The new Alabama Senate elected in November will get to serve in a redesigned Senate chamber in Montgomery.
Senate Secretary Pat Harris says his staff is gutting the Senate chamber, including the removal of gray laminate desks and podiums that have been there since 1985. He's asked the state's two-year college system to build hickory desks and podiums that will be stained dark. The walls are also being redone and the audio system reconfigured to provide more evenly distributed sound.
Harris says the project should be finished by Nov. 15 and cost less than $200,000.
The old Highway Department building behind the Capitol was renovated in 1985 to house the Legislature temporarily during the Capitol renovation, but the Legislature decided to stay in what is now known as the Statehouse.