By ALEXANDER WILLIS and MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The proposed 2025 $3.3 billion General Fund budget and $9.3 billion education budgets advanced Thursday, but final passage on both will wait until next week.
The House approved the General Fund and some accompanying spending bills, including a $254.1 million supplemental spending proposal for the current year. It now moves back to the Senate for agreement.
The Senate approved the education budget and sent it back to the House. But representatives have questions and want further discussions via a conference committee next week.
There are three legislative days remaining in the lawmaking session that could be over late next week.
Both budgets have 2% raises for state employees and educators. And while they don’t have raises for retirees, lawmakers say they’re working on eventual pay increases for them.
The $681.2 million education supplemental spending will was modified recently to put $5 million into an already established fund for education retiree raises.
“This is our first step,” Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said on the Senate floor, acknowledging that inflation and increased living costs are hurting retirees. Several bills were filed late in the session to give cost-of-living adjustments to retirees, but are not advancing. Later, Orr told Alabama Daily News at least $100 million would be needed before increases were distributed. A one-time bonus next year may be more likely, he said.
“We’ll just have to find the resources,” Orr said.
Rep. Rex Reynolds, chairman of the House General Fund committee, said a similar allocation was considered in that budget, but more discussions are needed.
“We decided to look at it in the off season and come back with a solid plan in 2025,” Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, told ADN. “We certainly continue to have hope for a dedicated revenue stream.”
Recent changes in the ETF include $10 million to draw down larger federal funding for a summer feeding program for low-income children in 2025. The state has already missed the deadline for this summer, but advocates for children pushed for funding next year.
Also new in the ETF is $14.9 million for a new education employee injury compensation program. Teachers don’t currently have any sort of workers’ compensation and legislation creating the program is pending in the Alabama House.
“These were all important steps,” Orr told ADN about the new line items.
On the 2025 General Fund, Reynolds introduced a substitute that had passed out of a House committee on Wednesday. Changes included a $74 million increase for the Alabama Department of Corrections, a $23 million increase for the Alabama Department of Mental Health for crisis care, and a $92 million increase for Medicaid.
“That (increase to Medicaid) is simply playing catch-up to the years that we did not fully fund Medicaid due to an increase in federal dollars,” Reynolds explained on the House floor.
“Now that we’re seeing that decline, we’re having to increase this amount, and certainly hope we don’t see that every year.”
The substitute was adopted unanimously, and was followed by the adoption of a minor amendment introduced by Reynolds that mostly altered language related to how funds are allocated.
The General Fund supplemental spending bill, money that can be spent this year, did see a larger, but still moderate change on the House floor, with an amendment increasing total allocations by about $600,000, from $253.9 million to $254.1 million.
As both the 2025 GF budget and the supplemental spending bill saw changes on the House floor, both will require the Senate to concur with the changes next week before being sent to Gov. Kay Ivey for final approval.
When brought to the House floor after coming out of the Senate, both education spending bills were asked by their sponsor, Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, to be taken to conference committee and non-concurred with.
Garrett said that the Senate had made changes to the bills that he hoped to get clarity on before moving through the House.
Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, asked Garrett what those changes were, and to share some examples.
“The amount of supplemental money for example that went to the Capitol Grant Program (for K-12 schools) has changed, there are some new line items that have been added to the supplemental, (and) I’d like to understand those,” Garrett said.
Hall seemed largely unsatisfied with Garrett’s response.
“I appreciate that; you still haven’t given me any information,” Hall said. “But I hear what you’re saying. I take my work seriously, and so I’m saying there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get information about what we’re discussing.”
House members unanimously voted to have the differences worked out in a conference committee, with Speaker Nathanial Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, sending Reps. Garrett, Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, and Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, to represent the House in committee.