Controversial grocery bill up again Wednesday

The first bill the Alabama House of Representatives will consider when it convenes at 4 p.m. Wednesday is the bill that has led to an almost complete shut down of that chamber for the last week.
The House, which did not have enough votes a week ago to bring up the bill, will take up the proposal that would remove the state's 4-cent sales tax from groceries. They propose replacing the revenue by not allowing Alabamians above a certain income level to deduct the federal income tax they pay from their state income tax.
Republicans successfully kept the bill from coming up last week and members of the black caucus have since shut the House down, allowing only a couple of bills to pass.
The members of the black caucus relented temporarily on Tuesday as the sponsor of the grocery tax bill, Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, said he was negotiating to try to resolve the differences.
Unless major changes are made, many lawmakers do not expect there to be enough votes to pass the legislation out of the House, which could lead to even more dissension in the chamber.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen