GOV. IVEY BILL SIGNING CEREMONY

     A staged photo from the Governor's office shows Ivey smiling  during a signing ceremony today for several bills, including this one that benefits state prison guards:

• HB468 – This bill provides a two-step pay raise for certain employees of the Department of Corrections and expands the bonus incentive program to include bonuses for additional training achievements.

 That's happening at the same time as the Federal Government is edging towards a takeover of the Alabama prisons because of historic overcrowding and violence, including monthly inmate suicides.

Sen. Cam Ward told The Montgomery Advertiser:

“Let’s do this once and for all and fix this once and for all...every year we come back in this state in the legislature, every year, and we are reacting to a court order, or reacting to a ruling … we’re committed to fixing this, finally, and let’s do it with accurate data.”

    Ivey did not hold a public "signing ceremony" when she signed the bill virtually banning abortion in Alabama. 
     Will she hold one when she signs the bill allocating billions of state tax dollars to repair the longstanding prison problems?
     And where will the funding come from to pay for all of the bonuses and raises in the prison guard legislation? From the language in the bill:

 "It is not the intention of this section to make appropriations, but the program established by the department is subject to the appropriations made for the department in the annual budget appropriations act.

So we'll see.