This week the House will take up a pension reform plan aimed at stabilizing the financially-strapped Retirement Systems. Here’s what you need to know: Pension Reform – Senate Bill 388 by Sen. Orr, Rep. Ison & Rep. McCutcheon What must change about Alabama’s Re...

“Hate Mail of the Week” is a weekly feature on Yellowhammer Politics in which some of the hate mail submitted through our contact page is published exactly as it was received. The only edits made are to remove expletives — this is a family show, after all. I...

“Best and Worst Week in Montgomery” is a weekly feature on Yellowhammer Politics in which we recognize the people or organizations who had the BEST week or WORST week in town. You can view last week’s debut edition here. If you would like to nominate s...

MONTGOMERY – Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday signed into law Senate Bill 459, a measure that eliminates red tape for business tax filings in Alabama. The Senate sponsor for this bill, Senator Slade Blackwell (a Yellowhammer contributor), first wrote about this bill ...

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Senate today passed significant education reform legislation known as the Education Options Act of 2012. The proposal, Senate Bill 513 sponsored by Senator Dick Brewbaker (R-Pike Road), includes three major components aimed at turning around und...

“Rumors and Rumblings” is a weekly feature that runs each Wednesday. It includes short nuggets of information that we glean from conversations throughout the week. Have a tip? Send it here. 1. ALGOP Chairman Bill Armistead has been making the rounds at the S...

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Senate today passed the state’s education operating budget, sending the proposal to the House for consideration. Included in the education budget was funding to provide a $300 appropriation to each public school classroom grades K-12 for supplie...

“My recent comments regarding changes to Alabama’s immigration legislation were referring to the provisions at issue in the Arizona case that are also a part of the Alabama law. I do not believe that now is the time to make changes to those sections. But there are...

MONTGOMERY – Governor Robert Bentley on Tuesday announced that Walter Energy, Inc., will soon begin development on a new project that will create more than 500 additional jobs in four Alabama counties. The announcement follows the recent approval of incentives that were...

Education reform is rivaled only by entitlement reform when it comes to the level of demagoguery that defenders of the status quo are willing to engage in. Any hint of reform is met with fierce opposition. When U.S. House Republicans suggest the federal government live ...