Former Alabama U.S. senator Maryon Allen dies at 92
Maryon Pittman Allen, one of only two women to serve as a U.S. senator from Alabama, has died. Allen’s nephew, state Sen. Trip Pittman, says his aunt died Monday. She was 92. Allen was a journalist for The Birmingham News who married state politician Jim Allen, who died while serving in the Senate in 1978. Then-Gov. George Wallace appointed Allen to fill her husband’s Senate seat until a special election could be held. Allen served for five months starting in June 1978, but lost the Democratic primary to eventual winner Donald Stewart. Allen later wrote a column for the Washington Post, using her contacts to write about the Washington social scene. After returning to Birmingham owned and operated a company that restored vintage clothing in Birmingham. “She lived quite a life,” Pittman said, recalling his aunt’s big personality and sense of humor. Known for her sharp-tongued wit, Allen once said she should be best known for keeping Wallace out of the U.S. Senate since the ambitious governor couldn’t run against his appointee. “I want it chiseled on my tombstone that this 5-foot-2 woman who weighs 110 pounds kept George Corley Wallace out of the Senate, and people should come worship at my tombstone,? she told The Associated Press in 1998. Congressional records show Dixie Bibb Graves is the only other female senator from Alabama. She was appointed to the post by her husband, Gov. Bibb Graves, in 1937. Pittman said his aunt made the decision to go out on her own terms, stopping medication and calling hospice. During a 1998 interview with the AP, when asked about her potential legacy and how she wanted to be remembered, Allen had a simple reply: “Jim’s wife.” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Alabama panel addresses school safety
As educators prepare for a new school year, leading their discussions is the issue of keeping students safe, in a time when no corner of the country seems immune to school violence. Tuesday, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham hosted a school safety forum with two local superintendents, the president of the Alabama Education Association, a state legislator and the former president of the National Rifle Association. While they differ on how to keep students safe, they agreed on one point: Something needs to be done. In a perfect world, they said, every school would be assigned its own police officer, known as a school resource officer (SRO). Since most districts can’t afford police for every school, keeping students safe could mean installing metal detectors, adding security cameras or blocking outside entrances. For the more rural and poorer school systems, a new – and controversial – law allowing administrators to be armed under certain circumstances could help. The forum, “Keeping Our Schools Safe: Identifying, Preventing and Dealing with Active Shooters,” featured as panelists Craig Pouncey, superintendent of Jefferson County schools; Kathy Murphy, superintendent of Hoover city schools; Sherry Tucker, president of the Alabama Education Association; state Rep. David Faulkner, whose district includes Jefferson County; and Jim Porter, past president of the NRA. The Jefferson County school system is the state’s second-largest, with 36,000 students and 56 schools. Some of its schools are urban, others extremely rural. Some are 50-plus years old; others are state of the art. For the upcoming school year, the district bought 2,555 devices that add a secondary lock to classroom doors in a lockdown situation. The district added five SROs, bringing the total to 27. “We can’t put an SRO at every school, it’s just not financially feasible for us,” Pouncey said, adding that the additional five SROs cost the district $400,000 annually. He is not in favor of arming educators, a point agreed with by Murphy. Murphy said Hoover is “privileged” to have an officer stationed at every school, with three SROs assigned to each of the high schools. She’s been on the other side of that equation when she was superintendent of Monroe County schools. “In Monroe County, there was a little community known as Packers Bend. It took me an hour and 10 minutes to get from the central office to drive to that school, which was on the other side of the Alabama River,” she said. “It was always that little school that troubled me. Sixty-one children are in that school.” The program does not include teachers, and will require that the administrators successfully complete training created and certified by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. In rural areas, response time for first responders can be 45 minutes or more, said Faulkner. Those are the areas that could benefit from the new sentry program announced in May, which permits administrators in schools without an SRO to have a secured firearm on campus. The NRA’s National School Shield Program was created in 2012 following the fatal shooting of 20 students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Porter, an attorney who was president of the NRA from 2013 to 2015, said the goal of the program is improving security and preventing future shootings. “The important takeaway here is that any school that needs help finding additional security measures, we will help free of charge,” he said, adding that no school system in Alabama has applied for the NRA’s help. After the forum, Birmingham Board of Education member Mary Boehm spoke about the March shooting at Huffman High School that left student Courtlin Arrington dead. “We have figured out that the student voice is what really matters,” Boehm said. “After the shooting at Huffman, it was clear that the students knew this gun was in the school. They know about guns that are in our schools every single day.” Mental health is one of the biggest challenges facing school systems, she said. “When I called my colleagues at mental health, I was told that funds have been cut so drastically that we are barely able to serve adults, let alone children,” Boehm said. “And we’re not prepared to handle that.” Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
Doug Jones introduces bipartisan legislation to delay Trump’s auto tariffs
Alabama’s junior U.S. Senator, Democrat Doug Jones is doubling-down on his disapproval of the Trump administration’s new tariffs on foreign-made cars and auto parts by introducing legislation to delay them. A critic of the tariffs from the beginning, Jones joined his Republican colleague, Tennessee-Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Wednesday and introduced the Automotive Jobs Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill to delay President Trump’s recently proposed 25-percent tariff on imported cars, trucks, and auto parts. At the President’s direction, the U.S. Commerce Department initiated a Section 232 investigation in May to determine whether imported automobiles, trucks, and parts are a threat to U.S. national security and to subsequently levy tariffs. The senators’ legislation requires the International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health, and vitality of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied. “These tariffs are a tax on American consumers and they’re going to cost Alabama jobs,” said Jones. “I share the President’s goal to reinvigorate manufacturing and secure trade deals that benefit our country, but not at the expense of one of Alabama’s biggest job creators. This bipartisan legislation will hold the Administration accountable by ensuring it has all of the facts about the positive impact American automakers have on their communities, regardless of where they’re headquartered. With that information in hand, the Administration could no longer make the ridiculous claim that this industry is somehow a national security threat.” “This bill would delay the administration’s proposed 25 percent tariff on automobiles and automotive parts imported into the United States until the President has a second opinion from the International Trade Commission about the effect those tariffs would have on the more than 7 million jobs in the American automotive industry,” added Alexander. He continued, “About 136,000 of those auto jobs are in Tennessee, one third of our state’s manufacturing jobs. The president has gotten the world’s attention with his tariffs, but what deserves more attention is his long term solution – zero tariffs, zero barriers, which is, as the president said at the G7 summit in June, ‘the way it should be.’ Taking steps in the direction of reciprocity—insisting that other countries do for us what we do for them—rather than a trade war, will be much better for the American worker.” Last month, the senators wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross urging him to reconsider the tariffs. This legislation addresses the key concerns the senators raised in their letter to Secretary Ross. As part of the mandated study, the ITC will be required to assess, among other things: The number of automobiles assembled in the United States that are exported each year and to which countries; The percentage of component parts of automobiles assembled in the United States that are imported; The number of component parts for automobiles that are not produced in the United States and would thus not be available to United States automotive producers if prohibitively high duties were imposed on imports of those parts; and, The effect an increase in automotive manufacturing costs would have on jobs in the United States. The ITC will be required to deliver the report to Congress and is to include policy recommendations based on the study. Under this legislation, these tariffs cannot be applied until the report is delivered. Last week, Jones also stood up against the tariffs by join the “Here For America’s Washington D.C. “Drive-In” during which over one hundred international auto employees pulled up to the U.S. Capitol in a caravan of American made vehicles. Watch Jones’ floor speech on the legislation below: Jones is not alone One very important Alabama official happens to agree with Jones: Governor Kay Ivey. Ivey, who released a statement and wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and several members of the Alabama congressional delegation in June expressed her concerns saying that “estimates show that a ten percent decrease in Alabama-made vehicle exports could result in the loss of approximately 4,000 jobs in Alabama.” “Such a loss would be devastating to thousands of families across our state,” Ivey continued. “These are Alabama families who are dependent on the income from working in these facilities.”
