Rep. Alan Baker and Sen. Greg Albritton recently received a special recognition by the Alabama Association of Regional Councils (AARC) during its annual training conference at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear.

According to a press release, the meeting is held each year to provide training and educational information sharing with state agencies, municipalities, county governments, staff on senior services, economic development and transportation related issues.

Baker and Albritton received recognition for their work to pass HB 328, which was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey this summer. The law changes the landfill application process that is filed with a county commission or city council in the state.

The Solid Waste Task Force helped bring recommendations for the bill. The bill passed the Senate 24-0 and the House 102-0 with one abstention.

“The Solid Waste Task Force was difficult and a long process, but as co-chair, I felt that we established a fair piece of legislation with an adequate amount of public input,” Albritton said.

Rep. Alan Baker did not expect to see meaningful legislation while the task force provided its recommendations due to the short window of time the group had to find a solution.

“Our goal was to enhance public input and the task force spent a lot of time in a short period to come with a solution,” Baker said. “At the end of the day, working as a team, we improved the landfill permitting process and made it much better.”

The AARC is composed of 12 regional councils. A regional council is a public organization that directly serves local governments through local and/or state government laws. They function through communication, planning, policymaking, coordination, advocacy and technical assistance to local governments and citizens in a region.