Arise’s Robyn Hyden breaks down successes and missed opportunities from the Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session, which ended Thursday night. She highlights breakthroughs on federal ARPA funds, postpartum Medicaid extension and criminal justice reform, among other issues.
Issue: Health
Arise legislative recap: April 4, 2022
Arise’s Jane Adams shares the good news that next year’s General Fund budget includes a provision that would extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to one year after childbirth, up from the current 60 days. The budget has passed both the Alabama House and Senate and has gone to the governor.
Grocery tax, health care key Arise focuses this year
Untax groceries. Expand health coverage. Make the criminal justice system more just. Those are a few of Alabama Arise’s major priorities during the Legislature’s 2022 regular session. And we’re making real progress toward turning those goals into realities.
Untaxing groceries
Ending the state’s regressive sales tax on groceries has been a longtime Arise priority. It was the centerpiece of Alabama Arise Action’s online Legislative Day on Feb. 15, which attracted nearly 200 advocates from across the state. It also will be the focus of a March 15 rally in Montgomery.
Legislative Day attendees heard from two lawmakers working to untax groceries: Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, and Rep. Penni McClammy, D-Montgomery. Jones’ and McClammy’s bills reflect growing support for untaxing groceries while protecting funding for public schools.
McClammy said the grocery tax is a policy concern that transcends political lines. “It’s important that we stand together united as one and show the citizens that we all care about what’s going on in our homes,” she said.
Jones expressed optimism that lawmakers are nearing a breakthrough on the grocery tax. “This is not a partisan issue,” he said. “This is something that really meets the full criteria of being a bipartisan issue.”
Expanding health coverage
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored a cruel fact: Hundreds of thousands of Alabamians can’t afford the health care they need. Gov. Kay Ivey can remove that financial barrier by expanding Medicaid to cover nearly 300,000 adults with low incomes. Arise and our Cover Alabama campaign are working hard to make that happen.
Public support for Medicaid expansion is strong and growing. More than seven in 10 Alabamians support expansion, according to a statewide Arise poll conducted in January. Expansion would create more than 20,000 jobs and save the state almost $400 million annually, a recent report estimated.
Extending Alabama Medicaid’s postpartum coverage to one year (up from the current 60 days) is another key goal this year. Nearly 70% of Alabama’s maternal deaths in 2016 were preventable, one study found. That’s why Arise is working hard to ensure legislators fund this life-saving coverage extension in the General Fund budget.
Advancing justice
Numerous reforms of Alabama’s criminal justice system are moving in the Legislature this year. Arise supports two bills – HB 200 by Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, and SB 117 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery – to end driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay fines and fees. Arise also backs HB 57 by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, and SB 215 by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, which would increase transparency in parole decisions.
Together, we can make a difference. Subscribe to our email list for timely alerts on these bills and others. And visit the Bills of Interest page to track legislation throughout the year.
New poll: More than 7 in 10 Alabamians support Medicaid expansion
More than seven in 10 Alabamians (71.5%), including 65.8% of Republican voters, support expanding Medicaid when told about arguments in support of the idea, according to a new poll commissioned by Alabama Arise. The poll also showed robust bipartisan support for using a portion of the state’s funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support Medicaid expansion.
Participants responded strongly when informed that expanding Medicaid would create an average of 20,000 new jobs per year over the next six years and have an economic impact of $1.8 billion per year. Nearly 69% of respondents, including 61.8% of Republican voters, supported using a portion of the state’s $2 billion in ARPA funds to expand access to Medicaid in Alabama.
Jane Adams, Cover Alabama campaign director at Alabama Arise, said the poll results underscore Alabama’s urgent need for Medicaid expansion.
“Voters support Medicaid expansion because it is a tremendous opportunity to create jobs, protect rural hospitals and provide life-saving care,” Adams said. “This poll shows Medicaid expansion is no longer a partisan issue and that most Alabamians support expanding Medicaid coverage to adults with low incomes.”
Support for Medicaid expansion grows across Alabama
The overwhelming polling support reflects an ever-growing group of individuals, organizations, veterans, faith leaders, medical professionals and businesses that support expanding Medicaid in Alabama. This group includes the Alabama Hospital Association, Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee and the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, as well as more than 100 nonprofits, faith-based groups and medical advocacy organizations in the Cover Alabama Coalition.
Alabama Arise commissioned the poll, which the Montgomery-based firm Cygnal conducted in January. The poll surveyed 631 likely voters across Alabama and has a margin of error of +/- 3.85%. Interviews of known registered voters occurred via live phone calls, online panel, texts and email invitation.
