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The Alabama House voted 93-1 Thursday for a bill to create a statewide common database of payday loans. HB 145, sponsored by Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, now goes to the Senate. Todd’s bill would make it easier to enforce a current state law that prohibits borrowers from taking out more than $500 in payday loans [...]

An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill to erase a size limit on the state income tax credit that an individual can claim for contributions to groups that grant scholarships under the Alabama Accountability Act. HB 558, sponsored by Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Semmes, moves to the House. The Accountability Act, enacted last year, provides [...]

The Alabama House could vote as soon as Tuesday on a bill that would allow people convicted of a drug-related felony to regain eligibility for food assistance or cash welfare benefits. A House committee Wednesday approved the bill, which the Senate passed last month. SB 303, sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman, D-Birmingham, awaits consideration by [...]

Alabamians could shield more of their home’s value from creditors under a bill that the Senate’s General Fund budget committee approved 7-0 Wednesday. SB 427, sponsored by Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, awaits consideration by the full Senate. Ward's bill would allow individuals to protect up to $30,000 of their home's value from creditors. The exemption [...]

The Alabama Senate voted 28-0 Thursday for a bill that would adjust some deadlines in the state’s landlord-tenant law in favor of property owners. SB 291, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, goes to the House. Current state law requires landlords to provide tenants with a 14-day written notice if they plan [...]

Nearly 100 Arise supporters gathered Thursday in Montgomery to urge reforms of payday and auto title lending in Alabama. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and Rep. Rod Scott, D-Fairfield, spoke at an Arise news conference to encourage advocates to push for their respective reform bills. “There is no one in this state who does not have [...]

Enforcement of current Alabama law would be easier under a pared-down payday lending reform bill that emerged from a House committee Wednesday. Triple-digit annual interest rates on the loans would not change, however, under the new version of HB 145 that the House Financial Services Committee approved. The bill awaits consideration by the full House. [...]

State K-12 and higher education funding next year would remain far lower than it was before the recession under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget that the Alabama Senate passed 21-10 Thursday. The $5.9 billion budget is identical to the version that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday, but changes likely are ahead in the House. K-12 [...]

People convicted of a drug-related felony could regain their eligibility for food assistance or cash welfare benefits in Alabama under a bill that the state Senate passed 18-8 Thursday. SB 303, sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman, D-Birmingham, moves to the House. SB 303 would allow otherwise eligible people to receive food assistance or cash welfare [...]

State support for education and other public services under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and General Fund (GF) next year would not come close to its pre-recession level under the budgets that advanced in the Alabama Legislature on Wednesday. Both budgets are built on the assumption that the state will see no major revenue increases [...]