|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Alabama Legislature convened for Day 14 of its annual Regular Session on Tuesday, March 18 and convened in Session Wednesday and Thursday for Days 15 and 16. Thirty-two committee meeting were held during the week. The Legislature will be on a scheduled break next week and will next convene for Day 17 on Tuesday, April 1 with the House convening at 1 p.m. and the Senate convening at 2 p.m.
The Legislature is now past the halfway mark of the Session with 746 bills introduced to date.
NOTABLE BILLS ENACTED
SB79 Sen. Weaver: To define man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, male, female and sex for purposes of state law, to provide policy of the differences between sexes, to provide that state and local public entities may establish separate single-sex spaces or environments in certain circumstances, and to require the state or political subdivisions that collect vital statistics related to sex as male or female for certain purposes to identify each individual as either male or female at birth.
SB70 Sen. Jones: To create the Alabama Veterans Resource Center, provide for a board of directors to manage the center as a comprehensive, coordinated system of support for veterans and their families.
SB36 Sen. Kitchens: To provide further for who is subject to state competitive bid laws, to 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.
SB67 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.
SB4 Sen. Elliott: To authorize certain public entities to contract with a nonpublic K-12 school to provide school resource officers in certain circumstances, and to require public entities to charge the nonpublic school for the full cost of employing any school resource officer.
SB64 Sen. Livingston: To require persons engaging in the business of cutting or uprooting aquatic plants in public waters to use certain methods to remove this plant matter.
SB116 Sen. Barfoot: To prohibit persons from possessing a part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert a pistol into a machine gun.
SB115 Sen. Chambliss: To include additional activity that would constitute the crime of impersonating a peace officer.
NOTABLE FLOOR ACTION THIS WEEK
HB30 by Rep. Wood: To require the judge of probate of each county to conduct a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election to determine the accuracy of the originally reported results of the election (as substituted and amended).
HB152 by Rep. Rafferty: To provide for a state sales and use tax exemption for purchases of certain baby supplies, bay formula, maternity clothing, and menstrual hygiene products, and to allow local governments to adopt exemptions (as amended on floor of House).
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 (as substituted).
HB258 by Rep. Carns: To change the primary election in off-presidential years to the second Tuesday in May.
HB281 by Rep. Almond: To further provide for the procedures for an aggrieved party to file an appeal of the final decision of a municipal zoning board of adjustment in the circuit court, and to provide for the decision of the board to remain in effect during the appeal unless the circuit court grants a stay.
HB319 by Rep. Collins: To create the Imagination Library of Alabama Program to provide free age-appropriate books to children through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
HB320 by Rep. Pringle: To further provide for the requirement to publish public notice of public works contracts (as substituted and amended).
HB322 by Rep. Holk-Jones: To require the Alabama Department of Public Health to develop educational materials on postpartum depression for health care professionals and parents of newborns, and further require doctors and other health care professionals to assess birth mothers for postpartum depression as part of postnatal or pediatric care (as substituted).
HB333 by Rep. Faulkner: To allow two or more municipalities to establish a regional law enforcement training facility authority to maintain and operate a regional law enforcement training facility, and to provide for the composition, terms, and powers of the board of directors of the regional law enforcement training facility authority (as substituted).
HB360 by Rep. Robertson: To rename “drug courts” to “accountability courts” and to expand the scope of accountability courts to include offenders with mental illness and offenders who are veterans (as substituted and amended).
HB363 by Rep. Lomax: To define foreign national and prohibit foreign national contributions and donations to fund Alabama campaigns and ballot measures.
HB386 by Rep. Garrett: To reduce the state sales and use tax rate on food to 2% on September 1, 2025 (as substituted).
HB387 by Rep. Garrett: To revise the provisions authorizing a county or municipality governing body to reduce their sales and use tax on food to eliminate the restriction on the amount of rate cut and remove the growth requirement.
HB388 by Rep. Garrett: To increase the income tax exemption amount for taxable retirement income of individuals who are 65 years of age or older to $12,000.
HB389 by Rep. Garrett: To increase the optional standard income tax deduction and expand the adjusted gross income range allowable for the maximum optional standard income tax deduction, and to expand the adjusted gross income range allowable for the maximum income tax dependent exemption.
SB54 by Sen. Roberts: To further provide for the term “critical infrastructure facility” to include communications service infrastructure and facilities, and further provide for the crimes of unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure facility and criminal tampering in the first and second degrees.
