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(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)
Only eight days remain in the legislative session, and there's no consensus on how to close a shortfall in next year's state budget of $200 million or more, making a special session look more likely.
Lawmakers have mostly ignored Gov. Robert Bentley's $541 million tax increase package.
The Republican caucus in the House of Representatives proposed its own $156 million tax hike plan, but dropped it last week after being told it would be DOA in the Senate.
And a Senate plan for a lottery and casinos faces stiff opposition and would require statewide voter approval in September.
The budget year starts Oct. 1.
Legislative leaders say they are not finished looking for ideas and areas of agreement, and Bentley said he's still hopeful of a solution.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard of Auburn and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh of Anniston on Friday announced a press conference for Monday to introduce "budget reform initiatives."
They did not provide any details.
On Thursday, Hubbard said there's still time to find answers but acknowledged that a special session was probable.
"I would say that it's likely, but it's not a given," Hubbard said. "We will get a budget out. I don't know if it's going to be one the governor will agree with or not. But we're going to get a budget out."
Bentley said he would veto the budget that emerged from the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee on Thursday.
"I have been consistent in what I have said needs to be done to solve this problem, and I am not backing off of that," Bentley said. "We need more revenue."
The budget that passed the House committee on Thursday would spend $1.64 billion from the General Fund, a reduction of $204 million, 11 percent, from this year.
It calls for 5 percent cuts in state funding for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Mental Health.
Other agencies would see their state funding cut more deeply, many by about 9 percent.
Lawmakers don't see the budget approved by the committee as a finished product, but as a vehicle to carry the budget discussions along with the number of legislative days dwindling.
But if more revenue is not found, many Alabamians would be affected by cuts in services.
Barry Spear, spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, said the 5 percent cut would force DHR to end day care for about 300 adults, stop subsidized child care for about 10,000 children, lay off about 110 employees in child support payment enforcement and cut programs that protect children from abuse and neglect.
Robin Rawls, spokeswoman for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, said the 5 percent cut, which would be $35 million, would be compounded by the loss of other funds and federal funds.
She said the agency would have to eliminate optional programs, such as adult eyeglasses and outpatient dialysis. Payments to doctors would be reduced, which could cause doctors to leave rural areas, she said.
Prison Commissioner Jefferson Dunn has previously said that with a 3 percent cut DOC would have to close two facilities, relocating 2,000 inmates and raising the prison population from 185 percent to 222 percent of capacity.
The no-revenues budget would leave no money to implement the prison reforms passed by the Legislature earlier this month.
Marsh, who has said there is no support in the Senate to raise taxes, said funding for the prison reforms would be a priority as the budget continues to move through the process.
"We understand we don't want a federal intervention in our system and we've got to protect that," Marsh said.
Near the end of the 112-page budget bill is a list of $200 million in conditional appropriations, including $25 million for prison reforms. Most of that money would be used to hire about 120 new parole officers and staff.
The conditional appropriations, for now, are essentially a wish list, spelling out how the $200 million would be spent if it's available.
Hubbard said legislators have been "kicking around" ideas for where to get more revenue but didn't give specifics.
"I don't want anything to get brought up before we have substantive discussions within the caucus," Hubbard said. "I want to make sure we have discussions with the Senate before we move forward with anything else."
Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, who chaired the General Fund committee when Democrats held the majority in the State House, said the resistance to tax increases forces the Legislature to set priorities.
"Since we don't have any money, I think we ought to fund these major agencies," Knight said. "The ones we can't fund, we zero out. That's the only solution that I know to the problem that we have if we aren't going to raise revenue. You can't spend what you don't have."
The House is expected to debate the General Fund budget on Tuesday.