Rep. Mack Butler

An Alabama lawmaker plans to file legislation by Tuesday asking voters in Etowah County to decide in November whether the sheriff gets to keep excess tax money for jail food.

State Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, said Monday he will introduce the legislation this week, with anticipation that it could pass through the Legislature before the end of the spring legislative session. The legislative session is expected to end next week.

"There is no room for error," said Butler. "We have just enough time to make this happen."

Butler's proposal comes after an AL.com report last week detailing how Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin reported that he made more than $250,000 during each of the past three years by running the jail food program. Entrekin, AL.com discovered, also recently spent $750,000 to purchase a four-bedroom beach house in Baldwin County.

Entrekin also makes $93,178.80 annually as sheriff.

Butler said since the news report surfaced, he's been inundated with requests to do something.

"Everywhere I go, people say something to me about this ... they say, 'We need to address this, Mac,'" said Butler. "I jumped in this weekend to see what we can do."

Butler said there is not enough time left in the legislative session to approve a local bill that would require the Sheriff's Office to divert the excess funds to a separate account. Instead, his constitutional amendment says the excess money in Etowah County should be placed in a discretionary account "for law enforcement purposes." The amendment requires approval by voters in Etowah County only.

Said Butler, "I was going to do this as a local bill, but it requires four weeks to advertise."

A constitutional amendment, if approved by lawmakers and then by the voters, would not take effect until January 2019, after the November election. Entrekin is being challenged in the June 5 Republican primary by Rainbow City Police Chief Jonathan Horton. No Democrat has filed to run.

Butler said his legislation will be "pretty cut and dry" with regards to an account that will established for law enforcement-only purposes.

He said his legislation is will be patterned after HB461, which applies to Cullman County only and sets up a discretionary account for excess tax money to feed jailed inmates. The proposal, approved by the House on March 6, is awaiting Senate approval.

The Cullman County legislation surfaced after the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice filed a lawsuit in Hale County requesting access to public records to find out how much jail food money is given to sheriffs and pocketed.

The lawsuit named 49 sheriffs who had not complied with their requests last year for information.

Alabama Sheriffs have claimed for years that a 1939 state law allows for the state's sheriffs to keep any remaining money from tax funds to pay for prisoners' food, is applicable. A handful of counties, including Jefferson, Shelby and Mobile, have all approved local legislation requiring the funds to be diverted in separate county accounts.