Alabama lawmakers will consider a bill to reduce the state sales tax on food this week as the annual legislative session nears the finish line.

Almost all 140 members of the Legislature have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, which passed the House last week and could get final passage in the Senate on Thursday.

HB479 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, would cut the 4-cent state tax on groceries to 2 cents in two phases. The tax would drop to 3 cents in September of this year. It would drop to 2 cents in September 2025. The tax cut will apply to foods that are covered under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously called food stamps.

The second phase of the tax cut could be delayed if there is a substantial slowdown in the tax revenues that support public education. The sales tax goes to the Education Trust Fund, and reducing it to 2 cents will reduce revenues by about $300 million a year. That’s about 3 percent of the $10 billion the ETF took in last fiscal year.

The bill will not reduce local sales taxes on food, but will prevent cities and counties from raising the tax above the current level.

Some lawmakers and advocacy groups, including Alabama Arise, have urged the Legislature to repeal the tax on food for decades, saying that the tax is a burden on low-income families who struggle to pay for other necessities. The rising cost of food and unusually strong revenues in the state budgets has helped build more support this year.

Read more; How a grocery tax cut will help Alabama’s aging, rural population

The Legislature plans to meet today and Thursday. Lawmakers have up to three meeting days left out of the maximum 30 allowed by the state Constitution.

Last week, the Legislature passed a bill to provide a one-time, state income tax rebate of $150 for individuals and $300 for couples. If Gov. Kay Ivey signs that bill into law, the Department of Revenue will begin issuing the rebates on Nov. 30. The rebates will be a direct deposit into the bank account that taxpayers listed on their state income tax returns last year. If the Department of Revenue does not have bank account information for a taxpayer, it will mail a check for the rebate. Taxpayers who filed a state income tax return for 2021 on or before Oct. 17 of last year are eligible for the rebate.

Another bill still pending would make overtime pay exempt from the state income tax. That bill, HB217 by House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, passed the House by a vote of 105-0 four weeks ago. It would have to pass the Senate to be sent to Ivey’s desk to possibly become law. Daniels said the bill would allow families to retain more of their earnings to help deal with inflation and would provide a work incentive that would help businesses be more productive.

Lawmakers worked past midnight last Thursday to pass the $11.6 billion education budget, a 6.5% increase over this year, and the $3 billion General Fund budget, a 6% increase over this year. The budgets are for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. They also passed as supplemental budget bills to spend another $2.8 billion from the ETF and $208 million from the General Fund. They are awaiting Ivey’s decisions on the four bills and others.