SB147INTRODUCED
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SB147
MDIFW1H-1
By Senator Albritton
RFD: Finance and Taxation General Fund
First Read: 11-Feb-25
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5 MDIFW1H-1 01/31/2025 (E) JT EBO-2025-12
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First Read: 11-Feb-25
SYNOPSIS:
This bill makes an appropriation of $36,616,436
from the Children First Trust Fund for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2026, to the entities and for the
purposes designated in Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of
Alabama 1975; to provide for the deposit of tobacco
settlement revenues into the Children First Trust Fund;
to require written notification of anticipated agency
allocations by the State Director of Finance; to
require quarterly allocations; to condition allocations
on receipt of tobacco revenues; to provide for the
transfer to the State General Fund during fiscal year
2026 that portion of Children First Trust Fund receipts
currently allocated for the State Board of Education;
to make an appropriation of $44,177,773 from other
tobacco settlement funds for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2026; and to make a conditional
appropriation and allocation of additional tobacco
revenues upon the recommendation of the Director of
Finance, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means
General Fund Committee and the Chairman of the Senate
Finance and Taxation-General Fund Committee, and the
approval of the Governor .
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A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To make an appropriation of $36,616,436 from the Children
First Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30,
2026, to the entities and for the purposes designated in
Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of Alabama 1975; to provide for the
deposit of tobacco settlement revenues into the Children First
Trust Fund; to require written notification of anticipated
agency allocations by the State Director of Finance; to
require quarterly allocations; to condition allocations on
receipt of tobacco revenues; to provide for the transfer to
the State General Fund during fiscal year 2026 that portion of
Children First Trust Fund receipts currently allocated for the
State Board of Education; to make an appropriation of
$44,177,773 from other tobacco settlement funds for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2026; and to make a conditional
appropriation and allocation of additional tobacco revenues
upon the recommendation of the Director of Finance, the
Chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee
and the Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation-General
Fund Committee, and the approval of the Governor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) There is hereby appropriated from the
Children First Trust Fund the sum of $36,616,436 for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, to the entities and for
the purposes designated in Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of Alabama
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the purposes designated in Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of Alabama
1975 as follows, per the approved plan of investment for each
agency:
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board 426,500
Children's Trust Fund 2,190,445
Department of Forensic Sciences 418,413
Alabama Department of Human Resources 7,958,464
Juvenile Probation Services Fund 4,482,854
Alabama Medicaid Agency 1,551,236
Alabama Department of Mental Health 2,142,457
State Multiple Needs Children's Fund 4,358,550
Department of Public Health 4,766,197
Department of Rehabilitation Services 214,002
Department of Youth Services 8,107,318
(b) (1) All tobacco revenues from the tobacco
settlement received by the state previously designated for the
Children First Trust Fund shall be deposited to the Children
First Trust Fund within 30 calendar days of receipt of those
tobacco revenues.
(2) The Director of Finance shall notify each agency
and the Department of Early Childhood Education in writing
prior to September 1, 2025, of the dollar amount of the
allocation expected to be received by the agency from the
Children First Trust Fund in the fiscal year ending September
30, 2026.
(3) At the beginning of each quarter of the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2026, the respective agency shall be
allocated at least one-fourth of the total amount appropriated
and allocated to the agency for that fiscal year when tobacco
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and allocated to the agency for that fiscal year when tobacco
revenues are available for the respective agency. In the event
tobacco revenues are not available for the respective agency
until later in the fiscal year then the respective agency
shall be allocated an equal quarterly allotment for the
quarters that funds are available at the beginning of those
quarters. Such allocation shall be made and be available for
expenditure by the agency within five working days of the
commencement of the quarter. If additional sums are
appropriated or allocated, or both, during the fiscal year,
these sums shall be equally allocated to the respective agency
among the remaining quarters of the fiscal year or may be
allocated to the respective agency in one sum if revenues are
available. The Department of Early Childhood Education shall
be notified in writing of all appropriations and allocations
from the Children First Trust Fund by the Director of Finance.
(4) Allocations from the Children First Trust Fund are
conditioned upon the receipt of tobacco revenues.
(c) Allocations received pursuant to Section 1 shall be
expended in accordance with Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of
Alabama 1975.
(d) At the conclusion of the fiscal year, any remaining
sums in the Children First Trust Fund shall remain in the fund
and shall not revert to the State General Fund or to any other
fund.
Section 2. Notwithstanding any provision of Division 1
of Article 17 of Chapter 10 of Title 41, Code of Alabama 1975,
any provision of Chapter 15B of Title 41, Code of Alabama
1975, or any other provision of law, that portion of Children
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1975, or any other provision of law, that portion of Children
First Trust Fund receipts currently allocated for the State
Board of Education shall be transferred from the Children
First Trust Fund to the State General Fund during the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2026.
Section 3.In addition to the appropriation herein
above made, there is hereby appropriated from additional
tobacco settlement funds the sum of $44,177,773 for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2026 to the following entities:
Department of Early Childhood Education 142,590
21st Century Debt Service 16,000,000
Senior Services Trust Fund 1,267,470
Alabama Medicaid Agency 24,836,383
Department of Senior Services - Medicaid Waiver 1,931,330
Section 4. Any additional tobacco revenues available for
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, shall be
conditionally appropriated, conditioned upon the
recommendation of the Director of Finance, the Chairman of the
House Ways and Means General Fund Committee and the Chairman
of the Senate Finance and Taxation-General Fund Committee, and
approval of the Governor.
Section 5. The Executive Budget Office and the Director
of Finance shall allot funds appropriated from the Children
First Trust Fund only following the certification by the
Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood Education that
a plan of investment has been approved for each agency. The
Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood Education shall
prescribe the form and format on which each agency receiving
appropriated funds herein shall submit a plan of investment of
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appropriated funds herein shall submit a plan of investment of
said appropriated funds. The plan of investment shall include,
but not be limited to, a minimum of four (4) quality assurance
items on which a periodic report, as required by the approved
plan of investment, is made and as audited by the Examiners of
Public Accounts. Quality assurance items shall include the
number of children receiving service, an identifiable measure
of success of services provided and a prioritized standard of
successful measures for future plans of investment. It is the
intent of the Legislature that the Secretary of the Department
of Early Childhood Education shall be responsible for
providing a standard of measurement by which a clear
determination can be made through operational reporting and
audit reporting of a measurable success of funds appropriated
and invested from the Children First Trust Fund; insure funds
appropriated herein are invested in viable programs; insure
and promote the leverage of appropriated funds herein in every
possible manner and coordinated in all possible ways the
investment of funds by each service provider to insure that no
unproductive expenditures or duplication occurs. The Secretary
of the Department of Early Childhood Education shall notify
legislators representing the area where a grant from the
Children First Trust Fund is designated. The notification
shall occur ten days before the funds reach the recipient
agency.
Section 6. The Secretary of the Department of Early
Childhood Education shall report each approved plan of
investment to the Joint Interim Legislative Oversight
Committee and the Alabama Children's Policy Council. The
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Committee and the Alabama Children's Policy Council. The
Secretary, upon the request of the service agency, may approve
an adjusted plan of investment. It is the intent of the
Legislature that funds appropriated from the Children First
Trust Fund be directed to meet the most immediate needs of
children as changing conditions may develop.
Section 7. Should any provision of this act be held
invalid, the invalidity thereof shall not affect the remaining
provisions of the act.
Section 8.This act shall become effective
immediately upon its passage and approval by the Governor, or
its otherwise becoming law.
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