At the invitation of the Alabama House of Representatives, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) will deliver the annual state of the state address to a joint session of the Alabama Legislature on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. in the Old House Chamber of the historic State Capitol Building.
Tuesday is the opening day of the 2022 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. Both Houses of the Alabama legislature will formally gavel in on Tuesday in order to begin the session and begin to conduct regular business.
Ivey was elevated to Governor in 2017 when former Gov. Robert Bentley (R) resigned rather than face impeachment. In 2018, Ivey was elected by the people of Alabama to her own term as governor. This will be her fifth state of the state address as Alabama’s governor.
Ivey served two terms as Alabama's lieutenant governor and two terms as state treasurer before becoming governor.
The Alabama House of Representatives will formally gavel in at noon. After conducting business and formally announcing to the Governor that the legislature is now in session, both bodies will then recess for a dinner break. Both bodies will then go across the street from the State House to the historic State Capitol Building for a joint session to hear the governor’s address.
The State Capitol Building was built in 1859 and is where Alabama voted to secede from the Union in 1861. Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the first (and only) President of the Confederate States of American on the Capitol steps.
As Tuesday is the first legislative day, no bills can actually be voted on during the first day as by law the legislature has to give the public and the public’s guardians, the Alabama press, at least 24 hours before legislative action can be taken. Some 113 bills have already been pre-filed by legislators ahead of the session, with hundreds more expected in the next couple of weeks.
While the legislature can meet all seven days of the week, the normal procedure is for both Houses of the legislature to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Wednesdays reserved for most committee meetings. As the pace of legislative work increases there will be more evening sessions including Wednesday meetings of both houses of the legislature.
Sources say that Ivey may call a special session in the middle of the regular session to appropriate $580 million of American Rescue Act dollars. During a special session, the legislature must focus on the subject matter in the governor’s call. If there is a special session, the legislature will drop almost all other business and focus on the Governor's requested action. Monday, Friday, and even weekend days would likely be utilized in a special session.
The regular session may last no more than 30 legislative days or 120 calendar days.
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