Put aside, for the moment, the expected $400 million hole in next year’s General Fund. (The Legislature sure would like to forget about it for awhile.) Lawmakers already have shot down the governor’s proposed solution — paying General Fund costs with Education Trust Fund money. Legislative budget-writers are struggling to craft budgets without tax increases [...]

Most new Alabama governors appoint a task force to write a report on streamlining state government and then let it collect dust. Gov. Robert Bentley and legislative leaders said they are determined not to let that happen. Bentley already has targeted some programs in the executive branch, including one of his own Cabinet members, for [...]

Members of the Alabama Senate today continued carrying out their commitment to prioritizing and passing legislation that will improve the state’s private sector economy. “Leading into the session we pledged to focus first and foremost on proposals that will improve Alabama’s economy and today we continued to pass legislation that will do just that,” said [...]

Legislative Leadership seeks to continue progress with 2012 jobs agenda MONTGOMERY – Alabama is reducing its unemployment rate faster than any state in the nation, which is a testament to the difference pro-growth economic policies can have on job creation, Alabama’s Legislative Leadership said Thursday. Alabama’s unemployment rate for December was 8.1 percent, down from [...]