After hours of procedural delays at the Alabama Senate, lawmakers on Tuesday (April 29) approved a record-high $3.8 billion General Fund budget for 2026, sending it to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for final approval.
An increase over this year’s budget by about $348 million, the 2026 General Fund is roughly $14 million more than what Ivey had initially proposed, with increases for law enforcement, airport development grants and public health constituting the bulk of the increases.
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“We were able to up some funds for regional airports and try to make sure that everybody’s taken care of with all the agencies, so I think they’d done a really good job with that,” said House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, speaking with reporters early Wednesday morning outside the House chamber.
The budget passed out of the House in early April at $3.67 billion with the aforementioned increases for law enforcement and airport development grants, though saw $3 million in funding for broadband expansion stripped out in a Senate committee last week.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alexander Willis and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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