Resource: Fact Sheet

Empower workers to build an economy that works for all Alabamians

By Alabama Arise

By Dev Wakeley, worker policy advocate (dev@alarise.org), and Adam Keller, Worker Power Campaign director (adam@alarise.org)

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.

Alabamians have shorter lifespans, worse health and lower pay than people in other states. These disparities are bad for all Alabamians, and they are significantly worse for women and Black and Hispanic people.

To move Alabama toward an economic structure that values worker well-being and uplifts workers’ voices in their workplaces, Alabama Arise is working to advance policies to improve working conditions and stop common types of worker abuse. These policies include:

  • Remove tax incentives from bad-actor companies that break the law and violate workers’ rights. Our state hands out corporate tax breaks that often lack key accountability mechanisms to ensure companies are creating good jobs with this public money. This amount can reach into the hundreds of millions for individual companies, including some money that ends up benefiting companies that violate child labor laws. Arise will support a bill to remove tax incentives from companies that benefit from illegal – and often physically dangerous – employment of children, and to deny them eligibility for future incentives.
  • Expand paid leave to cover more workers and apply to more needs. Lawmakers last year implemented paid parental leave for state workers, K-12 teachers and staff, and two-year college workers. Arise will seek to keep momentum going to expand paid family leave to cover more workers across Alabama and to apply to additional caregiving needs.
  • Create protections for temp workers. Temp workers are routinely subject to greater abuses than the working population generally. This tiered system pays temp workers poorly, undermines worker solidarity and mires them in insecurity. Arise will support policies to improve conditions for temp workers and boost pathways for them to transition into more permanent roles.

Working Alabamians are the heart of our economy. Improving working conditions and empowering workers will build a better, more vibrant future for everyone.

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

By Carol Gundlach

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 state’s income tax is almost flat for all but the lowest-paid families, so we rely too heavily on steeply regressive sales taxes to fund K-12 schools and higher education. And Alabama gives generous income tax breaks to wealthy individuals and highly profitable corporations. This includes a full deduction for federal income tax (FIT) payments, which provides the largest benefits to the wealthiest few. Alabama is the only state that still allows this deduction.

Alabama’s property taxes are capped at low rates, providing huge tax breaks to highly profitable multistate corporations that own much of the timber acreage in the state. And our corporate income tax structure gives big tax breaks to large manufacturers and industries.

The result is an upside-down tax system that requires the most from those with the least. Alabamians with low and moderate incomes pay nearly 12% of their incomes in state and local taxes on average, while the wealthiest pay just 5.4% on average.

The state’s tax structure hurts everyday Alabamians who are struggling to make ends meet. It also fails to generate enough revenue for basic needs like education and health care. Arise members voted to prioritize these essential tax reforms for 2026:

  • Untax groceries by removing the remaining 2% state sales tax on food.
  • Pursue replacement tax revenue for our public schools and other critical state needs, including capping or eliminating the federal income tax (FIT) deduction. This break disproportionately slashes taxes for the wealthy and costs our education budget more than $1 billion each year.
  • Oppose further tax expenditures for private education while protecting revenue that supports public schools.
  • Explore and support comprehensive income tax reforms that raise needed revenue to invest in essential state services while reducing taxes overall for Alabamians with low and moderate incomes.

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

By Dev Wakeley

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.

In 2021, lawmakers spent $400 million of federal COVID-19 aid money on prison construction instead of building systems that address overcrowding and reduce the number of prison cells needed. This type of punitive focus, at the expense of rehabilitation, enables widespread exploitation of people who are incarcerated. It also failed to address the longstanding abuses in  Alabama’s prisons and jails, as the harrowing HBO documentary The Alabama Solution recently showed the world.

Alabama Arise supports efforts to improve all parts of the state’s justice system. Policies we will support in the 2026 legislative session include:

  • Make Alabama’s judicial override ban retroactive. A 2017 state law barred judges from sentencing defendants in capital murder cases to death if a jury recommends a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. But the ban did not apply to people sentenced to death before the law’s enactment. More than two dozen people sent to death row under this now-illegal practice remain there today.
  • Reform the Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA). Lawmakers should modernize sentencing practices to ensure the state does not impose prison sentences that are wildly disproportionate to the offense. The HFOA, a relic of long-discredited oversentencing practices, keeps people locked up long after they are ready for release. That practice contributes to overcrowding and violence in prisons. It also facilitates abuses similar to those under the state’s old convict leasing system, a racist practice implemented after Reconstruction ended.
  • Repair the state’s broken Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board modified release guidelines in 2025 to try to insulate itself from criticism for its persistent failure to release people who are ready to rejoin society. Previously, the board released fewer than 30% of petitioners who its own guidelines recommended for release.

