The will of the majority of Alabama voters was thwarted by a minority of Republican legislators who refused to allow voters the right to vote in the lottery, but the session succeeded.

The Legislature was presented with numerous important issues and they acted quickly. The most important thing every session is whether two budgets are passed, and passed prudently. Budgets have been passed prudently, and they are still being passed prudently. Since Republicans took control of the Alabama House and Senate in 2016, our state's budget has been sound, balanced and fiscally responsible.

There's an old and proven adage that it's harder to budget when you have a surplus than when you don't. This truism has held true for the past three years. Budgetary efforts have brought huge amounts of money into state coffers. Excessive COVID relief funding from the federal government and skyrocketing inflation have left budget chairs Sen. Arthur Aull (R-Decatur), Rep. Danny Garnett (R-Trussville), Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Porch Creek) and Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) with deep pockets to deal with. They've done a good job of spending wisely and carefully. What goes up must come down, so they've set aside money for a rainy day in the future.

The first big issue that emerged was the so-called “school choice bill,” a very popular political topic among Republicans. Many Republican states had embraced the bill, and our overwhelmingly Republican Congress did not want to be left out of it. The new law passed quickly and easily through both houses of Congress.

All this legislation does is take education funding away from public school districts and give tax cuts to wealthy parents so they can send their kids to private schools. Most and most mainstream Republicans, while not entirely convinced, privately held their noses and voted for it. Many told me this was a harder vote than voting “yes” to allow voters to vote in the lottery.

Naturally, Republicans who come from great public schools across North Alabama, including Vestavia, Auburn, Enterprise, Huntsville, Madison, Athens and Decatur, are being asked to take money away from our proud public school system and put it towards funding the people of Montgomery to send their kids to private school.

The most significant legislative package passed was the “Work in Alabama” Act. All of these job creation and future economic development initiatives were passed quickly. They were introduced mid-session and Senate Speaker Nathaniel Leadbetter and President Pro Tempore Greg Reed worked hard to get them passed.

These workforce bills were truly a bipartisan effort spearheaded by the Business Council of Alabama. The photo announcing the introduction of the bills included both Republican and Democratic leadership, including BCA Chair Helena Duncan, Governor Kay Ivey, Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, Speaker Nathaniel Leadbetter, Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Reed, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, and House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels.

The bill includes a tax credit program to address the lack of quality, affordable child care that makes it difficult for single mothers to get into or return to work. The bill would grant tax credits to employers who invest in child care facilities for their employees. Another part of the effort would create the Alabama Workforce Housing Tax Credit. These credits are intended to be an incentive for developers to build housing at rents affordable to people entering or returning to the workforce.

Ainsworth headed the committee that developed many of these ideas, and Leadbetter appointed the Labor Shortage Study Group. The collaboration between Ainsworth and Leadbetter was instrumental in the passage of this important piece of legislation.

This is the largest education budget in state history, providing a 2% pay increase for all education workers and raising starting teacher salaries to more than $46,000 — the highest starting salary in the region.

The general fund budget is also the highest on record. All state employees will receive a 2% cost-of-living increase. Under the leadership of Alabama State Employees Union Executive Director Mac MacArthur, state employees have won cost-of-living increases in six of the last seven years.

see you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama's leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in more than 60 newspapers across Alabama. He served as a state representative for 16 years and can be contacted at [email protected].