State Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile, looks on during a discussion about BP oil spill settlement during a special legislative session, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala. MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A conference committee will try Wednesday to break a legislative deadlock on how to use settlement money Alabama will receive from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The committee is tasked with trying to broker an agreeable compromise between lawmakers dug in over sending money to road projects at the oil-battered coast and lawmakers equally adamant that the funds should be used for the state’s Medicaid program, which could face large shortfalls in the near future.
“If they really want anything to work at all, they’ve got to come to the middle. I hope that is what will happen in conference,” Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said.
The bill is headed to a conference committee after senators on Tuesday stripped $191 million in road project money approved by the House.
After more than five hours of contentious and occasionally emotional debate, state senators voted 21-9 for a plan to steer $300 million to the state’s Medicaid program over the next three years and $320 million to repay money borrowed during past budget shortfalls.