State Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile, said that he stands as the lone candidate for governor of Alabama ready to reform Montgomery for the people of Alabama.
Highower is promoting his “Alabama First” agenda that he promises will put into action, if he is elected governor, by working to enact legislative term limits, reform Alabama’s tax code, and reduce waste by ending the state’s earmarking system, which he calls “antiquated.”
In the 2018 Legislative session, Hightower sponsored legislation that would have imposed legislative term limits of three consecutive four-year terms in both the State House and State Senate. Currently, Alabama has term or age limits on most constitutional offices. A state legislator, however, can keep running for another term as long as he or she lives and the voters in the district are willing to keep sending them back decade after decade.
Hightower said that despite overwhelming support for term limits, career politicians stood against the people in this historic vote. The average tenure of those who opposed Hightower’s legislation was 12.3 years, more than the 12-year limit included in SB127. In fact, five Senators who opposed SB127 have served over 20 years in the Alabama State Senate.
This was the first time that the legislators even let Hightower’s term limits legislation reach the floor of the Senate.
Hightower said that state legislators “think we’re on some private island with special privileges.”
A poll commissioned by United States Term Limits and conducted by McLaughlin and Associates claimed that 84 percent of Alabamians want term limits placed on Members of Congress.
In addition to term limits, Hightower has sponsored legislation to reform Alabama’s tax code to make it more friendly to business development in the state.
Hightower’s Alabama First platform includes: Reforms to Alabama’s state tax code, budget, and transportation system; and expanding employment opportunities for all sectors of Alabama’s economy; improves Alabama’s educational system.
Hightower’s campaign said that his agenda empowers Alabama families, ensures every Alabaman is treated with dignity from conception to natural death, combats the opioid crisis, and bans sanctuary cities.
The major party primaries will be on June 5.
