Five things you need to know about Alabama’s gas tax increase proposal
Last week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced her Rebuild Alabama Infrastructure Plan that proposes raising the state’s gas tax 10-cents to pay for infrastructure improvements. Here are the top 5 things you need to know about the proposed tax increase: Current gas tax rate: Alabama’s current state gas tax is 18 cents per gallon. Proposed gas tax rate: Ivey’s proposal includes a plan that increases a total of 10 cents over the course of three years, as follows: up 6 cents effective October 1, 2019, up another 2 cents, effective October 1, 2020, and up another 2 cents, effective October 1, 2021. Last time the gas tax increased: 1992. Since then there have been several proposals to increase the gas tax, but they’ve yet to pass the State Legislature. Number of votes needed to pass the tax in the House: Should Ivey call a special session on the gas tax, a simple majority will be needed to pass the proposal. With 105 members of the State House of Representatives, just 53 members need vote in support of it. Total cost of the proposal to the average driver: $55 a year, or $4.58 a month. That’s according to the Alabama Transportation Institute based on 12,000 annual miles and 22MPG.
Round-up of the ‘five things you need to know’ about all statewide candidates
The 2018 election is upon us. With the general election less than a week away, it’s time to for any undecided voters to determine who they’re going to support on Election Day. Which is why Alabama Today is rounding-up all of our “Five things you need to know” posts and putting them in one easy place for you to reference ahead of Nov. 6. Sure some of the points are more light-hearted than others, but we hope these articles provide you, our readers, with our unbiased snapshot of the candidates. We encourage you to also check out each of their campaign websites for further information on where they stand on the issues. Statewide candidates Governor Democrat: Walt Maddox Republican: Kay Ivey Lieutenant Governor Democrat: Will Boyd Republican: Will Ainsworth Attorney General: Democrat: Joseph Siegelman Republican: Steve Marshall Alabama Supreme Court: Chief Justice Democrat: Bob Vance Republican: Tom Parker State Treasurer Democrat: N/A Republican: John McMillan Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Democrat: N/A Republican: Rick Pate Secretary of State Democrat: Heather Milam Republican: John Merrill State Auditor Democrat: Miranda Joseph Republican: Jim Zeigler Court of Civil Appeals, Place 1 Democrat: N/A Republican: Christy Edwards Court of Civil Appeals, Place 2 Democrat: N/A Republican: Chad Hanson Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 1 Democrat: N/A Republican: Richard Minor Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2 Democrat: N/A Republican: Chris McCool Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 Democrat: N/A Republican: Bill Cole Public Service Commission, Place 1 Democrat: Cara McClure (did not respond to requests for information) Republican: Jeremy Oden Public Service Commission, Place 2 Democrat: Kari Powell Republican: Chris “Chip” Beeker
