The current Alabama State House. (Wikipedia photo)
Alabama lawmakers in July took another step toward construction of a new Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery by appointing a committee to negotiate a lease agreement.
A 20-member panel consisting of legislative leaders and appointed members voted to allow a committee to negotiate a lease for a building that would be constructed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA). The panel will need to approve the lease agreement.
If completed, Alabama's new statehouse would the first one built in the U.S. since Florida finished construction on its Capitol Complex in 1977.
The Associated Press reported that lawmakers in the last session approved legislation to contract with RSA for the construction of a Statehouse that would be leased back to the Alabama Legislature.
RSA has built several office buildings in downtown Montgomery that are used by other state offices.
In May, Gov. Kay Ivey signed Senate Bill 222, sponsored by Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville. Among other items, the bill authorized the Alabama Legislature to build a new statehouse at the site of a parking lot on South Union Street, behind the current statehouse.
The bill's details did not include a timeline for construction, but Secretary of the Senate Pat Harris told the Alabama Reflector "it's definitely happening."
Neah Scott, RSA's legislative counsel, said that so far, there has only been environmental testing on the site.
No budget has been set either, she explained, because there are no definitive plans yet. The state has put out a request for proposals, Scott said, but added, "There's still a ways to go."
The current Alabama Statehouse was never meant to be a permanent location, the Reflector noted, and the building is facing significant mold and flooding issues. But lawmakers had been reluctant to authorize construction of a new building because of the political cost.
In 2020, then-Senate Pro Tem. Del Marsh, a Republican, floated the idea of using federal money from the Cares Act to build a new statehouse, but the discussion sparked sharp criticism.
Harris said the money for the new statehouse does not come from COVID-related funds.
In the new building, the Senate and House of Representatives will work on the same floor. The structure, Harris said, will also have a much better use of space than the current statehouse, which was never meant to be the "People's House."
Deteriorating Conditions Plague the Statehouse
The Alabama Legislature relocated from the State Capitol, where it had met for more than 130 years, to the old highway department building in January 1986.
The move was initially intended to be temporary to allow the Capitol to be renovated, according to the Reflector, a nonprofit news source covering Alabama government and politics.
But the Alabama Supreme Court gave legislators an opportunity to remain in the new building if they chose. Work on the State Capitol dragged on for nearly seven years, and legislators — who had offices and refrigerators in the statehouse, but not the State Capitol — voted in 1985 not to return.
The temporary nature of the arrangement can still be seen. Legislators are hard to find outside hallways. Committee rooms fill up quickly with lobbyists. Some of those committee rooms do not have live-streamed video, and a citizen of Alabama who just wants to see how a bill becomes a law might find it near impossible.
"It's not accessible to the public," Harris said.
Worst of all, the Reflector noted, the building has gradually fallen into disrepair. There is mold present, and leaks can be found throughout the current Statehouse. Once, the bathroom plumbing system poured waste into the governor's suite on the second floor.
"To put money in this building is like putting lipstick on a dead pig," explained Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile.
Harris said it was hard to justify paying for upkeep, rather than spot fixes, to the current statehouse. He thought employing RSA for the new building made sense.
"If we rent it from RSA, we'll have a permanent tenant in it," he added. "So, actually, you're using your own money to help yourself."
A Place to Call Home for Legislators
Acquiring land for the new Alabama Statehouse will not be an issue, due to the new bill, but there will be challenges, the Reflector noted.
One problem in the current statehouse is a lack of Americans with Disability Act (ADA) compliance. Access to and within the building has been an issue since before a renovation in the 1980s.
Another problem is controlling costs. The 1980s renovations of the State Capitol, initially projected at a little over $10 million, reached $30 million by 1992.
According to Scott, the biggest item is getting the approval from the Legislature to move forward on the project and then putting some plans together.
Once the project is approved, the existing Statehouse is to be demolished, Harris said, with the land converted into a green space in downtown Montgomery.
The exterior of the Alabama Statehouse is planned to mesh with the rest of the nearby government buildings, he added. The exterior will be white, though unlike many other RSA-constructed buildings in the capital city, it will probably not have a green roof.
The current Statehouse is around 300,000 sq. ft., although officials are only using around 180,000 to 190,000 sq. ft. of the building. Because of that, the new structure is proposed to encompass approximately 230,000 sq. ft.
A Statehouse Safe for Schoolkids
Although Alabama lawmakers have several priorities for a new statehouse, one is providing a place for elementary school students making field trips to the building to safely get off their buses.
Trips to Goat Hill are a regular event for fourth graders in the state. But the buses have to stop on South Union Street, a busy avenue running between the State Capitol and the Statehouse, where traffic often becomes blocked.
"I want a place where the 4,000 children that come to this building every month to visit us can safely load and unload, and not [have to do so] on a major thoroughfare," said Pringle.
Harris agreed and added that he also wants the new building to be a place that schoolkids will want to come back to.
Hopefully, that will happen soon.
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