The origins of a much-ballyhooed “wish list” of possible Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act expenditures apparently generated by members of the Alabama Legislature and submitted to Gov. Kay Ivey has been the hot-button topic of the late stages of the 2020 legislative session.
The list was disseminated throughout the capitol press corps earlier this week and used by Ivey to question the legislature’s ability to responsibly allocate federal money appropriated for the states’ challenges in combating COVID-19.
On Friday’s “Capitol Journal” on Alabama Public Television, State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) discussed the CARES Act monies, the so-called “wish list” and the need for a new State House.
Marsh insisted CARES Act money was not under the sole control of the governor and argued the legislature would be more transparent appropriating the dollars.
“First off the Governor received some $48 million — directly to the Governor from the federal authorities,” he explained. “This money doesn’t state it goes straight to the governor. We read it very clearly. Based on our constitution, you are correct — we have to appropriate those dollars. That’s our constitutional duty. We have always had an open process. As I have said on your show earlier today, we have done an excellent job as a legislature in being very open and fiscally responsible, which is why we are one of the few states in this country in the condition we are financially right now. We look forward to that process. We look forward to the people having input in that process, as they would not have if the Governor were able to expend those dollars on her own. We’re ready to move forward. This isn’t a fight in our minds. We fully expect through that process the governor has a final look at it and could veto that legislation. What we want to do and have to do is get clear guidelines from the federal government on how it can be spent.”
On the list was also $800 million for building out Alabama’s broadband infrastructure, which Marsh said would remain a priority. However, he said a special session called by Ivey would still be required.
“Those are the type of things we’ll be looking at,” he added. “We’ll put a list together. We’ll show that list to the governor. At the end of the day, the Governor calls us back, and the entire legislature makes the decision on how to spend those dollars.”
According to the Calhoun County Republican lawmaker, with CARES Act money in the hands of the Alabama legislature, a “transparent” process is in place. However, he said no process was in place if the sum were under the discretion of the governor.
“We’re always transparent,” he said. “We pride ourselves on that. I think, unfortunately, the Governor has taken issue with the legislature becoming involved in this process. But, nothing can be more transparent than the legislative process. I can promise you — you give these dollars to a governor to spend, you have no process. And so I think this is much more open. And there again, it goes back — it is not that we want to take it from the Governor. It’s our constitutional duty to appropriate those dollars.”
Marsh said Ivey’s statement decrying the proposed allocation was done so for political reasons, which he called “unfortunate.” However, he said there was still a need for renovations on the State House.
“She pointed it out because she knew it was an issue that would maybe raise the eyebrows of the citizens,” he said. “That’s unfortunate. There were 10 items on that list, starting with payback to the authorities who already endured expenses, number one. Broadband, another one that I mentioned that I thought was extremely important. Telemedicine was important on the list. Mental health, where people had issues,” adding that about 450,000 people were without work because of the pandemic.
“A number of things on that list — the State House was the last item on that list, and it was on the list for this reason: Going into this session, we knew we would not be able to have public access. It is very limited media access. We had to divide the House chamber into two sections because the State House is not equipped to operate in a pandemic situation. Our thoughts were if we were to do some renovation, should we do some to the State House so we could have public access, have our chambers operate in a normal manner in times like this.”
Marsh echoed State Rep. Steve Clouse (R-Ozark), who had said the money could not be used on a new State House, and thus the line-item has since been removed.
“Hey listen, it was on the list,” Marsh continued. “It’s already been pulled off because, based on federal guidelines, it cannot be used that way. But it was not a wish list. It was a list of how we might possibly use dollars, coronavirus dollars that are approved by the federal government.”
“We never got into a defensive posture,” he said. “I’m quite shocked at [the] governor’s posture — I really am. It’s disappointing to me.”
Marsh went on to acknowledge that he, along with some of his House and Senate colleagues, were responsible for the list at the request of Ivey’s staff.
“I was asked to put that list together,” he said. “That list was approved by Senate and House leadership before it was sent to the finance director as a suggestion for topics of discussion. I’m disappointed at the posture, but we have a lot of people in this state who are hurting, and we’ve got to do all we can to work together to get us back on our feet and help these people.”
Marsh told reporters on Saturday that the list was intended simply to be a starting point for discussions.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
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