Arise will continue advocating for the Legislature to reject shortsighted policies that enable human rights abuses. We will urge lawmakers to work instead to build a more sensible justice system for Alabama that protects public safety and respects human rights.

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

By Dev Wakeley

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.

The court’s Shelby County v. Holder ruling in 2012 weakened the Voting Rights Act significantly. After that decision, Alabama no longer was required to get federal permission (known as preclearance) before changing its voting rules. Since then, the state has acted repeatedly to make it harder for many people to vote.

Alabama Arise supports legislation to increase participation in our democracy by removing barriers to voting. In 2026, we will support legislative solutions including::

  • No-excuse absentee voting. This would remove the need for voters to specify a reason for absentee voting.
  • Early voting. This would give voters more time to participate in elections.
  • Greater accessibility for voters with disabilities. Lawmakers should remove recent legal barriers that could have a chilling effect on people and groups acting in good faith to help voters who request assistance with absentee voting.
  • Lift barriers to voting rights restoration. Legislators should require relevant state agencies to post information to assist disenfranchised Alabamians in navigating the process to restore their voting rights.

Bills requiring agencies to share info on voter rights restoration processes have advanced during previous sessions. This legislation would be an important next step toward increasing civic participation.

Alabama has a painful history of enacting policies that have made voting more inaccessible for older adults, people with disabilities, and Black and Hispanic people. Lawmakers should turn away from this harmful, divisive path and work instead to pass pro-democracy reforms to remove barriers to voting. These improvements would move our state away from its shameful past and toward a brighter future where every Alabamian can have a say in our democracy and stay engaged in the policymaking process.

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

By LaTrell Clifford Wood

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.

Food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are especially important to help struggling families make ends meet and keep food on the table across our state. And school meals provide vital nutrition for hundreds of thousands of children, helping them learn and grow.

In 2026, Alabama Arise will support stronger investments in child nutrition. This includes legislation to ensure continued funding for SUN Bucks and increased flexibility for schools to provide no-cost meals to all of their students. Arise also will advocate to protect SNAP and oppose additional red tape for participants.

SNAP threats grow, even as food prices continue to rise

SNAP benefits lapsed for the first time ever amid a federal government shutdown in November 2025. This lapse temporarily left more than 750,000 Alabamians without food assistance. In Alabama, more than 67% of SNAP participants are in families with children, while more than 39% of participants are in families with an older adult or a person with a disability.

HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, poses longer-term federal threats to SNAP. The law shifts costs to states while limiting or ending access for many families with children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities. In Alabama, lawmakers will have to appropriate $35 million a year to cover the larger share of administrative costs shifted to the state.

People seeking asylum (including those fleeing domestic violence) who are legally in the United States will no longer be eligible for SNAP, with few exemptions. Some people between ages 60 and 65 who have received special SNAP benefits may face more barriers to participation. And people who purchase groceries with SNAP will continue to receive an average of only $6 a day indefinitely, even as prices continue to increase.

Under HR 1, the following groups will no longer be exempt from burdensome work reporting requirements to receive SNAP benefits:

  • Veterans 
  • People with disabilities
  • People experiencing homelessness 
  • Young adults who age out of foster care
  • Adults in households with children as young as 14
  • People aged 55 to 64

Some state lawmakers are proposing even more SNAP limits. Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Montgomery, has prefiled HB 31, which would restrict the items that SNAP benefits can purchase.

We must continue to expand access to school meals

Arise members voted overwhelmingly to support increased access to no-cost school meals in 2026. School meals are an especially vital lifeline for families experiencing hunger. School meals also help ensure a stable learning environment for all Alabama children.

Since 2019, nearly 270,000 Alabama children have gained access to no-cost school meals, nearly doubling access. More than 2 in 3 Alabama students attend a school that offers no-cost school meals, according to the Food Research and Action Center. 

