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Special Session ends without a budget, Dept. of Labor issues citations to Ultratec

Alabama lawmakers ended a special session without a budget.

Lawmakers are leaving Montgomery after the special session hit a 30-day time limit without agreeing on taxes or cuts to address a budget shortfall.

The House voted down Senate-passed budget cuts yesterday by an overwhelming 92-2 vote.

Gov. Robert Bentley is expected to call lawmakers back for a second special session.

Senate budget chairman Arthur Orr is urging Bentley to wait some time before calling lawmakers back to Montgomery.

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued over a dozen citations this week to a north Alabama fireworks plant. 

Ultratec Special Effects was given 14 citations and will be expected to pay more than $65,000 in penalties. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration revealed several cases of negligence that contributed to a deadly explosion earlier this year.

Ramona Morris is the area director for OSHA in Birmingham. She says her goal is to keep accidents like this from happening.

“Basically in this particular case, we had two employees lose their lives. The employer is responsible for maintaining a safe and healthful workplace under the OSHA Act of 1970. So, my goal is to try to prevent these types of things from happening in the future and hopefully protect employees.”

The blast killed two employees and injured four others.  Ultratec has a history of OSHA violations dating back to the mid-eighties as well as numerous fires and explosions.

The American Cancer Society says Alabama isn’t doing enough to prevent cancer.

The group’s Cancer Action Network recently released their thirteenth annual report called “How Do You Measure Up?”. Alabama scored well in regard to state pain management policy and access to palliative care. But the report criticized a lack of statewide effort to curb smoking or the use of indoor tanning beds.

Ginny Campbell is the Alabama government relations director for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. She says an increased cigarette tax would make a big difference.

“It’s a win-win for both keeping teenagers and young people from starting to smoke, but frankly it’s also a fiscal win for our state. It provides some much-needed revenue for our state.”

A 25 cent per pack cigarette tax increase advocated by Governor Robert Bentley was recently shot down in the state legislature. The American Cancer Society is pushing for a dollar extra per pack.

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