordability crisis makes Medicaid expansion even more critical.

Persistent gaps in health coverage and outcomes

Nearly 200,000 adults remain stuck in Alabama’s coverage gap, and that number is expected to grow. Alabama also continues to rank poorly on key health outcomes, including maternal health and infant mortality. These harsh realities underscore the need for comprehensive coverage solutions.

Sustainable revenue options to fund Medicaid expansion

Even with the loss of the federal incentive, Alabama has multiple viable revenue options that can fully fund Medicaid expansion and strengthen the state’s long‑term fiscal stability. Earlier revenue analysis provides several pathways. These include:

1. Remove the state deduction for federal income taxes

Removing the state deduction for federal income tax (FIT) payments would generate $1.26 billion per year. Alabama is the only state that still allows a full FIT deduction. Eliminating it would modernize the tax code and generate enough revenue to:

  • Fully fund Medicaid expansion.
  • Pay the state share of costs for SNAP food assistance benefits.
  • Remove the remaining state sales tax on groceries.

2. Remove the state deduction for FICA payroll taxes

Removing the state deduction for FICA payroll taxes would generate $387 million in revenue per year. Alabama is one of the only states offering a full FICA deduction. Ending it would broaden the tax base and provide stable, recurring revenue for Medicaid and other essential services.

3. Other revenue options

  • Increase the cigarette tax.
  • Adopt a tax on sugar‑sweetened beverages.
  • Close corporate tax loopholes, including adopting combined reporting.
  • Ensure large landowners pay a fairer share of property taxes.

These measures would diversify Alabama’s revenue streams and help the state meet long‑term health care needs.

Bottom line

Alabama can no longer afford the cost of inaction. Health coverage gaps are widening, health outcomes are worsening and federal policy changes have made delay even more expensive. The state has clear, achievable revenue options to fund Medicaid expansion sustainably and to strengthen our entire health care system. Medicaid expansion is a choice for healthier families, stronger communities and a more resilient future for Alabama.

How the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act worsens health and hunger in Alabama communities

By Alabama Arise

HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was signed into law on July 4, 2025. This federal law will have far-reaching consequences on many issues affecting people in our communities. Following are a few talking points focused on how HR 1 will impact health and hunger for people in Alabama.

Health

  • Did not extend enhanced tax credits that make insurance affordable for more than 400,000 Alabamians who get coverage through Healthcare.gov. Health insurance premiums more than doubled for many Alabamians, and the number of people signing up for health insurance decreased this year.
  • Made expanding Medicaid in Alabama more difficult because it removed additional federal financial incentives and restricted one of the ways that potentially could have helped our state pay for expansion.
  • Did not do enough to protect rural hospitals from closing or having to limit the services they provide. The Rural Health Transformation Fund created to help offset Medicaid cuts under the new law was not funded with enough money.

Hunger

  • Requires Alabama to provide more money to continue SNAP (food stamps). This year, lawmakers must designate millions in new funding to continue SNAP, and likely even more money in coming years. More than 750,000 Alabamians, approximately 40% of whom are children, depend on SNAP to help access food.

If lawmakers cannot or will not provide the required funding, the state will have to reduce the number of SNAP participants or opt out of the program entirely.

  • Set work requirements for certain people to receive SNAP benefits:
    • Many veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults who have aged out of foster care.
    • All adults in a household with children aged 14 or older.
    • People aged 55 to 64.

We don’t know when, but those affected will get notice and opportunity to ask for an exemption.

What you can do

  • Share what you learn with others and stay informed.
  • Tell your federal and state lawmakers what you need for your community.
  • Since this is an election year, find out where candidates stand on the issues that matter most to your community. Then vote and bring others to vote with you.

Arise legislative update: Week of Jan. 19, 2026

By Matt Okarmus

Arise’s LaTrell Clifford Wood focuses this week on one of our key hunger relief priorities: no-cost school meals. After the Legislature increased state funding for school meals last year, Alabama public schools served 2.8 million more breakfasts to our Alabama students in fall 2025.

