Special Session of the Legislature Still an Option

Alabama lawmakers ended the 2016 session with three big items of unfinished business: the oil spill settlement division; Medicaid funding and prison construction.

Gov. Robert Bentley recently said he’s considering calling a special session later this year for another try, but says legislators need some vacation time before he makes that decision.

Bentley on Wednesday said he would decide on a special session in the “next couple of months.”

The governor’s $800 million prison construction plan was the centerpiece of his agenda, but didn’t get approved by lawmakers.

The governor also says Medicaid funding is short $85 million, at a “minimum.”

Lawmakers also couldn’t agree on how to use $1 billion due the state in settlement money from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf. A House-passed bill would have used much of the money to pay state debts. That in turn would free up money to fill a hole in the state Medicaid budget.

Republican Rep. Jim Patterson on Wednesday urged Bentley to call a session to work out distribution of $1 billion from the BP oil spill settlement.

Bentley said any special session he might call would include the prison and oil spill bills.

Bentley’s remarks come just days before House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics trial jury selection is scheduled to begin. Bentley, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh and multiple state legislators and lobbyists have been subpoenaed to testify at the trial.

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