A note on this year’s Annual Meeting voting

By Robyn Hyden, executive director

Alabama Arise strives to center the experiences and needs of low-income and working-class members in our work. We invite our members to participate in listening sessions, propose new legislative priorities and vote to set our legislative agenda during our Annual Meeting each fall.

It’s important that you, our members, drive and determine our legislative priorities. When member groups propose new issues and make the case at our annual membership meeting for them to join our agenda, participants have to make hard choices about which issues you think matter the most.

But this year, we didn’t receive any new proposed legislative priorities to add to our agenda. Rather, several groups have proposed adding new strategies under our existing priorities.

We still value your feedback and participation in setting this agenda. But this year’s voting will look a bit different. During the Annual Meeting, our staff will update you on the strategies and bills we have pursued under each of our current legislative priorities, which also are outlined in this month’s newsletter.

We will send you an electronic ballot to endorse the current legislative agenda. We’ll also ask you to rank the individual bills and strategies under each issue that you would like to see Arise prioritize in our collective advocacy.

Our agenda is stronger with your participation. Thank you for all the time and experience you share with us to shape our agenda and make our vision a reality.

Annual Meeting to chart Arise’s course for 2025

By Matt Okarmus, communications associate

Grassroots democracy will be on display when Alabama Arise members help shape our 2025 legislative priorities at our Annual Meeting on Saturday, Sept. 28. There will be options to meet both in person and online via Zoom.

As a member, you have the power to select how we pursue our 2025 legislative priorities. We have no new proposed priorities this year, but members will rank proposed strategies under each existing priority. Members also will vote on a proposed bylaw change. 

Below, you’ll find more information on the Annual Meeting. We will be meeting again at the Legacy Annex in Montgomery. You’ll also see our policy staff’s overviews of Arise’s legislative priorities, including our two permanent priorities: adequate state budgets and tax reform.

We hope you join us as we gather to renew our shared commitment to building a better Alabama for all!

Things to know for our Annual Meeting

When:

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where:

This is a hybrid event with options to attend in person as well as remotely via Zoom. The in-person meeting will be at The Legacy Annex, 115 Coosa St., Montgomery, AL 36104. This is the former site of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum. Visit alarise.org/annualmeeting2024 to find more details and registration information. There is no cost to attend, though donations are welcome.

Proposed bylaw change:

Arise members will be asked to vote on the following bylaw change:

Proposed revision: “All members of the Board of Directors shall serve a term of three years and terms will be staggered. Successive terms are permitted.”

Current language: “All members of the Board of Directors shall serve a term of three years and terms will be staggered. One successive term is permitted. After a one-year absence a person would be eligible to serve again.”

For more information:

If you have any questions, call 334-832-9060 or email info@alarise.org.

Permanent Arise legislative priorities

Adequate state budgets

We hear it too often at the Legislature: “It’s a bad budget year. Revenues are down.” So the last few years have been a pleasant relief as revenue growth has allowed greater budget flexibility.

But with more opportunities to invest in essential services also comes more potential to reroute money in harmful ways. Alabama Arise will advocate for legislators to choose a positive path when writing the 2026 budgets.

The Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget saw a relatively small revenue increase this year. ETF receipts grew 1.7%, or $136 million, over last year’s record. This growth was enough to give legislators more flexibility in crafting an education budget, but it was insufficient to allow another 1-cent reduction in the state grocery tax – an Arise priority. In a positive note, lawmakers allocated the administrative funding needed to provide Summer EBT nutrition benefits for more than 500,000 Alabama children starting in summer 2025.

The Legislature unfortunately used ETF flexibility in a bad way in 2024 by passing the CHOOSE Act. This law will divert at least $100 million annually away from our public schools and toward private schools and homeschooling. And lawmakers could increase that amount significantly in future years.

