Halftime! (For State Lawmakers...)

Alabama lawmakers will hit the midpoint of the 2016 session next week with major votes on state budgets and other issues ahead of them. The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on a General Fund budget that Governor Robert Bentley has already threatened to veto. The governor is seeking an additional $100 million for Medicaid. The budget before the House would only provide $15 million. Gambling legislation stalled in the first half of the legislative session. Bill sponsors said they are discussing changes in the hopes of getting a floor vote in the second half of the session. The rioting at the Holman Correctional Facility helped focus attention on Alabama’s prison overcrowding problem. Governor Bentley wants to spend $800 million on a prison building plan. Members of the House and Senate are balking at that idea. Alabama’s prison system is holding almost twice as many inmates as it was designed for.