The Alabama State Senate yesterday approved a bill allowing cash-strapped Jefferson County to revive a local jobs tax that county officials say is central to working out its $4.27 billion bankruptcy case, Reuters reported yesterday. The bill, which must also be approved by the legislature's lower house and the governor, would allow any county in Alabama seeking relief from creditors under chapter 9 to levy and collect taxes. The bill is worth about $60 million a year to Jefferson County and passed in Montgomery with a vote of 16 to 11, with one senator abstaining.
