Panel to Fight Poverty in Alabama

from Yahoo News

By Bob Johnson, Associated Press Writer
Newly Formed Panel Begins Work on Fighting Poverty in Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- About 16 percent of Alabama's 4.4 million residents live in poverty, according to U.S. Census figures, and a new legislative committee started work Tuesday looking for ways to reduce that number.

The Alabama House Task Force on Poverty set a goal of coming up with proposed legislation in the coming session to deal with several aspects of poverty -- including human suffering, housing issues and helping people improve their economic condition.

The House passed a resolution in this year's regular session to set up the committee.

"I hope we can walk away with something we can use to help people," said Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, chairwoman of the panel and sponsor of the resolution that set up the committee.

It includes legislators, representatives of state departments that help low income Alabama residents and officials with advocacy groups for the poor.

The committee vice chairman, Rep. Mike Ball, R-Huntsville, said one mission is to get people to believe that there is a better life beyond poverty.

"Many in poverty are ignorant about the fact that there is a better way to live. We need to find ways to let people know they have alternatives," Ball said.

Todd said she hopes the committee will hold some public hearings around the state to get input from low-income Alabama residents on the issue.

Nick Foster, director of the Alabama Poverty Project, said he hopes the committee will dispel some common misconceptions about poverty, such as that "people are poor because they are lazy."

One committee member is Rep. A. J. McCampbell, D-Linden, who represents a west Alabama district that includes some of the state's poorest counties.

McCampbell, who said he grew up in rural Greene County where "the dirt road was the main road," said he hopes the committee can look at the psychological side of poverty.

"People do get lost and they think they can't do better," McCampbell said. He said he realizes the state's budgets are limited, but said ultimately the Legislature will have to find some money to deal with the issue.

"This is a big project. There are too many people out there who don't even have bootstraps to pull up," McCampbell said.

Todd said one of the committee's first projects will be to look at bills that have failed in past sessions and see if those ideas could be used to come up with legislation for the coming session, which begins Feb. 5.

Those proposed bills include removing the sales tax from food and over-the-counter medicine and preventing hospitals and doctors from charging people with no insurance more for medical care than they charge people with insurance.