Alabama General Fund budget could reach Senate floor this week

Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, the chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee, listens to a budget presentation from the Alabama Community College System on March 7, 2023. The presentation came on the first day of the Alabama Legislature's 2023 regular session. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

The General Fund budget proposal for the 2024-2025 fiscal year could come to a vote in the Alabama Senate on Wednesday, the budget chair said.

Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Chair Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said he “got busy” last week after the budget, which provides funding for most non-education services in the state, appeared to stall amid disagreements between the House and the Senate budget chairs.

“In Navy terminology, I turned to, and I worked. I worked the committee, and I worked the numbers and I got to where we needed to be,” Albritton said.

The budget proposal and a supplemental for the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, passed out of committee last week with no discussion.

While the funding bills were not on the agenda before the meeting, Albritton said that there were very few changes to Gov. Kay Ivey’s General Fund proposal, introduced in February.

The chairman also said that he sent committee members a copy of the substitute the night before.

“In most instances, and you’ll see this in most instances, the substitute — when one is brought — is only brought at the time it is offered in the committee or on the floor. I did not do that,” Albritton said.

House Ways and Means General Fund Committee Chair Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, previously indicated that both chambers seemed to be mostly in agreement, but Albritton said there were “differing opinions” on a few line items.

A message seeking comment was left with Reynolds.

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, said last week that she abstained from the committee’s approval but blamed it on Albritton’s schedule.

“I will say Chairman Albritton’s schedule has been full as most of us submitted requests and did not find them in the budget in committee, so immediately his office became a revolving door,” she said.

Most of the changes to both the appropriation bill for the next fiscal year and the supplemental for the current fiscal year were minor, with increases or decreases of about $1-$3 million on a few line items.

Major changes in the substitute appropriation bill that passed out of committee include funding increases for the Department of Commerce, with $5 million added for the Mobile Airport Authority and another $5 million for pier upgrades at the Port of Alabama.

There was $5 million in the governor’s recommendation for electric vehicle infrastructure and planning, but that was scrapped in the substitute for various infrastructure projects for local governments.

Other changes occurred in the supplemental appropriation for the current fiscal year ending in September. The supplemental also includes $20 million for a parking deck at the new State House. Albritton also moved $8.4 million for Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility, operated by the Alabama Department of Mental Health, to the General Fund budget, giving the hospital a total of $18.2 million.

Funding for prison construction is increased by $50 million in the supplemental for the current fiscal year to $150 million. The supplemental reduces funds for the State Industrial Development Authority for site development from $25 to $15 million. Albritton said they recently passed legislation funding for the authority.

“I think I got the perfect bill. I’ve corrected everything the governor did, and now the House needs to accept it,” Albritton said jokingly, adding that the chambers are “trying to work close together.”

“The communications are there, and we’re trying to make sure that we get as close as we can, so that we don’t have as many hiccups, conflicts as sometimes they occur,” Albritton said.

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