SB78 by Sen. Weaver: To prohibit the possession, use, or sale of butyl nitrite or any mixtures containing butyl nitrite, commonly known as “whippets,” except under certain circumstances, and to prohibit the possession, use, or sale of nitrous oxide, commonly known as “laughing gas,” and amyl nitrite, commonly known as “poppers” or “snappers,” except under certain circumstances (as substituted).
SENATE FLOOR
Confirmations: The Senate confirmed a number of appointments to state boards and commissions including Chris Nelson to the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission.
HB93 by Rep. Brown: To exempt all property used by the Alabama State Port Authority from the state personal property inventory and audit requirements.
HB101 by Rep. Shirey: To authorize the Sheriff of Mobile County to establish procedures for using a credit or debit card to make purchases.
HB104 by Rep. Drummond: To provide that a Class 2 municipality (Mobile) may declare certain abandoned or discarded debris a nuisance and require its abatement or removal at the expense of the owner of the property.
HB159 by Rep. Lovvorn To rename the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission as the U. S. Space and Rocket Center Commission, to provide that the Governor serve as an ex officio nonvoting member of the commission, to authorize interested public and private partners to provide facilities for U. S. Space and Rocket Center exhibits, and to specify that the commission operates outside of the State Treasury.
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.
SB177 by Sen. Bell: To rename the Alabama Film Office as the Alabama Entertainment Office, to include music albums as a qualified production, increase the maximum expenditure threshold eligible for a rebate, establish a minimum spend threshold for musical albums to qualify, and increase the annual cap for incentives (as amended).
SB199 by Sen. Figures: To provide for paid parental leave for eligible employees following the birth, stillbirth, or miscarriage of a child or the placement of a child for adoption.
SB200 by Sen. Jones: To rename “drug courts” to “accountability courts” and to expand the scope of whom accountability courts would serve to include offenders with mental illness and offenders who are veterans (as amended).
SB221 by Sen. Williams: To further provide for the compensation of the Mobile County Judge of Probate.
SB224 by Sen. Sessions: To further provide for the electronic monitoring of certain individuals in Mobile County.
SB252 by Sen. Beasley: To further provide for the regulation of pharmacy benefits managers by the Commissioner of Insurance, to provide a civil action to person injured by pharmacy benefit managers, to provide a minimum reimbursement amount for independent pharmacies, and to regulate rebates from drug manufacturers to pharmacy benefits managers (as amended).
NOTABLE COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE COMMITTEES
Appointment: The Mobile County Legislation Committee appointed Diane Gray to the Mobile County Judicial Committee.
HB7 by Rep. Yarbrough: To allow state and local law enforcement agencies to enter into memorandums of understanding and agreements with federal agencies to enforce federal immigration laws (Public Hearing but no vote in House Judiciary Committee).
HB8 by Rep. Drummond: To revise the definition of “electronic nicotine delivery system” to include battery powered devices that deliver substances other than tobacco through the inhalation of vapor; to prohibit the distribution of tobacco, tobacco products, electronic nicotine delivery systems, e-liquids, and alternative nicotine products through a vending machine; to require an annual permit fee for the distribution of those products (Public Hearing but no vote in House Judiciary Committee).
HB297 by Rep. Fidler: To require money transmission businesses to collect on outgoing international electronic wire transfer a fee equal to 4 percent of the total amount of the wire transfer, to provide that the fees collected be transmitted to the Alabama Securities Commission, to establish the Wire Transfer Fee Fund within the Alabama Securities Commission, and to provide for the allocation of the funds (substituted in House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB298 by Rep. Colvin: To restrict certain English language learner students from being included in the average daily membership of public schools for purposes of classifying a school for athletic competition (House Education Policy Committee).
HB311 by Rep. Wilcox: To remove an improvement districts board’s discretion to charge a higher interest rate on the assessment on a property within the district than the interest rate on the bonds issued to obtain the funds for the public infrastructure improvement property, and to provide an option for a district, by written request, to engage the tax assessing official, the tax collecting official, and the judge of probate to assist in the collection and enforcement of the assessments by the district in a manner similar to collection and enforcement of local ad valorem taxes in the county (substituted in House Economic Development and Tourism Committee).
