Our website is here to better connect the citizens of Shelby county with their legislators. On our "Home" page, you will find videos and email links to of each delegate, as well as, updates on what your legislators are doing  around the state and county.

The "Contact Us" page has an email form that comes directly to my email mailbox, but there is also an email address, physical address, contact number, and fax number listed.

Please feel free to contact me or any members of the delegation with your questions. We hope you find this website helpful and look forward to working with you on making Alabama a better place to live.

Mimi W. Penhale
Legislative Director

 
Featured Legislator

Representative Arnold Mooney

Rep. Arnold Mooney is the son of Arnold and Lillian Mooney. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama where he attended public school and graduated from Sidney Lanier High School. Following his high school, he attended Samford University in Birmingham and was subsequently awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees with highest honors in political science and history.

During his time at Samford he served as Student Government Association President and interned at the Alabama Legislature. He studied abroad at the University of Oxford (England), as a Rotary Scholar sponsored from the Rotary Club of Birmingham and as a Scottish Rite Foundation Fellow in post graduate study in the School of Government and Business Administration at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

His experience in government and political activities, comes from having served as a Staff Assistant for Alabama’s United States Senator James B. Allen, running Congressman Albert Lee Smith’s United States Senate campaign, as well as, Alabama legislative races for the House and Senate. He served as Chairman for the last 12 years of his predecessor’s Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin campaigns for Alabama State House District 43.

Rep. Mooney is a career Commercial Realtor, holding the CCIM designation, currently Associate Broker with Southeast Commercial Partners and formerly a Vice President with Colonial Properties Trust for 27 years. He is Life Member and Vulcan Award Recipient for Club of Excellence/Commercial Million Dollar Sales Club of the Birmingham Association of Realtors. Rep. Mooney boasts more than 30 years of experience serving small businesses and fifteen years of experience developing and implementing jobs programs through the Workforce Invest Board.

Rep. Mooney has been married to his wife Kelly for 31 years; has three grown children, a grandson, and a granddaughter. In November 2014, Rep. Mooney was elected to his first term in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Arnold Mooney was assigned to the following committees:

● Constitution, Campaigns and Elections- Vice Chairperson

● Health

● Shelby County Legislation- Chair

● Ways and Means General Fund

You can contact Representative Mooney at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 
2023 Regular Session Preview

The 2023 Regular Legislative Session is set to begin on March 7 to kick off the first year of a new quadrennium. This session welcomes a large number of new legislators, who were elected to office in November 2022.  Roughly one-third of the legislators elected in the fall are new this cycle.

Our 11-member delegation welcomed in three new faces this election cycle. New to the Delegation are Senator Lance Bell, Representative Leigh Hulsey, and Representative Susan DuBose. While the rest of the Delegation are returning, three others in our Delegation, all of whom were originally elected during special elections, are gearing up for their first full terms. Senator April Weaver has been in the legislative body for most of the past 12 years but is serving her first full term as a senator. Representatives Russell Bedsole and Kenneth Paschal, elected in special elections in 2020 and 2021 respectively, will be serving their first full terms this cycle.

Budgets will be a priority to discuss this spring. The Alabama Legislature is required, by law, to pass the General Fund and Education Budgets yearly, with allocations coming from the previous year’s receipts. Despite the instability in the economy, the state saw a surplus in revenue. When surplus occurs, there are several options on how to address the excess, with some mentions of tax rebates or saving in the rainy-day fund being mentioned as options this year. Other potential topics of interest in the legislative body are addressing allocation for ARPA funding, criminal justice reform, infrastructure, and economic development. So far, there are 72 pre-filed bills on the docket, including six from Shelby County legislators.

The American Recovery Plan Act, or ARPA, must be designated by the Legislature before the end of the year. ARPA funding is of interest to the governor, so there is expected to be a special session to address those funding needs. This will likely happen during the regular session, and is a way for the governor to force the legislature to address a specific issue.  The bills that can be passed during a special session must be directly related to the topic that the governor designates. When a special session and a regular session overlap, the 105 days that the legislature can meet are also being used up. That means that if the legislature does not act swiftly to address the topic at hand, then the number of days that the legislature can freely meet and pass their own/other bills are getting smaller. 

To see more about the 2023 Regular Session and what our members will be focusing on, click here.

 What's Happening Around Shelby County

The Shelby County Tourism Work Group weekly releases information about some events going on around Shelby County. Scan the QR code above from more information on what is coming up or click here.