New research led by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) and MDRC indicates that each additional $100 in cumulative court fees for criminal cases is associated with an additional 34 jail detentions per 100,000 people at the county level. This small but significant increase suggests that fee increases could increase detention rather than deter it. 

Counties often say local fee increases are needed to offset costs associated with processing criminal cases. Counties also pay the cost of housing people in their jails. This research suggests that new revenue from local fee increases should be weighed against the new costs (both social and fiscal) from housing more people in jail.

Read the full analysis here.

Beyond the Democratic and Republican primary elections scheduled for May 19, voters will decide the fate of two statewide amendments to the Alabama Constitution.

One would prevent local district attorneys’ salaries from being reduced during an elected term of office. Another would give judges discretion to deny bail to people charged with certain crimes.

Those amendments will be listed on the ballot in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Alabama is an open primary state, which means voters don’t have to register with a party to participate in a primary. A voter simply requests the ballot of the primary they want to vote in.

If the voter doesn’t wish to vote in either party’s primary, he or she can request an amendment-only ballot.

PARCA has provided an objective, nonpartisan analysis of both amendments.

Click here for a PDF of the full report or view below.

Economic footprint

Active nonprofits generate $16.9 billion in annual revenue, but that total is highly concentrated: 0.35% of organizations (the 21 largest) account for nearly half of all income. The median nonprofit operates on about $200,000 a year, with two-thirds reporting less than $500,000.

Public investment

Between 2015 and 2025, Alabama nonprofits received $5.5 billion in federal awards—an average of $553 million per year. More than 60% of those dollars flow through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; most reach communities through state agencies such as the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), and the Department of Early Childhood Education.

Philanthropic capacity

Alabama’s 822 foundations hold $4.5 billion in assets—ranking 49th per capita. Assuming a typical 5.6% payout, foundations could distribute about $226 million per year, only one-third of recent federal funding. Private philanthropy cannot replace sustained public investment.

Key finding

Alabama’s progress depends on collaboration among government, philanthropy, and community organizations. Nonprofits are not a substitute for government; they are its local expression. Strengthening this partnership—through data transparency, diversified funding, and civic trust—is essential to building a resilient Alabama.

Click here for the full report, or view below.

Passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) in the U.S. House has sparked discussions about the impact of reductions in federal funding across the U.S. KFF, a nonprofit policy analysis organization formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation, estimates that the House Budget Committee’s reconciliation bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $791 billion without accounting for interactions that would lower estimates to $723 billion. Almost 85% of the total savings derived from five features:

• Mandating work and reporting requirements ($280 billion),
• Repealing rules simplifying Medicaid eligibility and renewal ($167 billion),
• Creating a moratorium on new or increased provider taxes ($89 billion),
• Revising state-directed payment limitations ($73 billion), and
• Increasing the frequency of eligibility re-determinations for the ACA expansion group ($53 billion).

Approximately $357 billion of the reductions would only apply to states that adopted ACA expansion.

Printable PDF available here.

Federal cuts to states of $723 billion over 10 years would represent 11% of federal spending on Medicaid over the period. KFF estimates that the cuts range from 5% in Alabama, Wisconsin, and Wyoming to 15% in Washington, Louisiana, and Illinois.

Congressional Budget Office estimates a 10.3 million loss of Medicaid enrollment by 2034, representing 12% of projected enrollment in that year. At the state level, the largest reductions in Medicaid enrollment would be in Washington and Virginia, decreasing by 25% and 20%, respectively. In Alabama, that would be about 4% or approximately 47,000 people.

As described in a previous post, Alabama receives more than $60 billion in federal transfer payments to individuals from Social Security, unemployment benefits, educational benefits such as Pell Grants, or as payments on behalf of individuals in Medicare or Medicaid, etc.

As the Economic Innovation Group noted in its report, The Great Transfer-mation: How American Communities Became Reliant on Income from Government, the main reason federal transfers have increased is the increase in the percentage of the population over the age of 65. Other economic factors have contributed to a reliance on federal transfers, particularly in rural areas with declining economic conditions.

Currently, among the transfer payments are approximately $15.5 billion (2022) to medical providers on behalf of Medicare recipients and another $7.6 billion (2022) on behalf of Medicaid patients, including covering approximately 44.7% of births in Alabama in 2023. Rates vary dramatically across counties, with 78.6% of births in Wilcox County covered by Medicaid to a low of 23.3% in Shelby County. Georgetown University’s McCourt School for Public Policy found that many small towns are dependent on Medicaid/CHIP funding. With 48.6% of children in rural areas of Alabama enrolled in 2023, the state ranks 12^th in the nation on that metric.

This past legislative session, the Alabama Legislature passed Senate Bill 102, expanding Medicaid benefits for pregnant women “with an estimated addition of $1 million annually for fiscal years 2026, 2027, and 2028, consisting of $726,300 in federal funds and $273,700 in state funds, by providing certain prenatal coverage to women found presumptively eligible by a qualified provider.” Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill on May 1.

Many medical facilities in Alabama depend on federal funding from Medicaid and Medicare patients. According to KFF, Medicare covered 63% of certified nursing facility residents in Alabama, while Medicaid covered approximately 13%, with only 24% covered by other private funding sources.

For the 80 hospitals in Alabama, operating margins were approximately 2.9% in 2023. However, they are generally thinner in poorer rural areas of the state. Nationwide, operating margins in rural hospitals are notoriously thin, with 44% of rural hospitals operating in the red. According to KFF, “As of July 2024, Medicaid was the primary payer for 63% of nursing facility residents; Medicare for 13% of residents; and the remaining 24% of residents had another primary payer (ex. private insurance, out-of-pocket, etc.) Medicare does not generally cover long-term care but does cover up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care following a qualifying hospital stay.” 

In states without Medicaid expansion, just over half (53%) of rural hospitals operate in the red. Reductions in Medicaid or Medicare could have a significant impact on rural hospitals. KFF reports that rural hospitals had an average operating margin of 1.7% in 2023. Reductions in these amounts, whether direct payments to individuals or payments on behalf of recipients, as in the case of Medicaid and Medicare, would reduce, dollar for dollar, the purchasing power in those communities.

Using the slider and program selector in the visualization below, estimates of how a percentage decrease for each kind of transfer can be adjusted to find dollar amounts for hypothetical decreases:

Alabama is not alone. The same kind of dependence can be seen across the country.

There are common patterns across the places where economic activity has been challenging, including the Texas Valley, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, and tribal territories. Still, many communities have aging populations, with high percentages of transfer payments compared to earned personal income, as shown below:

For details on the calculation of personal income and transfer payments, see this post on Github:
https://github.com/EIG-Research/EIG-Great-Transfer-Mation

PARCA is re-examining Alabama’s Constitution in light of the 2022 passage of a revised and reorganized version of the state’s fundamental law.

The approval of the Constitution of 2022 was the culmination of decades of advocacy. Some important changes were achieved, including a substantial reorganization and the removal of racist and unconstitutional provisions central to the spirit of the state’s 1901 Constitution.

And yet, the Alabama Constitution of 2022 maintains the fundamental shackles on government from the 1901 Constitution. Embedded in the Constitution is a tax system that is inadequate, inefficient, and inequitable.

Since the early 1990s, PARCA’s How Alabama Taxes Compare analysis has found that Alabama state and local governments consistently collect less per capita in taxes than almost all other states. After occupying the bottom spot for most of the past 30 years, Alabama has traded back and forth with Tennessee for last place since 2018. This year, Tennessee’s per capita collections came in $4 lower than Alabama’s, resulting in a rank for Alabama of No. 49.

Alabama continues to collect less per capita in state and local property taxes than any other state. Property taxes are strictly limited by provisions in the state constitution.

Low taxes create some advantages. Low property taxes on land and homes are attractive in some regards, decreasing the cost of homeownership and shielding rural land and farms from development pressure. Lower taxes also can be attractive to businesses and individuals moving to the state.

However, low property taxes come at a cost, creating a greater reliance on other taxes, mainly sales taxes. Those sales taxes put a particular burden on low-income Alabamians. Low tax collections also mean that Alabama state and local governments have less to invest in services such as education, health, public safety, and the justice system. That is in a state with high poverty rates, low educational attainment, poorer health outcomes, and higher rates of violent crime than most other states. In turn, high poverty and less economic activity mean less wealth to tax and, thus, lower tax collections.

Inadequate

In contrast to other states, where the state legislature and local governments generally have the power to adjust tax rates, Alabama’s constitution sets limits, rates, and procedural restraints on state and local taxes. That makes taxes hard to raise, adjust, or rebalance. In the end, Alabama’s lower base of wealth and structural and cultural resistance to taxes mean that governments here have less to spend on providing vital public services, placing Alabama in the bottom ten states in most spending categories.

