All 35 senators co-sponsored legislation to begin the process of ending the grocery tax in Alabama.

The move has been long supported by community members as a way to help economically struggling families put more food on the table. Alabama Arise estimates the average Alabama family spends several hundred of dollars a year on grocery tax.

The bill aims to gradually reduce sales tax on food from 4% currently to 2% by lowering the tax by .5% each year. The reduction would only come if there were enough state revenue to offset the loss to the education budget, which is partially funded by the grocery tax. The bill also stops cities and counties from raising their sales taxes on groceries, a point of concern for many legislators who have spoken out against similar legislation in past years.

The tax has been a point of contention in Montgomery for decades as Alabama is one of just a handful of states across the nation that continues to tax groceries.