After 11 years, Becky Nordgren leaves Legislature for new role as revenue commissioner

For the past 11 years, Becky Nordgren has served Etowah County and District 29 in the Alabama House of Representatives. On Oct. 1, she assumed a new role within the county as revenue commissioner, something she says comes with a lot of responsibility.

“There’s several departments and employees that average between 44 to 50 depending on what’s going on during that time of year,” Nordgren said about her new position. “It’s more administrative than what my work in the Legislature was, but I’m up for the job.”

Nordgren was elected revenue commissioner in 2020 but didn't move into the job until this year. She succeeds Linda Barrett-Vaughan, who officially retired on Sept. 23 from the office she’d held since 2009.

“My predecessor did a great job. She left the office in great condition with great employees and staff,” Nordgren said of Barrett-Vaughan.

She expressed relief that this position is only one job, noting that she spent most of her time in her legislative role working multiple jobs.

“I’ve spent most of my life working more than one job. I’ve always had another job while working in the Legislature. There was a period where I was working two other jobs on top of that,” Nordgren said. “This particular job will be one job to focus on, but with several different departments within this position, it’s more administrative work. But it’s definitely something that I have been trained over the course of work I’ve done to do.”

Nordgren said it will take some time to pinpoint all she wants to accomplish in her new role, and she reiterated that Barrett-Vaughan left the office “in such good condition that there’s not a whole lot left to do.” However, she said she’d like to see “things streamlined in a way where I can help do things a little more expeditiously. I’m new, so time will tell if that’s doable or not.”

One of the things she’s most looking forward to is “meeting the public as they come in” and learning from them.

“That is one thing that I’m keeping track of,” Nordgren said, “the things they are telling me. and it’ll be part of my research on how to do this job the best I can and the most efficiently. Listening to the employees and their suggestions is another avenue that is going to be helpful for me as well.”

Nordgren, a Republican, was elected to the House in November 2010, “and right after that we got called into a special session,” she recalled. “And, thus, that began my term, and I served in there until midnight ... Sept. 30.”

She reflected on some “huge moments” from her time in the Legislature, such as successfully passing stronger ethics laws, streamlining budgeting for education and general fund budgets, the passage of the Proration Prevention Act and, closer to home, preventing wind turbines off Shinbone Bridge.

“We’ve been able to implement workforce development statutes to encourage workforce development within the state,” Nordgren added.

That has been accomplished, she said, “through tax incentives for industries that recruit and educate high school students and college students to work in their facilities and also incentivize them to stay here through grant programs and tax incentives.”

Even though she is no longer in the Legislature, Nordgren has some expectations for next year’s session, primarily that legislation passed in previous years will be checked to ensure it’s working or needs tweaks via amendments.

She expects more legislation pertaining to prison systems and the general and education trust fund budgets.

“I’m gonna miss being in the Legislature. I enjoyed that work very much,” she said. “It could be very exhausting work, but I’m going to miss my colleagues in the House and my constituents I served. But I’m really looking forward to — and, so far, enjoying — this new role as revenue commissioner.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Becky Nordgren leaves the Legislature to become new revenue commissioner