WATCH: Ivey to Legislature: Give Alabama Taxpayers a $400 Check

Gov. Kay Ivey delivers State of the State Address at the Alabama Capitol, Tuesday, March 7, 2023 – Alabama News Network

Gov. Kay Ivey has delivered her annual State of the State Address. She urged the Legislature to give Alabama taxpayers a $400 check.

This year, lawmakers will be deciding what to do with $1.1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act money. She has called lawmakers into special session starting Wednesday to create a plan for that money.

Ivey says taxpayers deserve to get some of that money back.

“A paycheck does not go as far as it did two years ago. That is why I am calling on you to put nearly a billion dollars back into the hands of  hardworking, taxpaying Alabamians through one-time rebates of $400. That means $800 for our working families, and it couldn’t come at a better time,” she told them.

Alabama also has a $2.7 billion surplus in the education budget.

The governor wants Alabama teachers to get a 2% pay raise. She says her goal is to raise teachers’ starting salary so that it is the top in the Southeast by the time she leaves office in 2027.

She also wants to create a unique high school for West Alabama.

“I am proposing we establish the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences to address the growing healthcare worker shortage we are predicted to experience in the coming years. This new healthcare high school, to be located in Demopolis, will offer an innovative curriculum for 9th through 12th graders, exposing them to a diversity of STEM and healthcare opportunities, as well as hands-on clinical training experiences,” she said.

Ivey will need the legislature to go along with these proposals. But some action she can take on her own.

She says on Wednesday, she will issue an executive order to help small businesses cut red tape. She says she will reduce regulations by 25% and lower the prepaid sales tax burden that they face.

The session is expected to last into June. While the legislature will consider Ivey’s proposals, lawmakers are only required to pass the General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets.

See her entire speech below.