During the same time period:

  • 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).
  • Alabama is one of two states where public school fourth-graders are scoring higher in both reading and math than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, PARCA found.
  • Among Alabama students in grades 3-8, both students who are experiencing poverty and those who are not saw improvements in both math and reading performance from 2019-24, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard compiled by researchers from Harvard University and Stanford University. 

Providing school breakfast at all public schools would be an important step to improve child nutrition and student success. School breakfast reduces chronic absenteeism, improves standardized testing and math scores and reduces behavioral problems.

The Legislature appropriated $7.3 million in 2025 to expand access to no-cost school breakfasts for more public schools. More than 190,000 children in schools across Alabama benefited last fall from this investment in making school meals more readily available.

Alabama schools served 2.8 million more school meals last year than in 2024. We must continue to improve upon these investments to ensure every Alabama child has an opportunity to learn and grow to their fullest potential.

SUN Bucks are a summer lifeline for Alabama children

Arise members sent thousands of messages to their legislators in 2024, advocating successfully for the state administrative funding needed to implement SUN Bucks (a.k.a. Summer EBT). Alabama administered the SUN Bucks program for the first time in summer 2025.

Children were automatically eligible to receive SUN Bucks if the child’s household received assistance under Medicaid, SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and/or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or if the child was in foster care or experiencing homelessness.

The program was a resounding success in its first year. In 2025, 476,000 Alabama children received $120 to purchase groceries over the summer months. That money reduced hunger and boosted the economy. Both SNAP and SUN Bucks generate $1.50 to $1.80 in local economic activity for every dollar spent. In 2025 alone, SUN Bucks had a $85.5 million to $102.6 million impact on Alabama’s economy.

Bottom line

School meals, SNAP and SUN Bucks are good for families and good for the economy. Alabama must continue to invest in these vital nutrition programs in 2026 and beyond.

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

By Alabama Arise

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.

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

By Carol Gundlach

Strong funding for public services like education and public health broadens opportunity for everyone, especially for Alabamians with low incomes. Alabama Arise members for decades have urged robust and secure state funding for these services. Arise members’ top budget priorities for 2026 include:

Public school funding

Lawmakers made important improvements to Alabama’s K-12 funding formula last year by passing the RAISE Act. The law provides additional funding for public schools that serve larger shares of students who are experiencing poverty or who have special needs. But because local property tax collections vary greatly, large resource gaps still remain in many districts.

The CHOOSE Act poses a major and growing threat to adequate funding for public schools. This law allows parents to receive up to $7,000 per child for private school and up to $2,000 for homeschooling each year. The law diverts $100 million of state money from public schools each year. But legislators could face intense pressure to increase that amount once the income limits for eligibility disappear starting in 2027.

Another key step to invest more in education would be to end or limit the state deduction for federal income tax (FIT) payments. Alabama is the only state that still allows this deduction, which is a tax break skewed heavily in favor of wealthy households.

Affordable housing

Alabama lacks more than 73,000 homes for households below the federal poverty line, leaving many residents without a safe, affordable place to live. Lawmakers created the Alabama Housing Trust Fund in 2012, but they have failed thus far to fund it. Arise will continue working to secure state funding for affordable housing and identify policy changes to strengthen housing support statewide.

Public transportation

Inadequate public transportation prevents thousands of Alabamians from meeting basic needs. Unreliable public transit can cause workers to be late for work, putting their jobs at risk. It can also force patients to miss critical medical treatments, worsening their health and adding to the state’s rural health crisis.

The Legislature created the Alabama Public Transportation Trust Fund in 2018 but has failed to fund it. A constitutional amendment also prevents gas tax money from being used for public transit. Arise will continue advocating for state funding for public transportation and will explore innovative solutions for both funding and service provision across Alabama.

Alabamians’ health care costs will soar in 2026 if Congress doesn’t act now

By Debbie Smith

The clock is ticking: Enhanced Marketplace subsidies expire this year!

The enhanced Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTCs) that have made health insurance more affordable for hundreds of thousands of Alabamians are set to expire at the end of 2025. If Congress doesn’t act now, premiums for families, small business owners and people who buy their own insurance will skyrocket — forcing many to give up their high-quality health coverage and leaving many of them uninsured.

Since 2021, these expanded subsidies have helped more than 300,000 additional Alabamians enroll in coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace (healthcare.gov) created under the Affordable Care Act. They’ve also helped reduce the burden of unpaid medical bills on hospitals and providers. Without action, we risk reversing this progress. Congress must act NOW to keep coverage affordable and accessible for all.

