Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove speaks at Alabama Arise event about bill to repeal grocery tax. The nonprofit is continuing with the same legislative priorities that it wants approved for the coming session.
A nonprofit that focuses on social justice issues plans to prioritize poverty, health care and changes to the criminal justice system in the regular session of the 2025 Alabama Legislature, issues legislators have largely ignored during the past two sessions.
Alabama Arise’s legislative priorities center on reforming the tax code; investing in maternal and infant health care; advocating for measures to help address poverty and supporting efforts to reform parole and the death penalty.
“One thing that is notable this year is that our members did not produce any brand-new priorities this year,” Hyden said. “Our major focus areas remain the same.”
One of those priorities is fully eliminating the tax on groceries. Alabama remains one of the 13 states that imposes a tax on staple food items such as milk and vegetables.
The 2023 session gave rise to one of the organization’s signature legislative victories when lawmakers passed a bill to try and reduce the state grocery tax by half. The bill reduced the grocery tax from 4% to 3% that year, and opened the door for a further reduction to 2% if the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget, where the grocery tax goes, grew by 3.5%. The ETF to date has not met the growth needed for the additional cut.
Alabama Arise, hoping to capitalize on that momentum, sought to fully repeal the tax during the 2024 session, but lawmakers, especially House Ways and Means Education Committee Chair Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, were not willing to reduce it any further believing it would hamper the state’s funding for education.
Health care, particularly those of mothers and infants, will also be a target. According to a 2023 report from the Milken Institute, an independent think tank in California, Alabama had the highest maternal mortality rates in the South.
Arise said last year that state also has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, which ranks as the third worst, with only Mississippi and Arkansas worst.
Among the reasons is the maternity care deserts in the state where residents living in those locations have little to no access to maternity care resources.
“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,” the fact sheet states.
To address these concerns, Alabama Arise continues to urge lawmakers to expand Medicaid, which would provide hospitals, particularly those in rural areas, with additional funding to remain open.
The Legislature in 2017 passed a law that forbade judges from imposing the death penalty in capital cases against the will of jurors. Arise is calling for the law to be made retroactive.
Arise members did add a call for state support for school breakfast.
“There is a lot of federal funding on the table to support expanding no-cost breakfast to kids who qualify,” Hyden said. “Some schools are not taking advantage of that because the federal funds do not fully cover the cost. We are advocating for what I think is a $12 million appropriation from the ETF (Education Trust Fund) to support expanding school breakfast.”
Another measure the organization will support is parole reform.
“That was one that came directly from women experiencing what it is like to be up for parole, and talking to us about, ‘Hey, how is Alabama going to help us get back on our feet and have a better life when we have the opportunity to get out of here,’” she said.
The parole rate has been the subject of intense scrutiny during the two previous legislative sessions as the rate granting parole has languished. In October, members of the Joint Legislative Prison Oversight Committee became frustrated with Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles Chair Leigh Gwathney after what they said were months of unanswered questions.
Alabama Arise’s commitment to its legislative priorities remains steadfast even as the Legislature focuses on the culture wars.
“When I say I am optimistic, I am not trying to be out of touch with reality,” Hyden said. “I think there are real opportunities to make life better for people. And I hope that legislators, when they go home to their districts next year, those are the things their constituents want them to be doing.”