2021_Alabama_Grocer_Issue_3

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

L e g i s l at i v e R e p o r t

PATRICK MCWHORTER LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE THE MCWHORTER GROUP

Constitutionally, the absolute minimum amount of time for a bill to pass the legislature is five days.

advocacy groups, said new buildings won’t address the mismanagement, corruption and staffing issues within the system that have put the state under U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny. They also called for more sentencing reform. But the fight may not be over. Rumor is Democrats will oppose the use of $400 million in American Rescue Plan funds and will file lawsuits as well as pressuring the Biden administration to stop it. These funds were provided by Congress this year to replace revenue that was lost during the pandemic shutdown. Legislative and administration officials are confident they are able to use the funds in this manner. Two sentencing reform bills were included

bill calls for an evaluation of existing men’s facilities “to determine if additional facility beds need to be replaced.” Prisons named for closure are: Staton, Elmore and Kilby, and St. Clair The women’s Julia Tutwiler prison will be closed when a new female prison is completed. We expected Democrats in the House to put up a fight, and they did. To no effect. The bills passed the House 75-22. In the Senate, the prison construction bills passed 29-2 with 1 Republican and 1 Democrat voting no. House Democrats, along with several

For five years, Alabama’s leadership has grappled with how to solve the state’s prison problem. Constitutionally, the absolute minimum amount of time for a bill to pass the legislature is five days. People can say what they want about Governor Kay Ivey, but she and her people engineered a $1.2 billion package for new prisons, and passed them into law in five days. The bills that passed authorize the administration to build two new 4,000 bed men’s prisons in Elmore and Escambia Counties. This construction, Phase 1, will likely begin shortly after January 1, 2022. That quick pace is due to two factors: the plan that was approved to use $400 million of federal COVID relief funds that’s already in hand and the ability to use general contractors who are already lined up due to the previous plan of building and leasing private prisons. Once those two prisons are 60% complete (likely 2023 or 2024), lawmakers and leaders can move to phase two of the bill, a potential new women’s prison and renovations at the existing Limestone County prison and Donaldson prison in Jefferson County. A third site for renovation, either Ventress or Easterling in Barbour County or the Bullock County prison, will be selected later. Phase III of the

Unsplash

| ALABAMA GROCER 10