Personnel Update: Stephanie Smith is the new President and CEO of the Alabama Policy Institute
The Alabama Policy Institute (API) announced in a statement that it has named Stephanie Smith as API’s third president and CEO. She will succeed Caleb Crosby, who is stepping down as President and CEO. Smith has been a consistent conservative political voice in Alabama since 1998. Her professional experience includes serving as Director of Governmental Affairs for Regions Financial, President of the Opelika Chamber of Commerce, Assistant Director of Finance for the State of Alabama, Deputy Director of Finance for the State of Alabama, and Principal of the Thatcher Coalition. “I am honored by the confidence of API’s leadership and look forward to building upon the successes of the organization by actively engaging elected officials and other Alabamians in substantive public policy conversations,” Smith said. The mission and vision of API are sound, and it is my privilege to have the opportunity to champion conservative principles statewide.” “Stephanie has been working alongside the API team since 2021,” said API Board Chairman Richard Stimpson. She brings a wealth of political knowledge and decades of practical policy experience to the team. Stephanie is a stalwart for the principles upon which API was founded: free markets, limited government, and strong families.” Tom Bradford is the founding board chairman and former API Interim President and CEO. “It’s clear that Stephanie is the right person to serve as the next President and CEO of API,” Bradford said. “She is grounded in her faith and articulates the positions of the conservative movement with precision and passion.” Smith is married to Dalton Smith and is the mother of seven. Stephanie is a cum laude graduate of Auburn University and a cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. While attending graduate school at UAB, Stephanie created and managed Region’s grassroots platform. She also has lobbied in nine states and DC. Smith was an advisor and legislative manager for the Governor regarding budgetary issues and was the lead economic development and public finance coordinator for the State. She is the 6th Congressional District Chairman for the Alabama Republican Party, is a Board Member of Eagle Forum of Alabama, and is a member of the Republican Women of North Shelby County and the Shelby County Republican Party. She is also a contributor at the 1819 News. As a former lobbyist, Smith brings a great understanding of legislative affairs and how both Montgomery and Washington actually work. This experience could be helpful going forward as API works towards promoting its ideas into actual legislation. The Alabama Policy Institute was founded 34 years ago as a conservative think tank associated with Focus on the Family by Tom Parker and Gary Palmer. Since then, it has advocated for smaller government and free market principles. Palmer led API as President and CEO for many years, establishing a nationwide following with allied think tanks in almost every state. Palmer left API in 2014 to run for Congress. Today he is serving in his fifth term representing Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District. Crosby succeeded Palmer in August 2014. While Crosby was President and CEO, API became more involved in communications – spinning off 1819 News and Rightside Radio – in an attempt to more actively communicate the values and principles of conservatism through a statewide multi-media strategy. API also created the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty (ACLL) to play a more active role in the judicial system. “It has been an honor to lead API in its ongoing pursuit to be the premier resource for conservative policy ideas in the state,” Crosby said. “Building upon the accomplishments of the past, API and its subsidiaries have asserted themselves as the authority and voice of conservative principles for the State of Alabama.” “Caleb has been an incredibly innovative leader for API. His years of service have benefitted API, and the legacy of his work will benefit the entire state,” Stimpson said. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Caleb Crosby: Alabama Policy Institute’s 2022 legislative scorecard
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.
Alabama legislators file bills that seek to end grocery tax
A pair of Alabama legislators have introduced bills in their respective chambers that would eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries. HB 174, sponsored by Rep. Mike Holmes, R-Wetumpka, and SB 43, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Montgomery, would eliminate the state tax on food. Both bills are designed to put more money in the pockets of state residents. The bills, however, would take different paths to being enacted. HB 174 would be enacted through ratification by the Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature, while SB 43 would appear on November’s ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment. Under the state’s existing law, a sales tax of 4% is assessed on food sales. Counties and municipalities throughout the state, however, levy their own local taxes on food, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Under both bills, local municipalities would retain the power to excise taxes on food. Tuscaloosa and Cullman counties, according to the report, have the highest grocery tax rate in the state at 9%, which includes the 4% state grocery tax. Grocery taxes in the majority of the state’s counties are between 6% and 8%, while some counties have a 4% to 6% grocery tax. A handful of counties have a grocery tax between 8% and 9%. HB 174, if enacted, would exempt the sales of food from sales and use taxes beginning September 1. If SB 43 is enacted through a ballot referendum, it would go into effect on January 1, 2023. Holmes said he introduced the legislation to give state residents a tax break. “We wanted to be sure we didn’t try and replace the grocery tax revenue with a tax revenue stream from somewhere else,” Holmes said. “We didn’t want to shift a tax from one group to another.” Holmes said last year from tax sources, Alabama generated $7.6 billion in revenue. This year, he said, the state is anticipating $12.2 billion in tax revenue. “That is where it is going to