The General Fund (GF) budget, which funds Medicaid and other non-education services, saw 7.6% revenue growth this year, or $194 million. But this growth has been spurred primarily by high interest rates on state deposits. Those returns could decline if the Federal Reserve reduces interest rates this fall.

Despite healthier revenue growth this year, decades of underfunded GF services have created many unmet needs. In July and August budget hearings, GF agency leaders explained some of those needs:

• The Department of Corrections, under federal order to hire more guards, will not meet a court-ordered deadline to make those hires.
• Alabama’s turnover rate for child welfare workers exceeds 50% per year. The Department of Human Resources (DHR) also lacks essential mental health services for children and teens in its care.
• Our state needs significantly more funding for crisis services, including crisis centers and teams. The Department of Mental Health also noted increased demand for the 988 suicide prevention hotline. Grace Presbyterian Church, an Arise member group in Tuscaloosa, has urged us to prioritize efforts to secure dedicated state funding for mental health services provided by the 988 hotline next year.
• The Department of Public Health will need an additional $34 million for ALL Kids health insurance to cover children disenrolled from Medicaid during its recent “unwinding.”

Alabama lawmakers will confront all these needs and more in 2025. Arise will be there to urge them to meet the critical needs of Alabamians and the agencies that serve them.

Tax reform

Alabama’s failure to fund essential public services is a direct consequence of our upside-down tax system. This system requires the most from those least able to pay. It gives tax breaks to wealthy households and fails to raise the revenue we need.

In 2023 and 2024, the Legislature passed tax cuts pulling as much as $558 million out of the education budget alone. Arise member group Jobs to Move America has urged us to prioritize legislation next year to claw back tax incentives from companies that violate child labor laws.

One of the most egregious tax giveaways this year was the CHOOSE Act. This law will provide at least $100 million a year for private schools and homeschooling – money taken directly from our public schools. Meanwhile, the state grocery tax remains stuck at 3% because annual education revenue growth did not meet the statutorily required 3.5% to reduce it by another cent this year.

Arise has long supported a replacement for the grocery tax that also would boost school funding. Capping or eliminating the federal income tax deduction would allow us to remove the state sales tax on groceries. It also would make our state’s tax system fairer and increase funding for our public schools.

Alabama legislators may have to include tax reform as they discuss proposals to reweigh our per-pupil education funding formula to benefit schools, students and communities with the greatest needs. Arise is an active participant in these discussions, and we will share more information as it becomes available.

Compiled by Carol Gundlach, senior policy analyst

Current Arise legislative priorities and strategies

Criminal justice reform

Arise was happy to partner with allies to improve Alabama’s criminal justice system this year with the passage of HB 275 by Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa. This law will strengthen Alabama’s indigent defense system so it can better serve more Alabamians with low incomes.

Other criminal justice reform legislation made progress through the Legislature before falling short during the 2024 session. That included HB 29 by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa. This “second chance” bill would have reformed the state’s Habitual Felony Offender Act, commonly referred to as the “three-strikes” law. Arise was encouraged to see a House committee approve the bill this year. We expect to see and support similar legislation next year.

In 2023, Arise expanded our scope of work in this area to include efforts to reform Alabama’s felony murder law. Under this law, a person can be convicted of first-degree murder even if they did not intend to or did not actually kill anyone. A disproportionate share of people convicted under felony murder laws are people of color, research from several states has found.

England filed HB 32 to clarify the circumstances under which felony murder may be charged and to make other related changes. HB 32 stalled after a public hearing this year, but we expect to see and support similar legislation next year.

Arise member group Greater Birmingham Ministries has urged us to prioritize parole reform legislation in our reform work next year. This legislation would establish formal criteria for parole decisions and allow applicants to attend hearings in person or by video. The bill also would require the parole board to cite explicit reasons for not releasing incarcerated people who have fulfilled certain legal requirements.

Death penalty reform

Lawmakers in 2024 debated legislation to address Alabama’s unjust death penalty laws. Alabama is one of only two states to permit the issuance of death sentences via non-unanimous jury sentencing decisions. 