Greater access to school meals improves learning outcomes, and Arise is advocating to ensure that this school meal funding remains in the Education Trust Fund budget for school year 2026-27 and beyond. Arise also will keep working to increase this investment and ensure that every student in Alabama’s public schools can access a no-cost school breakfast option.

Keep up with all of our action alerts and bills of interest by signing up at alarise.org.

Hi, everybody. My name is LaTrell Clifford Wood, and I’m our hunger policy advocate here at Alabama Arise. I’m excited to be bringing you this week’s legislative update with a little bit of a tilt. We’re going to be focusing on hunger policy.

So this year, our big legislative priority is to continue school breakfast funding so that our Alabama students can get access to no-cost school meals options. Last week, we saw the governor’s budget come out, as well as her State of the State address. And we really appreciated her focus on a strong start and a strong finish primarily through continuing to improve Alabama’s educational outcomes.

We have seen expanded school meals access improve learning outcomes since 2019, with nearly two out of every three Alabama students having access to a no-cost school meals option. This past legislative session in the spring, we saw the state invest their first-ever appropriation that helped to support no-cost school meals options. And with that, this fall, we saw 2.8 million more breakfasts served to our Alabama students.

And so we are seeing that school meals access doesn’t just improve learning outcomes in theory, but it does it in Alabama. And so we are hoping that our Legislature will ensure that this funding is institutionalized in the Department of Education’s budget for school year 2026-27 and beyond. But we also hope that we can reconsider how much is being allocated to ensure that every Alabama student has access to a no-cost school breakfast option.

And with that, we look forward to continuing this fight with you all, particularly our Arise members, as we push to ensure that we are building a better Alabama for everyone. Thank you.

Arise 2026: How we’re working to build a better Alabama

By Matt Okarmus

Alabama Arise believes in dignity, equity and justice for all. We believe in an Alabama where everyone’s voice is heard and everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. And we believe better public policies are the key to building a brighter future for our state. 

Below, we’ll share some details of that vision as the Alabama Legislature’s regular session begins January 13. This blog focuses on the crucial legislative priorities on our 2026 roadmap to change.

If you’re not already a member of Alabama Arise, join us! Members will receive an exclusive version of our weekly Legislative Updates throughout the session. These emails include a weekly video update from Arise staff members on what’s happening at the State House, as well as details about upcoming legislation and links to additional resources.

Executive Director Robyn Hyden welcomes us to the 2026 session

Arise’s Robyn Hyden welcomes everyone to the Alabama Legislature’s 2026 regular session. Watch to see what to expect this year and to learn more about our advocacy on school breakfast, protecting funding for public schools and other member-selected legislative priorities. 

Strong investments in schools, housing and transit improve life for all Alabamians

Strong funding for public services like education and public health broadens opportunity for everyone, especially for Alabamians with low incomes. Arise members for decades have urged robust and secure state funding for these services. Our top adequate state budget priorities include protecting funding for public schools and securing state support for affordable housing and public transportation.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Closing the health coverage gap: Alabama must enact policies to save lives

As Alabama enters the 2026 legislative session, Medicaid expansion and maternal health will be central to the state’s health equity conversations. Recent federal policy changes have made these conversations more urgent and more complex. Our top health equity priorities are Medicaid expansion and investments in comprehensive maternal health care.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Federal SNAP cuts underscore Alabama’s need to protect and increase food access

Alabama’s food insecurity rates are among the worst in the country. More than 1 in 6 people in our state (17%) face food insecurity, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. And that share is even larger for children: Nearly 1 in 4 Alabama children (23%) live in households with food insecurity. Our top hunger relief priorities are increasing the availability of no-cost school meals, protecting SNAP food assistance and continuing the successful SUN Bucks summer nutrition program.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

An inclusive democracy is vital to building a better Alabama for all

Alabama was central to the struggle for democracy and voting rights in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. And the need for our state to do more to build a more inclusive democracy continues today. That is especially true after recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions affecting the rights of people nationwide to have their say in who represents them at the local, state and federal levels. Our top inclusive democracy priorities include no-excuse absentee voting, early voting and removal of barriers to voting rights restoration.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Alabama’s justice system should focus on rehabilitation, not cruelty

Alabama’s criminal justice system too often prioritizes punishment over evidence-based interventions. This cruel orientation has fueled heavy-handed sentencing policies and a broken parole system. And it has led to a death penalty system where state officials continue to kill prisoners against the recommendation of the juries that convicted them. Our justice reform priorities include reforms to Alabama’s sentencing and parole practices and legislation to make the state’s ban on judicial override in death penalty cases retroactive. 