Continue reading the full report here: The Alabama Constitution’s Impact on Taxes and Spending

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This report is one of a series of reports examining Alabama’s current constitutional framework, identifying remaining obstacles to a modern constitution and possible paths forward in areas such as education, economy, healthcare, democracy, liberty & justice, finances, and related areas. Other reports in the series include The Government Closest to the People? The Statehouse, the Courthouse and City Hall and How Alabama Democracy Compares.

The project is supported, in part, by the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR). Both ACCR and PARCA are nonpartisan organizations, and our members and supporters are Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Former Governor Albert Brewer and former Samford University President Thomas Corts, both deceased, were founding leaders in both organizations.

Alabama voters adopted a revised and reorganized Constitution in 2022.

However, the “new” Constitution preserved the fundamental attitudes and mechanics of the previous Constitution.

Adopted in 1901, that constitution was designed for an agrarian state, strictly limiting government power to tax land. It forbade the state from engaging in “internal improvements” and disenfranchised blacks and poor whites. Some of those provisions were loosened through amendments over time. Others were found unconstitutional and struck down by the federal courts.  

But one of the essential elements remains its concentration of power in the state government, the Legislature in particular.

Local governments were granted only the powers the Legislature or the Constitution explicitly permitted.

The ruling elite of the time looked with disdain at local government officials. Thomas L. Bulger of Dadeville, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1901, expressed the prevailing attitude during the constitutional debates:

“No gentleman on this floor will contend that his Commissioners’ Court at home is more capable of legislating for the people of his county than the General Assembly, composed of 100 select men,” Bulger said.

And thus, to this day, a sizeable portion of the state Legislature’s business pertains to matters that are specific to particular counties or cities, not the state itself.

More than 35,000 local laws govern everything from local taxes to whether a sheriff’s deputy can keep his gun and badge upon retirement. Over time, in a confusing and convoluted process, the Constitution was amended over 1,000 times to meet the needs of modern life, swelling the document into the longest state constitution in the nation. It is believed to be the world’s longest constitution, and even with the 2022 reorganization, it will continue to grow.

The bulk of the state’s fundamental law is now made up of exceptions and exemptions to the general framework and principles a constitution is supposed to enumerate. Two-thirds of Alabama’s constitutional amendments apply to individual cities and counties. In effect, every county has its own version of the Constitution. And counties and cities still must ask the Legislature for the tools they need to manage basic affairs.

In many ways, though, the lack of home rule in Alabama reflects how Alabamians feel about government. They want limited government. They want limits on taxation. They do not trust governments to carry out their wishes. And they want to be left alone.

That is, until they demand that government step in and solve a problem. And, often, that requires a trip to Montgomery.

The balance of power and responsibility between state and local officials is an eternal struggle.

In the 1901 debates, Bulger was answered by John A. Rogers of Gainesville in Sumter County, who asked:

“Why is it that these people can select such fine representatives to the Legislature, and yet it is feared that they won’t be able to select satisfactory County Boards to handle these matters?”

Perhaps in the 21^st century, it is time to revisit Roger’s thoughts and consider whether the same voters who elect Alabama legislators to enact state policy can be trusted to vote for local officials from their own communities who will reflect citizen wishes on local matters.

Read the full report here: The Government Closest to the People? The Statehouse, the Courthouse and City Hall.

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This report is one of a series of reports examining Alabama’s current constitutional framework, identifying remaining obstacles to a modern constitution and possible paths forward in areas such as education, economy, healthcare, democracy, liberty & justice, finances, and related areas.

The project is supported, in part, by the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR). Both ACCR and PARCA are nonpartisan organizations, and our members and supporters are Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Former Governor Albert Brewer and former Samford University President Thomas Corts, both deceased, were founding leaders in both organizations.

When Alabamians vote on November 5, they will be asked to vote on one statewide amendment.

“Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, to grant certain sixteenth section and indemnity school lands that are owned in fee simple by the Franklin County School System, are located in Fayette County and Walker County, and are for the exclusive use of schools in the Franklin County School System to the Franklin County Board of Education; and to provide for the distribution of any proceeds and interest generated by this land.”

Proposed by Act No. 2024-301 (House Bill 302, 2024 Regular Legislative Session)
Bill Sponsor: Representative Kiel

This proposal seeks to amend the Constitution of Alabama of 2022 to address the management of a piece of land in Fayette and Walker Counties that is to benefit the Franklin County Board of Education.