Arise this year supported SB 182 by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, which would have aligned the state with the national trend of requiring a unanimous jury verdict prior to imposing the death penalty. Unfortunately, this bill did not move out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Similarly, the House Judiciary Committee vigorously debated HB 27 by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, but failed to move it to the full House. The bill would have applied the state’s ban on judicial override in capital cases retroactively.

This ban forbids judges from imposing a death sentence when the jury recommends a lesser sentence. Unfortunately, when passed in 2017, the law didn’t apply to people already on death row. That has left more than 30 people on Alabama’s death row who received a death sentence against their jury’s will. We hope to see both pieces of legislation reintroduced and considered next year.

Maternal and infant health care

Arise’s work to improve maternal and infant health outcomes for Alabama moms amped up after members added this priority to our agenda in 2024. The needs are vast: Alabama consistently ranks near the bottom for maternal mortality, preterm birth rate and infant mortality. And Black mothers are twice as likely to face these outcomes.

Unfortunately, general health care access perils are magnified during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Access to care before pregnancy has a direct connection to health outcomes for mothers and infants. Ensuring Alabamians can access health care early in their pregnancies increases the chance they can address any issues with preventive and less invasive procedures. Equally as compelling, the support a family receives during the postpartum period promotes stability in mental and overall health.

Arise this year supported HB 77 by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, a new law that increased the number of conditions for which newborn babies are screened. We also backed two paid parental leave bills that made progress. HB 309 by Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg, which as amended would have provided six weeks of leave for state employees, passed the House and won Senate committee approval. SB 305 by Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, which as amended would have extended six weeks of leave to teachers, also received Senate committee approval.

Arise will keep advocating for Medicaid expansion and for paid family medical leave, including in cases of miscarriage or stillbirth. These policies would help prevent closures of maternity wards, provide a healthier start to pregnancies and provide greater comprehensive support during the postpartum period. The time is now to ensure healthier communities by investing in Alabama’s mothers and their families.

Public transportation

Public transportation is a vital public good. Adequate transit enables and enhances every aspect of life. Public transit empowers people to get to work, see their doctors, run to the grocery store, vote and stay connected. Inadequate transit is a persistent barrier for Alabamians with disabilities and for older Alabamians.

But Alabama hasn’t funded the Public Transportation Trust Fund since creating it almost a decade ago. That needs to change. The state leaves millions of federal matching dollars on the table every year because of failing to invest in transit. Every dollar of state money could get $1 in federal match for operations costs like driver salaries and $4 in match for capital improvements like buses.

Two good options exist for fixing this problem. One solution would be for the state to appropriate $50 million from the General Fund to improve transit systems. This would avoid reluctance to increase fees and license costs but wouldn’t provide a long-term fix.

The state also could fund public transit with a $5 surcharge for vehicle tags, either for all cars or for vehicles used in commerce. This option would provide a dedicated funding path but is a tougher legislative route because of reluctance to increase costs at the point of tag purchase.

Voting rights

Arise and advocacy partners this year fought SB 1 by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, which poses a serious threat to voting rights in Alabama. Despite our efforts, SB 1 passed and will criminalize many efforts to assist voters with absentee voting. We will continue to support efforts to overturn SB 1 and to limit the harmful impact of this law.

Lawmakers considered but did not pass legislation to make absentee voting more equitable this year. HB 64 by Rep. Kenyatte Hassell, D-Montgomery, would have allowed voters to cure defects in absentee ballot affidavits when needed. Though this legislation ultimately did not make it out of the House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee, it was significant that a bill to improve voting access received committee discussion.

This year also saw continued efforts to improve the voting rights restoration process for people who previously lost their right to vote due to a felony conviction. A Senate committee approved SB 174 by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, but the full Senate did not vote on it. We look forward to working with the bill’s sponsors and other advocates to strategize ways to help get this legislation across the finish line next year.