What’s at stake for Alabama?

‍‍ Who would be hit the hardest?

  • Small business owners and self-employed Alabamians: More than 65,000 receive their health coverage through the Marketplace.
  • Older adults and families with lower incomes would bear the brunt of skyrocketing premiums. For example, a 60-year-old Alabama couple making $82,000 would see their annual premiums for a benchmark plan increase from $6,970 to more than $27,267.
  • Households earning as little as $15,650 per year for an individual or $32,000 per year for a family of four could be priced out of coverage altogether.

Congress must act NOW

Enhanced APTCs must be extended to protect affordable health coverage for hundreds of thousands of Alabamians. Sign our petition to members of Alabama’s congressional delegation to demand they extend enhanced premium tax credits. 

Know your rights: Alabama’s new paid parental leave benefits for educators and state employees

By Alabama Arise

It’s a new day for Alabama families. As of July 1, 2025, if you are an employee of the state of Alabama, a local education agency, the Alabama Community College System or any of its institutions, you have new protections to help take care of your child and maintain your economic security under SB 199. Below is more information on what this law will mean for you.

What does SB 199 do?

  • SB 199 provides paid parental leave to state employees and employees of a local education agency, the Alabama Community College System or any of its institutions.
    • Mothers may receive eight weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, stillbirth or miscarriage of a child that occurs on or after July 1, 2025. 
    • Fathers may receive two weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, stillbirth or miscarriage of a child that occurs on or after July 1, 2025. 
    • The bill also allows eligible employees to take eight weeks of paid parental leave for the legal adoption that occurs on or after July 1, 2025, of a child who is aged 3 or younger at the time of placement with the eligible employee.
  • Eligible employees will receive 100% of their regular salary during this leave.

Am I covered?

  • The law covers eligible employees in Alabama who have been employed for at least 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the occurrence of a qualifying event. 
  • The following employees may be eligible:
    • Certified or uncertified employees of a local education agency (including the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind),
    • Legislative personnel, officers and employees,
    • Court officials and employees of the Unified Judicial System,
    • Employees of the Alabama Community College System or any of the educational institutions under its authority and control, and
    • Certain other specified categories of workers.

What constitutes a qualifying life event?

  • The birth, stillbirth or miscarriage of a child or the legal adoption of a child who is aged 3 or younger at the time of placement with the eligible employee constitutes a qualifying life event for paid parental leave.
  • The paid parental leave must be taken either within 365 days of the qualifying event or within 365 days of the eligible employee first taking parental leave for a qualifying event, whichever occurs sooner.
  • Paid parental leave may be taken only once in a 365-day period, no matter how many qualifying events you may experience in a year.
  • Any unused paid parental leave cannot be carried over for future use during subsequent qualifying events or be otherwise paid out to the eligible employee.
  • Covered employees may elect to take paid parental leave intermittently to bond with their child over a more extended time period, as long as this agreement is in place with their employer prior to starting leave. The eligible employee must maintain a continuing parental role with any child whose birth or adoption was a qualifying event.

If both parents are eligible employees, can they each take paid parental leave?

  • Yes. If both parents work for the state, a local education agency, the Alabama Community College System or any of its institutions, they each may be able to take the applicable amount of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, stillbirth or miscarriage of their child. (See above.) In the case of legal adoption, if both parents are eligible employees, one parent may take eight weeks of paid leave and the other may take two weeks, regardless of sex.

How do I request paid parental leave benefits?

  • You should contact your supervisor or the employing entity to request paid parental leave in writing with a plan of your intended use and any other leave you intend to take. 
  • You also must agree in writing to the employing entity that you agree not to separate from employment for at least eight weeks following the conclusion of any leave taken in connection with the qualifying event. However, this may be waived in circumstances where you are unable to return to work due to a serious health condition or you are caring for an immediate family member’s serious health condition.

Can this leave be used for my pregnancy-related health needs prior to giving birth?

