SB 153

SB153 ENROLLED
1 SB153
2 SLZNB75-2
3 By Senator Albritton
4 RFD: Finance and Taxation General Fund
5 First Read: 14-Jan-26
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  SB153 Enrolled
1 Enrolled, An Act,
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5    To make an appropriation of $36,635,222 from the Children
6 First Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30,
7 2027, to the entities and for the purposes designated in
8 Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of Alabama 1975; to provide for the
9 deposit of tobacco settlement revenues into the Children First
10 Trust Fund; to require written notification of anticipated
11 agency allocations by the State Director of Finance; to
12 require quarterly allocations; to condition allocations on
13 receipt of tobacco revenues; to provide for the transfer to
14 the State General Fund during fiscal year 2027 that portion of
15 Children First Trust Fund receipts currently allocated for the
16 State Board of Education; to make an appropriation of
17 $43,789,530 from other tobacco settlement funds for the fiscal
18 year ending September 30, 2027; and to make a conditional
19 appropriation and allocation of additional tobacco revenues
20 upon the recommendation of the Director of Finance, the
21 Chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee
22 and the Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation-General
23 Fund Committee, and the approval of the Governor.
24 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
25Section 1. (a) There is hereby appropriated from the
26 Children First Trust Fund the sum of $36,635,222 for the
27 fiscal year ending September 30, 2027, to the entities and for
28 the purposes designated in Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of Alabama
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29 1975 as follows, per the approved plan of investment for each
30 agency:
31   Alcoholic Beverage Control Board  414,077
32   Children's Trust Fund  2,000,000
33   Department of Forensic Sciences  418,413
34   Alabama Department of Human Resources  8,853,073
35   Juvenile Probation Services Fund  3,972,864
36   Alabama Medicaid Agency  1,390,782
37   Alabama Department of Mental Health  2,142,457
38   State Multiple Needs Children's Fund  4,358,550
39   Department of Public Health  4,771,403
40   Department of Rehabilitation Services  206,286
41   Department of Youth Services  8,107,317
42(b) (1) All tobacco revenues from the tobacco
43 settlement received by the state previously designated for the
44 Children First Trust Fund shall be deposited to the Children
45 First Trust Fund within 30 calendar days of receipt of those
46 tobacco revenues.
47(2) The Director of Finance shall notify each agency
48 and the Department of Early Childhood Education in writing
49 prior to September 1, 2026, of the dollar amount of the
50 allocation expected to be received by the agency from the
51 Children First Trust Fund in the fiscal year ending September
52 30, 2027.
53(3) At the beginning of each quarter of the fiscal year
54 ending September 30, 2027, the respective agency shall be
55 allocated at least one-fourth of the total amount appropriated
56 and allocated to the agency for that fiscal year when tobacco
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57 revenues are available for the respective agency. In the event
58 tobacco revenues are not available for the respective agency
59 until later in the fiscal year then the respective agency
60 shall be allocated an equal quarterly allotment for the
61 quarters that funds are available at the beginning of those
62 quarters. Such allocation shall be made and be available for
63 expenditure by the agency within five working days of the
64 commencement of the quarter. If additional sums are
65 appropriated or allocated, or both, during the fiscal year,
66 these sums shall be equally allocated to the respective agency
67 among the remaining quarters of the fiscal year or may be
68 allocated to the respective agency in one sum if revenues are
69 available. The Department of Early Childhood Education shall
70 be notified in writing of all appropriations and allocations
71 from the Children First Trust Fund by the Director of Finance.
72(4) Allocations from the Children First Trust Fund are
73 conditioned upon the receipt of tobacco revenues.
74(c) Allocations received pursuant to Section 1 shall be
75 expended in accordance with Section 41-15B-2.2, Code of
76 Alabama 1975.
77(d) At the conclusion of the fiscal year, any remaining
78 sums in the Children First Trust Fund shall remain in the fund
79 and shall not revert to the State General Fund or to any other
80 fund.
