Alabama Governor, legislators unveil ‘Working for Alabama’ package

ALABAMA, (WHNT) — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, along with Republican and Democratic leadership, has unveiled a new legislative package meant to help workforce, economic and community development efforts throughout Alabama.

Ivey unveiled the seven-bill package named “Working for Alabama” Thursday along with Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper; House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville; Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro and House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville.

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The governor says the new package is part of the continued efforts by the state to stimulate economic growth, alongside the “Game Plan,” which she unveiled in 2023.

“Our state has seen tremendous advances as a result of collaborative, team-driven efforts. Just a few years ago, we were ranked 47^th in the nation in broadband access – now, after signing the Connect Alabama Act, we rank 24^th. The Game Plan, which was passed last year, gave us the best tools in our region to recruit industry and jobs, and the results are already paying dividends,” Ivey said. “In 2015 major reforms were made within the state’s workforce development sector, and as governor, I am calling on our Legislature to once again make the needed reforms so that our workforce development programs work better for its two customers – our jobseekers and our employers. ‘Working for Alabama’ is the next big step, and I look forward to seeing the benefits it will have on Alabama for years and decades to come.”

The governor’s office said a key goal of “Working for Alabama” is to address Alabama’s labor force participation rate, which it says is the state’s biggest economic challenge.

Ivey says the state has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country.

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Alabama has an unemployment rate of 2.8 percent, which is better than the national average of 3.7 percent. Despite that Alabama has a workforce participation rate of only 57 percent, which is behind the national average of 62 percent.

Ainsworth said improving the labor force participation was a key issue in his Commission on 21st Century Workforce which was a part of developing Working for Alabama.

“You can ask almost any employer in the state, and they’ll tell you that one of the biggest challenges they face is hiring skilled and trained employees,” he said. “By eliminating barriers to entry into the workforce, and by making our state’s workforce development efforts more intentional, targeted and efficient, we can create an environment where more Alabamians are working, providing for their families, building careers and contributing to our economy. These transformational changes will make Alabama the workforce engine of the Southeast.”

The package includes efforts to expand economic development and incentives and establish a new high school diploma focused on career and technical education. The package will also include measures on housing tax credits and innovation districts.

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House Minority Leader Daniels is the lead sponsor for one of the bills in the package that focuses on childcare tax credits. The bill would provide business tax credits for companies that provide or pay for employee childcare.

Daniels said several would-be workers stay home now because the cost of child care is too high compared to what they would be earning on the job.

“But the purpose of this legislation is to give families an opportunity to get back into the workforce and increase the participation rate,” Daniels told News 19. “At the same time paying close attention to the quality of the curriculum within these facilities which is why a facility that is a five-star facility will be able to get reimbursement rate for an employee up to $2,000.”

You can read the entire text of Daniel’s bill, HB358, here.

You can read the rest of the bills in the package here:

Working for Alabama Bills

• SB253 – The Alabama Workforce Pathways Act,

• SB252 – The Alabama Growth Alliance Act,

• SB247 – The Alabama Workforce Transformation Act,

• HB346 – The Alabama Workforce Tax Credit Act,

• SB242 – Would create innovation districts as public corporations for certain activities;

• SB243 – A constitutional amendment that would allow local governments to make innovation districts.

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