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The Alabama Legislature convened for Day 4 of its annual Regular Session on Tuesday, Feb. 11 and convened in Session Wednesday and Thursday for Days 5 and 6 of the Session. The Legislature will next convene for Day 7 on Tuesday, Feb. 18 with the House convening at 1 p.m. and the Senate convening at 2 p.m.
463 bills have been introduced to date.
DURING THE WEEK
Governor Ivey held a press conference on Wednesday with Mayors, Legislators and law enforcement officials present to urge the passage of her “Safe Alabama” package which includes SB116 by Senator Barfoot to ban Glock switches, SB118 by Senator Barfoot, a proposed Constitutional Amendment to provide for additional offenses that would allow a judge to deny bail, SB119 by Senator Barfoot to expand the list of persons prohibited from possessing a firearm, HB113 by Representative Ingram and HB199 by Representative Hendrix to provide electronic monitoring for an allegedly delinquent child, HB202 by Representative Reynolds and SB129 by Senator Bell to establish immunity for law enforcement officers from civil liability and criminal prosecution, with exceptions, and HB188 by Rep. Treadaway to establish a program to pay tuition for children of long-term law enforcement officers.
Governor Ivey is also requesting a $3 million budget increase for the “Metro Area Crime Suppression Program.” Most of these bills were considered in committee this week and are reported on below.
The Senate confirmed 38 members appointed by Governor Ivey to the newly formed Alabama Workforce Board. The Board was created by Act Number 2024-115 which also changed the name of the Department of Labor to the Department of Workforce and established the functions of the Board and the Department.
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter appointed Representative Steve Clouse as Chair of the House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee. Mr. Clouse replaces Randall Shedd who has resigned from the Alabama House of Representatives to take a position on Senate President Pro-Tempore Garlan Gudger’s staff.
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS
HOUSE
HB240 by Rep. Lovvorn: To provide that compensation received by a student athlete for the use of their name, image, or likeness is not subject to state income tax (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB244 by Rep. Butler: To prohibit classroom instruction in public school preK-12 related to gender identity or sexual orientation, prohibit education employees from displaying certain flags and insignia in public preK-12 schools, and to prohibit education employees from referring to a student by pronouns inconsistent with the student’s biological sex (House Education Policy Committee).
HB245 by Rep. Pringle: To prohibit the possession or use of certain inhalants and other chemical compounds, including butyl nitrite, nitrous oxide, or amyl nitrite, except under certain circumstances (House Health Committee).
HB246 by Rep. Stadthagen: To restrict the use of names or pronouns inconsistent with a student’s legal name or biological sex without consent from a parent or guardian, and to protect teachers and students from adverse actions for declining to use or identify pronouns (House Education Policy Committee).
HB247 by Rep. Standridge: To rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” and to require all state and local entities and all employees of those entities to observe and implement the name change, where practicable (House Ports, Waterways and Intermodel Transit Committee).
HB248 by Rep. Butler: To prohibit the dispersion of items intended to affect the weather within or above this state (House Economic Development and Tourism Committee).
HB253 by Rep. Colvin: To exempt the gross receipts from the sale of certain aircraft and aircraft parts from state sales and use tax, to provide conditions regarding the application of rental or lease taxes to the rental or lease transactions of commercial aircraft, to authorize county or municipal governing bodies to adopt a local sales and use tax exemption by resolution or ordinance, and to provide for effective dates from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2030 (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB258 by Rep. Carns: To change the primary election in off-presidential years to the second Tuesday in May (House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee).
HB268 by Rep. P. Moore: To exempt lottery proceeds from state income taxation (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB276 by Rep. Robbins: To require social media platforms to terminate certain accounts, to display notifications in certain circumstances, to prohibit certain actions, to require social media platforms to use an age verification process, and to require social media platforms to remove certain content (House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee).
HB277 by Rep. Yarbrough: To create the 2A Sales Tax Holiday to occur annually from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, during which the gross proceeds from the sale of ammunition, firearms, and hunting supplies are exempt from state sales and use tax, and allow municipalities and counties to opt in to the sales tax holiday (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB282 by Rep. Marques: To prevent certain state and local agencies from entering into agreements with media monitoring organization, and to require such agencies to take certain actions regarding contractors and companies with relation to media monitoring organizations (House Commerce and Small Business Committee).
HB286 by Rep. Paramore: To provide further for who is subject to state competitive bid laws, to provide further for electronic bid submissions, and to provide further for the procedures for protesting certain competitive bid contracts (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB287 by Rep. Givan: To require each county and municipal law enforcement agency to report the number of sworn law enforcement officers employed by the agency to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and the Attorney General (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
SENATE
SB141 by Sen. Butler: To prohibit a financial institution, mortgage broker, mortgage banker, or credit card processor from charging a fee for providing a paper billing statement to a customer (Senate State Governmental Affairs Committee).
