State Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) has served in the Alabama Legislature since 2018. Prior to that, he served as Huntsville’s city administrator. Reynolds serves in the important role of chairman of the House General Fund budget committee.

As part of the Lede’s new Ask the Delegate series, we talked to Reynolds about the past year’s legislative session, what he believes will be the top issues next session and the special session for congressional redistricting.

What were your thoughts about this past legislative session?

As the incoming budget chair for the Ways and Means General Fund, it changed my scope and mission going into the 2023 session. We literally started in early January, both Senator (Greg) Albritton and the Senate and myself, working on ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.

We had about $1.06 billion ARPA funds. While we did make some traditional allocations, we did change that up. Of most interest is what we call the community line. That was the chairman and I really trying to capture some boots on the ground organizations that have been helping people throughout COVID, and trying to get them funding like after school care, those who care for seniors, those who feed seniors, behavioral testing. There were a lot of key components in there. We allocated probably about $60 million to that one line item.