By Sherri Blevins
On Tuesday, June 4, 2019, North Jackson Press spoke with Senator Steve Livingston about the 2019 Alabama Legislative Session that ended on May 31, 2019. Senator Livingston released the statement below.
“The 2019 Legislative Session was one of the most progressive sessions the legislature has had in several years. I noticed a quote over the weekend from Senator Wagner stating that this was one of the most difficult and most progressive sessions that he has ever been through. I think that about sums it up. In a nutshell, we passed the 7.1 billion dollar Education Budget. That is the most money ever allocated in an Alabama Education Budget.
We also passed a 2.1 billion dollar General Fund Budget, and inside of that, we were able to maintain roughly $100,000,000.00 in carryover money for the Medicaid Program. Even though the economy has been good and people have dropped off of the Medicaid payroll, sooner or later that worm is going to turn, and we may have to go back to Medicaid and help it out.
We passed the Rebuild Alabama Infrastructure Program and an aggressive anti-abortion bill that should challenge Roe Vs. Wade. The Senate passed a lottery bill that went downstairs to the House. We thought it might pass, but the House had different agendas with that. That is why you have two bodies.
We passed SB90, which is a Broadband Bill and HP400, which expands Broadband to bring it to rural Alabama.
The crowning achievement of the session was we allowed the state voters to go to the polls in the 20/20 election and decide if they want an appointed state school board or if they had rather leave it as it is with an elected school board. That decision has the potential to change the state of Alabama.
It has been an aggressive and progressive session.”
According to information obtained from the Montgomery Advertiser, this session resulted in a 4% pay raise for education employees. A teacher with a bachelor’s degree and less than three years experience would see his or her base salary go from $39,301.00 per year to $40,873.00, which is an annual increase of $1,572.00. A teacher with a master’s degree and between 15 and 18 years experience would see his or her salary increase from $54,762.00 to $56,952.00, which is an increase of $2,190.00. Colleges and universities will receive a 6% increase in their budgets.
