Alabama lawmakers began the 2020 legislative session with several big-ticket items before them, including a prison overhaul, a possible state lottery and medical marijuana legislation.
Those issues fell by the wayside as the coronavirus outbreak interrupted the legislative session.
House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said it is “very possible” that the governor will call them into special session at some point to deal with prisons or other issues. The U.S. Department of Justice last year said that male inmates live in violent prisons that violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Justice Department threatened to sue Alabama unless conditions improve.
“When you look at all the important issues that we talked about, legislation that we have not addressed. And then you put in there all of the issues that we are going to be concerned with when it comes to corrections — that’s a lot of work to be done.”
Lawmakers used their abbreviated meeting time to focus on state budgets and passing a $1.25 billion bond issue to fund school construction.
GAMBLING
Proposals to establish a state lottery and to allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to have casinos did not get floor votes. Even before the pandemic interrupted the session, the Republican Ivey attempted to press the pause button on gambling debate by creating a new work group to study gambling proposals and revenue projections.