Proposed Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting at White House is put off
The Trump administration sought to fend off accusations the president is too soft on Russia, putting off a proposed second summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and declaring the U.S. will never recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. As members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee peppered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with demands for details about last week’s summit in Finland, the White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had opted against trying to arrange another meeting with Putin this fall. Putin already had sent signals that he wasn’t interested in coming to Washington. National security adviser John Bolton cited special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as the reason for the delay, although many members of Congress had objected to the meeting and said Putin would not be welcome on Capitol Hill. “The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year,” Bolton said in a statement, using Trump’s favored but highly controversial term for the Mueller probe. While the statement signaled optimism that the Mueller probe would be completed by the end of this year, no timetable has been given for when it will be wrapped up and it could very well stretch into 2019. The White House said last week that Trump had directed Bolton to invite Putin to visit Washington in the fall, moving quickly for a follow-up meeting amid the backlash over Trump’s performance at a news conference with Putin following their Helsinki summit. In his testimony, Pompeo faced often-contentious questioning from senators demanding information about what Trump discussed with Putin while they were alone for nearly two hours with only translators present. Pompeo struggled to answer, insisting the president is entitled to have private meetings but stressing that he had a full understanding of the discussion. Heated questions were also posed about North Korea, NATO and Iran. “It’s not for me to disclose the content of those conversations,” Pompeo said in response to one such barrage of questions. The committee chairman, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who set a contentious tone for the hearing by telling Pompeo that senators “are filled with serious doubts about this White House and its conduct of American foreign policy,” later said those doubts are due to Trump’s frequent contradictory statements on the Russia probe and assaults on allies. “It’s the president that causes people to have concerns,” Corker said. Pompeo replied by saying that some of Trump’s comments “actually achieve important policy outcomes,” but the administration should be judged by its actions rather than the president’s words. He later clarified that the president’s words are indeed policy, prompting an angry exchange with the ranking committee member, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. Menendez said that Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas, would have been so angry that he would have had to have been peeled off the ceiling of the Capitol if President Barack Obama had said and done some of the same things as Trump. Pompeo, whom Democrats accused of playing politics with the investigation into the 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, accused Menendez of pursuing a “political soliloquy” but then declined the opportunity to respond. Menendez had earlier accused the administration of holding “incoherent and contradictory views” on foreign policy and the president himself of being “misleading and untruthful” in describing his positions. In an unsuccessful bid to blunt some of the hostile questioning, particularly on Russia, Pompeo before the hearing issued a statement titled the “Crimea Declaration” in which he said the U.S. will continue to insist that Ukraine’s territorial integrity be restored. He said the U.S. would hold to its long-standing principle of refusing to recognize Kremlin claims of sovereignty over territory seized by force in violation of international law. And he called for Russia to respect principles it claims to respect and “end its occupation of Crimea.” The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry brushed off the Crimea Declaration as just another U.S. policy that could easily change in the future. In a Facebook posting, Maria Zakharova cited the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord — two Obama-era deals that Trump scrapped. “We know the value of these ‘fateful declarations,’” she said. Russia has said Crimean voters approved the annexation in a referendum. The U.S. and its European allies have said the referendum was deeply flawed and illegal, as it was held without the consent of the government in Kiev. Pompeo told senators that U.S. sanctions imposed in response to the annexation would remain in place until and unless Russia returns Crimea to Ukrainian sovereignty. He also pushed back on allegations the Trump administration has been weak or subservient to Russia over Ukraine or its meddling in the election. He noted that the administration had just days ago provided the Ukraine government with an additional $200 million in military equipment and maintained that the administration was serious about combatting Russian interference in the U.S. and Western democracies. He said he agreed that additional sanctions could be “constructive” to that end. Pompeo said he had personally told top Russian officials that there will be “severe consequences” for any interference in U.S. elections or the American democratic process. He said that Trump, despite his denigration of the Mueller probe, accepts that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election and fully understands the threat posed by Moscow. “He has a complete and proper understanding of what happened,” Pompeo said of Trump. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Randy Davis indicted on bribery, conspiracy charges
