Ivey overhauls Birmingham Water Works Board amid cries of racial discrimination
Gov. Kay Ivey delivers her State of the State address on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.
By Safiyah Riddle
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The city of Birmingham is one step closer to losing control over Alabama’s largest water utility after the governor signed a bill on Wednesday that would give more power to neighboring suburbs, despite a pending federal lawsuit alleging the move would constitute racial discrimination.
The bill redistributes power from Birmingham city officials — who currently appoint a majority of the nine-person board — to the governor, the lieutenant governor and the surrounding four counties that are also in the board’s jurisdiction. It also reduces the number of board members to seven. Board members approve rate hikes and manage infrastructure projects for the utility’s 770,000 customers.
The state Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill, and the House of Representatives approved it along party lines.
“No doubt, this is an important issue to all those residents served by this utility board. The Alabama Legislature overwhelmingly passed SB330, and I was pleased to sign it into law,” Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a written statement.
Proponents of the bill point to frequent rate hikes, old infrastructure and recent scandals. The legislation said that the power transfer will prevent catastrophic events that have happened in cities like Jackson, Mississippi, or Detroit, Michigan.
Opponents say that the restructured board wouldn’t solve the utility’s problems.
“This is a taking of power from the local rate payer by Republican politicians in Montgomery,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have seen this same thing happen in other cities throughout the southeast. Your water and sewer bill will keep going up.”
Five counties rely on the Birmingham Water Works Board. Over 40% of customers are concentrated in the city of Birmingham, and 91% are in Jefferson County. The new system would give more weight to Jefferson County’s neighboring areas that have only a fraction of the customers, but which house some of the reservoirs that supply the system.
Woodfin and city council members filed a federal lawsuit against Ivey on Tuesday, alleging that the legislation “constitutes blatant racial discrimination” because it gives the majority-white suburbs disproportionate influence and takes power away from Birmingham, a majority-Black city where close to half of the utility’s customers live.
Birmingham City Council President Darrell O’Quinn said that the decision exacerbates long-standing tensions in the region.
“Regardless of whether our efforts prevail, the worst, deep-seated fears of the citizens of the City of Birmingham about their suburban neighbors have been confirmed. Old wounds have been reopened. Years of progress have been destroyed,” O’Quinn said.
U.S. Chief District Judge Emily C. Marks declined to temporarily block the bill from going into effect on Tuesday evening without first hearing oral arguments from either side. She set a hearing for May 15.
____
Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Inside a Gaza medical clinic at risk of shutting down after an Israeli ban
A recent Israeli decision to bar Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups means international staff and aid can no longer enter Gaza or the West Bank. Local staff must rely on dwindling supplies and no international expertise.
Iran warns US troops and Israel will be targets if America strikes over protests as death toll rises
Iran's parliament speaker warned the U.S. military and Israel would be "legitimate targets" if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Donald Trump.
Bob Weir, guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at 78
For three decades with the Grateful Dead and three more after the group ended following the 1995 death of his bandmate Jerry Garcia, Weir helped build and sustain the band's legacy across generations.
Nationwide anti-ICE protests call for accountability after Renee Good’s death
Activist organizations are planning at least 1,000 protests and vigils this weekend. Officials in major cities cast Saturday's demonstrations as largely peaceful.
Veteran actor T.K. Carter, known for ‘The Thing’ and ‘Punky Brewster,’ dies at 69
T.K. Carter gained fame as Nauls the cook in John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic, "The Thing."
Who is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince encouraging demonstrations across Iran?
In exile for nearly 50 years, Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has issued calls urging Iranians to join protests sweeping the country. But support for him may not be clear cut.