HB357 by Rep. Hollis: To define “cigarette” and “heated tobacco product,” and to levy a tax on heated tobacco products (amended in House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
HB366 by Rep. Rehm: To authorize emergency medical services personnel to transport a police dog that is injured in the line of duty to veterinary clinic or hospital, and authorize emergency medical services personnel to provide emergency medical care to a police dog that is injured in the line of duty while at the scene of the injury or during transport (substituted in House Agriculture and Forestry Committee).
HB403 by Rep. Bedsole: To provide for the establishment, development, management, and maintenance of the Alabama Criminal Enterprise Database (substituted in House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB407 by Rep. Ingram: To authorize local redevelopment authorities to require payment in lieu of taxes for transient occupancy tax, and to require these authorities to report certain payments in lieu of taxes to the Department of Revenue (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB414 by Rep. Lamb: To increase the total annual expenditures of a municipality that determine if the municipality must undergo an annual or biennial audit, or submit an annual report to the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts (House County and Municipal Government 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 House Judiciary Committee).
SB46 by Sen. Sessions: To authorize the governing body of a Class 2 municipality (Mobile) to establish a delegation agreement with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to enforce the Alabama Scrap Tire Environmental Quality Act (House Local Legislation Committee).
SB83 by Sen. Orr: To require public entities to install and maintain powered, height-adjustable, adult-size changing tables accessible to both males and females in newly constructed or renovated public buildings, to provide for grant award payments to public entities with preexisting public restrooms subject to appropriation, and to encourage the installation and maintenance of adult-size changing tables in private sector facilities across the state (House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
SB91 by Sen. Kelley: To require a person seeking to construct a tall structure within a minimum distance of a military installation to receive approval from the local government before construction may begin, and authorize a local government to seek enjoinment of the construction of a tall structure if prior approval was not granted (House County and Municipal Government 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 (House Judiciary Committee).
SB130 by Sen. Melson: To provide that refined gold and silver bullion, specie, or certain coins may be recognized as legal tender (House Financial Services Committee).
SENATE COMMITTEES
HB92 by Rep. Brown: To create the Alabama Seagrass Restoration Task Force and to provide for its membership and duties (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB187 by Rep. Hill: To allow funds allocated to the Sheriff’s Office for exclusive use of the jail to be expended to support the functions the office of the Sheriff (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB180 by Sen. Carnley: To prohibit state and local agencies from entering into an agreement with a media monitoring organization or a company that uses the services of a media monitoring organization, or from providing support to a media monitoring organization (substituted in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB217 by Sen. Orr: To require the bond financing agreement documents to include a schedule of all of the debt obligations of the county under certain conditions and to require the chair of the county commission and the authorized signatory for the bond underwriter to sign an acknowledgment that the total amount of debt obligations and a schedule of the total debt payments have been presented and explained to the county commission (amended in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS
HOUSE
HB425 by Rep. Bedsole: To require each executive committee delegated by a regional mental health authority board to include at least one active sheriff and one active judge of probate, prohibit a board of directors from creating additional qualifications for directors through the corporation’s constitution and bylaws, and to provide for a quorum (House State Government Committee).
HB427 by Rep. M. Moore: To eliminate the state sales and use tax rate on food on September 1, 2025 (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB437 by Rep. Faulkner: To establish a shark alert system for Baldwin and Mobile counties, to provide for the development, implementation and operation of the alert system by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with assistance from other agencies of the state and political subdivisions (House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB438 by Rep. Drummond: To create the Education Transparency Board within the State Department of Education, to provide for the commission and completion of an impact study following certain reductions in the budget of the U.S. Department of Education, and to authorize the State Board of Education to adopt rules (House Education Policy Committee).
HB440 by Rep. Brown: To further provide for the collection of fire service fees in Mobile County to maintain firefighting districts in by providing a definition for “residence” (House Mobile County Legislation Committee).
HB444 by Rep. Butler: To require private schools and church schools to accept religious exemptions to vaccine or testing requirements, and to provide penalties for failure to comply (House Health Committee).
HB445 by Rep. Whitt: To regulate the manufacture, wholesale distribution, and retail sale of consumable hemp products, to authorize the Alabama Beverage Control (ABC) Board to license manufacturers, wholesales, and retailers of these products, to impose restrictions on retail establishments, and to prohibit the sales to minors (House Health Committee).
HB448 by Rep. Harrison: To authorize individuals to provide care to injured or orphaned wild birds and animals under certain conditions (House Agriculture and Forestry Committee).