Outgoing Daphne-Republican State Rep. Randy Davis was indicted by a feral grand jury on Wednesday on charges of bribery and conspiracy. According to federal court documents, Davis has been accused of pressuring Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama to “cover infusion treatments at Trina Health clinics even though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said there was no evidence the outpatient insulin therapy treatment improved outcomes,” the Associated Press reported. Allegedly, Davis worked with former Alabama House Majority Leader and Decatur-Republican Micky Hammon to recruit investors to the Trina Health clinics, after which he would receive a finders’ fee. He has also been accused of working with Hammon to push a bill through the Alabama State Legislature’s 2016 session aimed at forcing insurance coverage of the treatments at the clinics. “After Trina Health encountered difficulties with the health insurance companies, Davis attempted to lobby the insurance company to change its position,” reads a Department of Justice press release. “When that failed, Davis took steps to advance the bill. For example, Davis helped to recruit a sponsor, arranged for the public hearing to be video recorded, and then spoke in favor of the bill at a public hearing.” Vestavia Hills-Republican, longtime State Rep. Jack Williams, former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Martin Connors, along with a California-based health care executive G. Ford Gilbert were arrested in April for the alleged plan. “Based on these events, the superseding indictment charges Davis, Gilbert, and Connors with conspiracy to commit bribery related to federal programs. Additionally, the superseding indictment alleges that Gilbert committed various acts of bribery related to federal programs. Gilbert and Davis are also charged with interstate travel and communications in aid of racketeering. The last count in the superseding indictment charges Connors with making a false statement to a federal agent,” the press release continues. The defendants face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. Hammon was sentenced to three months in prison in February on charges relating to mail fraud while Williams, Connors and Gilbert await their trial on September 4.
Fairhope sets city manager vote for October 2
After petitions signed by over 800 members of the Fairhope community made their way to the Probate Court earlier this month; the town has set October 2 as the date for a special election to allow voters to decide whether or not they will change the city’s form of government. The new form of government being proposed would create a new governing body known as the “Council of the City of Fairhope,” which would have the same executive powers and duties of the council, but would make the mayor a member of the council, not an executive over it. Meaning the mayor would no longer preside over all city employees, or the council. Instead the mayor would be in charge of ceremonial events, and serve as a representative of the city. The way the members of the council are elected would also change. “One member will be a council member elected by the voters at large. Three members will be council members elected by the voters from each of three single-member districts,” the group, Fresh Start Fairhope, stated. However, several other details however, remain unclear. The city has yet to determine the language that will be used on the ballot, or how the new council members will be elected in the future. If the measure passes, it will not come into effect until 2020. “What hasn’t been decided yet is if the council will determine whether they should represent individual districts or be at-large,” Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell told AL.com. Russell also told them he was concerned about “voter fatigue,” given that this will be the “sixth election in 14 months for Fairhope voters, not counting the Nov. 6 general election.” But the members of Fresh Start Fairhope, the group responsible for gathering the signatures to issue the new proposal are not as worried. “If you talk to the 800 or so people who have supported our position, they are excited about this and cannot wait for October to come around. People are ready for change in Fairhope and are ready for something bigger,” the group’s spokesman Chuck Zunk told AL.com.
Kay Ivey remains one of America’s most popular governor’s
Gov. Kay Ivey has found herself in a position her political peers can only dream of: being one of America’s most popular governor’s during an election year. According to a new survey released Wednesday by Morning Consult, Ivey is America’s third most popular Governor and has a whopping 67 percent approval rating. Perhaps the first term governor’s — who assumed office last April after the resignation of her scandal-ridden predecessor former-Gov. Robert Bentley — high approval comes from the fact, under her leadership Alabama’s employment and wages are at the highest levels in over a decade, teachers and schools are finally receiving the funding and resources our children deserve, and the Governor continues to uphold conservative values. In June, Ivey handily defeated four GOP challengers in the Republican primary, garnering 56.1 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor was Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, who received only 24.9 percent. Ivey will face Tuscaloosa mayor and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Walt Maddox in the general election on Nov. 6.
