Latest news with #SenateFinanceandTaxationGeneralFundCommittee
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama senator shops gambling proposal to chamber
Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee Chair Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, speaks with a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. Albritton said he is looking for a couple more votes before introducing a gambling legalization proposal. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The chair of the Alabama Senate's General Fund budget committee said he is trying to round up a few more votes before introducing a proposal to legalize some gambling in the state. Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said in an interview last week that even with the 2025 legislative session over halfway through, there is still time for lawmakers to approve a gambling package, but he just needs 'a few more assurances.' 'I've got folks, two or three across the state, that need to be on board with this, but as far as number of votes, I think all we need is one, maybe two at the most,' Albritton said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX If introduced, Albritton said, the bill would be a 'trimmed down' version of the legislation package approved last year, including a lottery, sports betting and regulation and 24% tax at Class II gaming, or electronic bingo, at six existing facilities. There would be no additional facilities that could open under the legislation. Albritton also said he expects the draft legislation to bring in between $700-750 million in revenue. 'You won't see anything that you haven't already seen. This is a cut-and-paste job,' Albritton said. If the legislation is introduced, it would throw one of the most divisive issues in Alabama politics into the waning days of the 2025 session. Alabama's 1901 Constitution bans lotteries and gambling. Gambling that is legally present in the state is conducted in facilities authorized by local constitutional amendments or on land held in trust by the federal government for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally-recognized Indian tribe that operates casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. The state is the last east of Mississippi without a lottery. Attempts to create a lottery or expand existing gaming have been derailed by fighting between different gambling interests; battles between the House and Senate over how gambling proceeds should be spent and deep divisions within the GOP caucus, which holds majorities in both chambers, over the issue. The Alabama House in 2024 approved a constitutional amendment and legislation to legalize a state lottery and gambling. The measure stalled in the Senate. In the Senate, 20 senators voted for the constitutional amendment, one vote short of the three-fifths majority required for constitutional amendments. Albritton, who carried the package in the Senate, did not vote for it, citing concerns he was unable to address about the bills' intent to regulate, not condone, gambling. Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, who voted in favor of gambling legislation in 2021 but voted against the 2024 measures said in a phone interview that he still has not seen any gambling legislation and does not know how he'll vote on it. He declined to answer whether he would support legislation similar to the 2024 bills. 'I just don't know where I am at on this bill,' he said. Alabama House members last year sharply criticized the Senate's handling of the package, and House leadership has said the chamber will not take up its own bill this year. Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Smiths Station, one of the driving forces behind last year's attempt to legalize gambling, said in an interview that any legislation would have to start in the Senate. 'If the Senate is able to pass a comprehensive gaming packaging this session, the House stands ready to receive it, review it, and develop a gameplay and move it forward,' Blackshear said. A comprehensive package, Blackshear said, should address and increase fines for illegal gaming activity across the state, as well as the structure to enforce those new regulations. Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, who also worked on last year's package, said he's interested in learning more about how the revenue will be distributed, a point of contention between the House and Senate last year. 'Is all the revenue going to be dedicated to education? If not, then what happens to the rest of the revenue and how is it distributed for the other needs in the state?' Jones asked. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate passes bill increasing borrowing power by $500 million for prison construction
Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee Chair Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, speaks with a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama Senate passed a bill that on February 18, 2025 that would allow the state to borrow an additional $500 million for state prison construction due to rising costs and increasing prison population. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Senate Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the state to borrow an additional $500 million for state prison construction. SB 60, sponsored by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, would increase the state's borrowing power for prison projects to approximately $1.28 billion. Albritton, who said the economy could be 'a little bit rocky,' said on the Senate floor Tuesday they don't have to borrow the whole amount, but with the increase in building costs and an economy that's expected to be 'a little bit rocky,' this will put them in a comfortable position to finish the projects. 