Compiled by Mike Nicholson, senior policy analyst; Jennifer Harris, senior health policy advocate; and Dev Wakeley, worker policy advocate.

Pres Harris celebrates three decades of organizing and community involvement

By Whitney Washington, communications associate

When Presdelane Harris started at Alabama Arise as the phone organizer in summer 1994, she had no idea what the next 30 years had in store. She didn’t intend on being at Arise for long.

“Maybe doing this for a little while, maybe one or two years,” she said.

Pres makes it clear that no matter her journey to Arise, this is where she was meant to be.

“God placed me here. This is not where I ever thought I’d be,” she said.

At Auburn University at Montgomery, Pres majored in justice and public safety and later added a master’s degree in management from Troy University. She considered law school before getting plugged into Arise.

Pres has worn lots of hats since starting at Arise, having “just about every job” at the organization. From phone organizer and office manager to organizing director, where she has helped Arise’s membership grow to reach 53 of Alabama’s 67 counties, Pres has seen the evolution of not just Arise, but Alabama politics as a whole.

“The Legislature was actually a little more diverse then,” she said. “It didn’t feel like it does now.”

Alabama can be a trying place to work on Arise’s issues. What is it that’s kept Pres going? 

“The cumulative impact of seeing people get engaged and being excited,” she said. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that you really do have to meet people where they are.”

“Our members are diverse in a lot of ways, but we all come together under our mission to advance policies to improve the lives of people marginalized by poverty,” Pres said. “When you’re talking to folks on the ground, people are just people.”

After 30 years at Arise, including 22 as the organizing director, Pres still has big dreams.  

“I would like us to grow our organizing team more,” she said. “The field is wide open.

While growing the number of organizers on staff is always a goal, deepening relationships is critical to Pres’ vision.

“The reason we have organizers on staff is to grow in depth as well as reach,” she said. 

Taking care of ourselves is a priority for many Arise staff, and Pres is no different. Her faith is essential to her work. 

“Living out my values is a way of taking care of myself. I take seriously the idea of being at peace,” she said. That peace grounds me when everything around is in chaos.”

Anyone who knows Pres knows that cruises are also a big part of her self-care practice. She typically takes two cruises a year with her family. Her next one will be to Costa Maya in Mexico in December.

As far as organizing work, Pres keeps her eye on new technology. From implementing our first database years ago to working on a new texting platform now, she’s always seeking out ways to engage new people into our mission.

“In two text banks, we sent 23,000 texts,” she said. “There was genuine interest. We’re always open to innovative ideas about engaging the most directly impacted folks.”

And what would she like to see in the next 30 years? 

“Thirty years from now, I’d like to see our mission having to change because we have fewer people who are marginalized by poverty,” Pres said. “Ideally, we’ll work ourselves out of a job.”

How Alabama can build an economy that works for workers

By Dev Wakeley, worker policy advocate

Working people – and the unions that workers form to build power together – have made enormous contributions to the well-being of all Americans. These contributions include overtime pay, a five-day workweek, child labor protections and workplace safety standards.

These advances didn’t come easily. Workers won them through strikes, pressure and solidarity. And the fight continues. In Alabama, workers fought this year against anti-union legislation and a measure to reduce child labor protections.

Low wages, substandard worker protections and miserly leave policies all contribute to the job quality problem. Policymakers also have failed to invest adequately in structural supports that would empower workers to better their situations.

We can move toward a better economy with better policy choices. Alabama lawmakers should remove workforce participation barriers through Medicaid expansion and stronger investments in child care, housing and public transportation. And employers should do their part by increasing wages, ensuring paid sick leave and parental leave, and ending hostility to workers’ efforts to unionize.

Policymakers and businesses should move beyond the low-road strategies that have Alabama spinning its wheels on improving quality of life for the people who keep the state running. By investing in a high-road economic structure that uplifts workers, we can build an Alabama we’re all proud to call home.