Jeff Sessions defends deputy after impeachment move
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is defending his top deputy after a handful of Congressional Republicans moved to impeach him. Sessions said Thursday he has the “highest confidence” in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and described him as “highly capable.” A group of 11 House conservatives on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation because Sessions has recused himself. Sessions suggested lawmakers should instead focus on reforming the nation’s immigration system. He also expressed regret for having laughed at a “Lock Her Up” chant and repeated the words during a speech Tuesday at a high school leadership summit. Sessions was in Boston Thursday to announce more than 20 arrests in a federal operation meant to crack down on identity theft and federal benefits fraud. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Taylor Dawson: Three reasons why you should care about occupational licensing reform
During my years working in public policy, there have been a handful of issues that have gotten me fired up. Typically when I tell people about them, they have some level of understanding—a state lottery, education and school choice, taxes and budgets, things like that. These days, when I’m asked about the issue I most care about and I say “occupational licensing reform,” I’m often met with blank stares. Once I start explaining the issue, however, people start to understand why it is so important, not just to me, but to all Alabamians. In an effort to prevent more blank stares, here are a few reasons why you should care about occupational licensing reform in Alabama. 1. The costs of licensing end up on the consumer. Think about it—if you have to pay thousands of dollars in educational costs, plus hundreds of dollars in licensing fees to the state, just to do your job, are you going to assume those costs? Of course not! Those fees will be passed on to the consumer of whatever product or service that you are selling. Selfishly, as a consumer—and a frugal one at that—the thought of incurring the cost of someone’s state-issued license is pretty infuriating. Of course, I acknowledge that in certain cases—medical services, for example—there is consumer protection offered by a license that I find to be valuable. In many cases, however, a license does not dictate whether or not someone is qualified to do their job. The beauty of the free market is that if I go to a manicurist, for example, and they do not do a good job, all I have to worry about is a bad manicure. I never have to go back. 2. Individuals shouldn’t have to get permission from the government to do a job that they are trained to do. Sometimes I wonder, “if I had to pay for a license to do my job, would I be doing my job?” Thankfully, that’s a question I’ve never had to ask. I went to college, received a degree in political science and, based on my credentials and experience, was determined to be a good candidate for my job. No license required. In my time talking to folks about this issue, I’ve heard from countless workers who have expressed disdain with the licensing process. Their main complaint is that they’ve already jumped through hoops to become educated for the job, whether that’s through formal education or work experience. A state-issued license, quite frankly, means nothing to me compared to education and job experience. 3. Occupational licensing laws may impede Alabama’s workforce development. A recent study by the Alabama Policy Institute shows that over twenty-one percent of Alabama’s workforce is licensed. The same report estimates that the total initial cost of licensing, excluding educational costs and yearly renewal costs, to be $122 million. If I am looking to get into a licensed field in Alabama, these costs are going to be a major deterrent. Barriers to entry established by occupational licensing laws are shown to disproportionately impact disadvantaged groups in Alabama—the poor, minorities, military families, and people with a record. Alabama took one step toward a solution this year, with the passage and signing of the Military Family Jobs Opportunity Act, which will significantly ease the burden of licensing on military families who have received occupational licenses in other states. Nevertheless, in order to improve economic mobility for Alabama families, there are still changes that need to be made. Here’s what I’m getting at: whether or not you are in a licensed occupation, you should care about occupational licensing reform. As consumers, we should question having to pay more for certain goods and services due to the costs of a license—especially those that have little or nothing to do with public health and safety. As empathetic Alabamians, the idea that the state often forces people to pay for a permission slip to work should inspire us to demand change. Lastly, as voters during a campaign season focused on job growth, we should call on and expect our leaders to carefully examine the burdens of occupational licensing on Alabama’s families. ••• Taylor Dawson is Director of Communications for the Alabama Policy Institute (API). API is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to strengthening free enterprise, defending limited government, and championing strong families. If you would like to speak with the author, please e-mail communications@alabamapolicy.org or call (205) 870-9900.
