MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- A bill that one lawmaker says could save Alabama millions of dollars annually by combining the Department of Corrections and the Board of Parole and Pardons will have to wait until next year.

State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), who introduced SB412 in February, said the state Legislature will take another look it when it convenes in March 2015. The bill would move the Board of Parole and Pardons' parole and probation officers under the wing of the Department of Corrections and consolidate their accounting, payroll, and human resources departments.

"The savings would not be tens of millions of dollars," Orr said. "It would be more like a few million dollars which, over time, is a significant amount."

In an interview with AL.com, Department of Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas said he and Gov. Robert Bentley opposed the measure.

"That's talking about the merging of the two most underfunded agencies and the two most understaffed agencies," Thomas said. "It's an interesting concept."

Alabama's prisons are at 189.3 percent capacity and the state spent $375 million in corrections in the 2012 fiscal year , more than doubling the amount in spent in 2000.

Thomas told legislators in January the prison system needs an additional $42 million for the 2015 fiscal year to pay for pay raises for correctional officers and hire 100 additional correctional officers among other uses.

Meanwhile, the legislative fiscal office estimated that legislators would have $83 million less to spend from the General Fund in fiscal year 2015 than they did this year.

According to the bill, the parole and pardons board consisting of William W. Wynne Jr., Robert P. Longshore, and Clifford (Cliff) Walker would remain intact. The board conducts parole and pardon hearings statewide. However, the field supervision of offenders by parole and probation officers would fall under the control of the Department of Corrections, the bill states.

Orr said the bill would allow for greater communication between the two agencies as well as make for a "seamless transition," for inmates out of prison on parole. Although the bill made it out of the Finance and Taxation Fund committee, Orr said the state legislature has "scores of bills," to address before the legislative session ends in early April.