By Paul DeMarco
As we look back at the past year, there are a lot of political stories that made the headlines in Alabama.
The United States Supreme Court ruling against the Legislature’s reapportionment of the Congressional Districts was historic in nature. State Representatives and Senators had to go back and redraw the maps to create a second majority minority district. Attorney General Steve Marshal is still litigating the case so that story is not over yet. However, we will will have two races we are watching, one for the new district to see if Republicans can hold onto that seat and the other Congressional seat, which pits to GOP incumbents against each other.
As crime has spiked, it has become incumbent on state leaders to address public safety and lawmakers did address some of that this past legislative session. A number of very important bills passed the Alabama Legislature in 2023 that will provide for improved public safety, including stiffer penalties for fentanyl trafficking, enhancement of punishment for gang violence, and changing the application of good time laws to certain violent felons reducing their early release.
The reduction of the grocery tax, after decades of debate in the Alabama Legislature, was a long time coming. One cent of the four cents was removed and there is hope that another cent will go away this year. You can anticipate that in the next couple of years there will be an effort to erase all of the state tax on food, but for now it was a big lift that finally crossed the hurdle by state leaders this past year.
Alabama State Representatives and Senators also passed the largest budgets in state history by allocating the remaining federal COVID-19 dollars and additional tax revenues following an increase in those revenues. The legislators funded new programs with millions of dollars for public schools in an effort to address the state’s chronic education woes. However, 2023 may go down as the last year for a long time with these record budgets as lean times are ahead.
As the year came to a close, Alabama hosted its first presidential primary for the Republican candidates in Tuscaloosa. This brought the eyes of the Nation on the state and again reinforced Alabama’s reputation as a player in selecting the next occupant of the White House.
This was a big year in Alabama politics, but get ready for another one in 2024, a presidential election year.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on X formerly Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco