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***
Call to Action ***
Ask your Alabama legislators to
add sufficient new tax revenue
to support a strong General Fund Budget!
Please
contact your legislators and ask for their support
for $300 million dollars in new state revenue to support a General Fund
Budge that will "protect
vital services we all rely on, especially our children, seniors and
most vulnerable neighbors. A strong budget also will let the state move
forward on sensible and widely popular reforms.” --Letter to the
Alabama
Legislature from Alabama Arise, the League of Women Voters of Alabama,
and other supporting organizations.
You
can find email and telephone contact information for your legislators
here. Please
write or make the call in your own name, not in the name of the League
of Women Voters.
You
might also contact the leadership of other nonpartisan organizations
with which you are associated. Share this appeal with
them and ask that they sign on. The deadline for organizations to sign
onto the letter and lend their support to the campaign is Tuesday,
September 1 at noon, so please act quickly.
Background and Justification
The
Alabama Legislature did not pass an acceptable General Fund budget for
the state in either the regular session or the first special session of
2015. A second special session is expected soon to get the job done.
The budget must be passed before the beginning of the new fiscal year
on October 1.
This
appeal was initiated by Alabama Arise. That
organization has asked other organizations in Alabama, including the
League of Women Voters, to sign onto a letter asking the legislature to
approve $300 million in new General Fund tax revenue. On the
recommendation of our Advocacy Committee and with the approval of our
Board of Directors, the League of Women Voters of Alabama has signed
onto the letter and has given its full support to this appeal. Local
Leagues have been encouraged to sign onto the letter, also. Without
this new revenue it is feared that many services vital to the health
and well-being of Alabama’s most vulnerable citizens will be cut
entirely from the budget or severely reduced. The LWVAL advocates for
taxes that are fair, equitable, and sufficient to support programs
essential to these services.
As
stated in the letter to the legislators, “A budget is more than a
balance sheet. It’s a statement of our values. We can’t balance the
budget on the backs of ‘the least of these.’ Lives and livelihoods are
at stake. We need a budget that makes Alabama stronger, not weaker.
Stop the cuts, approve $300 million in new General Fund tax revenue and
stand tall for Alabama’s future.” Read the letter here.
Please
contact your legislators as soon as possible to ask for this $300
million in additional tax revenue. The funding is vital to the welfare
of so many vulnerable Alabamians. Thank you in advance for taking
action!
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