Alabama’s Budgets In Good Shape Despite Economic Hit From The Pandemic
Like many states, Alabama’s unemployment rate skyrocketed and the economy sputtered after shutdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the economic turmoil, the state’s two budgets are on reasonably good footing at the moment.
In a presentation to lawmakers last week, the Legislative Services Agency reported tax collections for the General Fund are up about 7% over the previous year. The picture for the Education Trust Fund won’t come into focus until later in July because a major source of funds for Alabama schools is income tax. Alabama’s governor, like the federal government, pushed back the tax filing deadline until July 15th.
LSA Budget Update – 7.9.20 by WBHM News on Scribd
“I won’t say I was surprised,” said Republican Rep. Steve Clouse, who chairs the House General Fund budget committee. “We’ve gotten ourselves in better shape than most states for a couple of reasons.”
Robust tax collections before the COVID-19 shutdown helped. Since then, a jump in the simplified sellers use tax, essentially an online sales tax, made up for losses in oil and gas, lodging and other taxes. For the education budget, legislation passed in the wake of the Great Recession caps how much lawmakers can appropriate to schools, with any extra going to a reserve fund. Those reserves could be used to plug shortfalls in the education budget.
There was discussion of the possibility of a special session later this year to make adjustments to the budgets, but Clouse did not think that will be necessary. He believed the budgets will hold until February, when the legislature is scheduled to return for the next regular session.
Perhaps a bigger obstacle to a special session is the pandemic itself. Lawmakers finished this year’s regular session while trying to implement safety measures such as social distancing. Clouse said having House members spread across the floor and the gallery made conducting the limited business on the agenda cumbersome. Trying to do regular legislative work would be “total chaos.”
Alabama could still feel budget pressure, but in ways that predate the pandemic. The state is under a federal court order to increase staffing in its overcrowded and violent prisons.
“We’ve got a gun to our head by the federal judge,” Clouse said. “There’s only one way you’re going to solve the prison problem and that’s with money.”
Prolonged unemployment could increase costs to Medicaid, which the state has struggled to fund in the past.
Buddhist monks head to DC to finish a ‘Walk for Peace’ that captivated millions
The group of Buddhist monks is set to reach Washington, D.C., on foot Tuesday. The monks in their saffron robes have become fixtures on social media, along with their rescue dog Aloka.
Trump is threatening to block a new bridge between Detroit and Canada from opening
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to block the opening of a new Canadian-built bridge across the Detroit River, in his latest salvo over cross-border trade issues.
Ghislaine Maxwell appeals for clemency from Trump as she declines to answer questions
Maxwell declined to answer questions from House lawmakers on Monday, but indicated that if President Trump ended her sentence, she was willing to testify that neither he nor former President Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.
Lindsey Vonn says she suffered ‘complex tibia fracture’ in her Olympic downhill crash
The 41-year-old star said her torn ACL was not a factor in her crash. "While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets," she wrote.
Guerilla Toss embrace the ‘weird’ on new album
On You're Weird Now, the band leans into difference with help from producer Stephen Malkmus.
Nancy Guthrie search enters its second week as a purported deadline looms
"This is very valuable to us, and we will pay," Savannah Guthrie said in a new video message, seeking to communicate with people who say they're holding her mother.
