A plan for Alabama to use $1.06 billion in federal dollars Congress sent to the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is up for consideration today in the House of Representatives.

The plan would allocate $400 million to water and sewer projects, $339 million to healthcare costs, including reimbursements for hospitals and nursing homes, and $260 million to expand access to broadband internet. Another $55 million would fund a grant program for community services affected by the pandemic, including food banks, senior citizens services, child welfare programs, help for domestic violence victims, services for mental health disorders, long-term housing assistance, and summer learning and sports programs for children.

The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. It is the second half of Alabama’s allocation from ARPA. The Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey approved the spending plan for the first $1 billion in 2021 and 2022.

The bill, by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, who is chair of the House General Fund budget committee, won almost unanimous approval by that committee last week. Approval by the House today would send it to the Senate, which could pass it as early as Thursday. The Legislature is meeting in a special session Ivey called last week.

Alabama is using the biggest portion of its first $1 billion from ARPA — $400 million — to help build two 4,000-bed prisons, projects that are just starting and are expected to be finished in 2026. Otherwise, the spending plan approved last year is similar to this year’s.

Last year’s plan allocated $277 million to broadband; $225 million to water and sewer projects; $80 million for reimbursements for hospitals and nursing homes; $79.5 million to replenish the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund; $37 million for health care provided by assisted living facilities, mental health providers, and rehabilitative services; $30 million for rural hospitals; $20 million for emergency medical providers, including volunteer fire departments; and $11 million for counties to reimburse them for holding state inmates in county jails during the pandemic. State have until the end of 2026 to spend their ARPA funds.