With the Legislative session winding down, we have a short roundup of items that received final approval from the Legislature and now await Gov. Ivey’s pen.
We’ll also see what dish won the Alabama Seafood Cook-Off and decide whether it might stack up to my favorite seafood dish, which I call “Whatever I Catch Fried With Hush Puppies Cheese Grits and Cole Slaw.”
Also, listen to the podcast that follows for an explainer on the new federal noncompete rules.
The newsletter begins below.
More Medicaid, prison, mental-health spending
No more than two meeting days are left in the Alabama Legislative session. We’re going to hit a few highlights coming out of yesterday’s action.
First, the big one. AL.com’s Mike Cason reports that the state Senate gave final approval to the General Fund budget. That’s the budget for the non-education agencies for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. It already came through the House of Representatives and now is with Gov. Kay Ivey for her approval.
The total is $3.4 billion, a $360 million increase.
Lawmakers added $92 million to the Alabama Medicaid Agency, taking it to $955 million. House Ways and Means General Fund Committee Chairman Rex Reynolds said that increase fills a void left by federal pandemic money that’s gone away. The Department of Corrections is looking at a $75 million increase, and the Department of Mental Health is getting a $23 million increase. Those are both nearly 10-percent increases.
The Education Fund budget is still cooking in a conference committee that’s trying to iron out some differences between the House and Senate.
More from the Capitol
Also sent to the governor’s desk is a bill that sets some timelines for state agencies to respond to requests for public records. Previously the public records law acknowledged the public’s right to receive copies of public records, but there have been no timelines, and frankly some request fulfillments could’ve been measured by carbon dating. The Alabama Press Association supported the bill.
And one more bill receiving final approval: A measure allowing childcare providers, for-profit or not-for-profit, to apply for tax credits, and more help for facilities that improve their quality. AL.com’s Alaina Bookman reports that there’s a dual goal here of bringing down the cost of childcare and putting more people to work.
Girls’ flag football
The Atlanta Falcons of the NFL are giving grants to some high schools in Alabama to help them begin girls flag-football programs.
The amount of the grants wasn’t specified by the NFL, but if affects 20 Alabama high schools: Austin, Brewbaker Tech, Carver, Clark-Shaw, Decatur, Elberta, Ellwood Christian, Enterprise, Foley, Hazel Green, Marbury, Monroe County, Montevallo, Mountain Brook, Pell City, Percy Julian, Robertsdale, Spanish Fort, Tallassee and Wilcox Central.
Alabama currently has 113 high schools participating in the newly AHSAA-sanctioned sport.
A fish dish
A chef from about as far as you can get from saltwater in Alabama won the Alabama Seafood Cook-Off, reports AL.com’s Lawrence Specker.
Kyle Ogden of the Florence restaurant Odette won the annual statewide competition this week at The Wharf in Orange Beach by preparing a pompano filet with a crab and shrimp mousse. He calls the dish “Spring Tide” and it won him $2,500. He’ll now represent the state this summer at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans.
Quoting
“At a local level, our hands are tied as far as being able or legally allowed to regulate guns. The state of Alabama has chosen to go in the direction of no one even needs a permit. People can ride around with any type of guns.”
More Alabama News
- Woman’s murder charge dropped as slain husband’s family speaks up for her
- Guntersville day care closes after 2 workers allegedly had criminal ‘interactions with children’
- Reba McEntire to Alabama ‘Voice’ performer: ‘God put you on this Earth to sing’
- ‘Gods in Alabama’ book to be made into new Amazon series
- One Alabama-brewed beer earns medal at prestigious World Beer Cup competition
Born on This Date
In 1783, Thomas Bibb, our state’s second governor. He rose from Senate President to the governor’s office when our first governor, Bibb’s brother William Wyatt Bibb, fell off a horse and died.
In 1940, singer-songwriter Toni Tennille, once part of the husband-and-wife duo Captain & Tennille. She’s originally from Montgomery.
On the Podcast
Jonathan Sobolewski explains the new federal noncompete rules.
You can find “Down in Alabama” wherever you get your podcasts, including these places:
- Apple podcast page
- YouTube podcast page
- Spotify podcast page
- Alexa skill page on Amazon
- Amazon Music podcast page