'It's going to allow us to continue with the construction that's ongoing, without stopping and without letting up,' Albritton said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Lawmakers approved $1.3 billion in 2021 to build two 4,000-bed men's prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties. Lawmakers hope the new spaces will alleviate prison overcrowding, create safer environments for inmates and staff and increase space for rehabilitative programs. But costs of the project have soared well beyond initial estimates. The price tag for the Elmore facility, named for Gov. Kay Ivey last year, has risen to over $1 billion. The plan received Democratic support on the Senate floor, with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, saying that 'it's not like this is just a hobby for us and we just want to build some prisons.' 'We're here because we have a target on us, and we've seen in states like California and Carolinas, where the feds have gone in and taken over those prisons,' Singleton said. Singleton did ask what increasing the borrowing power would do to the state's credit rating. Albritton didn't directly answer the question but said that 'financially, we're capable and able to handle this.' 'Our credit rating has improved substantially on the national and international market. We have made huge improvements in our standings,' Albritton said. The Alabama Department of Corrections has been under scrutiny for prison conditions, staffing shortages and rising inmate populations. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Alabama in 2020, alleging violence in men's prisons violated inmates' Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Albritton said that although the new prisons won't address every lawsuit the Department of Corrections is in, it will be a 'huge step in being able to correct those ills that we have.' Singleton agreed, saying that Alabama has had 'some real inhumane facilities – facilities really not built for human capacity' and that what lawmakers are doing is 'number one, safety.' 'Not only safe for the inmate but safe for those people that we send in, those Alabamians that we send in there every day to do that job, which is not a sexy job,' he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate committee delays vote on additional borrowing for Escambia prison
Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee Chair Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, speaks with a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. Albritton delayed the vote for a bill to finance prison slated for Escambia but will bring it back in a week. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The head of the Alabama Senate's General Fund committee Wednesday delayed a vote on a bill to allow the state to borrow an additional $500 million to build a prison in Escambia County. Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, told members of the Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee he wanted to hold off a committee vote on SB 60 but he declined to state a reason. 'What we are doing here is using a means so that we stop looking in the sofa cushions,' Albritton said, citing difficulties the state has faced in finding money to fund two new prison facilities. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX He added that using bonds is just an option that will be used so that there is enough money. 'We are simply going to authorize an additional $500 million in bonds to be able to complete the construction of both facilities completely,' he said. Amid decades-long overcrowding and a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit over prison conditions, the Alabama Legislature in 2021 approved a $1.3 billion plan to build two 4,000-bed men's prisons. One facility will be located in Elmore County; one will be in Escambia. The state used $400 million in COVID relief funds for the project, as well as $135 million from the General Fund, and borrowed the remainder. But the cost of the Elmore County facility, named the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex last year, has ballooned to more than $1.08 billion, consuming nearly all of the additional appropriations. The state also struggled to borrow the money needed to pay the initial cost. 'We were only able to borrow, when we went to market, $500 million of that $785 million,' Albritton said. 'And then we discovered that the estimates were slightly inaccurate in that the cost of the Elmore is about $1.08 billion.' This bill leaves the original proposal largely intact, with most of the modifications isolated to increasing the amount that the state can finance by $500 million to total $1.285 billion. State prison officials have said the prison facilities will allow the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) to close facilities that have deteriorated and can no longer be used, which Albritton reiterated to committee members Wednesday. In an interview with reporters after the meeting, Albritton declined to state the cost of the planned prison construction facility in Escambia, only saying that the state had accumulated enough funding to pay for 60% of the cost to construct the prison. 'We discovered that much of our funding that we were putting in was going unspent,' he said. Albritton said, for example, unspent money because the ADOC has not been able to hire corrections officers. 'And we put conditional funding in for the last number of years to cover those. We haven't been able to hire anybody,' he said. Instead of using the allocated money for operating funds, Albritton said the state will shift those funds toward the cost of the new prison construction slated in Escambia. ADOC still has vacant corrections officer positions that it needs to fill because of a court ruling after people who are incarcerated filed a lawsuit alleging they are not receiving adequate medical and mental health treatment. 'That is right, but we still have conditional funding to meet that when that occurs,' Albritton said regarding hiring more corrections officers in the future. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
