Gov. Bob Riley reportedly is considering calling a second special session of the Legislature, this one to deal with state prison overcrowding, which has reached the point that some inmates sleep on floors.
Overcrowding problems within Alabama's prison system "have been building for decades," Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson told the Montgomery Advertiser on Tuesday.
The governor is waiting for recommendations from a task force, due in October, before making a final decision about whether to call another special session, Emerson said.
Several lawmakers said they would oppose a special session unless an emergency exists, since they just ended a special session on July 26 to approve a general fund budget that didn't pass during the regular session earlier this year. That budget included supplemental appropriations for the state Department of Corrections.
Rep. John Knight Jr., D-Montgomery, chairman of the House committee that writes the general fund budget, told the Montgomery Advertiser that he has talked to the governor about the prison problem and that he would be reluctant to have another special session. He told the newspaper that lawmakers have known about prison problems "for a long time."
However, Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said he recognized that Alabama is "always riding the fine line between operating [prisons] constitutionally and not providing constitutional facilities" because of the state's funding crisis.
Although Alabama has suffered from depressed revenues, collections have been rising. However, the state has also struggled to regain a structurally balanced budget after years of using non-recurring revenues for recurring expenses.
