Alabama Big 10 Mayors announce their 2023 Legislative agenda

On Friday, the Alabama Big 10 Mayors released their legislative agenda for the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative session.

“Policy decisions made in Montgomery have a direct impact on our cities,” the ten mayors said in a joint statement. “And with nearly three out of four Alabamians living either in or around our state’s ten biggest cities, legislation that creates jobs and improves public safety in our communities benefits the vast majority of Alabamians. That’s why we have joined together to collectively advocate for important, common-sense legislation that will make our state a better place to live, work and raise a family. We look forward to working with our state’s dedicated elected lawmakers to make Alabama a safer, more prosperous state.”

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors include Auburn Mayor Ron Anders, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling, Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

While 75% of the state’s population lives in the state’s largest metropolitan areas, just 25.1% of Alabamians actually live in the city limits of the ten largest Alabama cities. They range in size from Huntsville at 215,006 down to 56.933 for Madison in the 2020 Census.

The mayors listed their key legislative priorities for the Alabama Big 10 Mayors for the 2023 legislative session. These policies, if enacted, will make Alabama a safer, more prosperous state.

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support the reauthorization and accompanying expansion of the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama Act. The Mayors claim that the incentive programs established by these bills are critical to keeping Alabama’s economy globally competitive as we work to attract new businesses and new jobs to our communities.

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support efforts to make online sales tax distribution data from the State available publicly. If Alabamians are required to pay taxes on items purchased online, they deserve the right to know where their tax dollars are going.

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support legislation that would make it easier for local governments and land bank authorities to seize vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent private properties from landowners and address them in a way that would allow those previously unusable properties to contribute to and improve communities in Alabama cities.

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors supports legislation enabling more expedient prosecution of unlicensed persons found to have any “trigger activator“ device, such as a “Glock switch.”

These devices are federally illegal and not authorized by gun manufacturers. They effectively turn a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm. These devices increase the number of rounds that a handgun can fire per second and decreases the amount of control that the shooter has over the firearm, increasing risks to bystanders and law enforcement. A state law would allow offenders to be prosecuted for having the unapproved device in the state and federal courts.

The Alabama Big 10 Mayors support legislation that prohibits and provides criminal penalties for “exhibition driving“ – when a driver purposefully drives intentionally to create unnecessary engine noise, tire skid, burnouts, and other dangerous and dangerous and damaging driving techniques. This is a growing problem across Alabama cities that creates a public safety hazard for pedestrians and other drivers while draining limited law enforcement resources.

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