Alabama legislators passed a bill on Thursday that would strip Birmingham of control over the state's largest water board and transfer power to the governor and surrounding suburbs, reigniting a decades-long, polarizing debate.
Proponents of the bill point to frequent rate hikes and say that the move will prevent catastrophic events that have happened in cities like Jackson, Mississippi, or Detroit, Michigan. Opponents of the bill say that it is a power grab that diminishes the power of Black residents in Birmingham, Alabama.
