As Alabama Legislature special session resumes, still no agreement on budget

President Pro Tempore of the Senate Del Marsh speaks during the brief opening of the called special session of the Alabama Legislature at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala. on Monday July 13, 2015. President Pro Tempore of the Senate Del Marsh speaks during the brief opening of the called special session of the Alabama Legislature at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala. on Monday July 13, 2015.

By Associated Press August 4, 2015 3 min read

We're like kudzu. All over the place and not worth a darn.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Legislature on Monday resumed a special session on a budget shortfall the same way it began three weeks ago: with absolutely no consensus on what to do.

Legislators convened after taking a three-week hiatus that failed to erase the divisions among Republicans who control the governor’s office and both chambers of the Alabama Legislature. The state is two months from the start of the new fiscal year and lawmakers have yet to pass a general budget or agree on a way to fill a projected $200 million shortfall.

“We’re like kudzu. All over the place and not worth a darn,” said Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road.

Lawmakers weighed politically unsavory choices of tax increases, yanking money out of the education budget, or doing nothing and cutting state services.