By Sherri Blevins
Mountain Valley News (MVN) spoke with Alabama House Majority Leader, Nathaniel Ledbetter, about the 2019 Alabama Legislative Session. The session began Tuesday, March 5. By law, the Legislature must meet thirty working days. They have a time period of one hundred twenty days to fit in the required thirty legislative days. Ledbetter stated that this session may be unusual with Governor Ivey possibly calling for a “special session” inside the session, which would allow the governor to limit the topics discussed to the topic she introduces. He explained, “Governors have the authority to do so, but it has only occurred two previous times in history. Governor Ivey has introduced the Rebuild Alabama Plan and is really pushing hard for its passage. I think it is something she wants to get out front and see if we can get something going on it.”
MVN asked Ledbetter to explain the need for Governor Ivey’s Rebuild Alabama plan. He stated, “In the last two years, Alabama has seen more economic growth than I have seen in that same time period in my lifetime. I think Governor Ivey is concerned that if we don’t do something with our infrastructure, economic growth will stop.” Ledbetter went on to say, “Our roads and bridges are in a severe state. I talked with DeKalb County’s Superintendent of Transportation previously, and he explained that in DeKalb County alone, our school buses travel over an extra 30,000 miles a year to avoid going over bad bridges. Fifty percent of the bridges in the county are over fifty years old. Fatalities in Alabama have increased because of bad roads and a lack of sufficient numbers of state troopers. These facts point out the need for improvement in the infrastructure. I think the thing that most people don’t think about is the last time anything was done with the infrastructure was in 1992, which was 27 years ago. Back then, cars were getting 12 to 15 miles per gallon, and today they are getting 20 to 25 miles per gallon. Even though there are more cars on the roads, our transportation revenue has decreased over the last two years some six percent. Not only are we bringing in less revenue, the cost of building a road has increased 300% since 1992. We are fighting a losing battle.”
Ledbetter also explained one major benefit that could result from the Governor’s plan. He said, “I was at a meeting in Mobile last week. Senator Shelby sent us a video explaining that he has pledged 75% of the cost for opening up Mobile Bay to dredge and widen it. If we could open up Mobile Bay, that would be a game changer for the state of Alabama. Shelby is on the appropriations committee, and that is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He is over the “purse strings” so to speak, and he has the authority to allocate 75% of the funds needed to open up Mobile Bay. As we are now, we don’t have the remaining 25% funding to match his amount, but with the passage of the Rebuild Alabama plan, we would. Widening the port would open up commerce for the entire state leading to expanded exportation of goods. This expansion would affect our county. It would affect our farmers. DeKalb County is the number one poultry producing county in the state. With the port opened up giving the ability to accommodate larger storage containers, more poultry can be shipped out.”
MVN also questioned Ledbetter about what other issues he would like to see addressed during the session. Ledbetter commented, “One of the things we have been talking about, that I think is important, is expanding the Alabama State Pre-K Program. Alabama has one of the best Pre-K programs in the country. Serving on the Education Trust Fund Committee, I get to hear all the budget hearings for the program. Dr. Ross does an outstanding job heading the Pre-K program. I think it is imperative that we expand it. Currently, we are serving about 32% of our kids that are Pre-K age. The numbers are showing the program is changing things for our kids. Statistics show that 90% of a child’s brain development occurs by the time the child is five, so this program is important to that development. School safety is another issue that is important to address. We capped the rolling reserve, put money in technology, and last year we passed a bill where we could put money into school safety, so that is a big issue.” Finally, Ledbetter named Broad Band expansion and legislation to help the 300,000 veterans in the state as important issues to be addressed during the session.