Following the discovery by legislators that numerous initiatives, organizations, and happenings in the Birmingham region remained unfunded in the suggested Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund budget, the chairperson of the House General Fund stated they had reached an accord to reinstate this support once the bill reaches the Senate.
The Alabama House of Representatives approved the $3.7 billion budget on Thursday.
Items of interest encompassed the Magic City Classic, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, as well as the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum.
In Fiscal Year 25, the Magic City Classic received $200,000 from the state’s General Fund budget. However, the proposed FY26 budget from the governor's office did not include this allocation. Similarly, the version put forth by Reynolds likewise omitted financial support for the event.
SEE BUDGET COMPARISON HERE:
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Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, who chairs the House General Fund committee, stated that the unfunded items resulted from the budgetary process initiated in the governor’s office. During this process, a software program eliminated all one-time allocations.
"That’s wise since some of those one-time allocations are exactly that and wouldn’t recur in the General Fund budget. They removed those elements," Reynolds explained.
After the governor’s suggestions were delivered to the Legislature, members of the House asked to restore funding for certain programs as they developed their own budget proposal.
Reynolds stated that nobody asked for the mentioned items to be reinstated in the budget.
On Tuesday, operations within the Senate came to a halt when Senator Rodger Smitherman from District-D Birmingham initiated a filibuster following his discovery regarding inadequate funding for Birmingham projects. The senator resumed this delaying tactic once more on Thursday because no Democratic legislation was scheduled in the session’s agenda and owing to continued concerns over the funds shortfall.
"On one hand, items from Jefferson County were reduced by six and eliminated entirely. However, increases were made to certain aspects originating from different counties. This does not justify the situation. Allow me to clarify: entities such as the Civil Rights Institute have been completely removed. Similarly, the Jazz Hall of Fame was also phased out. Both these institutions are located in Birmingham. These organizations stand testament to their own importance; they offer valuable insights into historical data and highlight various perspectives throughout time," explained Smitherman to reporters on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Reynolds convened with Smitherman and other senators in an area just beyond the Senate chamber.
"I was assured that [the Senate] would reinstate those provisions in the budget, and I committed to safeguarding those specific allocations when they return to the House," Reynolds stated.
Smitherman was not content with the fact that the House approved the budget without including the funding.
"No matter how they arrived at this stage, once the legislature assumes control of the budget, things change. The items from last year remain present. There shouldn’t have been a need to take any action beyond replacing those entries. No one requested an increase whatsoever; we’re discussing maintaining current levels of support. For these entities, having access to these resources remains crucial,” Smitherman stated.
He mentioned he will keep working on the problem till it gets fixed.