Roy Moore sues Highway 31 Super PAC over negative campaign ads
Failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has filed a defamation lawsuit against a super PAC, claiming the campaign ads that ran during the Alabama U.S. Senate special election in December damaged his reputation. Melissa Isaak, Moore’s attorney, said the Highway 31 Super PAC ran widespread defamatory and misleading ads during the 2017 race, which doubled-down on accusations of sexual misconduct that surfaced against Moore during the campaign. The suit alleges Highway 31 ran the “false” ads and “intentionally or recklessly failed to confirm the accuracy” of them. “Despite knowing that the content was false or in reckless disregard thereof each one of (the defendants) did in fact run advertisements that contained false and defaming material,” the complaint reads. Moore and his attorney announced the lawsuit during a press conference on Wednesday. “The Moore’s have every intention of fighting back,” said Isaak said during the press conference with Moore and his wife, Kayla. In November, The Washington Post published a bombshell report with the accounts of Corfman, Gibson, and one other woman who claimed Moore sexually pursued them when he was in his 30s and they were in their teens. Moore previously filed an earlier defamation suit in April when he sued some of the women who made accusations against him — Marjorie Leigh Corfman, Debbie Wesson Gibson, Beverly Young Nelson, Tina Turner Johnson, and other “unknown” defendants — for causing “irrevocable damage” to his reputation “that affected the outcome of the Senate election in December 2017.” Watch Moore’s press conference announcing the lawsuit below:
Kay Ivey continues to duck gubernatorial debates – who could blame her?
On Tuesday, Walt Maddox‘s campaign started the day with a challenge to Gov. Kay Ivey for a debate. This is nothing new he’s been talking about debating her for some time, Ivey’s primary opponents challenged her to multiple debates (calls that went unanswered) as well. I wrote about it at the time, with the opinion that Ivey was smart to duck the debates as she had nothing to gain and everything to lose. That said, I still felt like she owed it to her constituents to stand with the other Republican candidates and let their differences be known. That logic doesn’t apply here with Maddox, their opinions and positions are so far apart that we don’t need them on the same stage to learn the nuances. While I appreciate the sentiment that voters should get to hear from both candidates, the fact is a debate would not be worth Kay Ivey’s time nor would it change any voter’s minds. I can’t see an upside whatsoever for Ivey debating Maddox nor can I see any benefit to the voters. The spectacle of a debate would do less to show their policy position differences than show their glaring age differences, speaking styles, and the stark differences in the general health and vitality of the two. Putting them side-by-side does nothing but help Maddox. Doug Jones‘ long shot victory may have breathed life into the hopes of democrats throughout the state, but Maddox’s victory is still a long-shot while Ivey maintains a ridiculously high approval rating and Republicans in general maintain a voter registration and turnout lead. Barring any unforeseeable, incredible circumstances there is no rhyme or reason, or way that Ivey doesn’t have a straight path to victory in the November general election shored up already. The Maddox campaign can stomp its feet all it wants, and Ivey’s campaign can continue to retort in however snarky ways they want to — their snarky response Tuesday was in fact clever but there’s no way she gets up on a stage with him. If I were the Maddox campaign I’d keep at the requests, they may energize his supporters even if Ivey and her supporters turn a deaf ear to them, but more importantly I’d hope for some of that Doug Jones or Randall Woodfin magic turn out. There’s really no one on the Republican ballot that’s going to excite voters to turn out, no one is waking up chomping at the bit to go re-elect Ivey. Maddox on the other hand has broad appeal for progressives. That’s where his energy is better spent.
Honda to invest $54.8 million in Alabama expansion project
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama continues to grow its operations in Talladega County, with a multi-phase project that will improve flexibility, strengthen efficiency and prepare for future technologies. The latest phase announced by the automaker is a $54.8 million expansion that will add more than 50,000 square feet at Honda Alabama’s Line 2 operations. The expansion is expected to be completed in early 2021. When combined with last year’s investment announcements for both the Line 1 and Line 2 facilities, Honda Alabama will add more than 425,000 square feet to its production operations for a combined investment of about $150 million. “Honda is a cornerstone of Alabama’s vibrant automotive industry,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “The company continues to show confidence in its local workforce, with new investments that fuel innovative technologies sought by customers around the world.” Economic impact Honda has more than 4,500 employees at its $2.6 billion plant in Lincoln, which has the capacity to produce more than 340,000 vehicles and engines each year. Its lineup includes the Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV and Ridgeline pickup, as well as the V-6 engines that power all three models. Last year, workers built a record number of Pilots as part of a total output of 357,316 minivans, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and V-6 engines. The factory has an annual estimated economic impact in the state of $6.8 billion, according to a University of Alabama analysis. Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
