Tuscaloosa Lawmaker Plays Major Role In Governor's Economic 'Game Plan'

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A bill sponsored by a Tuscaloosa lawmaker that would require additional transparency from the Alabama Department of Commerce has cleared the Alabama House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Thursday.

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State Rep. Cynthia Almond, a Republican from Tuscaloosa, told Patch that HB 240 is part of Gov. Kay Ivey's recently announced economic "Game Plan."

HB 240, if signed into law, would require the Alabama Department of Commerce to publish the details of agreements with companies that receive economic incentives on its website.

The bill passed the House chamber on Thursday by a vote of 105-0 and will now be considered by the Senate.

She explained that the bill is just one of the components of Republican Gov. Kay Ivey's four Game Plan bills. The overall program reauthorizes Alabama's incentives package to allow the state to use incentives to recruit large industries to Alabama.

"My portion is called the Transparency Act, and it says simply that the terms of the incentives agreements that are entered into will be published on the Department of Commerce website for the public to access directly," Almond told Patch. "This has not been a practice in the past, but we feel that it is important to let the public know how their tax dollars are being spent and what the return on their investment is."

The Game Plan was announced by Ivey and a bipartisan group of lawmakers on April 3.

Here's a look at the each of the four "Plays"

• Play 1 — "The Enhancing Alabama’s Economic Progress Act renews the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama program and extends their sunset dates to 2028 while adding strategic enhancements to increase their effectiveness. The Jobs Act is the state’s primary incentives platform while Growing Alabama primarily speeds development of shovel-ready sites."
• Play 2 — "The Site Evaluation and Economic Development Strategy Act (SEEDS) will allow the State Industrial Development Authority to accelerate the development of industry-ready sites at a time when available sites are scarce and other states are expanding their site programs."
• Play 3 — "The Innovation and Small Business Act aims to supercharge growth in Alabama’s innovation economy and support underrepresented businesses and enterprises in rural areas, transforming the state into a hub for technology and innovation."
• Play 4 —"The Enhancing Transparency Act will amend the Jobs Act to require the Alabama Department of Commerce to publish certain incentivized project information on its website. Transparency around important information related to companies receiving incentives will serve a valid public service and increase confidence in the process."

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