Alabama Democrats on Tuesday released their legislative agenda for the 2026 session, and it was surprisingly detailed and well-timed, focusing on various ways to reduce Alabamians’ costs for a variety of products and services.
One of the key provisions of their agenda is basically a farm-to-table idea that will incentivize farmers and local grocery retailers to buy and sell produce and other farm products locally.
The idea is to cut out the middlemen, lower costs for consumers, drive up profits for both the farmers and retailers and also get more affordable healthy foods into the pantries of Alabama residents.
It’s what you might call a win-win-win-win.
The same could be said for the plan to expand rural health care options and reduce Alabamians’ costs for health care. In the wake of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which has drastically cut healthcare funding in Alabama and shot the cost of health insurance premiums through the roof, lawmakers are looking for any and all options to cut prices and make things more affordable for the average consumer.
At a press conference on Tuesday to announce the agenda, they said that numerous bills with specific targets will be filed during the session, as they attack the health care issue from all angles.
Other focuses will be on lowering energy costs, making food affordable overall and bringing early voting to Alabama to make it easier for more residents to cast a ballot and have a say in their government. Also, Representative Marilyn Lands has already filed a bill that would make it easier to get ballot initiatives on the ballot and in front of voters, giving citizens considerably more power to determine what lawmakers actually focus on in Montgomery.
It was quite the detailed agenda, and one that should be well liked among working class state residents, who are struggling badly with unaffordable prices for pretty much everything, and among all residents, who have complained for years that state lawmakers are out of touch with them and don’t listen to voters.
It should go a long way towards helping Republi… oops, you know what?
That wasn’t the Republican agenda.
That was the House Democratic Caucus agenda. I’m sorry, y’all. I got my press conferences mixed up.
So, scratch all of that. Those things I mentioned above, that you were nodding your head to as you read them, those are the Democrats’ ideas.
The Republicans ideas for fixing the most important issues … let’s see here … Governor Kay Ivey said the other night that those priorities are giving more public school money to rich people so they can send their kids to private schools, executing more people but also being a strict pro-life state (weird, right?) and doing more economic development by giving wealthy companies more taxpayer dollars to come here.
It’s not hard to imagine that one of these parties has a supermajority but it is downright flabbergasting to know which one it is.
Let’s be honest here, and you don’t have to tell anyone: You know the 2026 Democratic agenda is better for you and your family, and the Republicans have again offered you hot garbage with a side of social outrage.
You know that the only reason you’re voting for the Republicans is because somewhere along the way this turned into a team sport for you, and your team is wearing the elephant jersey. That has to be it, because unless you’re in the top 10 percent of earners in the state (and even that is iffy), there ain’t a thing in that Republican agenda that helps you out.
The closest they come is economic development, because I’ll give that office the credit it deserves—they’ve made great strides over the years in assuring that tax incentives actually benefit the public good. The other area is infrastructure, where key road projects will give life to long-dormant sections of the state and broadband expansion is progressing nicely.
But those aren’t exactly kitchen table issues right now. Not when the light bill will cost a kidney and the grocery bill is taking an arm. And you can’t give up either because you can’t afford the health insurance bill that would pay for it.
I mean, you’ve got all of these bills and the Republicans literally stood up and told you their top priority was giving $250 million of public school money to rich people so their kids can go to private schools. That’s a real thing.
Democrats, in the meantime, are trying to make food more affordable, want to untax your overtime (after Republicans killed the exemption last year) and want to let you vote on major issues by putting them on the ballot. Imagine, voters actually being able to cast votes for stuff like gambling and lottery initiatives, school funding issues and recalling ineffective and out-of-touch politicians.
Every now and then, the best ideas should win.
