Legislative Session Review: Alabama

Alabama adjourned its 2018 legislative session sine die on March 29, and Governor Kay Ivey (R) finished acting on the bills sent to her desk on April 8. Legislative leaders pursued a modest agenda in this short session.

Legislative Highlights

• Lawmakers unanimously approved a $6.6 billion education budget — the most the state has spent on schools since 2008. This year’s education budget provides a 2.5-percent pay raise for teachers, boosts funding for pre-K programs, and increases funding to the Alabama Reading Initiative.
• The legislature also passed a bill to allow lobbying registration exemptions to economic developers.
• The legislature approved a $30 million increase in the Department of Corrections budget in response to a court order to improve inmate mental health.

Election Preview

Primary day for both parties falls on June 5, with the general election to follow on November 6. The most prominent race on the ballot is for governor. Governor Ivey, the former state treasurer who became governor upon the 2017 resignation of Governor Robert Bentley (R), is running for reelection. Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox are the two frontrunners for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. State legislative elections will also be held this year for the first time since 2014, as lawmakers in both chambers serve four-year terms in Alabama. All 35 Senate seats and 105 House seats will be on the ballot, but due to the power of incumbency, political observers in Montgomery will mainly be watching the races for 10 open seats in the Senate and 22 in the House.