7. Attempts to end the food tax are back up in Montgomery
- Every year, the Alabama legislature discusses ending a tax on groceries, and every year, a legislator proposes a plan that will increase some fee or tax to recoup whatever money will be lost by doing so. Every year, it fails.
- State Senator Andrew Jones (R-Centre) is up this year with a plan that changes the amount you can deduct from your state taxes after paying federal taxes. State Representative Andrew Sorrell (R-Muscle Shoals) has a plan that would phase out the tax by 2040 without raising taxes. Neither is likely to pass, but we love talking about it.
6. Former Limestone County Commission chairman arrested
- Mark Yarbrough was arrested and charged with misdemeanor harassment and impersonation since he had been using a Facebook page under the name Randall Carson to threaten a woman in Limestone County.
- Yarbrough was released on bond, but the woman who filed the complaint said she “questioned even coming forward.” She added, “He is a coward for doing this to people. I would say shame on him.” While he was arrested and charged, the “threats” made on Facebook seemed standard for internet trolls.
5. Bill to eliminate Office of State Auditor passes committee
- The bill that would eliminate the Office of the State Auditor has been approved by the Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, but the bill wouldn’t affect current State Auditor Jim Zeigler.
- If passed, the bill will be put on the ballot in November and then only become active after Zeigler’s term has expired.
4. Of course, $2.5 billion isn’t enough for likely coronavirus outbreak in U.S.
- The White House has officially requested Congress put $2.5 billion toward fighting the coronavirus, which is meant “to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much-needed equipment and supplies.”
- Even after China rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to send the Centers of Disease Control to their country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has responded to the White House, saying that their request “is long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency.” The CDC has announced that the coronavirus becoming a major issue in the United States is more of a question of when rather than if it will happen.
3. Thank Birmingham and Mayor Randall Woodfin for the new monument law
- The Alabama Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has approved an updated version of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act that would fine violators by $5,000 per day instead of the $10,000 per day that was previously proposed.
- State Senator Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa), who originally introduced the bill, wants to ensure that all history in the state is remembered whether it’s good or bad. The bill will now go to the full Senate.
2. Democrats debate
- Another chaotic and embarrassing Democrat debate is in the book, and this time they seem to actually be interested in taking down front-runner Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The real winner of all of this is President Donald Trump, who continues to sit on the sidelines while the Democrat candidates attempt to out-liberal each other.
- A dark horse winner here may be former Vice President Joe Biden, who cranked up the pandering aimed at South Carolina’s black voters to the point where it was uncomfortable, blaming U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for a church shooting that killed nine, blaming billionaire Tom Steyer for private prisons and promising to appoint a random black woman to the Supreme Court.
1. Jones aborted his own career long ago
- U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which was expected since he’s previously voted against the bill and laughed while asked how he would vote this week.
- The legislation would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy due to studies that show a 20-week-old fetus can feel pain. U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) voted in support of the legislation and later said that this was “an important step in defending innocent human lives.”
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