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Alabama’s tax system is upside down and needs real reform

Alabama’s tax structure is among the nation’s most unfair and unjust. The state is heavily reliant on regressive sales taxes on consumer goods that account for a larger share of spending for households with low incomes. Our state continues to tax groceries, though at a lower rate than other goods after grocery tax reductions in 2023 and 2025. And Alabama does not tax numerous services that people with higher incomes more often purchase. Our tax reform priorities include untaxing groceries, reining in income tax breaks for wealthy households and opposing further diversion of public school funding to private schools and homeschooling.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Empower workers to build an economy that works for all Alabamians

Alabama has a history of anti-worker policies that prioritize the interests of wealthy corporations over those of working people. This top-down structure has led to our state falling behind in measurable standards of well-being. Our worker power priorities include increased accountability for child labor law violators, expansion of paid leave and stronger protections for temp workers.

READ OUR FACT SHEET

Closing the health coverage gap: Alabama must enact policies to save lives

By Alabama Arise

Haga clic aquí para leer esto en español.

By Jennifer Harris, senior health policy advocate, and Debbie Smith, Cover Alabama campaign director

As Alabama enters the 2026 legislative session, Medicaid expansion and maternal health will be central to the state’s health equity conversations. Recent federal policy changes have made these conversations more urgent and more complex.

Alabama Arise will continue to support health investments to save lives, create jobs and protect rural residents across our state. This will include advocacy to close the state’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion. We also will urge lawmakers to approve legislation to protect and expand access to comprehensive maternal health care.

Federal policy changes are reshaping Medicaid financing

Alabama remains one of only 10 states yet to expand Medicaid. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Alabamians are caught in the state’s health coverage gap, earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to qualify for Marketplace insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, eliminated a two-year increase in the federal Medicaid match rate that was available to states that expanded Medicaid. This increased match rate was an additional incentive for states that had not yet expanded Medicaid to cover adults
with low incomes to do so.

For Alabama, the federal incentive eliminated under HR 1 would have brought an estimated $619 million in federal funding for two years. That would have been enough to cover at least the first two years of Medicaid expansion.

Without this incentive – which would have been in addition to the ongoing 90-10 federal match rate for covering residents under Medicaid expansion – expanding Medicaid will cost more. It also will require identifying new, sustainable financing sources.

Provider tax changes create additional budget constraints

Federal changes under HR 1 also restrict how states can use provider taxes to finance Medicaid. Under HR 1, Alabama would be required to reduce Medicaid provider tax collections if it expanded Medicaid in the future.

This provision could result in Alabama losing more than $100 million in health care revenue annually if the state expanded Medicaid. Arise will continue making the case that lawmakers should not pit current Medicaid enrollees against people who need coverage but cannot afford it.

Affordable coverage through Healthcare.gov remains at risk

At the same time, affordability challenges are growing for people who receive health coverage through the ACA Marketplace. Enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) have helped nearly 500,000 Alabamians afford coverage through Healthcare.gov. But the ePTCs expired Dec. 31, and Congress has yet to renew them.

As a result, many Alabamians’ monthly health coverage premiums will double – or increase by even more. An estimated 130,000 Alabamians are expected to lose their health coverage because of this change.

Persistent gaps in health coverage and outcomes

Nearly 200,000 adults remain stuck in Alabama’s coverage gap. And that number unfortunately is expected to grow since the ePTCs expired.

At the same time, Alabama continues to rank poorly on key health outcomes, including infant and maternal mortality. These realities make clear that coverage policy and maternal health outcomes cannot be addressed in isolation.

