State Government

Alabama Constitution

• Alabama has had six constitutions, the most recent one dating from 1901.
  • The 1901 constitution disenfranchised almost all Alabama black voters and thousands of poor whites. For example, the total of blacks registered in 14 counties fell from 78,311 in 1900 to 1,081 in 1903. As recently as 1941, fewer than 25% of Alabama adults were registered voters. In 1960, no blacks voted in Lowndes or Wilcox counties, 80% and 78% black, respectively.
  • By 2007 that document had been amended 777 times. At more than 310,000 words, it is the world’s longest constitution
  • About 90 percent of the document’s length comes from its 780+ amendments. About 70 percent of those amendments cover only a single county or city, and some deal with salaries of specific officials
  • The document has been heavily criticized for discriminatory elements, many of which have been made moot by amendments to the state or federal constitutions or United States Supreme Court decisions.
    • It contains many racist elements. One provision completely disenfranchised Black American voters, but it has been rendered inoperative.
    • The President of the Constitutional Convention stated that their intention was “within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution, to establish white supremacy in this State.”
    • Originally it outlawed interracial marriage, however this provision was removed in 2000 by Amendment 667. The constitution still requires racially segregated education in the state. Although this provision has not been enforced since the 1960s, the continued existence of these provisions is seen by some in Alabama as an embarrassment to the state. A proposal to strike the segregation requirement was defeated narrowly in 2004
    • Section 177 denied women the right to vote by confining voting rights to “male citizens,” but this was rendered unenforceable by the 19th Amendment until Amendment 579 was substituted, which contained no reference to gender.
  • In 2002 amid calls for a constitutional convention, voters approved a constitutional amendment providing that no constitution could be adopted without voter approval.
  • Governor Robert Riley appointed a constitutional commission to prepare recommendations on reforms in 2003.
• A bill becomes a law when it is passed by at least a majority of a quorum of both houses and is either signed by the governor or left unsigned for six days (Sundays excluded) while the legislature is in session, or passed over the governor’s veto by a majority of the elected members of each house. A bill must pass both houses in the same form.
  • Due to the Legislature’s power to override a gubernatorial veto by a mere simple majority (most state Legislatures require a 2/3 majority to override a veto), the relationship between the executive and legislative branches can be easily strained when different parties control both branches.
• The governor may pocket veto a measure submitted fewer than five days before adjournment by not signing it within ten days after adjournment.
• The governor has the power to approve or disapprove any particular item of an appropriation bill without vetoing the entire bill. Vetoed items are returned to the legislature while the remainder of the bill becomes law.
• The submission of a constitutional amendment to the electorate requires the approval of three-fifths of the membership of each house, but such amendments can also be adopted by constitutional convention. Amendments are ratified by a majority vote of the electorate.
• The inordinate length is both because of and the cause of heavy centralization of government power in Montgomery, leaving very little authority to local units. Counties cannot legislate on local issues, requiring the state legislature to pass local laws.
• Due to the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but 7 counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.
• Unlike most other states, a large portion of Alabama’s tax code is written into the constitution, necessitating its amendment over minor taxation issues. This, along with the requirement that an amendment must be unanimously approved in by the legislature or face a statewide vote, has resulted in local county or municipality related amendments being overwhelmingly approved, but ultimately rejected statewide

State Legislature

• Alabama’s bicameral legislature consists of a 35-seat senate and a 105-seat house of representatives, all of whose members are elected at the same time for four-year terms.
• Legislative sessions are held each year, convening in early January in general election years, in late April in years following general election years, and in early February all other years.
• Session length is limited to 30 legislative days in 105 calendar days.
• Only the governor may call special sessions, which are limited to 12 legislative days in 30 calendar days.
• Senators must be at least 25 years old; representatives, 21. Legislators must have resided in the state for at least three years before election and in the district at least one year.
• Under federal pressure, the legislature in 1983 approved a reapportionment plan, effective in 1986, that was expected to increase black representation.
• In 2002 Alabama’s legislators received a per diem salary of $10 during regular sessions; each member is also paid $32.50 per diem for the performance of his or her duties as a member of any authorized interim legislative committee or subcommittee. Legislators in 2002 received living expenses in the amount of $2,280 per month plus $50 per day for three days per week that the legislature actually meets.
• 2007 The state legislature votes itself a 62% pay increase, overriding Gov. Bob Riley’s veto (see roll call below)

