Alabama’s tax revenues are up slightly over last May
Alabama’s tax revenues, both for May and the year to date, are up more than 2.5% over the same period last year according to data from the state Department of Revenue. The report for May showed $1.54 billion in tax revenues, up 2.63% from May 2022 ($1.5 billion). Year-to-date collections added up to $11.27 billion, or a 2.68% increase from 2022 ($10.98 billion). Sales tax revenues dipped slightly in May compared to the same time last year ($267.5 million from $273.6 million, a drop of 2.23%), but are up for the year to date ($2.14 billion compared to $2.05 billion in 2022, an increase of 4.3%). Corporate income taxes were a big gainer compared to May 2022. Collections are $48.3 million compared to $41.4 million, an increase of 16.65%. For the year to date, the state collected $829.4 million compared to $719.7 million (15.4% gain). Individual income taxes were up in May compared to the same time last year, as the state collected $882 million compared to $854.9 million last year, an increase of 3.21%. Income tax collections for the year to date are down 1.63%, going from $4.81 billion in 2022 to $4.73 billion. Gasoline tax collections for May were largely static compared to the same period last year. This May, the Department of Revenue took in $58.4 million in gas tax revenue compared to nearly $58 million in May 2022, an increase of 0.71%. Gas tax revenue for the year to date totaled $454.9 million, compared to $453.7 million in 2022, a gain of 0.26%. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Judge stays medical marijuana licenses as companies argue selection process was flawed
A judge on Friday ordered Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission to temporarily halt the issuance of licenses to growers and distributors as two companies argue the state used a flawed and secretive process to selecting winners for the potentially lucrative licenses. The order re-enforces a decision already made last week by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission to pull back the licenses awarded on June 12 after the chairman said they discovered “potential inconsistency in the tabulation of scoring data.” Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson on Friday issued a temporary restraining order on top of that, staying the licenses until the issue regarding the scoring data is resolved. The state and companies agreed to the stay. Anderson scheduled a July hearing on the companies’ request for a preliminary injunction as the companies argue the entire selection process was flawed. Alabama Always and Hornet Medicinals, two companies that applied for the five integrated “seed to sale” licenses, have sued the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission arguing there were problems with the process for awarding licenses. A lawyer for Alabama Always argued in court filing that the commission used anonymous graders hired by the University of South Alabama to score applications and then awarded them without any discussion on June 12. “We think from day one that this process has been cloaked in secrecy,” William Somerville, an attorney for Alabama Always told Anderson during the Friday court hearing. Somerville told reporters that the company disagreed with how it was scored, particularly on finances, noting the company had already invested $4.5 million on a cultivation facility. The company wrote in court filings that it is prepared to open and stock stores with medical marijuana by January, if not sooner. Alabama Always is asking Anderson to order the commission to turn over additional information about the scoring and selection process. The commission has not elaborated on the problems with the scoring other than to say there were potential inconsistencies, “The stay is recommended due to the (commission’s) discovery of potential inconsistency in the tabulation of scoring data,” Dr. Steven Stokes, an oncologist who chairs the commission, said during last week’s meeting. Alabama lawmakers in 2021 ended years of resistance and approved the creation of a program to allow marijuana to be used for certain medical conditions. However, it is not available yet to patients because the state has to develop rules and award grower and distributor licenses. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Mayor Randall Woodfin calls for solutions to Birmingham’s historic flooding issues
During an event held on Monday, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke about how Birmingham’s history and geography have created the “perfect storm” for flash flooding conditions in the city. 1819 News reported that Woodfin joined a panel of experts at the Bloomberg CityLab summit in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event was hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute. Woodfin joined mayors from Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, and San Francisco, along with international mayors. “CityLab this year visits one of the most creative cities in the world to elevate what’s new, learn from what’s working, and bring together a global community of public innovators,” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Big thank you to Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg philanthropies and Aspen Institute for allowing me to share Birmingham’s story on extreme weather-related events caused by climate change and how we can better prepare for a wetter future,” Woodfin said. “Here’s the favorite part,” the mayor added, “none of it was on the taxpayer’s dime. [Organizers] asked me to speak, and they told me they wanted to cover the trip.” The discussion focused on flash flooding in cities and how climate change affected it. Woodfin was asked about flooding in Birmingham. Woodfin described a bit of the history of Birmingham and how the population of Birmingham has shrunk over the last few decades. He also described how the city sits in a valley. “We’ve had to grapple with environmental injustice stemming from soil and air issues for quite some time. I’ve been serving as mayor for the last five years. What I didn’t know when I signed up for this job was that I would also have to compete with extreme weather events such as flash flooding,” Woodfin stated. “Remember, we sit in a bowl, so we’ve already been dealing with tornados pretty much since time. But over the last two years, with these extreme weather events and the humidity in Birmingham and all these other things that converge at one time — just since January 1, everybody, we’ve had 86 water rescues in a city that’s landlocked. That’s kind of extreme when you think about it for firemen and firewomen who sign up for a job to put out fires, but they’re doing water rescues.” Woodfin went on to say that of the city’s 27,000 inlets, 18,000 have been assessed and found to be “past their lifespan.” He stated, “If we wanted to pave every street in our city it would be about a $50 million price tag, but to get our storm water infrastructure up to where it needs to be a $50 billion price tag.” The city has looked at repurposing empty lots and planting more trees, and trying to create fewer “asphalt parking lot” issues. Woodfin considers Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a partnership that will help the city. “This bill is a once-in-a-lifetime for a city like Birmingham to get water infrastructure right, and that will be probably our main partner,” Woodfin said. Woodfin was asked how race and equity have impacted flooding in Birmingham, he discussed how he believed racism affected the layout of the city, leaving black neighborhoods in the worst areas for pollution and flooding. “Race sits at the center of the city of Birmingham and has been since probably its inception. I would dare say we’re probably the poster child for redlining neighborhoods. The city of Birmingham is a city made up of 23 communities and 99 neighborhoods,” Woodfin explained. “In the steel industry, black residents and their neighborhoods were right by these plants. So well before we talk about these extreme weather patterns, the intentional design of redlined neighborhoods by putting black residents — in a city that’s now 70% black — putting black residents near these smokestacks, living in floodplains, living in areas where your ingress and egress is surrounded by train tracks on all sides. All of this was definitely intentionally deliberate. So in the last five years, everything we do is centered around justice, racial equity.” Woodfin continued, “We’ve actually created the Mayor’s Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity where climate change has to be a part of the conversation because these extreme weather patterns are affecting those same neighborhoods I just described more so than other areas of town where they may stay on hills or heights,” he said. At the end of the discussion, the speakers were asked for positive solutions to flooding. Woodfin called for bipartisan efforts to address climate issues. “I would just say, water as we know it is a basic necessity of life,” Woodfin argued. “It is a quality-of-life issue from a municipal standpoint. It doesn’t have to be a divide on solving this issue. It doesn’t have to be Republican, Democrat, urban, or rural. This is an issue we all should be behind trying to figure out how to solve, particularly on the extreme weather pattern side.” Woodfin is serving his second term as Birmingham’s mayor.
Donald Trump ousts top defense official who certified Ukraine aid
John Rood is the latest in a series of resignations since the end of the impeachment trial.
Judge dismisses Troy King’s lawsuit against Steve Marshall
Attorney General candidate Troy King’s efforts to stop his opponent Steve Marshall’s ability to spend questionable campaign donations fell apart on Thursday when a Montgomery judge, Circuit Judge James Anderson, dismissed a lawsuit King filed against Marshall. It all began Monday, when in an eleventh hour effort kit announced a lawsuit he filed against Marshall — just one week before voters hit the polls to cast their ballots in the primary runoff election on July 17. King alleged that Marshall accepted $700,000 from the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) political action committee and that the group uses money from other PAC’s to fund their own PAC; violating Alabama’s PAC to PAC money laws. King then sued Marshall on Wednesday, attempting to deter Marshall from spending the contributions. “Now, during the 2017 election cycle, according to RAGA’s public filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the RAGA’s PAC has again accepted a number of contributions from other PACs, including, earlier this year, nearly $16,000 from the J.P. Morgan PAC plus another $50,000 in PAC contributions in the last quarter of 2017. RAGA’s PAC has now, during the election cycle, made hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions to Steve Marshall for Alabama, Inc,” said King’s lawsuit, according to WHNT. But Thursday afternoon a Montgomery judge, Circuit Judge James Anderson, dismissed the lawsuit, and denied King’s request for a restraining order against Marshall. “Anderson said the Republican PAC is federally regulated and questioned how he and state law would have jurisdiction over transfers that happened in another state,” the Associated Press reported. After the ruling, Marshall’s campaign released a statement accusing King of abusing the judicial process to stage a political stunt. “He did so routinely as AG and Republicans fired him in 2010 because of it,” the Montgomery Advertiser reported. “We are glad the court has confirmed this and look forward to getting back to the issues Alabama voters actually care about in the final days of this campaign.”