SB148 by Sen. Albritton: General Fund Budget (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB158 by Sen. Barfoot: To provide that foreign national driver license may not be used as phot identification for voting purposes (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB163 by Sen. Jones: To require property managers of state agencies to report loss or theft of certain state property to the State Auditor, provide an exception to the standard property inventory process conducted by the State Auditor for all Department of Corrections and Department of Youth Services secured facility property that is located behind security bars, create a new Division of Property Investigations, and authorize the Attorney General to bring civil actions for cases of negligent loss or damage of state property (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB166 by Sen. Kelley: To require each local board of education and public institution of higher education to display the Ten Commandments and a context statement in schools (Senate Education Policy Committee).
SB169 by Sen. Orr: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to authorize the Governor to appoint an individual to fill a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB170 by Sen. Coleman: To authorize courts to issue ex parte gun violence protective order and one-year gun violence protective orders, which may be authorized if the court finds that the respondent poses and immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to self or others (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB173 by Sen. Hatcher: To create the Alabama Retirement Savings Program for the purpose of promoting greater retirement savings for private sector employees in a convenient, low cost, and portable manner (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
NOTABLE FLOOR ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE FLOOR
HB2 by Rep. Brown: To require written consent of a parent or legal guardian for any minor to receive a vaccination, with exceptions (as substituted).
HB49 by Rep. Simpson: To provide that a person 18 years or older convicted of rape or sodomy in the first degree when the victim is less than 6 years of age shall be sentenced to either death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and if the offender is less than 18 years of age sentenced to life imprisonment without parole or life (as substituted).
HB89 by Rep. Lands: To extend the existing pregnant women benefit under the state Medicaid plan for up to 60 days to women who have not been formally approved for Medicaid coverage but who submit proof of pregnancy and household income information to a qualified provider of ambulatory prenatal care (as substituted).
HB93 by Rep. Brown: To exempt all property used by the Alabama State Port Authority from the state personal property inventory and audit requirements.
HB161 by Rep. Lipscomb: To provide for the standardization of certain building codes in the state, and to authorize certain coastal counties and municipalities to adopt supplemental coastal building codes (as substituted).
HB191 by Rep. Baker: To establish conditions for exemption of county or municipal sales and use tax.
HB196 by Rep. Wilcox: To further provide for the management of county juvenile detention facilities (as substituted).
HB243 by Rep. Whitt: To unabate a portion of state noneducational ad valorem taxes and state abated construction related transaction taxes pursuant to abatements granted on or after June 1, 2026, and requires the local tax collecting official and the Department of Revenue to collect the unabated portion and deposit the revenue into the Alabama Development Fund.
SENATE FLOOR
SB22 by Sen. Coleman: To provide that any incentives awarded to an incentivized company may be recaptured by the state if the company engaged in human trafficking violations or violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (as amended).
SB32 by Sen. Smitherman: To create the definition of machinegun, and to provide for mandatory enhanced sentences for a person who causes the death of another by means of a machinegun or causes an injury by means of a machinegun (as amended).
SB36 by Sen. Kitchens: To provide further for who is subject to state competitive bid laws, tosupplemental provide further for electronic bid submissions, to provide further for the procedures for protesting certain competitive bid contracts, and to revise requirements for disclosure statement forms (as amended).
SB53 by Sen. Kitchens: To require an administrator of a state, county, or municipal jail, or his or her designee, to attempt to determine whether an individual arrested and detained in the jail is an illegal alien, and to establish the crimes of concealing an illegal alien and human smuggling (as amended).
SB63 by Sen. Bell: To require law enforcement agencies to collect fingerprints and DNA from any illegal alien in the agency’s custody and submit the fingerprints and DNA for testing or cataloging.
SB67 by Sen. Jones: To authorize the Governor to appoint the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs to serve at the pleasure of the Governor, and to revise membership and powers of the board (amended and carried over).
NOTABLE COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE COMMITTEES
HB14 by Rep. Ingram: To authorize the Attorney General and the Governor, acting in concert, to appoint an interim police chief of certain municipal police departments (amended in House County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB58 by Rep. England: To establish a criminal penalty for failure to inform a law enforcement officer of one’s possession of a concealed pistol or firearm under certain circumstances (carried over in House Judiciary Committee).
HB67 by Rep. Stadthagan: To prohibit public K-12 schools and public libraries from knowingly presenting or sponsoring drag performances in the presence of a minor with the consent of the minor’s parent or legal guardian, and to prohibit certain state entities from allowing minors to share certain facilities with members of the opposite sex during overnight programs operated or sponsored by the state entity, unless the other individuals are family members of the minor and the minor’s parent consents (House State Government Committee).
HB68 by Rep. Stadthagan: To expand the definition of “foreign principal” to include an individual or company identified on any sanctions list of the United State Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (House Urban and Rural Development Committee).
HB92 by Rep. Brown: To create the Alabama Seagrass Restoration Task Force and to provide for its membership and duties (amended in House Ports, Waterways and Intermodal Transit Committee).
