Tuberville Unveils ‘Golden Age Playbook’ for Alabama

TL;DR: Tommy Tuberville’s new campaign plan puts jobs, tax cuts and smaller government at the center of his bid for Governor. It also calls for ending data center tax breaks, widening I-65, expanding school choice and reforming health care rules without expanding Medicaid.

With less than two weeks to go before the November 3 general election, Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville has released “The Golden Age Playbook,” a plan for governing Alabama that promises lower taxes, a smaller State workforce and a harder push for jobs across all 67 counties.

The plan lays out seven main goals, proposed bills for his first session and a public scoreboard to track results. It also takes a firm stance on data centers: no more tax breaks, no added utility costs for families and no projects forced on communities that reject them.

“For nearly 40 years, I built teams for a living,” Tuberville said in the campaign’s press release. “For the last six, I’ve represented Alabama in the United States Senate. Both jobs taught me the same thing. You win by getting the basics right: the right people in the right places, a clear assignment for everybody, and accountability for results, starting with the man at the top.

“If you remember two things, remember these. I will bring good jobs to every corner of this State, so more Alabamians can work, earn a good living, and raise a family right here at home. And I will make State government smaller and give you the savings back in lower taxes.”

The playbook turns those pledges into a broad agenda with several main proposals.

• Jobs and workforce: Put the Governor at the center of major business deals. Rewrite State incentive laws, tie awards to wages and rural job growth, and require companies to repay aid if they break their promises. Prepare industrial sites, recruit corporate headquarters and help firms already in Alabama expand.

Tuberville would lean on community colleges, short training courses and paid apprenticeships to build the workforce those employers need. His targets include a 60% labor force participation rate, $20 billion in investment built and hiring, and job gains in every county during his first term.

The plan also sets out growth targets by industry and region. Those include aerospace and defense in North Alabama, health research in Birmingham, shipbuilding along the coast, and more food processing and forest products across rural Alabama.

• Family costs and taxes: Eliminate the State sales tax on groceries and cut State income tax rates in steps during his first term. Freeze property tax increases on seniors’ homes, improve the annual cap on assessment growth and phase down child care aid as parents earn more.

These measures would form his proposed Family Affordability Act. Other pledges include freezing new agency fees, expanding the Strengthen Alabama Homes roof program and seeking more competition in homeowners insurance, especially on the coast.

Tuberville says income tax cuts would be paid for through verified savings and economic growth, with school funding protected. Notably, the plan does not set a final income tax rate.

• Power bills and data centers: Extend the base rate freeze and seek lower family power bills. Require large power users to cover the costs they create, with public hearings under oath when rates are considered.

The data center provisions go further. Tuberville proposes ending their tax breaks, placing them in the highest property tax class and requiring them to pay the full cost of needed power lines, substations and water systems. They would also have to replace the power and water capacity they use.

Local consent is another condition. The plan says he would reject a data center if the host community says no. New tax revenue would support career training in schools, law enforcement and family tax cuts.

To meet broader energy needs, he proposes a State Energy Bank with up to $1 billion in bonding power. The campaign says large users would repay the costs, while federal and private funds would help finance new plants and lines.

• Education: Fully fund First Class Pre-K for families seeking a seat. Extend reading and math reforms through eighth grade, expand school choice and strengthen career training in high schools.

Under his proposed Alabama Life Ready Act, students would identify a career interest by eighth grade and choose a college, military or skilled-trade path by tenth grade. He also calls for paid dual enrollment, regional technical centers and more ties between schools and employers.

Tuberville would fund broader CHOOSE Act access, create a pay ladder for strong teachers who mentor others and publish school results by County. He also proposes putting parents’ rights in the State constitution and enforcing restrictions on DEI and gender ideology in schools.

• Smaller government: Freeze most State hiring, audit agencies and contracts, merge at least a dozen agencies into larger departments and review every State board and commission.

Public safety and direct care jobs would be exempt from the hiring freeze. The campaign says workforce cuts would come mainly through leaving vacant jobs unfilled, with layoffs a last resort. Local school teachers would not be affected.

The plan also calls for shared payroll, purchasing and other support services, plus one online entry point for State licenses. Tuberville estimates these changes could save $150 million to $200 million a year once fully in place. Those are campaign estimates; he proposes independent audits and quarterly reports to verify savings before counting them toward tax relief.

• Crime and child safety: Send more State troopers and investigators to cities facing violent crime, create a Statewide gang unit and expand cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

His proposed Safe Streets Act would seek tougher sentencing rules for violent offenders and prison terms for recruiting children into gangs. The plan also calls for better officer pay, recruitment bonuses, stronger prison staffing and deadlines for moving State inmates out of county jails.

Separate child safety measures include a public registry of convicted child abusers, wider background checks for people working with children and monthly in-person visits with foster children. Tuberville also proposes parental consent for social media accounts for children under 16 and felony penalties for mailing or delivering abortion pills into Alabama.

• Roads, ports and broadband: Produce a funded plan in his first year to widen I-65 to three lanes in each direction from Tennessee to Mobile. Rank other road and bridge projects by job growth, safety and public value.

That first-year pledge is for a plan and budget, rather than completion of the widening project. Tuberville also wants more shipping through the Port of Mobile, stronger rail links to inland ports, finished rural broadband projects and help for small-town water and sewer systems.

• Health care: Reform certificate-of-need rules, expand telehealth, add rural medical residency slots and offer loan repayment for doctors who practice in rural communities.

Tuberville says decisions on new health facilities should turn on community need, with firm deadlines and clear prices for patients. He also proposes a Medicaid fraud strike force and returning the State’s share of recovered funds to patient care.

He expressly rejects Medicaid expansion. His approach instead rests on changes to the current program, rural health funding, more providers and fewer barriers to new care.

The playbook assigns proposed actions to four time frames: his first day, first legislative session, first budget and first term. Early steps include hiring limits, audits, agency performance plans and a public dashboard.

Its scoreboard sets goals that voters could measure, including a 20% drop in violent crime across Alabama’s four largest cities and a top-25 national ranking in eighth-grade reading and math by the end of his first term.

Many of the largest promises would require lawmakers’ approval and funding. The next test would be turning those goals into priced bills and balanced budgets — and showing that the savings can cover the tax cuts while the State takes on new commitments.

The full Playbook may be seen on Tuberville’s campaign website at https://www.coachforgovernor.com/playbook.