Craig Ford: Debt is the real reason for the special legislative session

  The Alabama Legislature returned to Montgomery this week for what may end up being only the first of more special legislative sessions.

  Gov. Robert Bentley said the purpose for this legislative session was to vote on a lottery to fund Medicaid and other general fund proposals.

  While the lottery is being debated in the Senate, the Alabama House of Representatives is debating how to spend $850 million from the BP oil spill settlement.

  But the devil is always in the details, and what these bills are really about is debt.

Darrio Melton: Medicaid funding must be addressed in a special session

  The 2016 regular session of the Alabama Legislature is in the books, but for many politicos on Goat Hill, it seemed more like a rush to get out of school for the summer so we can get to the "fun stuff" in the coming months.

  Unfortunately for most Alabamians, the trials and investigations don't impact their lives and communities the way the decisions made in the legislature do. For those people, the end of the legislative session meant they're left without solutions to their problems and without answers to their questions.

  This is why we have no choice but to call a special session, and lawmakers have a duty to focus our time and work on finding real answers and solutions, not debating feel-good legislation or wasting time with political posturing.

Craig Ford: Tax-raising legislator should be ashamed

  It would be an understatement to say that this year has been an odd one for Alabama politics. But nothing surprised me more than when Rep. Paul Lee, a Republican from Dothan, came up to the microphone on the last night of the legislative special session that ended last week and gave a speech where he said that it was “courageous” to raise taxes, and that those who voted against raising taxes “should be ashamed of themselves.”

  Yes. Rep. Paul Lee said it was courageous for him to vote to raise your taxes, and those of us who voted against tax increases should be ashamed of ourselves.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches: We failed to rise to the occasion

  The 2015 second special session of the Alabama Legislature is over. However, there is no sigh of relief because there was no relief. There is just a sigh and the prayer, “Thank God it’s over!”

  There is no sigh of relief because budgetary troubles still abound. Government is not soundly funded. We secured a little bit of revenue but not enough. We took revenue from places we should not have. We level-funded things that should be raised. We reduced things that ought to be maintained or raised. We raised things that ought to be reduced. There is no sigh of relief, just the prayer, “Thank God it’s over.”

Craig Ford: Republicans target working people with more taxes

  In a special legislative session where their options were to either raise taxes, cut services or raid education, the Republicans in the Alabama Legislature somehow managed to do all three and still not solve the long-term problems in the budget.

  What’s also very telling are the taxes they chose to raise. Every one of their tax increases are taxes on people trying to live paycheck-to-paycheck. They voted to raise taxes on cigarettes, car titles and car rentals, nursing home beds and medications! They even proposed a five-cent tax on gasoline because the Republicans in Montgomery apparently don’t think you pay enough for gas.

Craig Ford: Our governor should stop playing games

  Two weeks ago, Gov. Robert Bentley surprised everyone when he called the special legislative session. Legislators had expected the governor to wait until mid-August to call the session, but the governor said he wanted to use “the element of surprise” and take pressure off legislators over the gambling issue.

  The people of Alabama expect their leaders to work together, and Governor Bentley’s use of “the element of surprise,” as he chose to put it, is not in the spirit of that. The reason this crisis wasn’t solved during the regular legislative session is because House and Senate Republicans wouldn’t work together, and neither of them wanted to work with the governor. Legislators and the governor need to be able to work together during this special session, and that can’t happen when state leaders decide to play political games.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Sizing up the budget crunch

  Alabama is only one of a handful of states that work out of two budgets. We have a General Fund Budget and a separate Education Budget. Our General Fund is where the severe problem rests. The reason is that the General Fund gets none of the growth taxes, so its volume of revenue has remained the same for decades.

  The Alabama Legislature failed to find a solution during the four-month regular legislative session. The new fiscal year begins October 1. Therefore, a summer special session will be necessary.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Countdown to the special session

  The regular legislative session ended without a General Fund Budget. As we look back politically on the first half of the year, the dilemma with the General Fund has been the dominant issue. It has been at the forefront since the beginning of the year and it is not yet resolved.

  After five months of wrangling over the beleaguered General Fund Budget, a late summer special session is in the works. The state must have a budget by October 1, when the new fiscal year begins.