Since this Amendment concerns land owned in two counties and a school board in a third county, it requires a statewide vote.

The land in question is designated to support public education and stems from an eighteenth-century practice where the federal government designated land in each county for the support of public education in that county. These designations predate Alabama’s statehood.

In the late nineteenth century, the Alabama Legislature gave some school boards, including Franklin County, additional land, sometimes outside their home county, to ensure each school board owned land of approximately equal value.

State law stipulates that such lands are held in trust by the Alabama State Department of Education and managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The Department is empowered to lease or sell the land, with revenue provided to the school system the land is designed to support.

Amendment 1 concerns land located in Fayette and Walker Counties that is to benefit the Franklin County Board of Education. The Board cannot independently manage the land and cannot sell the land without the approval of the State Superintendent of Education and the Governor.

Amendment 1, if approved, enables the Franklin County Board of Education to manage and sell the land without prior approval and retain all revenue.

Continue reading the full analysis of Amendment 1 here.

The Huntsville area and Baldwin County continue to add more new residents, while growth in Shelby County and St. Clair County helped the Birmingham Metro Area return to positive growth after two years of population loss. That’s according to new estimates of population change in U.S. counties and metro areas published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The new estimates identify population totals and components of population change as of July 1, 2023.

Printable PDF available here

In addition to the growth in Shelby and St. Clair, Birmingham’s metro population got a boost from an accounting change. In the 2022 estimates, the Birmingham-Hoover MSA ranked No. 50 in population among metropolitan areas and seemed destined to fall out of the top 50 metro areas.

However, in 2023, Walker County was re-added to the Birmingham metro, which boosted the Birmingham MSA population by almost 65,000 and allowed it to climb to the 47th most populous metropolitan area.

Metro areas are clusters of counties where a significant percentage of the population moves back and forth across county lines for work and commerce. According to the most recent data, about 26% of Walker County’s resident workforce commuted to work in Jefferson County or other counties in the MSA. That’s above the 25% threshold that triggers inclusion in the MSA. Walker was historically part of the MSA.

Consisting of 7 counties with a population of 1.2 million, Birmingham is the state’s largest metro area. Huntsville’s MSA, comprised of Limestone and Madison Counties, is second with 527,254.

Trends

As observed in the PARCA’s analysis of state-level estimates released earlier this year, the decline in deaths related to the Covid-19 pandemic improved baseline conditions for population growth. In the 2021 and 2022 estimates, deaths far outnumbered births. In 2023, the number of deaths in Alabama continued to drop, though, due to an aging population and lower birth rate, deaths still outnumbered births.

International immigration to Alabama remains low, but domestic immigration continues to accelerate, according to the estimates. Alabama netted 30,744 new residents through domestic in-migration in 2023, building on an upward trend.

Domestic in-migration is powering population growth in hot spots like Madison, Limestone County, and Baldwin, as well as in suburban counties around Birmingham and Montgomery. In the latter cases, the central county is losing population while suburban counties gain. Across Alabama, 38 of the 67 counties are seeing more people moving into the county than moving out.

Calhoun and Etowah counties, home to Anniston and Gadsden, respectively, are showing population growth after years of decline. Mobile County also grew, breaking a streak of decline. In fact, all of the state’s metro areas posted population gains except for the Columbus, GA—Metro Area, which includes Phenix City and Russell County.

Rural counties, particularly in Alabama’s Black Belt, continued to lose population. The biggest drop in percentage terms was Bullock County, where the population declined by 2.4%, or 246 residents, according to the estimates. Hale County was the exception to the Black Belt trend. Hale added 289 residents, which amounts to a 2% population increase in a year.

In numeric terms, Jefferson County lost the most people, with a decline of 2,186. That is less of a loss than in 2021 or 2022. Deaths were down, births were up, resulting in a positive natural change of 394. International migration added 818, a slight increase over the year before. However, domestic migration remained a drain, with 3,417 more people moving out of the county than moved in, according to estimates.

Montgomery County also continues to see significant domestic outmigration, but a slight rise in international migration and births and a drop in deaths helped offset the outmigration. Montgomery County’s population has decreased by 1,321. Autauga, Elmore, Chilton, and Lee counties grew.

Mobile County grew with a smaller net decline in domestic migration, a slight increase in international migration, and a return to positive natural change (more births than deaths). According to the estimates, Mobile County posted a net addition of 242 residents.

