Immediately following her “State of the State” address in Montgomery Tuesday night, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session of the state legislature to tackle a proposal that would raise gas taxes to pay for infrastructure work across the state.

“Due to the dire need to act now, I am [calling] the Alabama Legislature into a special session, focused solely on passing this critical infrastructure legislation,” Ivey said in a statement. “It’s time to make our crumbling infrastructure system a problem of the past.”

The special session will focus on the increase in gas taxes, as well as legislation aimed at giving the legislature’s Permanent Joint Transportation Committee the ability to effectively oversee the Alabama Department of Transportation and legislation that would provide the Alabama Highway Finance Corporation with the authority to borrow money and issue bonds to improve the Alabama State Docks and the Mobile Bay ship channel.

The special session allows for Ivey and proponents of the tax hike to avoid a procedural hurdle and pass the legislation with a simple majority, rather than the three-fifths that would be required to pass the bill during the regular session.

The legislation began its run through the Alabama House of Representatives Wednesday and is likely to be taken up by a House committee Thursday.

During her address, Ivey started by discussing the devastation faced by residents in Lee County after deadly tornadoes struck the area over the weekend.

“While there is always uncertainty in what tomorrow may bring, there is absolute certainty in the resiliency of the people of Alabama,” Ivey said. “After all, we’ve done it before and we will do it again.”

Ivey boasted that the state’s economy is “breaking records some thought we would never see,” noting that last year the state collected more than $8 billion in new capital investments which created more than 17,000 “new and future jobs.”

“The upward trend in Alabama’s economy is a direct compliment to the men and womenin Alabama’s workforce,” Ivey said. “These very men and women are regaining hope because of the good-paying jobs that are pouring into our state.”

Ivey continued by boasting about the state’s 2018 unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, the lowest in history, but noted that there are still around 80,000 Alabamians looking for work.

“Regardless of their own individual situation, every Alabamian must be given an opportunity to provide for themselves and their family, enabling them to climb the ladder to success,” Ivey said.

Ivey also discussed the state’s Pre-Kindergarten program, which is among the best in the nation, and said that funding for that program was increased by more than $18 million last year, “giving more of Alabama’s children a strong start.”

Ivey also noted the need to address the “horrendous conditions” of the state’s prisons and proposed an additional $31 million in this year’s General Fund budget to hire new correctional officers and raise the pay of current officers.

Additionally, the governor proposed a 4-percent pay raise for all teachers from Pre-Kindergarten through community college.

“To achieve a better future in Alabama, all of us must be willing to build on our successes,” Ivey said. “We must be willing to overcome our long-neglected issues. We must be willing to take the next step, because we are Alabama, and this is our time.”