In preparation for the upcoming legislative session, Alabama House of Representatives Republicans and Democrats are discussing and planning their agendas.
Both agendas can be found on each party's respective websites and cover an array of different topics affecting the people of Alabama.
The Republican's proposed agenda, "We Dare Defend Our Rights," announced Thursday, Jan. 17, utilizes the state motto to reiterate the need to defend against an encroaching government.
The agenda covers a variety of topics including abortion, the Second Amendment, school safety and economical issues, like taxes and paying back the money borrowed from the Alabama Trust Fund, in the state.
Rep. Mac Buttram, R-Cullman, said that he anticipates the Women's Health and Safety Act and the Gun Control Laws to be most controversial, but he is also invested in what the government does to support job growth in the state.
"Job creation is still an issue on my mind," Buttram said. "We need to get the equipment up to standards for the industries we have in Alabama. These are the things that we need."
Job creation is an issue on the minds of politicians across the spectrum.
"I want jobs in my area," said Rep. Elaine Beech, D-Choctaw, Clarke, Washington. "I'm on Gov. Bentley's bandwagon on jobs. I'm in rural Alabama and we've lost so many jobs."
Protecting Alabamians right under the Second Amendment is also expected to be discussed and is the second topic listed on the Republican's agenda.
"We want to make sure that our rights are defended under the Second Amendment," said Rep. Jim Carns, R-Jefferson, Shelby. "We want to be able to protect gun owners in Alabama. We want to have a fertile field already preset in case the feds do something that we think is not in accordance with what our state rights are."
Education and repaying the money borrowed from the Alabama Trust Fund are both large issues discussed in each party's plan.
"There are a lot of people that are concerned about education, that are concerned about the common core standards," Carns said. "We have 132 different school systems, and we think that decisions can be made better at the local level than at the state level. Just like the state can make better decisions for us than the federal government, miles away."
The Democrats in the house released an article Monday, Jan. 14 discussing the process of setting their legislative agenda for the upcoming session, and said one of the their top priorities this session is going to be school security.
"The schedule has been driven in part of the response of the tragedy in Newtown," said Rep. Christopher England, D- Tuscaloosa. "School safety and similar concerns are always of paramount. Making sure our children are safe at school is always going to be a concern."
However school safety is not the only education issue that is a priority for the Democrats.
"Always you want to explore as many possibilities as you can to incentivize individuals and teachers," England said. "Over the last couple years our teachers have seen their salaries decrease and their benefits decrease."
England said the cost of health insurance has gone up and the amount teachers are contributing to their pension has risen so teachers' take home pay has decreased.
"We're interested in finding other ways to spread some of the cost of doing government so we don't have to punish our teachers and our state employees," England said. "In order to make Alabama competitive, we have to have some sort of incentives to make sure we can train and retain teachers that we train. If you look at Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia or Florida, and you can get paid more for doing the same job, why would you come to Alabama?"
Helping Alabama educators is an important topic for Beech, as well.
"If we can come back with some type of bill that helps the teachers themselves, I would be all for that because I think they're the ones that took the blunt of the blow," Beech said. "I would like to see a pay raise come to our teachers if the money is there."
The issue of education reform and school safety is only two of the topics expected to appear before state lawmakers.
Although there are a variety of topics expected to be discussed, Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said in a press release that the first topic to be discussed has already been decided.
Legislation regarding the reimbursement of the $437 million borrowed from the Alabama Trust Fund will be first on the list.
The House convenes Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 in Montgomery to begin the 2013 legislative session.
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