April 9, 2010
We all know that for most of us, we are experiencing tough economic times
unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes, except for those who lived
through the Great Depression. As a result of this economic downturn, state
revenues have been undermined which has resulted in three years of crisis
for our state budgets. However, due to a conservative approach to budgets,
saving for a rainy day and setting priorities, we have succeeded in funding
the programs that impact the daily lives of our families and have done so
without raising one tax.
This past week, we passed the Education Trust Fund Budget. Though, we are
experiencing tough economic times, we were able to fund every state-paid
teaching position; therefore, we do not expect any teacher layoffs that are
funded at the state level. We were also able to maintain funding levels or
increase funding levels for the most important and effective education
programs in the state, like the Alabama Reading Initiative, the math and
science program, distant learning and the pre-kindergarten program.
The General Fund Budget will be dealt with in the upcoming legislative week.
However, I can tell you that we were able to maintain funding for Medicaid,
children’s health insurance, state troopers and Alabama prisons. This is how
we have budgeted state government the last three years, three of the most
challenging budgets in my career. During this time, we have expanded the
children’s health insurance program, providing health insurance for another
14,000 kids. We have doubled the size of our award-winning pre-kindergarten
program.
The good news is that we did this without raising taxes. In fact, we
actually cut income taxes for Alabama families by $57 million in 2009. We
did this by having the foresight, during good years, to save for a rainy
day, hence the term "rainy day" fund. We also decided what was really
important to us just as your do with your own budgets.
These lean times have taught us all about financial priorities. My fellow
senate members and I have done the same with the state budgets making our
children and our seniors our priorities.
We had good news in the senate district with the announcing of the opening
of several bids from the Department of Transportation for projects in the
area including work on a bridge and the approaches at Barn Creek on State
Road 74 and the resurfacing of County Road 51 from County Road 42 to State
Road 74 both in Marion County. In Winston County, they will be constructing
an entrance road from County Road 69 also known as Newburg Road northerly
.284 miles to the new Armed Forces Reserve Center, northeast of Haleyville.
In Lamar County, they will be working of the construction of sidewalks and
crosswalks as part of the "Safe Routes to School" program, for Vernon
Elementary, Lamar County High School and Sulligent School. The last project
is in Franklin County and involves work on the bridge and approaches on
County Road 93 at Bear Creek.
It was a pleasure to attend the Indy 500 at the Barber Raceway in Birmingham
and welcome them to Alabama. This was a wonderful event for the whole family
and has the potential to bring millions of dollars to our state in tax
revenue and a ton of good will.
As the session draws to a close with just a few days left, I want to thank
all of you who have shared your concerns and views with me throughout the
legislative session. I hope you will continue to do so even when we are not
in session at the following:
Roger H. Bedford, Jr.
Alabama State House
Suite 730
Montgomery, AL 36130
Phone:334-242-7862
Fax:334-353-4304
Roger H. Bedford, Jr.
P.O. Box 370
Russellville, AL 35653
Phone: 256-332-2880
Fax:256-332-7821
Email: Senbedford@aol.com