Those of us who follow Alabama politics had been awaiting late May like kids waiting for Santa Claus at Christmas.
We knew May 19 would be the golden opening date for candidates to begin making their announcements for governor and other statewide constitutional offices. Why? Because the law stipulates that candidates can begin raising campaign dollars exactly one year prior to the primary elections, which are set for May 19, 2026.
Imagine three out of every 10 Americans owned a grizzly bear.
Not as pets. As protection.
We’d share sidewalks with grim-faced men leading their bears by a leash. Stores would have signs reminding patrons not to bring bears inside. Those that didn’t would have many frightened customers trying to evade the enormous beast blocking the aisles.
My wife and I spent the Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend hiking near Lake Martin in Dadeville.
From a stunning view of the lake, we walked through a canopied forest with all kinds of rocks, ridges, and flora. The trail took us to the lake shore, where we took in the vistas and the $1 million homes all around them.
It’s a reminder of how many natural jewels we have in Alabama. And it’s free. All you have to do is drive there and start walking. No painful real estate investment required.
The recently completed 2025 Alabama Legislative Regular Session has concluded successfully. Any time you record solid balanced budgets, you have succeeded.
Both the Education Budget and General Fund Budget are sound, thanks to the good work of the budget chairmen. Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Escambia), and Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) have done yeoman work. Legislative leaders, like Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman), have provided outstanding leadership.
A few weeks ago I started learning Irish via an app.
The lessons progress like any foreign language course. Start with food and water and how to get them. Gloine uisce, le do thoil. A glass of water, please.
Step outside and describe the weather. Tá sé grianmhar. It’s sunny. Or Tá sé dorcha agus scamallach. It’s dark and cloudy.
Over the past ten years, the following question has been posed to me, “Flowers, why in the world does Alabama not have a lottery, and why can’t we receive the revenue from gambling that every one of our surrounding states and almost every state in America thrives on?”
When you come out from under the rusty monoliths inscribed with the names of lynching victims and the counties that bear the guilt of their deaths at Montgomery’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice, you come to another set of monoliths lying on the ground.
They’re duplicates of what you’ve just seen. The Equal Justice Initiative, which runs the memorial, has offered them to each American county where a lynching took place. It’s a reminder that the past lines our paths and runs beneath our feet.
Gov. Kay Ivey is a sure-footed politician.
She’s walked the narrow and dangerous path of Alabama politics all the way to summit. It requires focus, dedication, and balancing performative apathy and winking cruelty. And constant, emphatic declarations that you care more about your party than the people who live here.
That may explain why Ivey said last week that she supports the efforts of President Donald Trump and effective President Elon Musk to destroy the U.S. Department of Education.
We reap bitter fruit when lawmakers cross-pollinate religion and law.
It’s not just a question of elevating one belief over others. The law at its best gives fair treatment to competing interests and keeps them on the same path through the world. When one version of what lies beyond this reality gets into the law, the people clinging to that vision enjoy a privilege over any other need or desire in the broader community.
Two bills pending before the Alabama Legislature put particular beliefs on a pedestal. And in the process, they could subject public education and the health of our children to the schemes of zealots.
I can’t go to Goat Hill lately without feeling déjà vu.
It started with Gov. Kay Ivey’s State of the State address on Feb. 6. There was the trite invocation of the “Gulf of America.” The vicious attacks on transgender Alabamians. And the constant talk about job creation and business investment that never seems to dent Alabama’s high rates of poverty or low rates of workforce participation.
Go after immigrants. Back The Blue. Make vague commitments to broaden a potentially catastrophic voucher program in the Education Trust Fund.
It’s all been done.
Our Alabama Constitution is very antiquated. One of the flaws inherent in the document is that it does not allow local county governments much authority or power.
Therefore, the county governments must channel most changes or actions into local acts, which must be advertised in their local paper for four weeks and then taken to the Alabama Legislature to be enacted. Thus, the entire state legislature has to act on a local bill for Fayette County that might involve something as mundane as whether to pave a road or buy a tractor.
The leading cause of preventable death for Alabama children is guns.
Let me say that again in active voice.
Guns kill Alabama kids more than anything else we can prevent.
And we refuse to act.
The Alabama Legislature rushed a bill to Gov. Kay Ivey last week. It was so important that House Republicans limited debate on the measure to 10 minutes on Wednesday. It was so urgent that Ivey signed it on Thursday.
You would hope legislation passed so swiftly would address a major problem in the state. Like gun violence. The rural health crisis. Or the ongoing inequities in Alabama’s public schools.
A bit of country wisdom came to mind, recently, as I watched the news about a high-roller insurance giant. The old saying goes, “Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.” This adage, of course, speaks to the consequences of excessive greed.
In recent news, which most of you might have missed, likely because it was suppressed, is that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama was part of a $2.8 billion settlement in a lawsuit brought by the insurance company’s customers. That settlement is the largest health-related antitrust case in history. Of course, Big Blue never admitted to any bad behavior, which is par for the course when a case settles, but $2.8 billion is a lot to pay if you are innocent.
Pity the poor state lawmaker.
They work hard on a law to punish Alabamians showing kindness to the vulnerable — normal, everyday stuff in the Alabama Legislature — and inadvertently revive the Fugitive Slave Act.
Wednesdays, am I right?
Republican Sen. Wes Kitchens of Arab said he didn’t intend SB 53 to reflect the language of that infamous antebellum law, which authorized kidnapping and threatened fines and imprisonment to those who helped enslaved people flee to freedom.
Alabama’s colleges and universities are scared.
And I understand why. If an administration that prioritizes ideological conformity over intellectual curiosity cut off one of my key funding sources, I’d hesitate to speak out, too.
But they don’t have a choice. Not they take their educational missions seriously.
There’s a strange limbo in the weeks before the Alabama Legislature returns to work.
You know what legislators should focus on. Living in Alabama makes that obvious. You can guess where their focus will be based on what they say in the weeks leading up to the gavel drop.
But honestly? No one knows anything until the first day of the session. In fact, the drift of the session may not be clear for weeks afterward.
So we wait.
We have about 16 months before the 2026 state Republican primaries, the only elections that matter in Alabama. Big offices, including governor and attorney general, will be up for grabs.
That means a lot of GOP candidates, many with little to no name recognition, will fight for the attention of the 20% of the adult population of Alabama who vote in the primary.
I wish that would mean serious discussions of issues like criminal justice and health care. But we know what they’ll talk about.
Criminal justice reform advocates discussed the impact of fines and fees on marginalized Alabamians, as well as possible solutions, at a panel discussion last month.
Alabama lawmakers in recent years have enacted dozens of fines and fees, many through local bills, that increase the cost of going through the criminal justice system or in getting a license plate for a motor vehicle. While some fees go to victim restitution, others are levied to pay for basic operations of the court system. Most fall disproportionately on those least able to pay.
It’s hard to keep a sense of hope as a political journalist. It’s even harder when you ply your trade in Alabama.
But this is the holiday season, a time of expectation and warm feelings. And waiting for all of us is the Alabama Legislature, which begins its 2025 regular session in less than six weeks.
The return of our lawmakers may not inspire warm feelings in you. Nor should it lead to high expectations. The last several sessions have been marked by performative cruelty against transgender youth and educators. I don’t see anything changing that dynamic in the current year.
