Gov. Kay Ivey declared that “Alabama is thriving” and said she would support a one-time tax rebate of $800 to Alabama families.

In her State of the State address at the State Capitol, Ivey announced the rebate and other initiatives for lawmakers who began the 2023 legislative session today.

In addition, the governor called a special session starting Wednesday for the Legislature to allocate Alabama’s remaining $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) a COVID-19 relief plan passed by Congress two years ago. Today, the Legislature put the regular session on hold for two weeks for the special session to consider how to use the federal funds.

Ivey’s rebate announcement was for the rebate was not a surprise because legislators had previously said they expected to consider a rebate. Ivey said the move is appropriate, in part, to help families struggling to pay for essentials because of inflation.

“A paycheck does not go as far as it did two years ago,” the governor told legislators and others gathered in the Old House Chamber of the Capitol. “That’s why I am calling on you to put nearly a billion dollars back into the hands of hardworking, taxpaying Alabamians through one-time rebates of $400. That means $800 for our working families, and it couldn’t come at a better time.”

Tonight’s speech was Ivey’s sixth State of the State address. The governor was overwhelmingly elected to a second term in November.

On other initiatives, Ivey said she would sign an executive order to reduce red tape facing small businesses. She proposed creating a $200 million Main Street Program to provide grants to locally owned businesses.

The governor advocated for renewal and expansion of the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama Act, key laws the state uses to recruit industry.

In education, the governor said she would support targeted expansion of Alabama’s prekindergarten program, which has been nationally recognized for its quality but is not available statewide.

“No matter the zip code, a child should be able to get a strong start in their educational journey,” Ivey said.

The governor proposed a 2 percent pay raise for teachers, a step toward what she said was a goal to make the starting salary for Alabama teachers the highest in the southeast by the end of her term in 2027.

Ivey proposed start-up funds for charter schools and reforms to the Charter School Commission to create better accountability. The governor said the changes would spur establishment of more charter schools, which were first authorized by the Legislature in 2015.

The governor proposed creating the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences to address shortage of workers in the healthcare field. The school would be in Demopolis and would offer students in grades 9 through 12 teaching in science, technology, and math courses and hands-on clinical training experiences.

Ivey announced the state would join a partnership between the family of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban and the city of Tuscaloosa, a project called the Saban Center, which she said would offer interactive and immersive instruction for students in science, technology, and math, as well as arts and sports sciences. Ivey introduced Terry Saban, Nick Saban’s wife, as her guest.

The governor urged lawmakers to pass a bill to strengthen penalties on distribution of fentanyl, the drug that is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the state.

The governor said she supported increased pay for the correctional officers who work in Alabama’s overcrowded and understaffed prison system.

“That is a tough — and too often thankless calling, not just a job, and we must continue to make increasing their salaries and benefits a priority,” Ivey said.

Related: Guards start at over $50k now as Alabama prisons wrestle with staffing in face of DOJ suit

This story will be updated.

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