Click here to read the full version of this article.

Expanding Medicaid would save moms and babies

By Debbie Smith, Cover Alabama campaign director

Where you live shouldn’t impact whether you get health care. But many women face preventable barriers to obtaining maternal health care in Alabama. Closing Alabama’s health coverage gap through Medicaid expansion is an essential part of the solution.

Alabama has experienced a steady rate of labor and delivery department closures in recent years, creating maternity care deserts. More than one-third of Alabama counties are maternity care deserts, with some people having to drive up to 100 miles to reach the nearest labor and delivery department. Since October 2023, at least four hospitals have closed their labor and delivery departments. Grove Hill Memorial Hospital in Clarke County became the latest addition to that list last month.

The closure of accessible labor and delivery departments is dangerous for mothers and babies. When rural hospitals close their obstetric units, pregnant women in those areas are forced to travel long distances for maternity services. The farther a woman must travel to receive maternity care, the greater the risk of maternal morbidity and adverse infant outcomes.

Expanding Medicaid would help strengthen access to maternity care providers by improving rural hospitals’ overall finances, which could reduce the number of labor and delivery department closures in the state. Medicaid expansion would increase the number of insured patients, reducing the amount of uncompensated care that hospitals provide. Research shows that a rural hospital being located in a Medicaid expansion state decreases the likelihood it will close by an average of 62%. Protecting rural hospitals helps the whole community.

Alabama has the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation. Similarly, Alabama has the nation’s third highest infant death rate. The infant mortality rate for Black babies is 1.5 times higher than the state average and nearly twice as high as the rate for white babies. Similarly, Black mothers in Alabama are twice as likely to die during childbirth as their white counterparts.

Medicaid expansion can help address the high maternal mortality rate and health disparities in Alabama by ensuring continuous coverage before, during and after pregnancy. Expanding Medicaid would provide more women with access to regular prenatal checkups. Research shows that adoption of Medicaid expansion is associated with lower rates of maternal mortality, and reduction in infant mortality as well. It’s time for Alabama to invest in a healthier future for mothers and children by expanding Medicaid.

Diverse membership is our power

By Jacob Smith, advancement and operations director

As an Alabama Arise member, you use your power to help create a more equitable Alabama. Every year at our Annual Meeting, our members choose our legislative priorities and fuel our advocacy efforts.

Because you are so important to our work, we want you to know who your fellow members are. We have more than 1,700 members across the state in more than three-quarters of Alabama counties. And we have set goals to diversify our membership to be more reflective of Alabama’s demographics and the concerns of folks living paycheck to paycheck.

We’re making strong progress on those goals. Through our membership survey (which you can fill out at alarise.org/membership-survey), we have learned 27% of our members are people with low incomes, 6% are people under age 30 and 32% are people of color.

If you’re ready to deepen your commitment, I want to invite you to join a group of our members who sustain our work year-round: our recurring donors. More than 200 people give monthly to Arise because they know it’s important for us to have the flexibility needed to focus year-round on the priorities that members like you choose.

Will you join this steadfast group? Our most common monthly gift is $10! Visit alarise.org/donate to set up a recurring gift online. Thank you for being a member!

Arise empowers advocates through Think Big Alabama training

By Chris Sanders, communications director

Alabama Arise partnered with Alabama Values this summer to launch Think Big Alabama: Empowering Voices for Change. This four-part grassroots advocacy training program equipped participants with skills in media, public policy and organizing. Members of the inaugural cohort completed action plans for their efforts to drive change on numerous community and statewide issues. Above: Arise’s Pres Harris and Chris Sanders (back row, first two on left) pose with Think Big Alabama participants and staff from Alabama Values and the National Park Service after the final training session Aug. 24 at the Montgomery Interpretive Center on the Alabama State University campus. (Photo courtesy of Alabama Values)