HB450 by Rep. Underwood: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to increase the age of eligibility to be elected or appointed to a judicial office from 70 to 75 years of age (House Judiciary Committee).
HB451 by Rep. Woods: To exempt the purchase of broadband equipment and supplies from sales and use tax (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB467 by Rep Daniels: To remove the sunset provision for the existing exemption of overtime compensation from income tax, to require the Department of Revenue and the Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services to conduct an economic impact study on the effects of the exemption, and to require public posting of the study (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB473 by Rep. Stringer: To prohibit boards of water and sewer commissioners from restricting public recreation uses of owned or controlled water bodies (House Boards, Agencies and Commissions Committee).
SENATE
SB236 by Sen. Barfoot: To require each executive committee delegated by a regional mental health authority board to include at least one active sheriff and one active judge of probate, prohibit a board of directors from creating additional qualifications for directors through the corporation’s constitution and bylaws, and to provide for a quorum (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB237 by Sen. Melson: To regulate the manufacture, wholesale distribution, and retail sale of consumable hemp products, to authorize the Alabama Beverage Control (ABC) Board to license manufacturers, wholesales, and retailers of these products, to impose restrictions on retail establishments, and to prohibit the sales to minors (Senate Healthcare Committee).
SB245 by Sen. Orr: To provide further for the eligibility determinations for Medicaid, to prohibit certain self attestations for Medicaid eligibility, to require the Alabama Medicaid Agency to enter into data matching agreements with certain state agencies to cross-check Medicaid eligibility, to require the Department of Human Resources to enter into data matching agreements with certain state agencies to cross-check food assistance eligibility, and to require the agency and the department to regularly review certain federal date for purposes of confirming eligibility for public assistance (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB246 by Sen. Orr: To prohibit the State Department of Human Resources from granting categorical eligibility for SNAP benefits, and to further provide for gross income standards for eligibility for food assistance (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB247 by Sen. Orr: To prohibit a person from picketing or protesting in certain circumstances, and to allow counties and municipalities to adopt ordinances or regulations regarding time and noise regulations in certain circumstances (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB249 by Senator Allen: To provide that a municipality may only levy a new tax or license fee, or increase the rate of a tax or license fee, by ordinance, to provide that the ordinance may not be considered for adoption until after a public hearing, and to require at least 30 days’ notice before the public hearing (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB256 by Sen. Sessions: To authorize a determination in favor of the Class 2 municipality bidder as the prevailing bidder during a tax auction occurring in a Class 2 municipality that ends in a tie, to authorize a Class 2 municipality to enter property on which it holds a tax lien certificate to make repairs, to clarify that the Class 2 municipality holds a lien for the cost of its repair that is not extinguished by a tax lien certificate, and to provide for the sale by the tax collecting official of a tax lien certificate that remains unsold for a period of time for the price to certain entities (Senate Mobile County Legislation Committee).
SB258 by Sen. Williams: To alter, rearrange , and extend the boundary lines and corporate limits of the City of Semmes in Mobile County (Senate Mobile County Legislation).
SB260 by Sen. Allen: To prohibit governmental bodies or governmental entities from purchasing or using an unmanned aircraft system manufactured in a foreign adversary, manufactured or sold by a company with certain relations to a foreign adversary, or that contains at least 50 percent of its parts or components connected to a company with certain relations to a foreign adversary (Senate State Governmental Affairs Committee).
SB265 by Sen Elliott: To establish the Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Program Act, to provide requirements for the operation of peer-to-peer car sharing programs, and to provide for the taxation of peer-to-peer car sharing programs under certain conditions (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB267 by Sen. Orr: To provide for the establishment of the Alabama Charter School Finance Authority, to permit the authority to issue bonds for the purpose of making financing loans to state charter educational institutions to finance and refinance projects costs, and to require each state charter educational institution that receives a financing loan to maintain a dedicated source of revenue to repay the financing loans (Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee).
SB268 by Sen. England: To define a new category of low-alcohol content liquor beverages call mixed spirit beverages, to levy an excise tax upon the distribution of mixed spirit beverages, and to provide licenses for retailers of mixed spirit beverages (Senate Tourism 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
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
HB170 Rep. Garrett: Supplemental from the Education Trust Fund ($524,276,588)
HB185 Rep. Reynolds: Supplemental from the General Fund ($20,545,966)
SB113 Sen. Orr: Supplemental from the Education Trust Fund ($524,276,588)
