Alabama’s new statehouse could be ready for lawmakers and staff next year, with the first regular legislative session scheduled to be held in the building in early 2027.
Othni Lathram, secretary of the Legislative Council, told lawmakers at budget hearings last month staff would move into the new building in time for the 2026 midterm elections. Legislators would hold their first session in the new Statehouse a few months later.
The new building will have 11 committee rooms: one joint committee room that will hold up to 200 members of the public; one large and medium committee rooms for each chamber that will hold 150 and 100 members of the public, respectively; and six small committee rooms that will hold 75.
Work on the new statehouse, the first of its kind built in the United States since 1977, began in 2023. It will replace the current statehouse, first occupied in 1986 and intended as a temporary location while renovations to the Alabama State Capitol took place. A longer-than-expected renovation time in the Capitol and lawmakers’ desire for the additional space the new location provided made the move effectively permanent.
But the structure has numerous problems, including mold issues and hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance.