When replacement parts are needed for the Alabama State House’s electrical system, some have to be “scavenged” because the system is so old that new parts are no longer available.

Meanwhile, the HVAC system has outlived its intended lifespan and is contributing to mold issues in the nearly 60-year-old, eight-floor building, according to a recent facility condition assessment by a Georgia-based engineering firm.

The report has renewed discussions about the health and safety conditions of the building and the need for a new building, or at least significant renovations. The report and springtime presentation to the Legislative Council, a panel of about 20 lawmakers, outlined some concerning conditions in the building and about $51 million in renewal costs needed in the next 10 years.

Those repairs would fix many of the systemic problems – HVAC, electrical and roofing – but wouldn’t address other issues, like access and space, in a building that was never intended to be a permanent meeting place for the Legislature and the public.

The bottom line is that lawmakers need to act on the condition of the State House and the costs will be significant, Rep. Victor Gaston, R-Mobile, told Alabama Daily News on Tuesday. Gaston is chair of the Legislative Council, which owns the State House.

“For cost effectiveness and to serve the public, we need a new building,” Gaston said. He also said that’s a hard sell.

“I think every member of the Legislature wants to make sure dollars that are collected to be spent in the best possible way to serve the public,” Gaston said. “…Most people do not go to the State House. And it’s not just a hard sell to the public, it would be a hard sell to the Legislature because of the cost involved. Nobody wants to spend money that really needs to be spent on serving the needs of mental health or schools. You don’t want to do that as long as we’re not happy with pupil-teacher ratios, as one example. So, yeah, it’s a hard sell.”

He also said enough may be done to repair the building so that it’s serviceable.

“But the cost of that is really concerning too,” Gaston said.

Gaston said a Legislative Council meeting will be held soon to discuss “what needs to be done and how to pay for it.”

The possibility of a new State House has been discussed for more than a decade and is a political hot potato for lawmakers under any circumstances. But now they’re still stung from early 2020 when leadership listed $200 million for a new State House as a possible use for CARES Act money, along with broadband expansion and improved telemedicine technology.

Alabama Daily News first reported the inclusion of a new State House on a “wish list” and Gov. Kay Ivey criticized lawmakers for proposed spending unrelated to the pandemic. There was immediate backlash, most of it landing at Sen. Del Marsh’s feet. He later defended the need for a new State House but said CARES Act money wouldn’t be used. Later, federal guidance also made a new building for the Legislature an unlikely option for the round of money that had to be spent last year.

That may not be the case with the latest round of stimulus money from Congress. Of the $2.1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that the Legislature must appropriate, $192 million must go to state capital projects, and they don’t have to be pandemic-related. For example, some lawmakers have proposed spending some of the funds to build new prisons.

The State of the State House

The Legislative Council pays the Alabama Department of Finance to maintain the State House, along with other buildings in the Capitol complex. The engineering firm assessed those other buildings as well but said the State House has the most improvement needs at the highest cost.

Jerry Watkins, a senior project manager for Intelligent Systems and Engineering Services, the company that did the report, told the council in March that about 18% of nearly $51 million in renewal cost can be planned for in coming years. But about 69% of the needs were deferred renewals, things that have exceeded their “economically feasible life” and fixes are past due.

“This means we’re in catch-up mode, we’re behind the eight ball on this building,” Watkins said. “It doesn’t mean that stuff hasn’t been done that should have been done. It usually means the building has been underfunded for some time and the cost and money spent in the building have had to be prioritized in some other areas.

“And it usually means maintenance teams have been doing a great job of even keeping the building running … that’s certainly what we found in this instance.”