hit the hardest,” Holmes said of the legislation benefiting all residents. “It will hit everyone equally. Everybody has to have groceries. That was a place I could go to help the working class, even down to the poverty level and even the upper class, to get everyone a tax break.” Holmes said counties and municipalities will still be able to have their own grocery tax. “I’m really hopeful we can get this done,” said Holmes, who is not running for re-election. “I’m hanging a lot on the fact we can get across-the-aisle support. We have a supermajority, but if we can get half of their votes, we can get it done and do it right.” The Alabama Policy Institute said it is in favor of repealing the grocery tax. “Groceries are exempt from state sales tax in most of the country, with only thirteen states taxing groceries at all,” API President and CEO Caleb Crosby said. “Out of thirteen states that do tax groceries, only Alabama, Mississippi, and South Dakota tax them at the full amount without any credit or rebate. “With state budgets hitting record high after record high, it is … time for Alabama to end this tax. The fact is that Montgomery is flush with cash. State leaders need not pretend that the sales tax on our bread and milk is essential.” Phil Williams, a former state senator who serves as the Institute’s chief policy officer, said, “it is time to pursue this matter without the old fallback of raising taxes elsewhere.” “This should be a matter of giving back, not amending to avoid a true tax cut,” he said. By Brent Addleman | The Center Square Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Caleb Crosby: Extending freedom is not irresponsible
Caleb Crosby discusses safer at home orders, their impact on individual freedoms, and the need to be responsible with those freedoms when the pandemic comes to an end.
Katherine G. Robertson, Caleb Crosby: Gaming a bad idea for Alabama
We have known for months that a deal was in the works to expand gambling operations in Alabama either through a lottery, a tribal compact, or privately run casinos. Such a move under Republican leadership is disheartening, but not surprising. Any chance at a money grab, be it through tax increases or gambling, is far easier than taking a scalpel to the drivers of the current budget shortfall. The General Fund woes present a very real challenge for our leaders, but the public is being fed a number of false choices as to how the problem must be solved. We should not be forced to choose which revenue generator is the least offensive. There are still plenty of good ideas and even bills on the table that would help the state do what the private sector does — scale back spending in a down year. The appeal of easy money through gambling is the idea that those tough decisions can be sidestepped, but not without repercussions. The Policy Institute’s position on using either of these tactics to generate money for the state has been well- publicized throughout our 25-year history. The success of lotteries and gambling, of course, depends upon the participation of the poor and vulnerable. The state then becomes addicted to such funding streams, politicians actually desire more, and more individuals and families recklessly spend their money that way. Calls to further expand gambling will become incessant and government will be expanded right along with it. Simultaneously, Alabama’s leaders will become owned by gaming entities whose power and influence is made possible via money lost by our state’s gamblers. Because of saturated gaming markets, the only people visiting Alabama’s casinos will be Alabamians, especially its poorest. Then local economies will be left to bear the brunt of this bad decision by state leaders. While casino gaming is being advertised as a job creator, the jobs that typically come with gambling tend to be low-wage positions that, because of falling demand, are short-lived. In the past year alone, two casinos in Mississippi have closed. In Atlantic City, N.J., four casinos have closed or will close soon, including its newest one, the $2.4 billion Revel. Thousands of workers in both states who thought that gambling would be their ticket to success have been laid off. The irony in all of this is that 20 other states face budget shortfalls. Most of their shortfalls are substantially larger than ours. Guess how many of the “shortfall states” have lotteries? All but one of them. Guess how many have casinos? 14 of them. Unless a state’s spending problems are fixed — most of which are related to Medicaid, prisons, and public pensions — new revenues can’t keep pace with the rising costs of these services or programs. For instance, Alabama’s share of Medicaid costs has doubled in the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing down. As a result, the state’s need for more of your money through one mechanism or another will never cease to be necessary. API has proposed or supported a number of ideas that, if implemented, would help fill the budget gap. We’ve researched and recommended various cost-saving reforms to our public pensions, Medicaid prescription reform, eliminating vacant positions within state government, privatizing ABC and bidding out various nonessential government services, exploring tax amnesty to generate revenue already owed to the state, and bringing health insurance premiums of state employees more in balance with those of private-sector workers. Some of those ideas are making their way through the Legislature and some are not. All of them would be challenging to pass — they are all disfavored by one group or another — but none of them exploit the poor. Using the excuse of a budget shortfall to pave the way for more gambling is irresponsible. The effects of it would plague our state long past the political careers of those leading the charge. ••• Caleb Crosby is president and CEO and Katherine Robertson is vice president for the Alabama Policy Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government, and strong families. If you would like to speak with the authors, please email communications@alabamapolicy.org or call (205) 870-9900. Note: This column is a copyrighted feature distributed free of charge by the Alabama Policy Institute (API). Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the author(s) and API are properly cited.