81Section 2. Notwithstanding any provision of Division 1
82 of Article 17 of Chapter 10 of Title 41, Code of Alabama 1975,
83 any provision of Chapter 15B of Title 41, Code of Alabama
84 1975, or any other provision of law, that portion of Children
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85 First Trust Fund receipts currently allocated for the State
86 Board of Education shall be transferred from the Children
87 First Trust Fund to the State General Fund during the fiscal
88 year ending September 30, 2027.
89     Section 3. In addition to the appropriation herein
90 above made, there is hereby appropriated from additional
91 tobacco settlement funds the sum of $43,789,530 for the fiscal
92 year ending September 30, 2027 to the following entities:
93   Department of Early Childhood Education  128,466
94   21st Century Debt Service  16,000,000
95   Senior Services Trust Fund  1,141,922
96   Alabama Medicaid Agency  24,836,383
97   Department of Senior Services - Medicaid Waiver      1,682,759
98     Section 4. Any additional tobacco revenues available for
99 the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027, shall be
100 conditionally appropriated, conditioned upon the
101 recommendation of the Director of Finance, the Chairman of the
102 House Ways and Means General Fund Committee and the Chairman
103 of the Senate Finance and Taxation-General Fund Committee, and
104 approval of the Governor.
105Section 5. The Executive Budget Office and the Director
106 of Finance shall allot funds appropriated from the Children
107 First Trust Fund only following the certification by the
108 Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood Education that
109 a plan of investment has been approved for each agency. The
110 Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood Education shall
111 prescribe the form and format on which each agency receiving
112 appropriated funds herein shall submit a plan of investment of
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113 said appropriated funds. The plan of investment shall include,
114 but not be limited to, a minimum of four (4) quality assurance
115 items on which a periodic report, as required by the approved
116 plan of investment, is made and as audited by the Examiners of
117 Public Accounts. Quality assurance items shall include the
118 number of children receiving service, an identifiable measure
119 of success of services provided and a prioritized standard of
120 successful measures for future plans of investment. It is the
121 intent of the Legislature that the Secretary of the Department
122 of Early Childhood Education shall be responsible for
123 providing a standard of measurement by which a clear
124 determination can be made through operational reporting and
125 audit reporting of a measurable success of funds appropriated
126 and invested from the Children First Trust Fund; insure funds
127 appropriated herein are invested in viable programs; insure
128 and promote the leverage of appropriated funds herein in every
129 possible manner and coordinated in all possible ways the
130 investment of funds by each service provider to insure that no
131 unproductive expenditures or duplication occurs. The Secretary
132 of the Department of Early Childhood Education shall notify
133 legislators representing the area where a grant from the
134 Children First Trust Fund is designated. The notification
135 shall occur ten days before the funds reach the recipient
136 agency.
137Section 6. The Secretary of the Department of Early
138 Childhood Education shall report each approved plan of
139 investment to the Joint Interim Legislative Oversight
140 Committee and the Alabama Children's Policy Council. The
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141 Secretary, upon the request of the service agency, may approve
142 an adjusted plan of investment. It is the intent of the
143 Legislature that funds appropriated from the Children First
144 Trust Fund be directed to meet the most immediate needs of
145 children as changing conditions may develop.
146Section 7. Should any provision of this act be held
147 invalid, the invalidity thereof shall not affect the remaining
148 provisions of the act.
149Section 8. This act shall become effective
150 immediately upon its passage and approval by the Governor, or
151 its otherwise becoming law.
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158________________________________________________
159President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
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163________________________________________________
164Speaker of the House of Representatives
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167 SB153
168 Senate 11-Mar-26
169 I hereby certify that the within Act originated in and passed
170 the Senate.
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172Patrick Harris,
173Secretary.
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178 House of Representatives
179 Passed: 01-Apr-26
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184 By: Senator Albritton
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