Building on progress to improve maternal health

Despite these systemic challenges, Alabama has made strides in improving maternal health in recent years. extending Medicaid postpartum coverage. These steps have included removing paperwork obstacles to maternity Medicaid coverage and ensuring paid family leave for state employees, K-12 teachers and two-year college workers. Lawmakers also eliminated the state sales tax on many maternity and infant items.

Here are Arise’s recommendations for next steps that legislators can take to improve maternal health care outcomes in our state:

  • Increase provider access for new moms. Alabama should act now to close maternal health deserts throughout our state. Moms in rural areas need access to birth workers, including doctors, midwives and doulas.
  • Protect access to contraceptives. Contraceptives are important to reproductive health and meeting family planning needs. These contraceptives should be readily available and affordable.
  • Ensure doctors can perform life-saving procedures and preserve fertility without fear of criminalization. Moms need safe, appropriate health care during pregnancy when complications are present. Doctors should not have to fear prosecution over providing such essential life-saving care.
  • Ensure a healthier start for newborns. Arise advocates for policies that promote a healthier start for newborns and their families. This includes support for HB 54, known as the Women’s CARE Act. This bill by Rep. Rolanda Hollis, D-Birmingham, would allow many pregnant moms sentenced to incarceration to serve supervised probation until 12 weeks after childbirth.

Bottom line

Alabama faces many difficult but important decisions about Medicaid expansion, health care affordability and maternal health. Federal policy changes have made inaction more costly, while coverage gaps and poor health outcomes continue to affect families across the state.

By addressing financing challenges, protecting access to coverage and building on recent maternal health progress, Alabama has an opportunity to move toward a more equitable health care system that better supports moms, babies and communities statewide.

Building on our momentum for the new year

By David Stout

As we close out 2025, Arise members and member organizations can reflect on a very successful year. Reducing the state sales tax on groceries from 3% to 2% and guaranteeing more students in public schools get a free breakfast with a $7.3 million budget appropriation were two of the biggest highlights worth celebrating. 

Improvements were also made in maternal health, including tax cuts passed for maternal and infant care products as well as those that fell under the “pink tax” such as diapers, baby formula and feminine hygiene products. Expecting mothers became eligible for Medicaid during the early days of their pregnancy, creating an increased opportunity for healthy pregnancies and babies. For the first time, a progressive model for parental leave for education employees and state workers became law. 

Arise aggressively fought to ensure SNAP benefits remained intact among federal changes. These successes come from the dedicated and engaged members who have remained steadfast in Arise’s mission to make Alabama more responsive to its citizens.

The 2026 legislative session, the last session of the quadrennium before lawmakers will face the public at the voting booth, is gearing up to be another busy time for Arise. Below is our roadmap for how we will prepare for the challenges ahead.

Health equity

Arise will continue our commitment to expand Medicaid and ensure health care for more Alabamians. With the growing lack of access to maternal health care, we will also continue the fight to protect and improve access for life-saving maternal care and contraception. In the realm of improving our current Medicaid coverage, Alabama is ranked 49th for dental care. We will work to expand access to adult dental benefits for Medicaid members.

Hunger relief

While 2025 saw a significant step forward in no-cost school meals, almost 30 percent of students still lack access to school breakfast or lunch. Arise will work to protect and expand funding for school meals as well as the Summer EBT program (now SUN Bucks) for low-income students. Arise will also be a voice of reason to block ill-intended limitations on the purchase of certain items under SNAP guidelines.

Adequate state budgets

With the constant waste of lucrative tax incentives going to big corporations, we must remain vigilant to protect our budgets from excessive giveaways, ill-conceived tax exemptions and tax credits. The biggest threat to the Education Trust Fund is the relatively new tax credit for private school students from the CHOOSE Act that allows up to $7,000 per student, a drain on public school resources. 

If income caps are removed, more than $500 million in school tax dollars could go to previously enrolled private school students. In 2026, Arise will continue to oppose any expansion of the CHOOSE Act.

