October 2021 Group Watch: Results of First 2021 Special Legislative Session
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey called the Alabama Legislature into the first of two special sessions; it convened on September 27 and ended on October 1. The purpose of the session was to address five bills that were aimed at prison reform and financing of the construction and renovation of specific facilities at certain locations. There were two reform bills to address sentencing reform and to require certain mandatory supervision of released inmates to include varying levels of electronic monitoring. There were three bills to: authorize a bond issue for prison construction and renovation; authorize the specific location for the construction of two 4,000-bed prisons and a process to determine which facilities will be renovated and which facilities will be closed and re-purposed; and authorize the appropriation of federal funds from the American Rescue Act that the state is eligible to access to replace loss revenue during the pandemic. Four of the five bills in the governor’s call passed during the five-day session. The bill to provide for sentencing reform failed to receive a favorable vote from the House Judiciary Committee, and thus never received a floor vote. All of the bills in the governor’s call originated in the House. Click here to view the bill summary from the first special session.