Higher Offices

• State elected officials are the governor and lieutenant-governor (separately elected), secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of agriculture and industries, and three members of the Public Service Commission.
• The governor, who serves for four years, must be at least 30 years old and must have been a US citizen for ten years and a citizen of the state for seven. The governor is limited to a maximum of two consecutive terms.
  • As of 2002 Alabama’s governor earned a salary of $101,432, and was entitled to reimbursement of travel expenses up to $40 per day for travel within Alabama, and for total actual expenses outside the state.

Local Governments

• Alabama has 67 counties, 451 municipalities, 128 public school districts, and 525 special districts.
• Counties are governed by county commissions, usually consisting of three to seven commissioners, elected by district.
• Other county officials include a judges of probate, clerk, tax assessor and collector, sheriff, and superintendent of education.
• Elections for municipal officers are held every four years.
• Today, mayor-council is the most common form of municipal government.
  • Until the late 1970s, the predominant form of municipal government, especially in the larger cities, was the commission, whose members are elected either at-large or by district.
  • Partly in response to court orders requiring district elections in order to permit the election of more black officials, after the 1970s there was a trend toward the mayor-council form, although the US Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that Mobile may elect its public officials at-large.
  • An alteration in local government had a significant effect on the racial climate in Birmingham during the 1960s, when the Young Men’s Business Club led a movement to change to the mayor-council system, in order to oust a commission (including Eugene “Bull” Connor as public safety commissioner) that for nearly a decade had reacted negatively to every black demand. After a narrow vote in favor of the change, a moderate was elected mayor in April 1963, but the former commissioners then contested the initial vote that had changed the system. At the height of Birmingham’s racial troubles, both the former commissioners and the newly elected council claimed to govern Birmingham, but neither did so effectively. When peace came, it was as the result of an unofficial meeting held between local black leaders and 77 of the city’s most influential whites, with federal officials serving as mediators. Although the council, like the commissioners, publicly opposed these negotiations, once they were over and the council’s election confirmed, the new moderate leadership permitted peaceful racial accommodation to go forward.
• In addition to the mayor-council and commission forms of administration, some municipalities employ city managers.

Politics

State

• In 2002 there were 2,356,423 registered voters; there is no party registration.
• In 1874, the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans. After 1890, a coalition of whites passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise black residents.
• The state became part of the “Solid South,” a one-party system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally no Republican challenger running in the General Election.
• Pre-Civil War political divisions in the state reflected those elsewhere in the South. Small and subsistence farmers, especially in the northern hill country and pine forest areas, tended to be Jacksonian Democrats, while the planters of the Black Belt and the river valleys often voted Whig.
• After a period of Radical Republican rule during Reconstruction, the Bourbon Democrats, whose party then served largely the interests of wealthy property owners, business people, and white supremacists, ran the state for the rest of the century, despite a challenge in the 1890s by the Populist Party.
• It was not until the 1980s that Republicans began to successfully challenge and win elections in local and state offices.
  • The 1986 Democratic primary for the gubernatorial race saw Mobile-native Alabama Attorney General Charles Graddick in a runoff with then Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley. Graddick won by a few thousand votes, but the state State Democratic party ruled he had violated primary regulations by encouraging Republicans to “cross over” and vote as Democrats. The court told the Democratic Party to hold another election or pick Baxley. The party picked Baxley. Alabama is a non-registration party state. At that time, the Democratic party had never enforced such a rule in any election. Alabamians were outraged and voted against Baxley and for H. Guy Hunt, the GOP nominee, as Alabama got its first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
• In 2007, the Senate lost numerous legislative days in an internal dispute over which bills would be considered prior to acting on “sunset” legislation and ultimately the state budgets. In doing so, they effectively killed all the legislation that had been previously passed by the House. The tobacco lobby likely was celebrating the failure of legislation mandating smoke-free public places in the state. Still others celebrated the lack of consideration of PAC-to-PAC transfers or significant tax reform in areas ranging from health care premiums to food and property appraisals.

Governorship

• The current governor of the state is Bob Riley. The lieutenant governor is Jim Folsom Jr.
• 1986 resulted in the election of the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. The Democratic candidate, State Attorney General Charles Graddick, was stripped of his party’s nomination by a federal panel because of crossover Republican voting in the Democratic primary. His replacement, Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley, lost the election to a little-known pro-business Republican and former Baptist preacher, Guy Hunt.
  • Hunt was reelected in 1990 but was confronted early in his second term with accusations of financial misdeeds, including personal use of official resources and mismanagement of public funds. In 1992 Hunt was indicted on 13 separate felony counts. The following year, he was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges and forced to resign the governorship, becoming the fourth governor in the nation’s history to be convicted of criminal charges while in office.
• Democrat James Folsom became governor in 1993 when Governor Guy Hunt was convicted.
• Folsom lost his election bid for governor to Fob James, Jr., in 1994. James had served as governor of the state from 1979–83 as a Democrat, but he switched party affiliations for the 1994 election and upset Folsom in a narrow victory.
• In the 1998 election Democrat Don Siegelman was elected to the governor’s office.
• In 2002, Republican Bob Riley was elected governor, after serving six years in the US House of Representatives.

Legislature

• The Democratic Party currently holds a large majority in both houses of the Legislature.

National

• Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country; Shelby County, in suburban Birmingham, and the city and county of San Francisco are the closest pair of greatly populated areas to being political polar opposites
• From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins.
• In 1960 the Democrats won with John F. Kennedy on the ballot, but the Democratic electors gave most of their electoral votes as a protest to someone else.
• On two occasions, 1948 and 1964, the Alabama Democratic Party bolted the national Democratic ticket, each time because of disagreement over civil rights.
• Barry Goldwater in 1964 was the first Republican presidential candidate in the 20th century to carry Alabama.
• In 1968, George Wallace carried Alabama overwhelmingly on the American Independent Party slate.
• After 1972, the state became a Republican stronghold in presidential elections, and leaned Republican in state elections
• In the 2000 presidential elections, 57% of the vote went to Republican George W. Bush; 42% to Democrat Al Gore; and 1% to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
• In 2004, George W. Bush won Alabama’s nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are in the majority.
• US Senator Richard Shelby was reelected as a Democrat in 1992, but switched his affiliation to Republican on 9 November 1994, the day after the Republicans swept into power in the Senate. He was reelected in 1998.
• In 1996 Democratic Senator Howell Heflin retired, and his seat was won by Republican Jeff B. Sessions. Sessions was reelected in 2002.
• In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans, and two Democrats. The Representatives are Jo Bonner, Terry Everett, Mike D. Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Bud Cramer, Spencer Bachus, and Artur Davis.

PACS

• PACs have proliferated in state politics since the late 1980s, when the Legislature capped direct contributions by corporations at $500. Alabama is one of 13 states that allows unlimited PAC contributions to candidates
• Many Montgomery lobbyists run PACs that dispense tons of campaign cash in election years. Some of the leading lobbyist PACs include those run by such lobbyists as Joe Fine and Bob Geddie, Johnny Crawford, and Clark Richardson. Veteran Montgomery lobbyist John Teague has formed at least 22 PACs. The contributors have included gambling interests, plaintiffs lawyers and transfers from other PACs.
• Of 60 PACs run by seven lobbying or political consulting groups found that more than $13 million had been given to those PACs in 2006. The PACs shifted $3.2 million of that in 828 separate transactions, which made sure voters couldn’t tell where the money came from originally.
  • The largest donors to those 60 PACs are: the Alabama Education Association’s PAC; dog track owner Milton McGregor and his two tracks; trial lawyer Jere Beasley’s firm; Alabama Power Co.’s employee PAC; Drummond Co.; Buffalo rock soft drink bottlers; nursing home groups run by Norman Estes; and Montgomery banker Bobby Lowder and his Colonial Bancgroup.
  • Members of both political parties have said for years they favor banning PAC transfers. State Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, has sponsored a bill for the past five years, which the House has passed several times. The bills have never come close in the Senate.
• Alabama law says corporations are limited to $500 per candidate. An attorney general’s opinion blew that wide open.
• The state ethics law allows lobbyists to entertain elected officials at up to $250 a day without reporting it.
• Special-interest funding has helped make races for the state’s highest court the most expensive judicial elections in the country. Since 1993, candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court have reported more than $48 million in contributions, according to Justice at Stake. Races for the Texas Supreme Court drew the next highest sum during that period, $28 million.
  • The cost of running for Supreme Court began to rise in the early 1990s, after the Democrat-controlled court finished overturning tort-reform laws that, among other things, limited jury awards
• The main source of money for Democratic candidates has been plaintiff trial lawyers, while Republican candidates have been supported financially by business interests and the lawyers who defend them in civil suits
• PAC-to-PAC transfers are used by parties, lobbyists and political candidates to conceal the sources of potentially problematic donations to candidates’ campaigns. Attempts to ban the practice have passed the state House of Representatives in each of the last six years but died in the state Senate.
  • PAC-to-PAC legislation has been sponsored in recent years by state Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville. The 2007 version of the bill, which provided exceptions for candidate committees, was one of the first to pass the House in March, but a Senate committee later amended the bill to allow transfers between PACs for state parties, caucuses and voter action groups. An attempt to bring the bill up on the last day of the session failed in the Senate. McLaughlin had said that if the bill returned to the House he would have recommended that his colleagues vote against it.
  • Dan Roberts, an engineering major at the University of Alabama who runs the blog Between The Links, filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office to create Dan PAC, a political action committee whose stated purpose is “to filter funds from controversial or unpopular groups to other PACs and candidates for the purpose of hiding the actual source of a candidate’s campaign money from voters.” – PR 6/15/07

Lottery

• The Alabama Education Foundation was formed by Gov. Don Siegelman to promote a state lottery. The foundation continued to exist in secret well after voters rejected the lottery in 1999. Siegelman was involved in the decision to alter the foundation’s by-laws. The purpose of the changes, those records show, was to allow the foundation to continue raising money without having to report it to the secretary of state’s office.
• Montgomery lawyer Bobby Segall frequently represents the Democratic Party and its officials in high-profile cases

State Departments

• Education: Department of Education, the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, The Alabama Public Library Service.
• Transportation: The Department of Aeronautics, Highway Department, and Public Service Commission (PSC) administer transportation services; the PSC supervises, regulates, and controls all transportation companies doing business in the state. Drivers’ licenses are issued by the Department of Public Safety.
• Health and welfare services: Department of Public Health, Department of Mental Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Commission on Aging, Department of Youth Services, and Department of Pensions and Security. Planning for the state’s future health-care needs is carried out by the Health Planning and Development Agency.
• Public protection: Military Department, Board of Corrections, Alabama Law Enforcement Planning Agency, and Department of Public Safety, among other agencies.
  • Homeland Security: To work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Alabama in 2003 operated under the authority of executive order; the adjutant general was designated as the state homeland security advisor.
• Natural Resources: the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Forestry Commission, Oil and Gas Board, Surface Mining Reclamation Commission, and Alabama State Soil and Water Conservation Committee.
• Alabama’s Ethics Commission administers the state’s ethics law, makes financial disclosure records available to the public, and receives monthly reports from lobbyists.
• The Office of Consumer Affairs, established in 1972, was transferred to the Office of the Attorney General in 1979. The major duties of the office are to enforce the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and other criminal laws to combat consumer fraud.

Public Service Commission

• PSC President Jim Sullivan has refused dozens of interview requests from Press-Register reporters, and he has refused to hold formal hearings on rates charged by the Alabama companies, despite a call for such hearings more than a year ago by then-Commissioner George Wallace Jr. Without such hearings, officials said, the PSC cannot challenge the rates charged by Mobile Gas. Wallace said the PSC was “being run by the utilities.” – PR 2/11/07

Interstate Issues

• Among the interstate compacts and commissions in which Alabama participates are the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, Interstate Mining Compact Commission, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact, Southeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact, Southern Growth Policies Board, Southern Regional Education Board, Historic Chattahoochee Compact, and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority.
• In 1997, the state began two new water resources projects: the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River Basin Compact between Alabama and Georgia, and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin Compact between Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
• The Office of State Planning and Federal Programs coordinates planning efforts by all levels of government. During fiscal year 2001, Alabama received federal grants amounting to $5.3 billion.

Government Finance

• There are two major budgets: the Special Education Trust Fund Budget is for Education only and our General Fund Budget is the source of funding for all other functions of state government.
  • Due to the earmarking of tax dollars in Alabama, the Education Fund is flush while the General Fund is broke.
  • In 1998 the Education Fund had grown to be three times larger than the General Fund. The reason for this contrast is that most of the growth taxes, such as income and sales taxes, are earmarked for education. Therefore, as the economy grows so does the Education Fund.
  • It has been 20 years since any new revenues were injected into the General Fund.
  • The State General Fund missed an expected reprieve when the Exxon was reduced to $52 million.
• The Division of the Budget within the Department of Finance prepares and administers the state budget, which the governor submits to the legislature for amendment and approval.
• The fiscal year runs from 1 October through 30 September (one of only four states in which the fiscal year does not begin in July).
• In 1999, Alabama received the 2nd-largest surplus in the history of the state; the $57 million budget surplus was credited to tight controls over agency spending.
• In 2003, the state had a $675 million budget deficit, and Governor Bob Riley proposed a $1.3 billion tax increase raising individual and corporate taxes by $461 million and local and state property taxes by $465 million. Voters rejected Riley’s proposal in a referendum.
• A total of $9.04 billion from the General Fund and Earmarked Funds was appropriated for 2003, including $3.3 billion for the Medicaid, $1.57 billion for transportation, and $1.06 billion for Human Resources. The Educational Trust Fund appropriated approximately $8.34 billion to education for the same year

Taxation

• The state’s tax system remains the most regressive in the country.
• Property taxes across Alabama are the lowest in America, often forcing local governments to rely on high sales taxes to fund their schools and communities. The constitution protects land wealth while taxing commercial property at higher rates.
• Per capita tax revenues of all state and local governments ($2,234) were less than those of every other state except New Hampshire and Tennessee
• Per capita state receipts from property taxes ($43.49) were the lowest in the country.
  • In 1982, the state legislature passed a law prohibiting taxation of land owned by timber companies at market value (timber comprises the state’s largest industry).
  • Owners of homes, farms or timberland pay taxes on 10 percent of the value of their property, while owners of commercial property pay taxes on 20 percent. Owners of utility property pay taxes on 30 percent of their property’s value.
  • Alabama does not use property taxes to fund schools; instead, public education revenue is derived principally from state income tax (52.9% in 2000) and sales tax (33.5% in 2000).
  • Under Alabama’s current-use system, which allows timber and farm owners to sidestep paying taxes on the land’s actual market value, timberland owners in some Black Belt counties pay less than $2 an acre per year in property taxes, even for the most productive land.
  • 71 percent of the land in Alabama is timber. That property, however, produces less than 2 percent of the state property taxes.
  • Taxes on timberland in Alabama are less than $1 per acre. In Georgia, it is between $4 and $5 per acre. In Alabama, 33 percent of the land is controlled by owners of 500 or more acres. The figure is 43 percent in Mobile County.
• As of 2002, the personal income tax ranged from 2% to 5%, with $2000 basic individual deductible and $300 for each child.
  • A family of four becomes liable for income tax at $4,600 annual income, the lowest in the country. A reduction in the personal deduction from $2,000 to $1,500 for 2003 lowers the threshold further to $3,600.
• The tax on corporate net income was 5% for most enterprises, and 6.5% for financial institutions.
• The state also imposes a sales tax of 4%; localities may charge up to an additional 3%.
  • Prescription drugs are tax-exempt, but food and non-prescription drugs are taxable.
  • Alabama relies on sales taxes for more than half of its revenue. The national average is around a third.
• The General Fund draws on 36 tax sources, the leading ones in 2002 being the insurance company premium tax, interest on state deposits, interest earnings, corporate taxes, oil and gas production taxes, the cigarette tax, the ad valorum (property) tax, and profits from the alcohol control board.
• The Educational Trust Fund draws on 12 tax sources, the most important being the personal income tax, sales taxes, utility taxes, and use taxes.
• Alabama’s tax rates are according to those set in its 1901 Constitution, and in 2002, analysts estimated than sizeable portions of Alabama’s potential tax base remained untaxed including half of sales revenues (most services being untaxed), 52% of personal income, and 88% of property value.
• Taxes are complex, with sales taxes imposed according to four schedules, one for general merchandise, and three separate ones for manufactures, cars, and vending machine products.
• State collections in 2002 were approximately $6.88 billion ($1,533 per capita), including $3.38 billion from general and selective sales taxes, $2.9 billion from individual income tax, $322,636 from corporate taxes, and $195,132 from property taxes.
• Revenue shortfalls obliged the Alabama legislature to make cuts of $19.9 million in the enacted 2001/02 budget, and of a reported $14.8 million in the enacted budget of 2002/03. In both years, Alabama was one of a record 37 states making such downward adjustments.
• In 2003 Gov. Bob Riley’s proposed $1.2 billion tax and government accountability package was rejected by voters. A cornerstone of the package was tax relief for the poor while raising taxes on Alabama’s wealthiest residents and big landowners.

Education

• In the late 1990s the state worked to increase teachers’ salaries and bring other measures in line with national education statistics.
• In 1993, Alabama was at 47th in state rankings of per-pupil expenditures; the most recent figures available show that by 2003, it was 44th. The state’s ranking in teachers’ salaries has slipped from 41st to 47th since 1993.
• In 2000, 75% of Alabamians age 25 and older were high school graduates. 19% had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Expenditures for public education in 2000/01 were estimated at $4,334,139.
• As of 2000, there were 243,275 students enrolled in college or graduate school. In the same year Alabama had 76 degree-granting institutions.
• The largest state universities are Auburn University and the three University of Alabama campuses, including Birmingham, Huntsville, and the main campus in Tuscaloosa.
• Tuskegee University, founded as a normal and industrial school in 1881 under the leadership of Booker T. Washington, has become one of the nation’s most famous black colleges. Minority students comprised 28% of total postsecondary enrollment as of 1997.
• In 1995, only a threatened lawsuit by a teachers’ group kept former Gov. Fob James from raiding the state’s school fund reserve to pay off a $43 million obligation to Mercedes.

Social Welfare

• Average monthly participation in the food stamp program in FY2002 comprised 443,547 persons (173,295 households). The average monthly benefit was $78.42, and the sum total of benefits paid in FY2002 was $417,376,930.
• Alabama’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is called the Family Assistance Program (FA). In June 2000 the state had 55,168 welfare recipients. State expenditures on the TANF program in FY2002 totaled $38,686,168.
• In 2001, Social Security benefits were paid to 841,730 Alabamians. Social Security beneficiaries represented 19% of the total state population and 93% of the state’s population age 65 and older.
• Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in 2001 went to 161,521 Alabama residents, averaging $343 a month.

Demographics

• Alabama ranked 23rd in population among the 50 states with an estimated population of 4,557,808, which is an increase of 110,457, or 2.5%, since 2000.
  • Overall, Alabama may have lost as many as 944,000 residents through migration between 1940 and 1970, but enjoyed a net gain from migration of over 143,000 between 1970 and 1990.
  • Between 1990 and 2000, Alabama’s population increased 10%.
  • The population is projected to reach 5,200,000 by 2025.
  • This includes a natural increase since the last census of 77,418 people (that is 319,544 births minus 242,126 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 36,457 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 25,936 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 10,521 people.
• The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% were illegal aliens (24,000).
• In 2000 the median age was 35.8. Persons under 18 years old accounted for 25.3% of the population, while 13% were age 65 or older.