Alabama does not currently provide any state funds for the Housing Trust Fund to support more affordable housing for low-income, elderly, and disabled citizens. Equally insufficient is the state’s failure  to fund the Public Transportation Trust Fund, which could secure up to an 80% percent match in federal funds. Arise will continue to fight to fund the Alabama Housing Trust Fund and the Public Transportation Trust Fund.

Inclusive democracy

The constant effort to suppress voting in Alabama demands we expand voting rights with comprehensive legislation, including allowing people to cast an absentee ballot without unnecessary, trivial restrictions. We will work to remove barriers for people who have been banned from voting because of a criminal conviction. We will also continue to oppose laws attacking the inclusion of immigrants, Black Alabamians and other racial and ethnic minorities in our society. 

Justice reform

In 2018, Arise worked to eliminate judicial override, a policy that allowed judges to impose a death sentence against the will of the jury. Unfortunately, the law was not retroactive. With nearly 30 people still on death row because of this outdated and now illegal policy, it’s time to make judicial override retroactive and seek justice for those condemned.

We must also work to reform Alabama’s three-strikes law, which disproportionately impacts low-income defendants. Under this law, a person could be serving a life sentence because of a series of minor infractions. Adding to the burden of prison overcrowding, Alabama’s parole system has been plagued by unworkable guidelines, driving our prison overcrowding crisis and making our system more punitive, not restorative. It’s time to make the parole system more fair, transparent and efficient.

Tax reform

Faced with tariffs and increasing food costs, there’s never been a better time to fully eliminate Alabama’s tax on groceries. A larger share of the burden falls on those with lower incomes, who spend more of their income on food than the wealthy. Arise supports a more progressive and fair income tax that recognizes the inequities in our tax rates.          

Worker power

The newest priority on our 2026 legislative agenda is supporting worker power legislation in partnership with organized labor. Our primary goal will be to remove tax incentives from companies that employ child labor and violate workers’ rights. We will also work to expand paid parental leave policies to cover more state employees, teachers and other workers. Often, the person most abused is the temporary worker, who has no rights. Arise will work to pass workplace protections in a Temp Workers’ Bill of Rights to improve on-the-job conditions, along with a pathway for full-time jobs.

Long federal road ahead for SNAP, health care

By Alabama Arise

By Carol Gundlach, senior policy analyst, and Debbie Smith, Cover Alabama campaign director

Alabama Arise believes that society should care for the most vulnerable in our nation—children, the elderly, those who are disabled and those who have fallen on temporary hard times. Since the Great Depression, Americans have been assured that, no matter how hard times get, our basic nutritional needs would be met by our government.

But 2025 has been a head-spinning and traumatic year for the 750,000 Alabama recipients of SNAP food assistance (commonly called Food Stamps), a stable pillar in America’s response to poverty and hunger. For 60 years, through multiple federal shutdowns, budget crises and wars, SNAP assistance has reliably fed hungry Americans. 2025 was different. 

Bill doesn’t help those who need it

HR1, the budget reconciliation bill (or “One Big Beautiful Bill”) passed by Congress in July, made it harder for people to receive food assistance and reduced the amount of assistance available, even as grocery costs rose. Existing time limits and burdensome paperwork requirements for some SNAP recipients were expanded to include unhoused people, veterans, children aging out of foster care and elderly recipients. 

Non-citizens and refugees legally in the U.S. were denied food assistance. And states, for the first time, will have to pay for some SNAP benefit costs. By mid-2027, Alabama will have to come up with approximately $175M to pay for our existing SNAP program.

Shutdown deepened impact

The October federal government shutdown only made the food crisis worse. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) refused to use its emergency funds and instead cut off food assistance to 42 million Americans, including all SNAP recipients in Alabama. 

Food banks and pantries, bolstered by small state grants, tried to fill the gap but many of our neighbors faced hunger as the holidays approached. The ending of the shutdown allowed the Department of Human Resources to get SNAP benefits out in record time, but legal immigrants face immediate termination of SNAP benefits. And many more people face new, draconian time limits that began in December. 

