AL HR728

Commends Representative Bill Dukes for his outstanding service as a member of the Tennessee Valley Caucus of the Alabama House of Representatives.

Tennessee Valley Caucus was formed on March 31, 2005, as the first unified voice for people and counties in Alabama's Tennessee Valley region.

Caucus achieved passage of Tennessee River Protection Acts for multiple counties, secured $3 million in TVA in-lieu-of-tax payments through Act 2006-655, and successfully overrode multiple gubernatorial vetoes to return recovered funds.

In 2010, the Caucus passed House Bill 44, the 5 percent TVA recapture bill, which returns approximately $6 million to the Tennessee Valley for education, mental health, fire protection, law enforcement, and infrastructure improvements.

Representative Dukes' leadership enabled the Caucus to achieve goals in five years that had been previously considered unattainable by individual legislators acting alone.