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The Alabama Legislature met for Days 19 and 20 of its 2023 Regular Session this past week. 38 committee meetings were held throughout the week.
NOTABLE FLOOR ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE FLOOR
HB136 by Rep. Chestnut: To allow the Alabama Supreme Court to increase the mileage rate and expense allowance paid to jurors by order or rule.
HB253 by Rep. Clarke: To allow Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits to be tied to the year in which the reservation is allocated, to further provide for the membership to the evaluating committee and the factors considered by the committee, and make non-substantive technical revisions to the existing code. (as substituted).
HB287 by Rep. Stringer: To create the crime of doxing, intentionally electronically publishing personal identifying information of another individual (as substituted and amended).
HB358 by Rep. Shaver: To establish a new classification of a criminal offense as a boating violation, to reclassify various misdemeanor boating offenses as boating violations, and to establish that the penalty for a boating violation would be similar to a penalty for a traffic infraction (as amended).
HB378 by Rep. Brown: To provide potentially responsible parties with limitations of liability with respect to a brownfield site and to provide for the creation of brownfield redevelopment districts (as substituted).
HB379 by Rep. Stadthagan: To prohibit Chinese citizens, the Chinese government, or Chinese entities from acquiring real property, other than contiguous to existing site, in the state as of the effective date of the act (as amended).
SB222 by Sen. Givhan: To revise the date the Legislature begins the regular session during the first year of a quadrennium from the first Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February, to provide for transfer of responsibilities to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate if a vacancy occurs in the office of the Lt. Governor, and give the Legislative Council the authority to contract with an appropriate party to construct and maintain a new Alabama State House (as amended).
SENATE FLOOR
HB13 by Rep. England: To provide that any municipality may authorize a law enforcement officer to issue a summons and complaint in lieu of a custodial arrest for certain criminal offenses.
HB45 by Rep. Gray: To require K-12 coaches to undergo training and follow all health and safety guidelines related to sudden cardiac arrest, and to require the training to be coordinated with existing training requirements related to CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
SB39 by Sen. Givhan: To create additional Circuit and District judgeships throughout the state over the next 4 fiscal years, and to standardize the compilation of statistical data (as substituted).
SB158 by Sen. Elliott: To require the judge of probate to notify the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency when an individual is involuntarily committed to either inpatient or outpatient treatment, and to require the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to enter the court order into the state firearms prohibited person database.
SB159 by Sen. Scofield: To establish certain conditions under which a contractor who performs work on a road, bridge, highway, or street shall be granted limited civil immunity (as amended).
SB196 by Sen. Orr: To establish procedures for requesting and obtaining public records.
SB285 by Sen. Jones: To provide that a nonprofit organization may be issued a license to host a wine festival.
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS THIS WEEK
HOUSE INTRODUCTIONS
HB443 by Rep. Garrett: To change the reporting date requirements of state agencies that administer economic tax incentives and establish sunset provisions and reporting guidelines for economic tax incentives.
HB454 by Rep. Yarbrough: To expand the definition of person for the purposes of the criminal code to include an unborn child from the moment of fertilization, to repeal the provision that prohibits the prosecution of homicide or assault following any abortion and the provision that prohibits the prosecution of homicide or assault against any woman with respect to her own unborn child, and to provide that prosecutions of homicide or assault where the victim is an unborn child shall be treated the same as prosecutions of homicide or assault of a person born alive.
HB455 by Rep. Standridge: To create the Rural and Community Fire Protection Advisory Committee to support and recommend to the State Forester methods to improve rural and community fire protection in this state.
HB457 by Rep. D. Wood: To require the canvassing board of each county to conduct a post election audit after each county and statewide general election to determine the accuracy of the originally reported results of the election.
HB462 by Rep. M. Moore: To prohibit the possession, sale, or transfer of an assault weapon or large-capacity magazine under certain circumstances.
HB466 by Rep. Blackshear: To specify that the definition of gross receipts does not include any excise tax imposed by the federal, state, and local governments when calculating gross receipts for municipal business license taxes.
SENATE INTRODUCTIONS
SB301 by Sen. Waggoner: To further provide prohibitions against the use of a wireless telecommunications device and would provide additional clarifications and exceptions on the prohibition.
SB306 by Sen. Elliott: To provide for a chair of the county commission to be elected countywide in any county in which the county commission is currently composed of four county commissioners and the chair of the county commission is currently rotating among these county commissioners.
SB307 by Sen. Elliott: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to authorize the Legislature to call itself into a special session and provide for the process for convening a special session.
SB311 by Sen. Allen: To provide for the authorization and use of motor vehicles equipped with an automated driving system.
SB313 by Sen. Butler: To require the Department of Economic and Community Affairs to oversee the design, construction, and installation of a replica Saturn 1B Rocket, if the original rocket is beyond restoration or repair, at the most northern I-65 rest stop in the state.
SB314 by Sen. Smitherman: To provide potentially responsible parties with limitations of liability with respect to a brownfield site and to provide for the creation of brownfield redevelopment districts.
SB316 by Sen. Figures: To further provide prohibitions on the possession of an electronic nicotine delivery system by individuals under 21 years of age.
SB321 by Sen. Singleton: To define a new category of low-alcohol content liquor beverages called mixed spirit beverages, to levy taxes upon the distributions of these beverages, and to provide for licensure of retailers of mixed spirit beverages.
NOTABLE COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE COMMITTEES
HB168 by Rep. Underwood: To increase various threshold dollar amounts for which competitive bidding is generally required and to authorize those dollar amounts to be further increased based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (Substituted and amended in House State Government Committee).
HB429 by Rep. Kiel: To change the name of Entertainment Industry Incentive Act of 2009 to the Film and Music Incentive Act of 2023, to include music and virtual reality as qualified production companies (Amended in House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB439 by Rep. Faulkner: To allow an allocation of a Growing Alabama tax credit from a parent or a holding company to a subsidiary, both filing part of an Alabama consolidated return, provided the donation is ultimately paid by the subsidiary (Amended in House Ways and Means Education Committee).
SB99 by Sen. Givhan: To increase the mileage reimbursement paid to jurors from $.05 per mile to $.50 per mile (House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
SB103 by Sen. Orr: To require the State Ethics Commission to provide an alleged violator with certain exculpatory evidence (Amended in House Ethics and Campaign Finance Committee).
SB150 by Sen. Givhan: To provide that once a judge of probate vacates a map or plat that is recorded in electronic form, he or she shall issue a certificate indicating that the map or plat has been vacated, and the certificate shall be made a part of the property records to which it pertains (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB169 by Sen. Allen: To allow any business paying a municipal business license based on gross receipts to deduct from gross receipts any excise tax imposed by the federal, state, and local governments (Public Hearing and carried over in House County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB199 by Sen. Orr: To prohibit a person from picketing or protesting at or near the residence of any individual with the intent to harass or intimidate (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
SENATE COMMITTEES
HB4 by Rep. Chestnut: To make it unlawful for certain individuals to require another individual to be implanted with a microchip (Substituted in Senate Judiciary Committee).
HB23 by Rep. Brown: To permit volunteer fire departments and rescue squads to use restricted funds to buy kitchen equipment and food for the fire station, and authorize mileage reimbursement to members for travel to and from a call (Amended in Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
HB254 by Rep. Clouse: To require the proceeds from future motor fuel taxes levied by a municipality or county be used for road and bridge construction and maintenance with certain exceptions (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB297 by Rep. Lipscomb: To require the State Health Officer to issue advisories concerning fish consumption and to require the Department of Environmental Management to test fish for pollutants and post signage at water bodies notifying of an active fish consumption advisory (Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee).
HB352 by Rep. Baker: To provide requirements pertaining to the operation and maintenance of amusement rides and water slides relating to inspections, liability insurance, and operator and patron conduct (Senate Tourism Committee).
SB122 by Sen. Shelnutt: To require the proceeds from future motor fuel taxes levied by a municipality or county to be used for road and bridge construction and maintenance with certain exceptions (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB223 by Sen. Figures: To include a child witness in the definition of “a physical offense, sexual offense, or violent offense” for the purpose of the Child Physical and Sexual Abuse Victim Protection Act (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB224 by Sen. Figures: To clarify that for the purpose of the crime of transmitting obscene material to a child, a child is a person who is under 16 years of age, and to provide that a violation of incest when the victim is under 16 years of age is a Class A felony (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB261 by Sen. Roberts: To prohibit a governmental entity from entering into a public contract for goods or services with certain companies or businesses that engage in the economic boycott of businesses in certain sectors and industries, that fail to meet or commit to meet certain environmental standards, that fail to meet or commit to meet certain corporate governance criteria, or that fail to facilitate certain activities (Substituted in Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB281 by Rep. Albritton: To allow former and current chairs of the USS Alabama Battleship Commission to use the USS Alabama Distinctive license plate (Senate Finance and Taxation General fund Committee).
SB290 by Sen. Givhan: To increase the threshold amount on contracts for public works from $50,000 to $100,000, authorize an additional increase based on increases in the Consumer Price Index, authorize the use of electronic means to provide certain required notices, and authorize the use of electronic sealed bids (Substituted in Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB291 by Sen. Coleman: To exempt the purchase of computer programs, software applications and contracts for the purchase of equipment and services to aid in the prevention and detection of criminal activity by law enforcement agencies from the competitive bidding requirement (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB292 by Sen. Roberts: To provide for the Department of Revenue to grant certificates of exemption from sales and use taxes to contractors and subcontractors licensed by the State Licensing Board for General Contractors for the purchase of building materials and construction materials to be use in the construction of a project for an entity that is exempt by law from paying sales and use taxes (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB299 by Sen. Orr: To establish sunset provisions and reporting guidelines for economic tax incentives (Amended in Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee).
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
HB421 by Rep. Ingram: The House State Government Committee gave a favorable report to a bill, suggested by Trinity School students, that would designate the “Yellowhammer Cookie” as the Official State Cookie. The “Yellowhammer Cookie,” which originated in Montgomery, prominently features peanuts (the Official State Legume) and pecans (the Official State Nut). Other state symbols include the Lane Cake as the Official State Cake, the Blackberry as the Official State Fruit, and the West Indian Manatee as the Official State Marine Mammal.