And many of the same people face huge increases in the cost of their health care.

Health costs will soar

As of this writing, Congress has not extended enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs), which lower monthly premiums for nearly 500,000 Alabamians who get their coverage through the ACA Marketplace. As a result, 130,000 Alabamians are expected to lose coverage. This decision threatens to roll back the significant progress Alabama has made in reducing its uninsured rate.

The enhanced tax credits have played a central role in that progress. Lowering premiums opened Healthcare.gov plans to workers who had long been locked out of affordable coverage. Nearly half of Alabama’s Healthcare.gov enrollees fall into income ranges that would qualify them for Medicaid expansion if they lived in the 40 states that have expanded. Without the credits, many will face premiums they simply cannot pay, increasing the number of uninsured at a time when families are already navigating high costs of living.

This shift will place additional pressure on Alabama’s health care system, especially rural hospitals and clinics that already struggle with staffing shortages, rising uncompensated care, and service reductions. 

HR 1 complicates health care access

Federal changes under HR 1 create additional challenges. The law eliminates financial incentives meant to help states like Alabama adopt Medicaid expansion, including extra federal funding that would have supported expansion startup costs for the first two years. It also places new restrictions on increasing provider taxes, which Alabama uses to help fund its share of Medicaid. These limits would become more restrictive if Alabama chose to expand Medicaid in the future, and even now, they place a long-term cap on our state’s flexibility to finance Medicaid as health care costs continue to rise.

HR 1 also shifts new SNAP funding responsibilities to states. This will strain the state budget at a time when food insecurity is rising and families are struggling to meet basic needs.

Taken together, these issues ensure that health care and food access will be unavoidable priorities in the 2025 legislative session. The coming year will bring real challenges, but it also offers Alabama lawmakers an opportunity and a responsibility to strengthen the state’s health and nutrition safety nets at a moment when Alabamians need them most.

Las prioridades legislativas de Alabama Arise para 2026

By Alabama Arise

Más de 150 grupos miembros de Alabama Arise y más de 1,500 miembros individuales eligen todos los años nuestras prioridades legislativas. Este proceso garantiza que los habitantes de Alabama más afectados por la pobreza participen de las decisiones. A continuación se enumeran las prioridades que nuestros miembros eligieron para 2025.

Para obtener una versión de este documento en PDF, haga clic aquí o en el botón de “Descargar” (Download) arriba.

Equidad en salud – Alabama debe salvar vidas, crear trabajo y proteger la salud rural cerrando la brecha de cobertura de Medicaid y mejorando el acceso a atención de maternidad de alta calidad.

Alivio del hambre – Alabama debe ayudar a las familias a prosperar al asegurar que todas las escuelas públicas puedan ofrecer comidas gratuitas para todos sus estudiantes y al proteger programas de nutrición vitales.

Presupuestos estatales adecuados – Los servicios públicos robustos amplían las oportunidades para todos. Alabama debe proteger la financiación para las escuelas públicas e invertir en vivienda asequible y transporte público.

Democracia inclusiva – Todos merecen tener su opinión en nuestra democracia. Alabama debe permitir el voto en ausencia sin excusas y eliminar barreras para la restauración de los derechos de voto para personas que no están involucradas.

Reforma de justicia – El sistema de justicia de Alabama debe enfocarse en rehabilitación, no en crueldad. Nuestro estado debe dejar de ejecutar a personas sentenciadas a muerte contra la recomendación de un jurado. Alabama también debe reformar la libertad condicional y las sentencias.

Reforma impositiva – Un sistema impositivo más equitativo puede ayudar a las personas en dificultades a llegar a fin de mes. Alabama debe quitar los impuestos a artículos básicos y asegurar financiamiento justo y sostenible para servicios vitales.

Poder trabajador – Alabama debe apoyar a la gente trabajadora quitando incentivos de impuestos a las empresas que violan las leyes de empleo de menores, extendiendo la licencia por paternidad/maternidad a más trabajadores y mejorando las salvaguardias para trabajadores temporarios.