Time for the young’ns

State workers, including public-school employees, will have paid parental leave beginning July 1, reports AL.com’s Breonna Atkins.

Alabama is the 39th state to offer some form of paid parental leave to its employees. Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill Wednesday. The bill was from state Sen. Vivian Figures, a Mobile Democrat, and sponsored in the House by state Rep. Ginny Shaver, a Leesburg Republican.

Some opponents argued that state employees could use accrued sick time and catastrophic leave to cover time off after a child is born.

The new law gives women eight weeks of paid leave after giving birth or having a stillbirth or miscarriage. New dads get two weeks off.

Adoptive parents get in on this, too: One parent gets eight weeks and the other two weeks upon the adoption of a child 3 years old or younger.

If you’re a couple who’s adopting, you get to choose which parent gets the eight weeks — hopefully not leading to your first fight in front of your new kid.

Spending and spending cuts

Also from Goat Hill, the General Fund budget and other General Fund spending passed committee in the state House of Representatives, reports Alexander Willis of the Alabama Daily News.

The spending adds up to $3.9 billion, with $3.7 billion of that in the budget bill. That’s a record high and $6 million above Gov. Ivey’s pre-session proposed budget.

The version that passed committee added $7.5 million for the airport development grant program, $2 million for Capitol security, $2 million more for the Department of Commerce and $1.5 million more for the Forestry Commission.

Among lawmakers’ cuts to the proposed budget were $5 million for Medicaid and around $3.7 million for the Department of Mental Health.

State Rep. Rex Reynolds, a Hazel Green Republican, said those cuts were only a snip to funding surpluses and would be replaced on next year’s budget.

Later before the Senate, state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, a Birmingham Democrat, said he believes some of the cuts to previous spending reflect an anti-diversity movement. He pointed to cuts to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, the Magic City Classic, the Selma and Wilcox Housing Authority and the Birmingham Police Youth Athletics Program.

Betting on Birmingham

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians now officially own the Birmingham Race Course, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

The deal with longtime owners from the Milton McGregor family has been finalized, and now the tribe’s Wind Creek Hospitality takes over.

Terms weren’t released, but the Tribe called it a “significant financial investment.”

Wind Creek said the race course will continue parimutuel and historical horse-racing games. Live greyhound racing ended with the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. The new owners are also looking to expand and grow.

When, what and how much expansion takes place could depend on the lottery/gambling legislation we mentioned here yesterday. A package lawmakers are looking at during the current session is similar to last year’s very broad effort, except this year’s would not allow full-scale casinos with table games.

Closed

Bubba’s Seafood House in Orange Beach announced it has closed after 28 years.

Quoting

“In this country, we’ve had a party for 249 years. United States has put that party on. The party needs to continue, but all the other countries that have been built off the American taxpayers, such as the Middle East, such as Europe, such as China, they need to start bringing gifts to the party because the American taxpayer can’t afford it any longer.”

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, speaking in support of President Trump’s tariffs

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