The nostalgic roar of rockets going to the moon echoed through Gov. Robert Bentley’s 2016 State of the State address.
Bentley’s speech before a joint session of the Alabama Legislature in the Old House Chamber on Tuesday night, Feb. 2, served as a launching pad for his Great State 2019 agenda. He called back to Alabama’s role in the Apollo program and the development of the Saturn V rocket that took American astronauts to the moon.
“With that first giant leap for mankind, America achieved the unthinkable, the incredible and the unbelievable,” Bentley said. “And it was Alabama that made the impossible, possible.”
Bentley laid out his goals for the 2016 legislative session and objectives he wants to accomplish before the end of his term in 2019, which is also Alabama’s bicentennial year and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
One of the goals Bentley called for was to tackle poverty with what he said were long-term solutions.
“Too many Alabamians are undereducated, undertrained, unhealthy and unable to break the cycle of poverty and the cycle of dependence,” Bentley said. “It drains our state resources, it drains our hope, and it stymies our state’s growth.”
Bentley said Alabama continues to rank at the bottom when it comes to poverty.
“Poverty does not discriminate,” Bentley said. “In Alabama, it knows no race, no region and no political party. The poverty rate is in double digits in Winston County just as it is in Dallas County.”
One of the ways to address poverty was to invest in Alabama’s pre-K education program, according to Bentley.
“We know this program works, we’ve seen the statistics, but more importantly, we’ve seen the results in the lives of our students,” Bentley said.
Bentley introduced one of his three guests, Miracle Scott, a Eufaula High School senior, who was one of the first enrollees in the pre-K program. Scott has been accepted to Auburn University and will attend in the fall.
Auburn’s representative in the Alabama House and Speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard, spoke The Auburn Plainsman after the speech and said Bentley’s plan was ambitious.
Hubbard, the Republican leader in the House, will be a key player in helping Bentley’s agenda through the Alabama Legislature for now. Hubbard will have to overcome his own hurdles with a trial scheduled in March for 23 counts of ethics violations.
“I support most of it,” Hubbard said of Bentley’s plan. “And I’m not saying I don’t support the other parts, but I just have to see the details.”
Bentley also called on the closing of overcrowded Alabama prisons, including the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, which has drawn U.S. Justice Department investigations for abuse.
Four new, modern prisons will be built to replace the old prisons and will be funded by a bond issue, Bentley said.
Hubbard said he was in favor of Bentley’s prison plan.
“I think it’s time to do something bold and to solve the problem once and for all,” Hubbard said.
Funding Bentley’s proposals may be tough, as Alabama’s General Fund faces at least a $42 million shortfall, according to a report by the Montgomery Advertiser.
Meanwhile the Education Trust Fund, which provides state funding to Auburn University, will grow $382 million to a total of $6.3 billion.
Hubbard said protecting funding for higher education will be a priority.
“I’m sure there will be some who will try to raid the Education Trust Fund, but my goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Hubbard said.
Michael Bullington, senior in supply chain management and SGA assistant vice president in external affairs, was in attendance at the speech.
“I thought it was a great speech, and it looks like a lot of great things are coming to Alabama,” Bullington said. “And I hope that Auburn and the Auburn students will be a big part of that.”
Bringing up the imagery of the Apollo program and President John F. Kennedy’s call to go to the moon, Bentley called on his own ambitious three-year plan for Alabama.
“Once again we accept an impossible challenge, and like our scientists in 1969, once again we will succeed,” Bentley said. “This is our moonshot. This is our Great State.”
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