• In 2000, Alabama had a population density of 87.6 persons per sq mi.
• First in size among Alabama’s metropolitan areas comes greater Birmingham, which had an estimated 915,000 residents in 1999. Other major metropolitan areas were greater Mobile, 535,472; greater Montgomery, 322,441; and greater Huntsville, 343,418. The city of Birmingham proper was Alabama’s largest city, with an estimated 239,416 residents in 2002; Montgomery had 201,425, and Mobile had 194,862.
• Alabama’s population is largely divided between whites of English and Scotch-Irish descent, and blacks descended from African slaves.
• The 2000 census counted about 22,430 Indians, or 0.5% of the total population, mostly of Creek or Cherokee descent. Creek Indians are centered around the small community of Poarch in southern Alabama; most of the Cherokee live in the northeastern part of the state, where the Cherokee reservation had 12,294 residents as of 2000.
• The black population of Alabama in 2000 numbered 1,155,930, or about 26% of the total population.
  • As before the Civil War, rural blacks are most heavily represented in the Black Belt of central Alabama.
  • Many blacks left Alabama from World War I through the 1960s to seek employment in the East and Midwest, and the proportion of blacks in Alabama’s population fell from 35% in 1940 to 26% in 2002.
• In 2000, the Asian population totaled 31,346, or less than 1% of the total, and Pacific Islanders numbered 1,409; in the same year, the population of Hispanic or Latino descent totaled 75,830, up from 43,000 in 1990, an increase from 1% to 1.7% of the total population within the decade. In 2000, Alabama had 6,900 Asian Indians (up from 3,686 in 1990), 4,116 Koreans, and 6,337 Chinese (up from 3,529 in 1990). All told, the foreign born numbered 87,772 (2% of the state’s population) in 2000, up from 1% ten years earlier.
• Among persons reporting a single ancestry group, the leaders were Irish, 343,254 (down from 617,065 in 1990), and English, 344,735 (down from 479,499 in 1990).
• Alabama Cajuns, of uncertain racial origin (Anglo-Saxon, French, Spanish, Choctaw, Apache, and African elements may all be represented), are ethnically unrelated to the Cajuns of Louisiana. Thought to number around 10,000, they live primarily in the pine woods area of upper Mobile and lower Washington counties. Many Alabama Cajuns suffer from poverty, poor health, and malnutrition.
• Until 2000, Alabama experienced only minor foreign immigration, and in 2000, 96.1% of all residents five years old or older spoke only English at home, a slight decrease over the 97.1% recorded in 1990.

Religion

• 92% of Alabamians identify themselves as Christians. 7% of residents identify themselves as non-religious.
• Of Christians, 80% are Protestant. The vast majority of congregations in the state belong in the category of Evangelical Protestants.
  • Almost half of Protestants in Alabama are of the Baptist faith. As of 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention was still the fastest growing and the largest denomination within the state, with 1,380,121 adherents and 3,148 congregations.
  • The United Methodist Church claimed 327,734 adherents with 1,416 congregations, a decrease of 56 congregations since 1990.
  • The Church of Christ was the 3rd-largest denomination with 119,049 adherents and 895 congregations.
• Roman Catholics in Alabama number 150,647. The largest Roman Catholic communities are along the Gulf Coast and, in particular, the Mobile Diocese
• There were an estimated 9,100 Jews.
• Although predominantly Baptist today, Alabama was officially Roman Catholic throughout most of the 18th century, under French and Spanish rule. A century passed between the building of the first Catholic Church in 1702 and the earliest sustained efforts by Protestant evangelists. The first Baptist church in the state, the Flint River Church in Madison County, was organized in 1808; the following year, the Old Zion Methodist Church was founded in the Tombigbee area.
• During the second decade of the 19th century, settlers from the southeastern states brought the influence of the Great Revival to Alabama, along with the various Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist sects that had developed in its wake.
• The first black church in Alabama probably dates from 1820. As in other southern states, black slaves who had previously attended the churches of their masters formed their own churches after the Civil War. One of the earliest of these, the Little Zion Methodist Church, was established in 1867 in Mobile. Most freed blacks became Baptists, however.