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State House Speaker McCutcheon: Prison special session end of September, first part of October; Reapportionment latter part of October

Legislators expect to be called by Gov. Kay Ivey back to Montgomery for at least one special session, which would concern reapportionment for 2022 and beyond.

However, according to House Speaker Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia), there will likely be one additional special session for prisons.

During an appearance on APTV’s “Capitol Journal,” McCutcheon laid out the timetable for the two special sessions as he saw them.

“We’re definitely looking at that,” he said. “And there again, I go back to my point that we’re going to do some vote counting, and let’s make sure we’ve got good support for the prison issue. That will probably come first because we know that the reapportionment issue is going to be the latter part of October. And so, once we get through October, then we’re into the holidays of November and December, and we go into session in January. So, we’re going to need — if we’re going to address this prison issue, and it’s something we feel like we can get passed, then we’re going to need to do this end of September, first part of October.”

The House Speaker emphasized the importance of finding a resolution to Alabama’s prison crisis as a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit was pending in federal court.

“Especially this prison issue,” he replied. “We’re in court right now over our prison conditions and the facilities that we have. We’re in court right now. And we’ve got to move forward on this because if the court made the decision to take over our system, then the price tag we’re talking about would be a lot more than what we’re dealing with right now.”

@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 Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.

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