Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The Phenix City story

  There are very few Alabamians left who remember the 1950s story of Phenix City, Alabama. After World War II, a good many of the military soldiers, enlisted men, stayed on for a while.  A host of them was stationed at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. As many of you know, Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama are essentially the same city. They are only separated by a bridge and the Chattahoochee River.

  Phenix City figured that these soldiers needed some entertainment, so our border city became the poor man’s Las Vegas and Guadalajara, Mexico rolled into one. Phenix City became known as the most sinful place in America. It was openly run by a tough redneck mafia that made the New York mafia look like choir boys.

Craig Ford: Alabama Legislature needs to pass the lottery in the special session

  Now more than ever, we need leaders – especially in the Alabama Senate where the lottery died last year – who will make the lottery a priority.

  The Alabama Legislature is quickly running out of excuses for failing to let the people vote on a state lottery.

  Last summer, Gov. Robert Bentley called a special session specifically for the purpose of passing a lottery. After passing out of the state Senate, the lottery went to the House where it passed on its second vote after a few changes had been made. Those changes meant the bill had to go back to the Senate, and the senators didn’t agree with the changes the House had made. So, the lottery once again died without getting a chance to go before the people.

Craig Ford: When we vote this summer for a U.S. Senator, why not vote on a lottery, too?

  This week, Governor Ivey made the tough decision to hold the special election for our U.S. Senator this summer instead of waiting until next year's elections, as Governor Bentley had planned to do.

  This was not an easy choice to make. It is estimated that a special election will cost the state about $15 million.

  But if we also put a lottery on the same ballot as the U.S. Senate race, we can resolve two major issues for the price of one and take partisan concerns out of the equation.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1548: The time is upon us!

  The time is upon us. It comes every year like clockwork. It commenced February 7, 2017 this year. It will go until mid-May. The obstacle will be great. The challenges will be gigantic. The results will fall short. It’s the 2017 Alabama Regular Legislative Session.

  Even after 33 years, I can’t tell you all or most of the issues that will come before the 2017 Alabama Legislative Session. I can tell you two for certain. I can tell you others with a great degree of certainty. I can predict others, but predictions are worth very little in this legislative narrative. It’s the 2017 Legislative Session.

Craig Ford: My hope for the future of Alabama and the Democratic Party

  For the last six years, it has been my privilege to serve as Minority Leader in the Alabama House of Representatives. On Wednesday, I will step down and a new leader will be elected.

  While I will continue to serve in the legislature and represent the great people of Etowah County, I would like to share my outgoing thoughts on our state and the Democratic Party.

  One thing that seems to be clear after six years of the current supermajority is that their policies aren’t working for regular people in Alabama.

  Alabama’s unemployment rate continues to be well above the national average, and our public school system has lost millions of dollars to charter schools and the Accountability Act since the Republican supermajority took over in 2010.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Reflections on the special session

  Folks, I have been observing and participating in the legislative process for over 50 years. Lest you think I am really old, I started paging in the Alabama Legislature when I was 12, served in the House of Representatives close to two decades, and have been reporting on the legislative process for now close to two decades, and I am here to tell you I have not seen a more up and down roller coaster ride than the recently completed special session to deal with the lottery issue.

  Extraordinary special sessions of the legislature are the way to go to get something accomplished if you are governor. The legislature has to address the topic for which the governor has called the special session. It is referred to as “the call.”

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1527: The Special Legislative Session drama

  It was the Final Act of the Special Legislative Session Drama. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it in between? I don’t know, but I am truly glad that this was the Final Act of this Special Legislative Session Drama.

  We had been major players in this Special Session Drama before. Let’s call it Act One and Act Two. We had expected this to be a One Act Drama ending on August 24. It did not. We then expected just one more act – Act Two. The Session was supposed to end on August 26. It did not. We were back for Act Three on Tuesday, September 6. It was supposed to end in one day. It did not. It did end on September 7, 2016. It was the Final Act of this Special Legislative Session Drama.

Craig Ford: Once again, the legislature has failed to let the people vote

  After nearly two decades of waiting, it seemed like the people of Alabama were finally going to get the chance to vote on a lottery.

  On July 27, Gov. Robert Bentley announced, “We need your help solving our funding crisis. I'm giving you the opportunity to vote on a statewide lottery.” And the governor deserves credit for pushing the lottery and getting farther than any other governor has since former Gov. Don Siegelman was in office.

Craig Ford: Alabama Senators killed the lottery - Will they kill the BP bill, too?

  The governor called the Alabama Legislature into a special legislative session this summer with two things in mind: pass a lottery and pass a spending plan for the BP oil spill settlement. So far, the legislature hasn’t done too well with passing either of these bills.

  The lottery came as close to passing as any lottery bill has since Gov. Don Siegelman’s bill went to the voters in 1999, and I’d like to commend the governor for his leadership on getting the bill through the House, even though I disagreed with the split in funding.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1522: What’s at stake in the Special Session?

  What will this looming special legislative session bring? Will it bring fiscal solutions for Medicaid? Will it bring solutions for the hemorrhaging General Fund? Will it bring an expansion of Medicaid? Will it bring long-lurking gambling efforts to a head? Will it bring better or worse public education? What will this looming special session bring?

  Medicaid was underfunded by $85 million in the 2016-2017 General Fund. This morphs into a billion dollar loss when we factor in matching federal funds and grants. Payments for services by doctors have already been cut by 50 percent. Doctors with large Medicaid practices will be crushed. Rural hospitals teetering on the brink will tumble over. Something must be done. What will this looming special legislative session bring?

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Is it time for a lottery?

  As anticipated, a special legislative session of the Alabama Legislature has been called by Gov. Robert Bentley. The session is set to begin this Monday, August 15.

  Dr. Bentley has bemoaned the fact that the legislature refused to grant Medicaid the $85 million they said they needed in the budget fiscal year, which begins October 1.

Craig Ford: It’s pride – not the people – that Governor Bentley knows

  One of the most famous scriptures in the Bible says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” That scripture kept running through my mind this past week as Gov. Robert Bentley repeatedly claimed that he knows the people of Alabama “better than anyone” and that they are not interested in impeaching him.

  That is a bold claim to make and one that is also easily proven wrong.

  Governor Bentley didn’t seem to know the people of Alabama so well when he was proposing $700 million in tax increases last year. The governor wasn’t listening to the people of Alabama when he signed legislation that transferred $80 million out of the education budget.

Craig Ford: Another missed opportunity to vote on the lottery

  Another legislative session has come and gone, and the Republican leadership in Montgomery has still not allowed lottery or casino legislation to come up for a vote.

  Every year the Republican leadership tells us they need more money to fund the budget, but they refuse to consider the most popular revenue-raising tool we could have. (I would argue the lottery is the only popular way we could raise revenue.)

  A lottery and casino gambling are “voluntary taxes.” If you don’t want to pay it, don’t play it. And it sure beats the $86 million in new taxes on medicine and nursing home beds that the Republicans passed last year, or transferring more money out of education, like the $80 million they transferred out of the education budget last year.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1497: What will this session really mean for the people of Alabama?

  What will this 2016 Alabama Legislative Session mean for the people of Alabama? This is a question that numerous citizens are asking. This is a question that many legislators are asking. This is a question that reporters are asking. This is a question that I am asking. But what are the answers?

  I know where I stand on the issues. I do, however, not expect to pass a single piece of general legislation, but I will introduce a dozen or so bills. I may pass several local bills. I know well that it is not a question of what I can pass; the question is what I can help prevent passing? What will this 2016 session mean for the people of Alabama?

Craig Ford: When ideology becomes idolatry

  We need to leave behind the idolatry of ideology and get back to what our country was founded on: Putting aside differences and coming together for a compromise that benefits everyone.

  There’s a fine line between standing up for your principles and political extremism. These days, unfortunately, political extremism seems to be the standard. There’s no clearer example of this than the reaction Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon (R-Decatur) to House Democrats’ legislative agenda last week.

Craig Ford: Is the Republican lottery bill really just an attempt to kill the lottery?

  There’s no doubt that momentum for the lottery is building in Alabama. A public opinion poll, paid for by the House and Senate Republican Caucuses, found that 62 percent of likely Republican Primary voters support the lottery, and 59 percent even support expanding gambling in Alabama.

  These strong numbers show why two Republican state legislators, Rep. Alan Harper and Sen. Jim McClendon, recently put out their own lottery bill.

  At first, this would seem like an encouraging turn of events. Finally, after decades of Republican legislators fighting the lottery, there seems to be enough support from both parties to actually let the people vote.

  But what if the real goal isn’t to pass a lottery but to kill it?

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Bracing for a raid of Alabama's education budget

  As discussed last week, several of the headline Alabama news stories of 2015 may also be the blockbusters of 2016. The Mike Hubbard trial and the decision of the federal courts on Alabama’s legislative district lines will be determined in the first half of this year.

  The biggest news and political story of this year may be a continuation of last year’s major issue, and it also surrounds the Alabama Legislature. The state's General Fund woes will again be front and center.

Darrio Melton: Alabama Republicans can't keep fighting a fictional war against Obama

  If you've turned on a TV lately, you might have caught Senator Richard Shelby's latest TV ads featuring him driving a Ford Explorer through the Alabama country roads and talking about how he fights Obama in Washington every day. Sound familiar?

  Senator Shelby isn't the only Alabama politician who prioritizes fighting President Obama, and the sentiment is echoed loudly and frequently throughout the Alabama Legislature. The sentiment also creates problems when it comes to fixing our budget woes and putting Alabama back on track for a successful future.

Craig Ford: Alabamians want a lottery, but not a "blank check" lottery

  As droves of Alabamians flooded into Tennessee, Georgia and Florida for a chance to win the $1.6 billion Powerball, it’s obvious the people of Alabama want to play the lottery.

  People in 44 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands are all allowed to purchase lottery tickets. Alabama is one of just six states that don’t have a lottery.

  Instead, every year, Alabama sends hundreds-of-millions of dollars to other states to play their lotteries; spending our money to pay for those states’ government services, and to send their kids to college at our expense.

Craig Ford: Alabama Legislature shouldn’t waste another opportunity to pass a lottery

  There aren’t a whole lot of good things anyone can say about what’s been going on in Montgomery lately. The legislature has failed to pass a budget twice. Next week, legislators will return to Montgomery for a third legislative session to address the budget crisis, but there is still no agreement on any solution.

  But despite all of this, there is one area where some progress has been made: support among legislators for a state lottery.