HB103 by Rep. Drummond: To provide firearm storage requirements, and to provide a criminal penalty for a violation of these requirements that result in a minor possessing the firearm under certain circumstances (carried over in House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB119 by Rep. Hendrix: To authorize the Board of Pardons and Paroles or any other state agency to provide electronic monitoring services for an allegedly delinquent child released subject to electronic monitoring (House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB133 by Rep. Ingram: To authorize the Board of Pardons and Paroles or other state agency to provide electronic monitoring to children in certain circumstances (carried over in House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB150 by Rep. Ensler: To prohibit the transfer of a deadly weapon or ammunition to an intoxicated individual (Carried over in House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB154 by Rep. Oliver: To authorize the Governor to appoint the Commissioner of the State Board of Veterans Affairs to serve at the pleasure of the Governor, and to revise the membership and powers of the board (public hearing but no vote in House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee).
HB188 by Rep. Treadaway: To establish a program to grant tuition money to dependents of law enforcement officers for use in participating public or private institutions of higher education in the State (amended in House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB202 by Rep. Reynolds: To establish immunity for law enforcement officers from civil liability and criminal prosecution, and to provide exceptions (carried over in House Judiciary Committee).
HB216 by Rep. Bedsole: To provide for the recognition of firearm hold agreements between a federal firearm licensee or a municipal or county law enforcement officer and an individual firearm owner where the licensee or law enforcement officer agrees to hold a lawfully possessed firearm for a specified period of time (substituted in House Judiciary Committee).
HB231 by Rep. Ingram: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to require local boards of education to adopt policies requiring each public K-12 school to recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag and a prayer consistent with Judeo-Christian values at the commencement of each school day, to require the State Superintendent to withhold state funding allocated to certain offending local board of education, and to authorize the Legislature to further reduce funding upon continued violations (House State Government Committee).
SENATE COMMITTEES
SB12 by Sen. Elliott: To prohibit a state or local agency from conditioning the issuance of a license or permit on the person first obtaining a difference license or permit from another state or local agency (amended in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB29 by Sen. Elliott: To require state and local governmental bodies in certain circumstances to approve or deny licenses and permits within a proscribed time frame and if a government body fails to do so, deem the license or permit approved (substituted in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB31 by Sen. Smitherman: To prohibit the knowing possession of a machine gun, the frame or receiver of such a weapon, a part or parts intended to convert a firearm into a machine gun, and parts from which a machine gun may be assembled (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB40 by Sen. Kelley: To provide for the recognition of firearm hold agreements between a federal firearm licensee or a municipal or county law enforcement officer and in individual firearm owner where the licensee or law enforcement officer agrees to hold a lawfully possessed firearm for a specified period of time (amended in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB60 by Sen. Albritton: To allow the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority to increase the amount of bonds issued to implement the existing prison modernization plan from $785,000,000 to a total of $1,285,000,000 (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB102 by Sen. Coleman-Madison: To extend the existing pregnant women benefit under the state Medicaid plan for up to 60 days to women who have not been formally approved for Medicaid coverage but who submit proof of pregnancy and household income information to a qualified provider of ambulatory prenatal care (Senate Children, Youth and Human Services Committee).
SB103 by Sen. Albritton: To authorize the expansion of acceptable methods an awarding authority may use to advertise for sealed bids on public works projects that exceed $100,000 (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB115 by Sen. Chambliss: To include additional activity that would constitute the crime of impersonating a peace officer (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB116 by Sen. Barfoot: To prohibit persons from possessing a part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert a pistol into a machine gun (Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB118 by Sen Barfoot: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to provide for additional offenses that would allow a judge to deny bail under certain circumstances (amended in Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB119 by Sen. Barfoot: To further provide for the list of persons prohibited from possessing a firearm, and to increase the penalty for the offense of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, building or other designated space (amended in Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB121 by Sen. Elliott: To provide addition means by which the required public notice of the public contract may be published, including a method of publication on a website, application, or other digital platform maintained by the Department of Finance for the purpose of providing public notice (amended in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB129 by Sen. Bell: To establish immunity for law enforcement officers from civil liability and criminal prosecution, and to provide exceptions to such immunities (carried over in Senate Judiciary Committee).
SB159 by Sen. Orr: To provide for a state sales and use tax exemption for purchases of certain baby supplies, baby formula, maternity clothing, and menstrual hygiene products (Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee).
SB160 by Sen. Orr: To establish conditions for exemption of county or municipal sales and use tax (Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee).
BUDGETS
HB169, Rep. Garrett: Education Trust Fund Budget Pending in House Ways and Means Education Committee
HB186, Rep. Reynolds: General Fund Budget Pending in House Ways and Means General Fund Committee
SB112, Sen. Orr: Education Trust Fund Budget Pending in Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee
SB148, Sen. Albritton: General Fund Budget Pending in Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee
