All Resources
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise, 81 partner groups urge Alabama to fund public transportation
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funding provides an opportunity for Alabama to jump-start public transportation across the state. Alabama Arise joined 81 partner organizations Wednesday in a letter asking lawmakers to allocate ARPA money to public transportation. The full text of the letter is below. Letter text Dear Governor Ivey, Lieutenant Governor Ainsworth, members [...]
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Alabama needs to invest in our people
Do you know how hard it is to pass just one bill in the Alabama Legislature? We often measure progress on our issue priorities over periods of four-year quadrenniums, or even decades. So it’s remarkable that during the 2022 regular session, Arise members helped pass numerous priority bills on everything from equitable tax reforms and [...]
Personal Stories
Postpartum Medicaid extension brings a glimmer of hope for new mothers in Alabama
This story originally appeared on AL.com. On Mother’s Day in 2014, I found out I was pregnant. For me, the existential dread set in just as deeply as the morning sickness. Motherhood and its crushing weight had been drilled into me my entire life. I told myself it was too hard, that I just wasn’t [...]
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise, partners urge no disruption to summer food program in Alabama
The Summer Food Service Program has been a critical tool to fight child hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic. But many key program flexibilities will expire June 30 unless Alabama applies for a waiver. Alabama Arise and our partners in the Hunger-Free Alabama coalition wrote a letter Thursday to state school Superintendent Eric Mackey to urge [...]
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Highs and lows: Alabama Arise’s look back at the 2022 regular session
The Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session adjourned sine die late on Thursday, April 7. Lawmakers capped off the session’s last week with intense debates and late nights, with the final gavel dropping just before midnight. Alabama Arise is grateful for the many positive outcomes that came out of the State House this year. We also [...]
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Arise legislative update: April 12, 2022
Arise's Robyn Hyden breaks down successes and missed opportunities from the Alabama Legislature's 2022 regular session, which ended Thursday night. She highlights breakthroughs on federal ARPA funds, postpartum Medicaid extension and criminal justice reform, among other issues.
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Arise legislative recap: April 4, 2022
Arise's Jane Adams shares the good news that next year's General Fund budget includes a provision that would extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to one year after childbirth, up from the current 60 days. The budget has passed both the Alabama House and Senate and has gone to the governor.
Blog
Untax Groceries Rally: March 15, 2022
More than 50 Arise members gathered in Montgomery on Tuesday for the Untax Groceries Rally to support efforts to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries. The event focused on two bills that would end the state grocery tax while protecting school funding: SB 43 by Sen. Andrew Jones and a forthcoming bill by Rep. [...]
Blog
Grocery tax, health care key Arise focuses this year
Untax groceries. Expand health coverage. Make the criminal justice system more just. Those are a few of Alabama Arise’s major priorities during the Legislature’s 2022 regular session. And we’re making real progress toward turning those goals into realities. Untaxing groceries Ending the state’s regressive sales tax on groceries has been a longtime Arise priority. It [...]
Blog
Arise legislative recap: Feb. 28, 2022
Arise's Jilisa Milton discusses HB 312, which would prohibit teaching certain "divisive concepts" related to race, religion and sex in public K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, and state employee training programs. This bill could undermine a healthy educational environment in Alabama by chilling full, truthful discussions of key historical and current events. Jilisa also [...]