The Alabama House of Representatives approved a General Fund budget for next year that would increase spending by about 10% over this year.

The budget calls for spending $3.7 billion from the General Fund, up from $3.4 billion this year.

The General Fund is the main source of state funds for non-education agencies, such as Medicaid, prisons, law enforcement, courts, public health, and mental health.

Several line items zeroed out in the budget caused controversy on Tuesday.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, objected to cuts to the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, the Magic City Classic football game, the Jazz Hall of Fame, and a few others.

The budget passed today by the House did not restore the funding. The budget moves to the Senate.

House Ways and Means budget chairman Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, said there was a commitment to restore the funding there.

Reynolds met outside the Senate chamber Tuesday with Smitherman and other lawmakers after Smitherman said he would use all tools at his disposal, including filibusters, to get the funding restored.

“I assured them and gave them my word,” Reynolds said. “And if that doesn’t happen up there, when that budget travels back to the House, I’ll make it right.”

The Magic City Classic received $200,000 from the General Fund in the current budget year but was zeroed out in the budget under consideration for next year.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute received $100,000 but was also zeroed out. Smitherman mentioned several other line items that he would make it a point to fight for.

The funding in this year’s budget was among about 30 line items for specific projects under the Department of Tourism.

Gov. Kay Ivey’s recommended budget for next year, sent over to lawmakers in February, zeroed out about two-thirds of those.

Reynolds said that was done intentionally by software to emphasize a focus on funding state agencies, rather than one-time appropriations.

Reynolds said some lawmakers concerned about specific cuts had brought their concerns to him and that some of the line items were restored or partly restored.

Reynolds noted that the governor’s recommended budget has been available for almost two months.

Reynolds said he had not heard concerns about line items Smitherman brought up until this week.

Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Livingston, spoke up about the funding during Tuesday’s budget committee meeting, a few hours before Smitherman spoke out.

Reynolds, Smitherman, McCampbell and others later met outside the Senate chambers to discuss restoring the funding.

In the House on Thursday, McCampbell was one of only three representatives to vote against the budget. It passed 95-3.

McCampbell said he was not voting against the funding plan itself but against the process.

He said he did not see the House version of the budget, revised from the governor’s version, until Tuesday morning. The committee met to consider the budget at an 11 a.m. meeting that day.

McCampbell called for more communication and time to study the budget. He noted that lawmakers had the week off prior to this week.

“Why didn’t I have this budget to look at over the weekend, over the holiday?” McCampbell said.

McCampbell also noted that the BCRI, Magic City Classic and others remain zeroed out in the budget approved by the House Thursday.

He said the commitment to fix it in the Senate or later does not fully address his concerns about the process.

“Even though we have agreed we have tried to get it fixed, that means we’ve got to rely on somebody else to try to get it fixed,” Smitherman said.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute posted a statement about the funding dispute on its Facebook page, urging people to call their legislators to demand the funding be restored.

“We are deeply concerned that this moment might undo decades of bipartisan investment in telling Alabama’s story in full – not just the pasts that are comfortable, but also the hard truths of segregation, resistance, and the ongoing pursuit of equity,“ the BCRI said.