Support for Gas Tax Increase Uncertain Among State Lawmakers

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2015/09/Alabama-Capitol-Building.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:300;s:4:"file";s:36:"2015/09/Alabama-Capitol-Building.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:5:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"Alabama-Capitol-Building-336x168.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:168;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"Alabama-Capitol-Building-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:34:"Alabama-Capitol-Building-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"Alabama-Capitol-Building-470x235.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:235;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"Alabama-Capitol-Building-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Carol M. Highsmith
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] =>  Library of Congress
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:232579;s:14:"optimized_size";i:96570;s:7:"percent";d:58.479999999999997;}s:5:"sizes";a:8:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:64:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/09/Alabama-Capitol-Building.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:228580;s:14:"optimized_size";i:92607;s:7:"percent";d:59.490000000000002;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:6:"medium";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:70:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/09/Alabama-Capitol-Building-80x80.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:3999;s:14:"optimized_size";i:3963;s:7:"percent";d:0.90000000000000002;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

    [_edit_lock] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1581971443:113
        )

    [_edit_last] => Array
        (
            [0] => 113
        )

)
1664522463 
1551872879

In many ways, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s State of the State address Tuesday was typical. She outlined an array of legislative priorities, and she touted the state’s accomplishments in the employment and technology sectors. But shortly after finishing her speech, she issued a call for a special session for lawmakers to consider her proposal to increase the state’s gas tax. That special session starts Wednesday morning.

Ivey’s plan would increase the tax 10 cents over three years and would support road and bridge projects. Alabama’s gas tax has not increased since 1992. WBHM’s Andrew Yeager spoke with Montgomery Advertiser state government reporter Brian Lyman about the special session and Ivey’s speech.

Interview Highlights

Reaction to the special session from lawmakers:

“For the most part leadership is more than happy to do this because I think in the Senate the gas tax seems to have broad support. The real question is in the Alabama House where there seems to be a lack of consensus in both the Republican and Democratic caucuses for pushing this tax. There’s probably a solid core of Republican representatives who are just fully opposed to this tax … There’s a number of representatives who just want to see how things are going.”

Why Ivey would call a special session:

“The value for supporters of a gas tax will be that usually in a regular session there’s a procedural hurdle that requires a three-fifths vote of each chamber to bring a bill to the floor for a vote. In a special session you can bring any bill to the floor, you’d only need a simple majority. That’s the thinking behind calling a special session. It’ll make it easier to get this thing passed. It’s very rare to do a special session within a session. I can’t think of any over the past 10 years.”

Other highlights from Ivey’s speech:

“She called for raises for both teachers and state employees [four percent for teachers and 2-percent for state employees] …Other thing was the governor’s calling for $31 million to hire new personnel for the state’s prisons, which are wracked with violence and are having a difficult time holding onto correctional officers both due to the violence and the low pay. The corrections system is under what is in effect a court order to hire more than 2,000 more staffers in the next three years. Corrections wants to hire 500 this year. We have a really strong economy and it’s going to be very hard to bring in even close to 500 correctional officers without considerably sweetening the pay and benefits.”

 

YouTube agrees to pay Trump $24 million to settle lawsuit over Jan. 6 suspension

YouTube is the latest social media company to pay Trump tens of millions of dollars to resolve lawsuits brought before he returned to power. The money will fund a new ballroom at the White House.

From painting to producing: Birmingham DJ Andrea Really releases first album

Birmingham DJ Andrea Really wasn't always a music producer. She used to be a prolific painter. But when her art studio burned down in 2017, she pivoted careers. Really spoke with WBHM about that journey upon the release of her first album this summer, called Zeitgeist.

A year after Helene, a group of raft guides embarks on a river clean-up mission

A popular rafting river in the Appalachian mountains is still closed a year after Hurricane Helene, because there's just too much debris. Now, rafting guides have come together to help clean it up.

Lesotho’s Famo music: from shepherd songs to gang wars

In Lesotho, a style of traditional accordion music called Famo has become entangled with deadly gang rivalries. Once the soundtrack of shepherds and migrant workers, today it's linked to killings, government bans — and a fight over cultural identity.

Comic Cristela Alonzo grew up in fear of border patrol. ICE has ‘brought it all back’

For the first seven years of her life, Alonzo lived in an abandoned diner in a south Texas border town. Her new Netflix stand-up special is called Upper Classy.

Compass-Anywhere real estate merger could squeeze small brokerages

The deal, announced earlier this week, would combine the two largest U.S. residential brokerages by sales volume.

More 2019 Legislative Session Coverage