Caleb Crosby: Alabama Policy Institute’s 2022 legislative scorecard

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Alabama Policy Institute

Alabama’s state government should be representative, transparent, and accountable. In 2018, Alabamians elected what was at the time considered to be the most conservative legislature in state history. Our government should reflect the conservative principles of the people it represents.

But is that what citizens have gotten over the past four years? While there have been victories for those of us who are socially conservative, the historic expansion of government is far from conservative.

Over the past four years, Alabama’s government grew by more than a third. That’s a faster pace than states like California and New York. Meanwhile, our neighbors in Mississippi have increased spending by just 5.5 percent, and Georgia has actually reduced the size of its government. That’s not what voters expected or hoped for back in 2018, and it impacts all aspects of our lives.

The API Watchlist is intended to be a tool for accountability. It’s a way for the people of Alabama to know if their lawmakers are striving toward the conservative principles that so many Alabamians stand for or if they are ignoring them willingly.

Through the API policy platform released earlier this year, lawmakers were warned that they would be held accountable for their out-of-control spending habits. Alabama’s government started the 2022 Regular Session with a historic revenue surplus: 1.5 billion dollars. That’s on top of tens of billions of federal dollars that have flowed directly and indirectly to the state through bloated federal stimulus bills.

What did they do with that money? They passed the largest budgets in state history. Despite taking more taxes than ever from Alabamians’ pockets in 2021, our governor and legislators only sacrificed 1.3 percent of that revenue towards targeted tax cuts. Other southern states are lowering the tax burden of citizens. Georgia is cutting taxes by 2 billion dollars over the next few years. Mississippi began the process of phasing out its state income tax and reduced the grocery tax during the 2022 legislative session.

Our legislature did not do enough. Many of us will see no benefit from these woefully inadequate tax cuts.

While certain bills are listed as “key votes,” they are not an exhaustive list of bills API supported. The Vulnerable Child Compassion Act and Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Act are important wins for Alabamians.

Another bright spot was the passage of Constitutional Carry legislation, a popular issue with most Alabamians.

Linked below are the results to this year’s Watchlist. API is hopeful that this scorecard will be helpful to the people of Alabama. As the 2022 primary and general election season draws near, we hope it will help you determine if your legislator is representing your values. If they are not, in just a few weeks, you have an opportunity to let your voice be heard and start the process of reshaping Alabama’s government to align with its people’s values more closely.

That is what the principles of democracy and conservatism are all about.

Caleb Crosby is President and CEO of Alabama Policy Institute.