Bentley Signs Bill Blocking Minimum Wage Hikes, Senate Approves Lean General Fund Budget

| February 26, 2016 

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The fourth week of the Alabama legislative session ended with a bang. Governor Robert Bentley has signed a bill blocking local governments from setting their own minimum wage. The governor signed the bill yesterday afternoon just after the Alabama Senate approved the bill 23 to 10, largely along party lines. Republican legislators supported the bill to push back against the Birmingham City Council, which voted to raise their city’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Bill sponsor, Republican Representative David Faulkner of Mountain Brook, says the state needs a uniform wage floor. Senator Linda Coleman-Madison, a Democrat from Birmingham, says she is concerned about people trying to feed their families on current hourly wages.

For more on this story and the rest of the week’s action, we talk with Don Dailey. He’s host of Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television. Dailey told WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley about the lead-up to the bill’s passage, and the lean general fund budget approved by the Alabama Senate. If it wins final approval, it would means cuts in Medicaid services and ending a long-planned reform to managed care.

 

Crew of fatal US military crash included Alabama father recently deployed

The six U.S. service members who died in the crash of a U.S. military refueling aircraft included an Alabama father who had just been promoted and deployed. The U.S. government released the identities of the deceased service members Saturday.

Alabama poised to drastically overhaul utility regulation. Will it lower electric bills?

The Alabama Senate unanimously voted to expand the public service commission, and create a Secretary of Energy to address rising electricity prices. A bill in the House would go even further, requiring rate case hearings and limiting utility profits.

Musher from Alabama is going for back-to-back Iditarod wins

Riches and paid appearances haven’t followed Jessie Holmes since he won the world’s most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, last year. He doesn't mind.

Bill would move Alabama to closed primaries

Right now, any Alabama voter can participate in a primary election. Lawmakers in Montgomery took up a bill this week that would change that system.

Auburn football player uses NIL funds to open a community hub in Birmingham

Jourdin Crawford, a freshman defensive lineman at Auburn, used earnings from a Name, Image, and Likeness deal to give back to his hometown.

Ivey commutes death sentence of inmate whose accomplice fired fatal shot

Charles “Sonny” Burton was sentenced to death for the killing of Doug Battle during a 1991 robbery. However, another man shot Battle when Burton had left the building.

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