Like all responsible citizens, Alabama Baptists are concerned about the general welfare of their home state and its citizens. That is why we are praying for state legislators as they try for the third time to adopt a General Fund budget for fiscal year 2016, which begins Oct. 1.
Alabama’s needs are well documented (see the Sept. 10 issue of The Alabama Baptist). Careful scrutiny of state budgets have convinced practically everyone that the state’s health care system will be in peril if Medicaid is not adequately funded, especially rural hospitals, nursing homes and children’s care. Basic services such as access to driver’s licenses will be drastically restricted. Public safety will be impacted by reductions in highway patrol officers. Prison reform will be jeopardized and overcrowding will worsen. The list of problems goes on.
At the same time Alabama’s sluggish economy continues to produce insufficient revenue to fund state government. Gov. Robert Bentley has slashed millions of dollars from state budgets during his terms in office. In past years the state Legislature propped up budgets through borrowing from one-time sources. That kept government functioning on an even keel but those sources have been exhausted.
Now is the moment of truth. Legislators individually and the state Legislature as a whole will have to choose priorities and those priorities will be expressed in the budget finally adopted.
Choosing between essentials
Like a family forced to choose between essentials because there isn’t enough money to go around, Alabama must decide if it will cut Medicaid to fund mental health or if it will care for dependent children and cut back on public safety. The Legislature could opt to cut everybody enough to match revenue and let the entire infrastructure of government continue to decay.
At press time another option seemed to be gaining support.
Jim Williams, executive director of Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, explains in an article on page 9 that Alabama has the lowest tax revenue per capita in the nation — $2,951. The state Legislature could raise the needed $300 million in new taxes and we would remain in the 50th slot among all the states. The new taxes would average an increase of about $62.50 per person for Alabama’s 4.8 million population and Alabama would still trail South Carolina, which is 49th.
Reports indicate support is growing in the Legislature for new revenue. We hope so. The goal of government is not dominance for a political party. It is not popularity nor winning elections. The goal is governance for the general welfare of all.
Looking back at history
Unfortunately history indicates governance has not always been the highest priority. Some will remember the 1970s when conditions at state hospitals were so inhumane the editor of a Montgomery newspaper described the state’s residential institutions as “concentration camps.”
Despite the deplorable conditions the state Legislature voted to reduce funding for mental health by cutting the cigarette tax, which was earmarked for that program. The reductions that followed resulted in one institution having only one clinical psychologist, three medical doctors and two social workers providing direct therapeutic care for 5,200 residents.
A federal lawsuit titled Wyatt v. Stickney resulted in a federal judge mandating adequate funding for a mental health program. When the state charged the federal courts with tampering with the state budget, the courts ruled “inadequate resources can never be an adequate justification for the state’s depriving any person of his constitutional rights.”
In 2003 when the case finally ended the court warned, “If the State fails to shoulder its responsibility, it will find itself back in court as sure as the night follows the day.”
And in the midst of the current discussion about a state budget, mental health advocates have reminded state legislators that another lawsuit is inevitable should Alabama renege on its responsibility.
In the 1980s Alabama’s corrections program was under federal court control because the state Legislature chose not to govern. Instead a federal court ordered reforms in medical care, work for prisoners and educational opportunities. Then District Court Judge Robert E. Varner selected 400 prisoners to be released because of overcrowding in the state prison system.
Recently the conservative political blog Yellowhammer News warned of pending federal takeover of the state’s prison system again. The author wrote, “To put it plainly Alabama has the most serious prison crowding problem in the country. It’s so bad that we’re running the risk of federal courts stepping in and ordering the haphazard release of thousands of prisoners from the state’s lockups.”
Prisons beyond capacity
State prisons operate at 195 percent of capacity and the cost is “putting a huge strain on the state’s beleaguered General Fund budget,” the writer concluded.
Alabama’s response has been to increase parolees but that effort is threatened by budget cuts.
In the 1990s Alabama’s foster care system was regarded as one of the worst in the nation but the Legislature refused to provide adequate funding. That changed when the federal judge in the famous R.C. v. Fuller case ruled Alabama had to adequately fund the program. For 18 years the courts oversaw this program including mandating adequate funding.
While under federal court control Alabama became a pioneer in community mental health care and became a model for the nation. The revised child welfare program was called “a national model of excellence” in 2007.
Obviously Alabama has the know-how to provide first-class services. Resources are what is lacking.
Popularity vs. responsibility
Hopefully the state Legislature will not “wink” at the real problems facing Alabama today. Hopefully legislators will not choose popularity over responsibility and leave vital programs struggling to the point that federal courts again intervene.
The real issue may not be about increased spending. It may be about who decides on the increased spending. Will the state Legislature govern or wait for the courts to intervene again?
Government’s goal is governance and that means making difficult decisions for the common good. Alabama is best served by legislators who devote themselves to governance instead of any other agenda.
Please join me in praying that during these days of special session, the state Legislature will choose to govern by dealing with the challenges facing our state.
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