• State legislators passed hundreds of bills into law this year, but they also sent several decisions to Alabama voters in the form of proposed constitutional amendments.
• This happens every year. Alabama’s constitution is such that amendments are required to do some of the more major policy shifts (and some minor ones) and that means a vote of the people.
• Five statewide constitutional amendments were passed this year and will be on either the March 3 or November 3, 2020 ballots.
• ADN’s Mary Sell had the rundown of all the amendments, what they do, and when they’re on the ballot in her feature story HERE.

2. ‘Negotiating with ourselves’

• Federal budget negotiations don’t seem to be going so well on Capitol Hill right now.
• No, it’s not a political breakdown between entrenched Republicans and Democrats – at least not yet.
• At the moment, the struggle is between the White House and GOP Senate leaders.
• “We’re negotiating with ourselves right now,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby told the Washington Post.
• What are they negotiating? Congress still hasn’t passed a federal budget for Fiscal Year 2020 – the very first step in the appropriations process. That means the various spending bills that fund the government are little more than a shot in the dark right now.
• October 1st doesn’t just bring the fiscal new year, but also the expiration of the Budget Control Act caps, which would trigger about $120 billion of across-the-board cuts to military and non-defense programs.
• So you bet Shelby is involved and concerned.
• “The president, the administration, has some views, maybe, that are a little different sometimes than the Senate Republicans have. So we’re trying to see if we can be together as best we can.”
• See how Shelby clarified to say “administration”? That’s a clue that this has a lot more to do with White House staff than President Trump.
• In fact, the lead White House staffer, Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, seems to be the one grinding everyone’s gears. He’s the former Freedom Caucus leader who some believe is seeking to impose his own views on budget negotiations with Trump not keen on meddling with details.
• A senior Senate aide went there: “The problem with Mulvaney is sometimes he forgets he’s a staffer now, so he’s looking to execute on his own vision instead of the president’s, and that slows down the process.”
• Even the president seems annoyed with Mulvaney’s presence in the Oval right now.
• Read the full Washington Post story on the budget situation HERE.

• Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management isn’t messing around when it comes to recycling.
• AL.Com reports Alabama recycled more than 25% of its generated trash in 2018, setting a new record.
• Materials Management Section Chief Gavin Adams says Alabama recycled 16% of its total waste, nearly doubling the rate from seven years ago. Operations like Huntsville’s waste-to-energy incinerator added to the overall waste diversion.
• Alabama’s recycling efforts jump started in 2008 when then-Governor Bob Riley signed a law establishing higher fees for landfill usage. The money funded newer and better recycling programs.
• Alabama is still behind the national recycling and composting average.
• However, Alabama’s three largest cities, Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville are revamping their recycling programs in 2019, hoping to capture more material before it ends up in a landfill.

• Hundreds of businesses, trade groups and individuals have written to complain to the Trump Administration that additional import taxes on Chinese goods would drive up prices for consumers, squeeze profits and leave U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage to foreign rivals that aren’t subject to higher taxes on the vital components they buy from China.
• They’re pleading with the administration to rethink the tariffs — or at least spare the particular imports they and their customers rely on. Some will appear in person to air their grievances in seven days of hearings in Washington that begin Monday.
• A common theme in their pleas is that American businesses — not China — must pay the import taxes the president is imposing on Chinese goods. And in the end, many of these companies will pass their higher costs on to their customers.
• Trump has already imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports. The goal is to pressure Beijing to stop stealing American technology, forcing U.S. businesses to hand over trade secrets and unfairly subsidizing Chinese tech companies.
• Eleven rounds of negotiations have failed to resolve the dispute over China’s aggressive drive to surpass America’s technological dominance. Businesses and investors say they hope the negotiations will gain momentum if Trump and President Xi Jinping hold a face-to-face meeting at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan in two weeks.
• Full story HERE.

• An Alabama woman is accused of fatally shooting her husband, who was a soldier at Fort Benning.
• News outlets report 27-year-old Brittnay Ryals Paonessa was charged with murder Friday. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says 26-year-old Brandyn Paonessa suffered a shotgun wound to the abdomen Thursday afternoon in the front yard of a home. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
• Court documents say Brandyn Paonessa had filed an emergency protection of abuse order Monday against Brittnay Paonessa. The filing states the soldier was concerned about his wife’s mental health and says she refused to get treatment from a rehabilitation center.
• Fort Benning officials say Brandyn Paonessa was an infantryman who had served in the Army since Sept. 2013.

• Police say two people have died in a house fire in the east Alabama community of Phenix City.
• Phenix City police Capt. Darryl Williams says the blaze was reported around 11:45 p.m. Saturday. He says the home was fully engulfed by fire when officers arrived.
• Few other details were available early Sunday.
• Phenix City is about 80 miles east of Montgomery, and just across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia.