Photo by Eric Taunton
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This month’s luncheon for the Homewood Chamber of Commerce saw two state senators and a state representative give a legislative update to guests.
State Representative David Faulkner, state Senator Dan Roberts and state Senator Jabo Waggoner shared the podium to discuss Alabama’s progress as well as its future at the luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Waggoner reminded chamber members of the Nov. 8 congressional midterm elections this year and urged them to make sure to understand what and who they’re voting for.
“Seven weeks from today, the people in this room and all over this state will go to the polls and vote in a very important election,” Waggoner said. “It is a huge election in the history of our state. There are some constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot and hope everyone reads, studies and understands those.”
Waggoner said it’s important to understand a candidate’s governmental philosophy, belief system and their friends.
“You can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep,” Waggoner said. “Do not go to the polls and vote blindly. Don’t go thinking ‘oh, I like his name’ or ‘I know his mother-in-law.’ Find out what they believe, their political philosophies, their religious philosophies, anything you can find out about a person before you go vote.”
Roberts said the House of Representatives for Alabama have been hard at work to make state businesses more competitive.
A committee was formed, he said, that created a bill called the Alabama Business Competitiveness Tax.
The bill has three objectives, including addressing state taxation of critical pandemic-related grants and relief fund so that taxpayers can be assured that they will not face an unexpected state tax that the federal government provides, ensure Alabama companies are incentivized to promote job growth in the state and remove potential impediments to continue growth of businesses “which might have otherwise resulted from unexpected Alabama taxes associated with recent federal tax legislation,” Roberts said.
Faulkner broke down the state’s FY 23 budget as it stands today as well as the percentage of the money being allocated to different state infrastructures:
Education: 52% ($7.98 billion)
Medicaid: 12% ($1.89 billion)
Transportation: 5.35% ($814.90 million)
Public Health: 2.21% ($335.90 million)
Corrections: 4.60% ($699.48 million)
Human Resources: 2.64% ($402.26 million)
Mental Health: 2.85% ($433.39 million)
In his closing remarks, Faulkner said he likes to tell people at events that, for the most part, are united as a community.
“We really don’t have that in Montgomery,” Faulkner said. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when people are upset with one another but what you see, particularly with what’s going on in Washington, is not what's going on in Montgomery, for the most part."
