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Alabama News
- 11/17/08 - Controversy Swirls Over Proposed USDA Organic Standards for Fish Farms
- 10/10/08 - Progressive States Network Voter Suppression Update
- 09/19/08 - States Accuse Pentagon Of Threats, Retaliation
- 09/12/08 - Drugs Affect More Drinking Water
- 09/12/08 - Sludge Sprayed on Grand Bay Fields Contains Pollutants
- 09/08/08 - Anniston Last Army Site to Still Use TCE Regularly
- 09/05/08 - When Cleaning Up Isn't Enough: Army Trying to Rid Anniston Army Depot of Toxic TCE
- 09/05/08 - Grand Bay Residents Upset that Farmland is Fertilized with Processed Sewage
- 08/28/08 - The Rise of 'The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party'
- 08/27/08 - Hundreds of Workers Held in Immigration Raid
- 08/26/08 - Local Grocers Seek Niche in Wal-Mart World
- 08/22/08 - Grassroots Direct Action: San Francisco Voters Nov. 4 Will Tell Their Congress Reps to Defund the War
- 08/09/08 - Has Your Town Declared Peace Yet?
- 07/25/08 - FEMA Seeks Immunity From Suits Over Trailer Fumes
- 07/18/08 - As Price of Grain Rises, Catfish Farms Dry Up
- 07/15/08 - N.C. Eager to Snuff Neighbors' Pollution
- 07/14/08 - Farmers Get Welcome Relief From DOT Rules
- 07/13/08 - Trial Date Set in '65 Shooting
- 07/13/08 - More Offshore Oil Drilling? Not So Fast
- 07/10/08 - Wal-Mart Watch: Race Discrimination Persists in the Deep South
- 07/09/08 - A Campus Going Green
- 06/30/08 - States Taking Initiative on Environmental & Climate Crisis while Feds Do Little or Nothing
- 06/11/08 - Move Over MoveOn: Grassroots Netroots Alliance (GNA) Launches New Progressive Campaign to 'Press the Politicians'
- 05/15/08 - Center for American Progress: What Are You Paying for the War?
- 05/13/08 - White House vs White Bear: Bush Must Decide Whether To Save The Polar Bear As The Ice Melts
- 04/23/08 - Alabama House Passes Plan to Remove Sales Tax on Groceries; Senate Approval Would Send Measure to Voters
- 04/16/08 - Pesticide-Free Produce is Growing in Popularity
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Tell Your Legislators to Pass the Tax Fairness Amendment
In the last session state legislators failed to pass Representative John Knight's Tax Fairness Amendment. Representative Knight's Tax Fairness Amendment would help low-income residents of Alabama afford food by removing the four percent sales tax on groceries, and assist low-income families by moving the threshold for income tax to $20,000 for a family of four and removing the state deduction for federal taxes. The bill failed by one vote in the Senate, but there is another chance to get it passed--- the special summer session.
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Alabama Arise
Updated: 6/30/08
Alabama Legislative Roundup
(From Progressive States Network)
In a year where a Montana state leader let loose an expletive-laden tirade against his Governor, Georgia budget negotiations had political leaders at each others' throats, and a Texas House fought to dethrone an autocratic Speaker, Alabama seems to have taken the crown for most dysfunctional legislature after a Republican State Senator punched a colleague from the majority Democrats on live television, launching videos that became a YouTube sensation.
The punch reflected the broader dysfunction of a session where the minority worked to block most substantive progress and that some legislators themselves described as one of the "worst sessions" they'd seen in twenty-five years.
One of the few real winners from the session was education, where the legislature approved a $1 billion bond issue to improve schools, along with pay raises for teachers, but there was no tax relief for the working poor, no campaign finance reform and no progress on a host of other issues which died in the ensuing stalemate.
Sadly, one of the few successful initiatives this year was a subsidy package to attract a ThyssenKrupp steel plant, a total state and local package of $811 million in state subsidies for just 2000 jobs. This is on top of other special industry-specific transit projects that are draining already crimped infrastructure budgets. Incredibly, the subsidy deal included an agreement by the state to oppose any state legislation seeking to stop global warming emissions in the state -- and extend the company an exemption from such legislation if passed.
Between personal dysfunction on the state Senate floor and corporate giveaways at the bargaining table, it was hardly a stellar year for Alabama.
Take Action. Support Green Jobs!
The Green Jobs Act of 2007 authorized $125 million per year to create an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program as an amendment to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The Green Jobs Act (GJA) is an initial pilot program to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and train workers for jobs in a range of industries - including energy efficient building, construction and retrofits, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, biofuels, and manufacturing that produces sustainable products and uses sustainable processes and materials. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but has a special focus on creating "green pathways out of poverty."
Congress has not yet appropriated money for the Green Jobs Act. Please contact your Senator today and urge them to fund the Green Jobs Act of 2007!
Read more at Green for All's web site.
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