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Fact Sheet
Public Utility Regulation Without the Public
There has not been a public rate case for the Alabama Power Company (“Alabama Power” or “the Company”) in 30 years. Instead, the Alabama Public Service Commission (“PSC” or “the Commission”) has a regulatory process that allows Alabama Power to adjust its charges each year without any public evidentiary hearings and, indeed, without any participation [...]
Fact Sheet
Against the tide: The death penalty in Alabama
In Alabama, the death penalty is a curious exception to concerns about government efficiency. When it comes to executing people, a majority of Alabamians appear to trust the government to get it right every time. Lack of transparency in our capital punishment system prompts little public comment. Similarly, on the fiscal side, calls for reducing Alabama's [...]
Fact Sheet
No-frills Alabama Medicaid brings health care, jobs
Alabamians often are surprised to learn that Medicaid is a major engine for the state's economy. Medicaid creates thousands of jobs, supports rural hospitals and the state's only children's hospital, pays for medical equipment that all patients use, boosts tax revenue in local communities and enhances our quality of life. Medicaid touches the lives of average [...]
Fact Sheet
Ending the state grocery tax and protecting schools
Alabama's tax system is upside down, and the state sales tax on groceries is one reason why. Alabama remains one of only two states -- the other is Mississippi -- with no tax break on groceries. Food costs consume a larger portion of the household budget for low-income families than for those who are better off, so [...]
Fact Sheet
A temporary halt: Alabama’s executions
Alabama has a long and tangled history with the death penalty. A Tuskegee University archive preserves the grim evidence of the "lynch law" that long terrorized African Americans. The state's historic enthusiasm for legal executions, which remains strong, bears the stain of racism as well. One measure of the problem is the frequency of national court [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama bound: Our unjust 1901 constitution
Advocates for a new Alabama constitution have been divided for decades over how best to achieve that goal. Some have wanted to hold a convention at which elected delegates would craft a new constitution all at once, subject to voter approval. Others have favored a gradual, article-by-article rewrite. A recent development may render the debate moot, at [...]
News Releases
ACPP Report: Alabama Workers to Feel Recession’s Fallout for Years
Many of the pathways Alabamians traditionally have used to get ahead have become more difficult to travel in the wake of the Great Recession, according to The State of Working Alabama 2011, a new Arise Citizens’ Policy Project report released today. Falling median household income, stagnating wages and soaring college costs have made it tougher [...]
Report
The State of Working Alabama 2011
Well after the nation's official recovery from the Great Recession began, Alabama continued to feel the downturn's lingering effects in 2010: lower median household incomes, more poverty and more residents without health insurance. Unemployment has fallen from its 2009 peak, but the state's jobless rate remains above the national average. Higher poverty, fueled by lower incomes [...]
Fact Sheet
A tax on survival: Grocery tax policies in America
Food takes a much bigger bite out of the household budget for low-income families than for richer ones, and sales taxes on groceries thus hit harder at lower incomes. In recognition of this fact, most states either have exempted groceries from state sales taxes entirely or have devised ways to help offset grocery taxes for low-income [...]
Fact Sheet
Hands on: Alabama’s adult workforce development
As Alabama recovers from a recession that undercut a wave of record economic growth and employment, workforce development policymakers face a two-fold challenge: getting thousands of Alabamians back to work and gearing up the broader workforce for systemic changes in the economy. This fact sheet offers an overview of skills training programs and related components of Alabama's [...]