I am very pleased that Senate Republicans joined with the Senate Democratic Caucus this week to pass a major piece of our legislative agenda.  SB 52, sponsored by Senator Lowell Barron, will end the abuse that we have seen of the awarding of no-bid contracts.  During Governor Riley’s seven years in office, he has awarded [...]

One of the differences between the Alabama Senate and House are in the Rules regarding debate and the ending of debate.  The Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body and allows unlimited debate.  Senate Rule 39 provides:  ”No member shall speak more than twice on any question under debate and none shall, without leave [...]

I had my third Town Hall meeting last night in my district over the last eight days.  Roads, jobs and schools dominated the discussion.  I heard complaint after complaint about the terrible conditions of State and County roads in the Town of Colony.    I also heard from many who had either lost their [...]

The Senate has adjourned on the 3rd legislative day after listening all morning to Republican Senators filibuster our Highway Jobs Bill.  Shortly before the Senate adjourned, I asked the Republican Senator who was filibustering if they had an alternate plan.  He confirmed that the only other proposal they had was one to borrow the money [...]

At this very moment, Republican Senators are fulfilling a pledge that they made on Tuesday to filibuster today to block passage of the Senate Democratic Caucus plan to create jobs and improve our roads and bridges.  Senate Bill 121 will invest $1 billion dollars in road and bridge construction and create approximately 30,000 new jobs [...]

The Democratic Caucus began this session right where it left off last session–working hard for Alabama families.  Last year, the Senate Democratic Caucus had great success in passing our agenda.  We passed a $50 million dollar tax cut, doubled the size of our nationally recognized Pre-Kindergarten program, increased the Children’s Health Insurance program (”CHIPS”) by [...]