The Alabama House of Representatives has passed a bill to allow the use of $400 million in federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 relief bill, to help pay for two new 4,000-bed prisons.
The House passed the bill 75-25 mostly along party lines, with most Republicans supporting it and most Democrats opposed.
It was the second of three votes today in favor of the three-bill prison-building package. Earlier, the House has voted 74-27 to approve the main bill to build the prisons.
The $1.3 billion plan for the two new prisons would be funded with a $785 million bond issue, $400 million from the Rescue Plan, and $154 million from the state General Fund.
Approval of the General Fund dollars came in a third bill, which passed 78-22.
All three bills move to the Senate, which could vote on them as early as Friday.
Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, sponsor of the bill, said the use of American Rescue Plan dollars is appropriate and is allowed by federal regulations. Clouse noted the impact of the pandemic on prisoners and prison employees -- 68 inmate deaths and three employee deaths and more than 3,000 positive tests.
Clouse read from Treasury Department guidelines that indicate states have broad flexibility in spending Rescue Plan dollars to replace tax revenue lost because of the pandemic.
Clouse later distributed a memo from the Legislative Services Agency on the federal guidelines. According to the memo, the state can show lost revenue of $537 million for the period ending Dec. 31, 2020, based on a formula established by the U.S. Treasury. The $400 million comes from that amount.
The memo cites Treasury Department guidelines that say the money can be used for “pay-go spending for building new infrastructure, including ... the provision of police, fire, and other public safety services.”
Alabama will receive a total of $2.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress in March.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said it was wrong to use Rescue Plan funds for prisons.
“Instead of trying to figure out an appropriate way to use this revenue for the citizens of Alabama to protect them from this pandemic, we’re spending it on incarceration,” England said. “To me, this is just morally wrong.”
Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, pointed out that Alabama taxpayers will be responsible for paying the $400 million if the Treasury Department determined that the Rescue Plan funds could not be used for prisons.
Earlier this week, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler asked Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen to block states, including Alabama, from using the money to build prisons.
The Republican majority outvoted the Democratic minority, 75-25, to shut off debate on the American Rescue Plan funding , which forced the vote on the bill, which passed by the same vote.
The third bill would appropriate $154 million from the state General Fund, including $19 million for the state to buy the Perry County Correctional Center, a vacant, private prison on U.S. 80 in Uniontown, west of Selma.
The Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles plans to use the 700-bed prison to house and treat offenders who have violated the terms of their probation or parole but have not committed new crimes. The bureau plans to provide substance abuse and addiction treatment programs to help those offenders avoid going to prison or returning to prison.
Many parole violators are now held in county jails. The Association of County Commissions of Alabama supports the plan to use the Perry County facility for violators because of the burden they have been on the counties.
The Perry County facility, owned by the GEO Group, has previously been used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the state.