Alabama Special Session on Federal Covid Funds Quickly Moving Forward
Legislation to allocate more than $770 million dollars in American Rescue Plan funds is quickly moving though the state house.
The bills allocate the money between water and sewer infrastructure, broadband connectivity and access, and healthcare.
There seems to be strong bi-partisan support for the legislation, Democrats and Republicans backing the three bill package.
On Thursday, bills  were quickly given favorable reports in both Senate and House committee, the legislation could get a full vote on the floors of both chambers as soon as Tuesday.
“The feedback that we’ve seen and how smooth things have moved with this special session is evident of how important these funds are to the Legislature, the Senate, the people of Alabama,” said Senator Greg Reed (R) Jasper.
House minority leader Representative Anthony Daniels-(D) Huntsville in a press conference on Wednesday said “if the bills are brought to the floor as written, I don’t see any opposition.”
Lawmakers say there is strong support across the aisle on this issue because it is priority based, and this legislation will solve some long standing issues in Alabama.
The state is set to receive another $1 billion dollars in ARP funds sometime around late spring 2022.