Click here for Arise’s poll results on Medicaid expansion in Alabama.
New report highlights economic benefits of Medicaid expansion
A recent report from the nonprofit Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) shows how Medicaid expansion would create jobs and boost local economies across the state. “Expanding Medicaid coverage in Alabama could save the state almost $400 million per year over the next six years – more than enough to cover the cost of expansion – and have an average positive economic impact of $1.89 billion per year over that same time frame,” the report found.
Medicaid expansion in Alabama would cost an average of $225.4 million per year, according to the PARCA report. But the report also found that expansion would lead to the federal government covering $379.9 million in annual expenses now paid by the state. “As a result, the state could expand coverage, and at the same time, reduce or reinvest the amount paid to support health care for low-income Alabamians by $172 million annually,” PARCA found.
Adams said ARPA funding and other federal incentives make Medicaid expansion an opportunity too good for Alabama to pass up.
“Governor Ivey and leaders in Montgomery have said the obstacle to expanding Medicaid in Alabama is the cost. But with the American Rescue Plan Act funding, Alabama can expand Medicaid and could reinvest more than $170 million in state funding to provide more access to care,” Adams said.
“Public support is strong, and the report and polling data show there is no financial barrier or obstacle to overcome. We urge Governor Ivey and leaders in Montgomery to put forward a Medicaid expansion plan that is tailored to the needs of Alabamians.”
New poll: Alabamians strongly support use of ARPA funds to protect rural hospitals, increase mental health services
Alabama’s likely voters overwhelmingly support using federal COVID-19 relief funds to increase funding for mental health and rural hospitals, according to a new Alabama Arise poll released Monday.
More than four in five respondents (81.1%) supported using a portion of Alabama’s funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to invest in rural hospitals and increase rural Alabamians’ access to health care. And nearly three in four likely voters (73.6%) said lawmakers should boost mental health funding to increase access to services across Alabama. Among Republican voters, 80.1% supported investments in rural hospitals and 67.7% supported more mental health care funding.
“Alabamians are loud and clear that they want our lawmakers to use federal relief money to strengthen our state’s health care system,” Alabama Arise executive director Robyn Hyden said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health care workers like nothing before in our lifetimes. And it has exposed and worsened our state’s persistent racial and geographic health disparities.
“ARPA offers an unprecedented chance to protect rural hospitals and increase access to mental health care and other services. We must seize this opportunity to build a healthier future for Alabama.”
Child care, housing, public transportation also enjoy strong public support
Sizable majorities also approved of other potential uses of ARPA money to improve living conditions for Alabama’s children and families. Those proposals include:
- Expanding access to subsidized child care for working families.
- Establishing a state child tax credit to lower costs for working families.
- Expanding access to affordable housing throughout the state.
- Investing in public transportation, particularly in rural areas.
Alabama will receive a total of more than $2 billion in ARPA funds. Lawmakers last year appropriated $400 million of that amount toward prison construction and $80 million to hospitals and nursing homes. This week, the Legislature will vote on a plan to spend another $772 million of ARPA funds. Most of that money would go toward broadband internet expansion, water and sewer improvements, and additional funding for hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The state expects to receive the remaining $1 billion in ARPA funds later this year. Arise’s poll shows the public wants legislators to use that money to ease economic stress on Alabama households, Hyden said.
“The pandemic has made it harder for people across our state to find child care, keep a roof overhead and get where they need to go,” Hyden said. “We should use ARPA funding to ease families’ suffering and provide the supports needed to help every Alabamian succeed. It’s time for our lawmakers to meet this moment and ensure Alabama’s post-pandemic future is a bright and inclusive one.”
About the survey
Alabama Arise commissioned the poll, which the Montgomery-based firm Cygnal conducted Jan. 13-14. The poll surveyed 631 likely voters across Alabama and has a margin of error of +/- 3.85%. Interviews of known registered voters occurred via live phone calls, online panel, texts and email invitation.
Click here for Arise’s poll results on ARPA funding priorities in Alabama.
Six ways Alabama should use ARPA funds to build a better, more inclusive future
The Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session, which began Tuesday, will be unusual in one important way. For the first time in many years, Alabama has more than enough revenue to maintain its bare-bones public services. That means instead of scrambling to avoid cuts, the legislative focus can be on strengthening investments in our state’s future.
Both the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget and the General Fund (GF) budget, which funds non-education programs, have seen tax revenues rise more than 10% in the last year. ETF revenues actually increased 16% in 2021. In addition, Alabama has about $1.6 billion of federal relief funds remaining under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). President Joe Biden signed ARPA into law in March 2021.
Alabama lawmakers already allocated $480 million of the state’s ARPA money last year. Of that amount, $400 million went toward prison construction and $80 million went to hospitals and nursing homes.
Budget growth faces sustainability challenges
State budget officials have steadily cautioned lawmakers to consider the one-time nature of both relief money and the bump in tax revenues. Recent revenue growth almost certainly will not be sustained in future years, budget officials warn. And one-time ARPA funds are by definition only temporary.
Alabama’s budget officials have strongly recommended that both ARPA funds and increased state revenues be invested in programs and services that won’t require regular, recurring revenue but that still meet critical needs for the people of the state. Alabama Arise questions whether the new revenue is as unsustainable as budget officials predict. But Arise agrees that this money needs to fund big ideas that will benefit the state for years to come.
Areas for investment
If spent wisely, ARPA funds could create vital long-term improvements for Alabamians. Alabama Arise has numerous specific suggestions for what those big ideas, and investments, could be.
Serve underserved communities
ARPA investments should focus on the most underserved areas and most underserved Alabamians. Communities of color and communities with low incomes, particularly in the Black Belt, have long-festering unmet infrastructure needs. The lack of wastewater treatment, accessible broadband internet, affordable housing and public transportation has held these communities back for decades.
In deciding where to spend new one-time dollars, the most historically neglected parts of Alabama should come first. An urgent public health need in many rural Black Belt counties is for sewer and other water treatment systems. These should be a top priority.
Modernize state technology
A major lesson from the COVID-19 recession was that Alabama’s technology infrastructure is totally inadequate for remote access to services. Suddenly unemployed people desperately tried to apply for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, food assistance, COVID-19 tests and other services on overwhelmed state computer and telephone systems. People who had never before applied for public assistance couldn’t find one-stop sources of information about services for which they might be eligible. And when new federal programs were created, they were hard to implement. That’s because Alabama’s computer systems didn’t talk to each other and couldn’t share information needed to help people get assistance.
Modernizing the state’s computer systems would be a great investment to increase efficiency and prepare us for the next crisis. This would allow for integrated eligibility and data sharing systems across state agencies. And it would be an opportunity to modernize and upgrade the state’s UI application and payment process.
Expand Medicaid and strengthen public health
Alabama has failed for decades to invest adequately in our health care infrastructure, including Medicaid. The devastating toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the consequences of that failure apparent to everyone in the state. We need to invest now in a health care infrastructure that will improve the delivery of health services to underserved individuals and communities.
Medicaid expansion to cover adults with low incomes is an essential step to strengthen Alabama’s health care system. Other investments should include more funding for mobile health services and telehealth services. Alabama also should provide additional resources for our local and state public health departments.
Reduce hunger and promote healthier communities
Hunger was already a large and perpetual problem across Alabama even before the pandemic. But the COVID-19 recession and its aftermath exacerbated this problem by fueling a rapid, major increase in food insecurity. Sudden income loss, rising prices and occasional shortages have made it much more difficult for many people to feed their children and families.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and various child nutrition programs are essential standing resources to fight hunger in Alabama. But the state can and should do more to support our food infrastructure. Alabama should provide healthy food financing grants to expand community groceries, farmers markets and mobile markets. This would improve access to healthy foods in communities without ready access to fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
Invest in affordable housing
The COVID-19 recession has caused a wave of evictions and foreclosures across Alabama. This has occurred as the cost of housing has been driven up amid supply chain issues and fewer available workers.
Alabama could help address its housing shortage and resulting homelessness by providing $25 million for the state Housing Trust Fund. This investment would create and support jobs across the state. And it would reduce Alabama’s shortfall of more than 73,000 affordable homes for people with incomes below the federal poverty level.
Fund public transportation
Alabama’s elected leaders, including Gov. Kay Ivey in her State of the State address, have celebrated the state’s low unemployment rate. But they also are bemoaning our state’s associated low rate of labor force participation. For more Alabamians to return to work during and after the pandemic, the state must ensure they have essential work supports. Not the least of these is transportation to and from a job or school.
Lawmakers can help people reenter the job market by investing $20 million in ARPA funds and $10 million in GF dollars in the state Public Transportation Trust Fund. These dollars would go a long way toward ensuring that people, especially those in rural areas, can get to a job and to job training. They also would help Alabama match other federal transportation dollars that can benefit the entire state.
