Fact Sheets
Fact Sheet
The new poll tax: Court debt and voting rights in Alabama
Everyone should be able to have a voice in governmental decisions that affect their daily lives. Voting is the most straightforward way Alabamians have to shape those decisions. But our state has a long, sad legacy of voter suppression tactics. As a result, Alabama today has more disenfranchised citizens than California, a state with eight [...]
Fact Sheet
Criminal justice debt: A modern-day debtors’ prison
By Carol Gundlach and Dev Wakeley, policy analysts It is unconstitutional to jail a person in the United States just because he or she owes money. But Alabama has no process for courts to determine if a defendant can afford to pay fees and fines. And despite a prohibition on “debtors’ prisons,” thousands of Alabamians [...]
Fact Sheet
Injustices remain in Alabama’s death penalty practices
Alabama took an important step toward death penalty reform in 2017, but numerous problems remain. That year, the state finally outlawed judicial override in capital cases. That change means judges no longer can impose the death penalty when a jury recommends life without parole. But the ban was not retroactive, and 35 people who were [...]
Fact Sheet
How to get involved in Alabama’s legislative process
Most people recognize the vital role that voting plays in a democracy – even if they don’t vote. But fewer understand the citizen’s role in lawmaking. Using your power as a constituent to influence legislators is called lobbying. Alabama Arise promotes its interest – the well-being of Alabamians with low and moderate incomes – not [...]
Fact Sheet
Why Medicaid expansion is a must for prison reform in Alabama
Against a backdrop of human tragedy, Gov. Kay Ivey’s Study Group on Criminal Justice Policy is working toward a January deadline for its recommendations to the Legislature. The U.S. Department of Justice in April issued a sobering overview of the Alabama corrections system’s numerous shortcomings. And the Montgomery Advertiser shed further light on the situation [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Arise comments on how proposed SNAP changes would reduce school meal access
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing a rule that would require some states to reduce gross income limits for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants. It also would force 42 states, including Alabama, to impose resource limits on applicants. More than 3 million people would become ineligible for food assistance under the rule, [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Arise comments in opposition to proposed SNAP categorical eligibility changes
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing a rule that would require some states to reduce gross income limits for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants. It also would force 42 states, including Alabama, to impose resource limits on applicants. More than 3 million people would become ineligible for food assistance under the rule, [...]
Fact Sheet
Meet the working men and women caught in Alabama’s health coverage gap
As we celebrate Alabama’s workforce on Labor Day, here’s a fact that deserves special attention: More than 100,000 Alabamians are working without health insurance. They work in child care, construction, food services and other vital jobs. They’re the folks who keep things going. Yet they’re trapped in the health coverage gap. They can’t afford employer-based [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Arise comments in opposition to federal plan to evict mixed-status immigrant families
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is proposing a rule that would bar tens of thousands of "mixed-status" immigrant families from living in public housing and Section 8 programs. These families include both members who are eligible and ineligible for assistance based on immigration status. The proposed rule would harm more than [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Arise comments in opposition to federal plan to redefine poverty line
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is proposing to reduce annual cost-of-living adjustments to the federal poverty line. Over time, this plan would reduce or end Medicaid, SNAP food assistance and other work supports for millions of Americans. Here is the full text of the comments Alabama Arise submitted in opposition to this proposal: [...]