The Alabama House Democratic Caucus announced its 2026 legislative agenda Tuesday, with affordability as the top priority of the session.
House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, set the priority against economic instability due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, increased healthcare costs, cuts to SNAP and rising prices at grocery stores.
“Democrats want to totally eliminate the taxes on groceries, and we’ve already seen several cents being removed from the grocery tax—but when there’s an increase in the price … then that one or two or three cents that we take off does nothing for those families,” Daniels said.
That reality, Daniels said, has the caucus pivoting toward legislation that instead will invest in local farmers and incentivize local grocery stores to do business with those farmers and drive prices down in stores.
A bill to exempt overtime pay from the state income tax will also be back on the table after Republican lawmakers allowed it to expire last session, Daniels said. Daniels sponsored the bill to exempt overtime pay, which gained bipartisan support, and argued families were using that extra cash to help sustain their families.
Democrats will also focus once again on voting rights and access.
“When we talk about voting rights and fair district maps, can we afford to make it harder for eligible citizens to vote?” said Representative Adline Clarke, D-Mobile. “Can we afford politically gerrymandered district maps in which politicians pick their voters instead of voters having the right to pick the candidates of their choice?”
Clarke and Representative Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, together filed HB270 to establish early voting in the state, which has historically been shot down by the Republican supermajority. But Clarke said Alabama voters want that early access to make it easier to make their voices heard.
Clarke also has HB45, which would allow an absentee voter to designate another individual to deliver their absentee ballot on their behalf.
The group also made clear its support for public education, including a raise for teachers. Although Governor Kay Ivey proposed a 2 percent pay raise for public school employees, the Alabama Education Association said it amounts to a cut considering the 2.7 percent inflation rate. The budget also underfunds a request for public education employees’ health insurance premiums while funneling $250 million in public money toward private schools and homeschools.
“When we look at the ballooning costs and unintended consequences of the CHOOSE Act … that is now funneling millions of our dollars into private, for-profit schools,” Clarke said. “We’ve seen the damage that this has done in other states like Florida, which now spends a whopping $4 billion a year on school choice with poor results. Is that something Alabama can afford?”
House Democrats will also once again seek to address gun violence in the state after some recent modest victories despite Republicans’ generally opposing restrictions on guns.
“We can’t afford to lose more children due to the overwhelming amount of guns that are on our street,” said Representative Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile.
