Alabama State Treasurer, Young Boozer
CULLMAN – The Cullman County Republicans held their monthly meeting Saturday morning, with guest speaker, Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer. Boozer was first elected state treasurer in 2010, and ran unopposed in 2014 for another four-year term. Vice-Chair of the Cullman County Republicans, Alex Chaney, lead the meeting in the absence of Chair Waid Harbison. Also in attendance were State Rep. Randall Shedd, R- Fairview; State Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman; U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama and several other elected officials who serve the Cullman area.
Shedd was the first elected official to speak, giving a brief update on the Republican House agenda. According to Shedd, “It’s been a busy time in Montgomery; the budget will start next week,” and he has introduced six bills in this session. Shedd commented on the “erosion of public confidence in our state,” and said he has full trust in the newly elected Speaker of the House, Mac McCutcheon. Shedd believes that the House will have an impeachment vote against Gov. Robert Bentley during this session, and he further expressed that he will not support Bentley’s prison plan.
Next arose Bussman to give a brief update in the Senate. Quite bluntly, Bussman said, “The Senate is very slow [to] start.” However, he said, the Senate will start with the education budget which, in Bussman’s view, is better than it has been in the past. Bussman noted that he would support reforming how education funds are distributed to K-12 schools and universities. Currently, the allocation is 75 percent for K-12 and 25 percent for state universities; however, Bussman believes that allocation has been skewed. “The universities are doing well, but if you go to some K-12 schools in Cullman County, we have problems,” stated Bussman as he made his argument for reforming how much the state sends to state universities in order to better fund K-12 schools and community colleges.
Boozer began by lightening the mood, by addressing “fake news,” that has been circulating in recent days. According to estately.com, Boozer is one of "the most surprisingly named public officials" in the state of Alabama, and the nation.
“The Alabama Trust fund (ATF) is the single most important financial asset of the state of Alabama, and it has to be protected,” stated Boozer as he commented on how the fund has been “raided” in the past. He went further, saying, “There are a lot of things that the state government has done that’s the right thing to do, but it’s not done properly.”
Boozer argued that he has fixed many issues with the fund in his six years of public office, and he hopes to make the fund work more efficiently.
Boozer also discussed the recently announced Enable Savings Plan Alabama. The program is a tax advantage savings plan for those with disabilities from across the state, and works in conjunction with the ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Act of 2014 passed by the U.S. Congress, which established a savings program for those with disabilities. “This is a tremendous program; the disability community has been working on this for decades,” commented Boozer.
Lastly, Boozer touched on unclaimed property. The state of Alabama currently possesses $672 million in unclaimed property, and Boozer encouraged those in attendance to go to https://alabama.findyourunclaimedproperty.com/ in order to check for unclaimed property. One member of the audience was stunned to find that he had more than $100 in unclaimed property.
The Cullman County Republican Party hosts its meetings on the first Saturday of each month at the Cullman Elks Lodge. Check http://www.cullmansense.com/calendar for the most up-to-date information.
The Cullman County Republican Women will host their next meeting on April 11 at 6 p.m. at the Cullman VFW (112 Veterans Drive SW in Cullman). The guest speaker will be the Alabama GOP Chairwoman, Terry Lathan. One does not have to be a paid member or a Republican to attend; all are encouraged to attend if interested.
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