  • It depends. Paid parental leave can be used in connection with the birth, stillbirth or miscarriage of your child or the adoption of a young child in certain situations. Here are some examples: 
  • Attending prenatal appointments or other visits to a health care provider due to the expected birth of a child.
  • Being hospitalized in expectation of the birth or due to a condition caused by or related to the expected birth.
  • Requesting leave that is otherwise required due to a health care provider’s order to limit physical activity prior to the expected birth.
  • Meeting with an attorney regarding the adoption of the child, or hosting in-home visits necessary for the completion of the adoption.
  • Attending judicial proceedings or counseling sessions regarding the adoption.
  • Submitting to a physical exam as it relates to the adoption.
  • Traveling to another country to complete an adoption.

 

  • You may be able to use other forms of accrued time off or request time off or other accommodations under federal laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) or Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). Learn more at abetterbalance.org/states/alabama.

How does paid parental leave interact with FMLA and Alabama unpaid family leave?

  • If you qualify for FMLA and unpaid family leave under Alabama state law, paid parental leave will run concurrently with FMLA and Alabama unpaid family leave.

Do I have to use sick or vacation days beforehand?

  • No. Under this law, paid parental leave is provided in addition to any accrued paid or unpaid sick, vacation or medical leave. 
  • You do not have to use your vacation or sick days before taking paid parental leave.

Questions? Call A Better Balance’s free, confidential legal helpline at 833-NEED-ABB (833-633-3222) to speak with an attorney about your workplace rights.

What we know about the SNAP changes in the new federal budget law

By Carol Gundlach

The federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act does not immediately cut or end food assistance benefits for people who now receive them. People who are now getting food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should continue receiving their monthly benefits normally for the foreseeable future, just as they have in the past. But the law likely will harm many participants and strain state budgets in coming years.

The act includes three major types of changes to SNAP. An overview of each category is below.

1. Changes that affect state budgets

Beginning in the 2026 regular session, the Alabama Legislature will have to appropriate an estimated $35 million in new funding for SNAP administration. This is because the act will require states to cover 75% of SNAP administrative costs, up from the current 50%.

Beginning in the 2027 regular session, the Alabama Legislature will have to appropriate an estimated $172 million in new funding for SNAP benefits. This amount could be smaller or larger each year based on annual changes in the state’s SNAP “error rate,” which includes both overpayments and underpayments of SNAP benefits. The error rate is not a measurement of fraud.

The act includes a sliding scale that requires states to pay for anywhere from 0% to 15% of SNAP benefits, depending on the state’s SNAP error rate. Based on Alabama’s most recent error rate, the state would have to cover 10% of the cost of SNAP benefits, or roughly $172 million.

If Alabama lawmakers could not or would not provide the required state share of funding, the state would have to reduce the number of SNAP participants or opt out of the program entirely. Eliminating SNAP would end food assistance for more than 750,000 Alabamians who participate in the program.

Deep SNAP cuts like those would send hunger rates soaring in a state where roughly 1 in 6 people – including nearly 1 in 4 children – already struggle with food insecurity, meaning they do not always have enough to eat or know where they are going to get their next meal.

Severe SNAP cuts also could be financially devastating for many grocery stores and other retailers. If those stores responded to the revenue loss by shutting down or reducing their hours of operation, that would decrease food access in communities across our state, particularly in rural areas.

2. Changes that place new requirements and limits on more people who participate in SNAP

Many veterans, people who are experiencing homelessness and young adults who were in foster care as children may have to comply with work reporting requirements.

Adults in a household with children aged 14 or older may have to comply with work reporting requirements. We don’t know exactly when this change will happen, but people who will be affected will get notice and an opportunity to ask for an exemption.

People who are between ages 55 and 64 may have to comply with work reporting requirements. We don’t know exactly when this change will happen, but people who will be affected will get notice and an opportunity to ask for an exemption.

Some people between 60 and 65 who have received special SNAP benefits for older adults under the Alabama Elderly Simplified Application Project (AESAP) may face additional barriers to participation.

Many people who are legally in the United States as refugees or asylum seekers may no longer be eligible for SNAP. We don’t know exactly when this change will happen, but people in these categories who are participating in SNAP now should continue to get their benefits until notified of a change.

3. Changes that likely will reduce the amount of SNAP assistance over time

The law will prohibit the federal government from changing the amount of SNAP assistance by updating the USDA’s “Thrifty Food Plan,” except to keep up with inflation. The Thrifty Food Plan is used as the basis for determining SNAP benefit amounts each year. This change will reduce SNAP assistance over time but won’t affect current benefit levels.