Next-door neighbor Baldwin County added 6,976 people, mostly because of people moving to the coastal county. In percentage terms, the Baldwin County metro area, officially the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley MSA, grew faster than any of the state’s other metro areas.

However, the Huntsville MSA netted the most new residents, with Madison County adding 8,995 and Limestone County adding 3,786. Adjacent North Alabama counties like Lauderdale, Morgan, Marshall, Jackson, Lawrence, and Cullman grew.

The Dothan-area Wiregrass counties also saw population growth, as did counties on the Alabama-Georgia Border like Cleburne, Randolph, and Cherokee.  

Most counties bordering Mississippi lost population. The median age in rural counties tends to be higher, which correlates with higher death rates.

Those counties also tend to experience more people moving out than moving in.

Use the tabs and menus to explore the estimates for counties and metros you are interested in. If you want to see how Alabama compares with the rest of the United States, visualizations of the population estimates and change are available for counties and metros across the country.

Similar stats are available for metro areas as well. Use the controls to zoom in on areas of interest.

Statewide Amendment 1

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, to amend Section 71.01 authorizing the Legislature to sign and transmit local laws or constitutional amendments before the transmission of basic appropriations.

Proposed by Act 2023-562 (Senate Bill 3, 2023 Second Special Session)
Bill Sponsor: Senator Chambliss

When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, March 5, they won’t just be voting in the Democratic or Republican primaries; they’ll also vote on an amendment to the Alabama Constitution of 2022.

Amendment 1 proposes simplifying the process of moving resolutions and local legislation through the Legislature before the state budgets are passed.

Printable PDF available here

If the amendment passes, a 3/5 vote of the Legislature would no longer be required before considering the passage of a resolution, local legislation, or a local constitutional amendment.

Proposed Amendment 1 is actually a tweak of the amendment championed by Gov. Fob James, which was ratified back in 1984. The amendment was aimed at focusing the Legislature on its most important job: passing the education and general fund budgets. It was designed to make it hard to bring up other legislation before the budgets passed.

Currently, until the budgets pass, every piece of Legislation requires two votes: one for what’s called a Budget Isolation Resolution, which requires three-fifths support to allow consideration, and a second vote on the piece of legislation itself.

While Amendment 1 will ease the process for resolutions and local legislation, the higher vote threshold (required prior to the passage of the budgets) remains in place for general laws, laws that apply statewide. Local constitutional amendments will still require a three-fifths vote to pass. They just won’t require two votes, one for a BIR and a second vote on the measure.

The original purpose of the 1984 amendment was to avoid last-minute scrambles to pass budgets. That didn’t happen. Budgets still tend to be worked on until the waning days of the session. Budgets are complicated and involve a lot of give and take. They are the culmination of a process, but they also are not all-consuming. Legislative action on other matters doesn’t necessarily get in the way of making progress on the budget.

In some circumstances, the BIR procedure does provide a mechanism for blocking or delaying consideration of controversial legislation. If more than one-third of members of either the House or Senate oppose a bill, they can band together and prevent consideration.

That blocking mechanism was more in play when the Legislature was more evenly divided along party or interest group lines. It is less relevant now that the Republicans hold a super-majority in both houses. The BIR can still come into play on bills that cut across party lines, but, for the most part, nowadays, it is simply an extra step in the legislative process.

The proposed amendment’s focus on local legislation stems, in part, from a series of lawsuits that questioned the validity of some local laws based on BIR-related votes. The Constitution requires “three-fifths of a quorum present” to vote on the BIRs. But Alabama House of Representatives rules and practice allowed BIRs to pass if three-fifths of those voting voted yes. Even though the legislative and constitutional fixes have reaffirmed previously passed legislation, proponents want to avoid future challenges by exempting local legislation.

The amendment doesn’t address the more fundamental issue of whether the state Legislature should be voting on local legislation at all. In other states, local governments have more power to conduct their own affairs. In those state the Legislature focuses on statewide policy. In Alabama, in 2023, 30% of the bills passed by the State Legislature applied to a specific county or locality, according to a PARCA analysis of legislative records. Further, the bulk of the Alabama Constitution is made up of amendments that apply to specific counties and localities. That inclusion of local matters in the state constitution helps make Alabama’s Constitution by far the longest state constitution in the U.S.

Another state constitutional amendment is on the ballot March 5, but only in Dale County. Voters there will decide whether mayors in the county are allowed to participate in the state’s retirement system.

