Capital Pulse January 28, 2022

The Rundown

The Alabama Legislature reconvened Tuesday, January 25th, starting day three of the Special Session focused on allocating more than $772 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. AEA staff held watch over the special session as the Legislature worked in a bi-partisan effort to craft a plan on the best way to spend federal relief dollars to assist hospitals and nursing homes, build out water and sewer infrastructure, and expand broadband internet. After two more days of continuous work, the Legislature voted on the final passage of the legislation, concluding the special session Thursday, January 27th. The 2022 Regular Session will resume Tuesday, February 1st.

Because the Legislature was in a special session, they were prohibited from introducing new bills to be taken up in the regular session until the reconvening of the regular session. The AEA Lobby Team spent the week meeting with legislators regarding the education budget, pay raises, retiree bonus checks, and other education issues that will be at the forefront now that the special session has concluded.

CONTINUE TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS TO ASK FOR MORE THAN A 4% PAY RAISE AND MORE THAN A $300 RETIREE BONUS! AEA staff is diligently fighting for educator and retiree pay raises, but YOUR VOICE is always essential! You can find contact information for your legislator here.

The complete list of the legislation AEA is currently tracking, go to myAEA.org and click on The Capital Pulse or check past issues of The Pulse for the weekly list of tracked legislation.