MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House was nearly unanimous Thursday in its vote to adopt a $3.7 billion General Fund budget for fiscal year 2026, which included an additional $6.8 million for law enforcement and $7.5 million for airport development.
“The budget was solid, we were able to do some things that we needed to do and fund the agencies we needed to fund,” House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, told members of the press Thursday outside the House chamber at the Alabama State House in Montgomery.
“The highlights for me is we’re still funding agencies, funding the services that people need across the state and doing it in a manner where we don’t waste money.”
The 2026 budget represents an increase over this year’s of about $341.7 million, and an increase over Gov. Kay Ivey’s recommendation of about $6.3 million. While still a record high for the state, Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, who chairs the House budget committee, characterized the bill as being fiscally conservative, and attributed the state’s ability to advance the record-high budget to past years of fiscally conservative budgeting…