MONTGOMERY – A $1.72 billion General Fund budget was passed by the Alabama Legislature Wednesday night and signed by Governor Robert Bentley yesterday morning. The budget passed in the Senate with a vote of 23-9 and in the House with a vote of 71-21. Following the passage of the General Fund budget, both the Senate and the House moved to adjourn the second special session.
The following comments were made by ALGOP Chairman Terry Lathan:
“At this year’s winter meeting of the Alabama Republican Party State Executive Committee, a resolution urging the governor and legislature to avoid solely relying on raising taxes to balance the General Fund budget was passed by a large majority of our members. To reiterate our Party’s desires, I sent a letter to the Republican members of the Alabama Senate, the Alabama House of Representatives and Governor Bentley stressing our concerns about balancing the General Fund budget while funding the needed services of our citizens.
“After much discussion and analyzing our budget problems, our elected officials got the job done. Although not everyone might agree on the path they have taken, they cleared this challenging financial hurdle.
“While we understand that there are critical services that should have high priority, we also know that there is waste and duplication of many government services. The legislature defeated several proposed tax increases and negotiated down others, reformed the budgeting process, trimmed and cut state government spending and sured up the General Fund budget.
“The Alabama Republican Party has never blinked on our belief of lower taxes. We must now turn our sights toward the 2016 election where we will work hard to elect a much needed Republican president, protect our GOP seats and add more Republicans to our team.”
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