By Mike Cason
The Alabama Legislature started a special session today on how to allocate $1.06 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Congress passed ARPA two years ago to help states respond to the healthcare costs and economic setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Legislature allocated Alabama’s first $1 billion share of ARPA funds in 2021 and 2022. The money under consideration during the special session is the last installment the state will get under ARPA.
Gov. Kay Ivey called the special session this morning. Her proclamation included broad categories for legislators to apply the funds. A bill introduced this afternoon spells out those categories in more detail. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, who is chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee.
The biggest categories are $339 million for health care related to the pandemic; $260 million for expansion of broadband internet access; and $400 million for improving access to clean water through water and sewer infrastructure projects.
Here’s how the $339 million for health care costs breaks down:
- $100 million to reimburse hospitals for eligible expenses.
- $100 million to reimburse nursing homes for eligible expenses.
- $5 million to reimburse state veterans homes for eligible expenses.
- $40 million to reimburse the State Employees’ Insurance Board for eligible expenses.
- $40 million to reimburse the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Board for eligible expenses.
- $25 million to support mental health services.
- $9 million to facilitate the expansion and use of telemedicine.
- $20 million for a voluntary clinical trial and health care research program to enable greater access to personalized medicine.
- $175,000 to reimburse expenses related to coronavirus vaccine voucher programs for public university students.
Reynolds said there have been numerous meetings with legislators about the bill and he thinks most of the questions have been answered. “I pretty much sense in the House that we’ve got overwhelming support on the bill,” Reynolds said. “I do know there’s some questions in the Senate, so we’ll just have to deal with that when we get there.”
Reynolds said many legislators have asked about help for specific programs in their communities that can respond to the negative economic impact of the pandemic. The bill sets aside $55 million for those purposes. Eligible programs include assistance for food banks, services for families involved in child welfare cases, domestic violence victims, senior citizens programs, services for people with mental health or behavioral disorders, long-term housing security, and summer learning or athletic programs for youth.
One bill introduced today did not concern the ARPA funds. That bill, by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, would make a payment of $60 million to the Alabama Trust Fund. That would finish repaying the Alabama Trust Fund for $437 million that was transferred to balance state budgets budgets from 2013 to 2015, a plan approved by voters.
The Legislature passed a bill called the People’s Trust Act requiring that the money be repaid to the Alabama Trust Fund, which is the state fund established by voters to hold the proceeds from oil and gas wells in state waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The People’s Trust Act set out a schedule for the repayments and required them to be completed by 2033. The bill introduced today would complete those repayments early. The bill was included in Gov. Ivey’s proclamation calling the special session.
“I think it’s the obligation for everybody to pay their bills,” Albritton said. “And we made that obligation to the people.”
“We spent it,” Albritton said. “We filled the holes. We started trying to pay it back. And now we’re going to do it. We’re going to get that resolved.”
Reynolds said repaying the Alabama Trust Fund is the right thing to do this year, especially considering that there is about $300 million in surplus funds for the General Fund.
Legislators could not vote on bills today. They will be heard in committees on Thursday and could be in position for votes e next week.
