As he enters his third term representing District Six in the Alabama Senate, Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) has seen his leadership role on committee assignments grow along with his tenure.
Stutts, a physician specializing in OB/Gyn practice, will chair the Senate Committee on Children and Youth Healthcare. He will also serve as Vice-Chair of the Senate's Committee on Healthcare.
Stutts' other committee assignments include the Committee on Finance and Taxation General Fund, Committee on Confirmations, Committee on Judiciary, Committee on Education Policy and the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
Stutts, who was first elected in 2014, was reelected in 2018 and again in 2022 with no opposition.
With changes in legislative districting lines, Franklin County returned in 2023 to a one-House District (District 18). Rep. Jamie Kiel (R-Russellville) is in his second term, and also sees his leadership role growing.
Kiel was named Vice-Chair of the House Ways and Means Education Committee, one of the most important, and influential, of all House committees.
That committee is responsible for allocating more than $8 billion each year to Alabama's public schools, junior colleges and four-year universities. That's almost three times the state's annual general fund budget.
Over the next month, Kiel will meet with representatives from the Alabama Education Association, and representatives from schools and school systems in House District 18.
“Alabama is receiving unprecedented revenues earmarked for education, and we are putting record amounts of dollars directly into public schools and college classrooms across the state,” Kiel said. “It is important we allocate those dollars so Alabama gets the best return on its public education investment, and I appreciate the opportunity to help make those important decisions.”
Kiel requested and was appointed to serve on the new House Ports, Waterways and Intermodal Transit Committee. That committee will oversee and regulate Alabama's expanding ports, waterways, rail system and airports.
Kiel said he's particularly interested in the Tennessee River ports, along with railways, that House District 18 farmers use to ship crops.
“Our interest will be to make sure the ports are utilized to their potential and are up to date,” Kiel said.
Last year, the Alabama Port Authority purchased 272 acres in Montgomery County to construct an inland container intermodal transfer facility that will extend intermodal rail service from the Port of Mobile, a move expected to significantly expand the state's economic development landscape and lead to growth throughout Alabama.
An ongoing project at the Port of Mobile will see deepening and widening of the Mobile Ship Channel, which will allow massive cargo ships up to 14,000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) to load and unload in port, rather than offshore as is currently done due to a lack of infrastructure to allow transit of these ships.
Kiel's other committee assignments include the House Insurance Committee and the House State Government Committee, both of which he served on in his first term.
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