Funding surge is a path for Alabama to untax groceries, expand Medicaid
Alabama’s broken tax system usually starves our state of money to fund education, public health and other basic responsibilities adequately. But 2022 may be different. Record tax revenues and a surge of federal recovery dollars could allow lawmakers to address longstanding state needs and inequities – if they have the political courage:
- Tax revenues for our schools and universities went up more than 16% in 2021.
- Tax revenues for services not related to education grew more than 11% in 2021.
- Alabama still has more than $1.6 billion in federal recovery funds that must be budgeted in 2022 and 2023, with more on the way.
Arise’s proposed uses for federal recovery dollars can be found at al-arise.local/rescueplan. Here are a few of our recommendations for budgeting state revenue increases:
- Untax groceries. Alabamians with low and moderate incomes already pay a disproportionate share of their income in state taxes. Ending or rebating the state grocery tax while protecting education funding would help them make ends meet.
- Raise the income tax threshold. Alabama should help people with low incomes by creating or increasing individual and child deductions or credits.
- Expand Medicaid. Federal recovery dollars can’t be spent directly on expansion, but they can be spent on other needs. This will free up state money to expand Medicaid.
- Make the criminal justice system more just. Lawmakers should increase funding for reentry services and for alternatives to incarceration like specialized courts and community correction programs.
Bottom line
This year’s budget landscape offers an opportunity to make Alabama better for generations to come. Thoughtful, transformative funding choices can bring that vision to life.
Funding boosts bring opportunity to invest in Alabama’s future
Alabama’s broken tax system usually starves our state of money to fund basic responsibilities adequately. But 2022 may be different. Record tax revenues and a surge of federal recovery dollars could allow lawmakers to address longstanding state needs and inequities – if they have the political courage.
State revenues that pay for our schools, including income taxes earmarked for teacher salaries, went up 16% in 2021, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Internet sales taxes and other revenues for non-education programs grew more than 11% in 2021. Alabama also has received federal funds under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to aid recovery from the COVID-19 recession. Alabama has $580 million remaining in 2021 ARPA funds, plus another $1.06 billion coming in 2022.
Coming fast behind ARPA are federal infrastructure dollars for roads, bridges and public transportation. And if the U.S. Senate passes it, the Build Back Better Act will include new funds for child care, health care and senior services.
Transformative changes for a better Alabama
Legislators already have begun talking about how to spend this money. Alabama Arise believes wise use of these funds can make Alabama a better place for generations to come. Many of our recommendations are in our statement of principles for spending recovery dollars. A few key Arise recommendations include:
- Untax groceries. Tax cuts should help struggling Alabamians who already pay a disproportionate share of state taxes. Ending the state grocery tax is a good place to start.
- Expand Medicaid. Federal recovery dollars can help free up state money for Medicaid expansion. This would save hundreds of lives and ensure affordable health coverage for more than 340,000 Alabamians every year.
- Make the criminal justice system more just. Legislators just made a misguided decision to spend $400 million of ARPA money on new prison construction. They now should invest in meaningful policy changes like sentencing reform and other alternatives to incarceration.
Alabama lawmakers have a chance to make far-reaching and lasting changes in 2022. Arise and our members will work hard to ensure they seize this opportunity.
A year to strengthen our communities
We can’t even begin to summarize all the momentous federal policy advances realized in 2021 in one newsletter. This year brought passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the infrastructure package. It brought expansion of the Child Tax Credit. And we hope it will bring the forthcoming passage of the Build Back Better (BBB) Act. That means 2022 will be a year of working diligently to advocate for fair, equitable implementation of these new investments in Alabama.
ARPA provided millions of new dollars in incentive funding to support Medicaid expansion. It also provided $2.1 billion for state COVID-19 relief and $1.9 billion for local governments. Check out our ARPA toolkit at al-arise.local for resources to ensure ARPA funding goes to the priorities we all share to strengthen our communities.
If the Senate passes BBB this month, we anticipate more than 220,000 Alabamians gaining immediate access to no-cost health insurance via healthcare.gov for the next three years. Then the work of enrollment will begin! It’s not a permanent solution to our state’s health care coverage gap, but it would be a major step forward for Alabamians with low incomes. Stay tuned for alerts and ways you can support – and celebrate! – when the time comes.
Arise legislative recap: Nov. 9, 2021
Arise policy analyst Dev Wakeley looks back at the Alabama Legislature’s second special session, which ended last week. Dev discusses lawmakers’ actions related to redistricting and COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as federal relief funding for hospitals and nursing homes.