In 2022, Alabama adopted a “new” constitution, an improved and reorganized version of the Alabama Constitution of 1901. The vote was the culmination of decades of advocacy and was rightly celebrated.

The new Constitution removed the racist and unconstitutional provisions that were relics of the White Supremacist 1901 Constitution.

Printable PDF version available here

It reorganized the document, moving relevant statewide amendments into their proper place in the main body of the Constitution, removing duplicative and repealed provisions, and organizing local constitutional amendments by county to the end of the document.

But is the work finished?

Is Alabama free from the shackles of the anti-democratic and pre-modern Constitution of 1901? Or are fundamental flaws still embedded in our Constitutional DNA?

Despite the new Constitution, we remain governed by the basic operating system established by the 1901 Constitution. And that operating system was recognized as obsolete and an obstacle almost as soon as it was adopted.

Alabama Governor Emmet O’Neal, in a 1914 address, observed, “No real or permanent progress is possible in Alabama until the present fundamental law is thoroughly revised and adapted to meet present conditions.”

Have those revisions been made? In this election year, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) will examine that question.

PARCA was founded to provide objective, non-ideological research to citizens and leaders, supporting the improvement of state and local governments. PARCA research is intended to help governments function efficiently and effectively in hopes that those governments provide equal treatment and opportunity to the people of Alabama.

As the Constitution is fundamental to the functioning of state and local governments, it has been a central focus of PARCA’s work.

Over the next year, PARCA will issue a series of reports examining Alabama’s current constitutional framework, identifying remaining obstacles to a modern constitution and possible paths forward in areas such as education, economy, healthcare, democracy, liberty & justice, finances, and related areas.

The project is supported, in part, by the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR). Both ACCR and PARCA are nonpartisan organizations, and our members and supporters are Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Former Governor Albert Brewer and former Samford University President Thomas Corts, both deceased, were founding leaders in both organizations.

The mission of ACCR is to educate and advocate for an Alabama Constitution that protects and enhances life for all Alabama citizens. To that end, ACCR has two branches:

1. A foundation that focuses on educating the public about the Alabama Constitution and underlying issues that affect our citizens.
2. A nonprofit advocacy organization that works to improve the Constitution.

The foundation is providing support for PARCA’s re-examination of the Alabama Constitution. ACCR’s advocacy organization will use the research to recalibrate its ongoing work on Constitutional reform.

Alabama’s Constitution of 2022 is still, by far, the longest state constitution in the United States, three times as long as the next longest state constitution. Though now better organized, it is still complex and contradictory.

It is not a basic template and statement of principles, which should be the ideal. It more closely resembles a law code, with almost 500 pages worth of amendments that relate to localities rather than to the state as a whole.

Alabama voters have finally removed the most noxious provisions of the Constitution of 1901, which was explicitly formulated to strip the political rights of Black Alabamians, but which also disenfranchised poor whites. Gone are provisions that mandated segregated schools. Deleted are provisions allowing for involuntary servitude for those convicted of crimes. The Constitution now recognizes that females have a right to vote.

But other aspects of the Constitution remain unchanged. Power is still concentrated in the hands of the state Legislature in Montgomery. Should that power be more dispersed? Should citizens be able to initiate change and call for referendums, rights available to citizens in other states? Should more decisions be made by local communities rather than by legislators in Montgomery?

Alabama still collects less in state and local taxes than virtually any other state through a constitutionally-embedded tax system that falls disproportionately on poor Alabamians. At the same time, low taxes, particularly on property, reflect voters’ preferences. Are there changes voters would support that could increase adequacy and fairness?

Thanks to the Constitution, Alabama still earmarks more revenue than any other state. That limits legislators’ ability to shift revenue toward pressing priorities. On the other hand, voters like earmarks and don’t necessarily trust lawmakers. Is there a way to change the culture of distrust with changes that increase both flexibility and accountability? 

Does the Constitution inhibit economic development and mass transportation? Does it promote public safety and justice? Does it adequately promote the general welfare, health, and education?

Alabama’s Constitution should reflect our values. It should promote engagement in our democracy and free and fair elections. It should provide for equality of opportunity and equal treatment under the law. With the adoption of the Constitution of 2022, the people of the state took a step forward, removing obvious anti-democratic and discriminatory provisions left from a darker past.

But does the Constitution reflect the needs and aspirations of Alabamians today? Does it provide us with the outlines of a modern, efficient, effective, and responsive government? Is there still a need for Constitutional reform? We will explore those questions in the months to come.