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The Alabama Legislature convened for Day 19 of its annual Regular Session on Tuesday, April 8 and convened in Session Wednesday and Thursday for Days 20 and 21. Thirty-four committee meeting were held during the week. The Legislature will next convene for Day 22 on Tuesday, April 15 with the House convening at 1 p.m. and the Senate convening at 2 p.m.
891 bills have been 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.
SB54, 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, 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.
HB93, Rep. Brown: To exempt all property used by the Alabama State Port Authority from the state personal property inventory and audit requirements.
HB159, 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.
SB199, 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.
HB243, 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 require the local tax collecting official and the Department of Revenue to collect the unabated portion and deposit the revenue into the Alabama Development Fund.
HB101, Rep. Shirey: To authorize the Sheriff of Mobile County to establish procedures for using a credit or debit card to make purchases.
HB104, 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.
SB40, 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.
SB60, 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.
SB130, Sen. Melson: To provide that refined gold and silver bullion, specie, or certain coins may be recognized as legal tender.
NOTABLE HOUSE FLOOR ACTION
HB90 by Rep. Clarke: To further provide for a municipal housing authority’s power to manage housing projects and community facilities, participate in lawful forms of business organizations, make loans, create subsidiaries or other lawful business organizations, and enter into contracts, to ratify the creation of any wholly-owned subsidiary of a municipal housing authority, to further provide for a municipal housing authority’s power to evaluate and award contracts, and to exempt public housing authorities from all taxes (as substituted and amended).
HB91 by Rep. Clarke: To provide further powers to a county housing authority to manage housing projects and community facilities, including powers to participate in lawful forms of business organizations, make loans, create subsidiaries or other lawful business organizations, and enter into contracts (as substituted).
HB323 by Rep. Givens: To exempt all electric utility commodities and equipment from the requirement of obtaining a permit for movement on the state’s highway system.
HB357 by Rep. Hollis: To define “cigarette” and “heated tobacco product,” and to levy a tax on heated tobacco products (as substituted).
HB380 by Rep. Rigsby: To create the crime of human cloning and provide criminal penalties (as substituted and amended.
HB403 by Rep. Bedsole: To provide for the establishment, development, management, and maintenance of the Alabama Criminal Enterprise Database (as substituted).
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.
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.”
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 (as substituted).
HB477 by Rep. Faulkner: To authorize a nonprofit agricultural organization to offer health benefits to its members and their families, to specify that the nonprofit agricultural organization would not be engaged in the business of health insurance, and would specify health care benefits that must by offered, to require a nonprofit agricultural organization to create a complaint system for members receiving health benefits, and to impose a tax measured by premiums received by a nonprofit agricultural organization (as substituted).
HB481 by Rep. Shaw: To exempt the purchase and installation of certain material and equipment by local boards of education and certain public procurement units from certain procedures for entering into contracts for public works.
HB529 by Rep. Faulkner: To levy a tax on consumable vapor products and provide for the reporting, collection and distribution of the proceeds, and to provide for the permitting of retailers of these products (as substituted).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 substituted).
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 substituted and amended).
NOTABLE SENATE FLOOR ACTION
Confirmations – The Senate confirmed several appointments to the University of South Alabama Board of Trustees: James Yance, Meredith Hamilton, Robert Jenkins, III, Michael Windom, Bill Lewis, Chandra Brown Stewart and Katherine Alexis Atkins. Confirmed to the Alabama Community College Board of Trustees were Llevelyn Rhone, Goodrich “Dus” Rogers, Valerie Gray, and J.E.B. Shill.
HB191 by Rep. Baker: To establish conditions for exemption of county or municipal sales and use tax (as amended).
SB34 by Sen. Smitherman: To require instruction in violence prevention, conflict resolution, and mediation before graduation from high school (as amended).
SB43 by Sen. Melson: To bar enforcement of contractual provisions between health insurers and health care providers and pharmacists which forbid or penalize disclosure of information to patients about the cost and availability or treatment or drugs (as substituted).
SB92 by Sen. Chesteen: To prohibit the use, operation, and possession of wireless communication devices on certain public school properties, to require local boards of education to adopt an Internet safety policy, and to require students to complete a social media safety course prior to entering the eighth grade (as substituted and amended).
SB112 by Sen. Orr: $9.9 Billion Education Trust Fund Budget (as substituted and amended).
SB113 by Sen. Orr: Supplemental Appropriations from the Education Trust Fund totaling $524,276,588 (as substituted and amended).
SB119 by Sen. Barfoot: To further provide for the list of persons prohibited from possessing a firearm, to prohibit firearm possession by a person charged with certain felony offenses when the person has been released pending or during trial, and to increase the penalty for the offense of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, building or other designated space (as amended).
SB174 by Sen. Chambliss: To require counties and municipalities to provide certain annual reports on business license taxes and business privilege taxes, and to expand the jurisdiction of the Alabama Tax Tribunal to include appeals of business license tax determinations made by counties or municipalities (as amended).
SB196 by Sen. Orr: To establish a program allowing eligible 11th and 12th grade students to take all courses at an eligible two-year public institution of higher education and receive high school credit for the coursework (Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee).
SB305 by Sen. Orr: To create the Renewing Alabama’s Investment in Student Excellence (RAISE) Act to establish a process to provide additional funding for public K-12 schools for the purpose of addressing the educational needs of the student population and improving educational outcomes (as substituted).
NOTABLE COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE COMMITTEES
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 (amended in House Judiciary Committee).
HB69 by Rep. Givan: To provide prohibitions on the unlawful possession of a firearm or the unlawful transfer of a firearm in a Class 1 municipality (Birmingham) (House Judiciary Committee).
HB178 by Rep. Gidley: To require each local board of education and public institution of higher education to display, in an entry way or other common area of a school, the Ten Commandments along with a statement of context and excerpts from certain foundational documents from our Nation’s history, subject to the availability of donated funds or displays (substituted in House Education Policy 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 (amended in House Education Policy 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 (Public Hearing but no vote in House Financial Services 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 (amended in House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee).
HB473 by Rep. Stringer: To prohibit boards of water and sewer commissioners from restricting public recreation uses of owned or controlled water bodies (amended in House Boards, Agencies and Commissions Committee).
HB501 by Rep. Pringle: To authorize the Legislative Council to contract for the demolition of the building designated as the current Alabama State House, upon completion of the new Alabama State House, to provide for the disposition of certain property and materials affixed to the building, and to provide for the sale of items in the chambers that will not be relocated to the new Alabama State House (House State Government Committee).
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 (Public Hearing but no vote in House Judiciary Committee).
SB110 by Sen. Williams: To add certain trucks to those that are excepted from certain weight limits, to further provide for an operator of a vehicle to verify the accuracy of portable scales, and to remove the authority of certain individuals to require vehicle operators to drive to stationary weigh scales to enforce those weight limits (House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee).
SENATE COMMITTEES
HB1 by Rep. Brown: To assess a fee on certain seafood dealer licensees to be deposited into the Imported Seafood Safety Fund; to create the Imported Seafood Safety Fund to be used by the Alabama Department of Public Health to inspect imported seafood products for substances that are harmful to humans (amended in Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
HB209 by Rep. DuBose: To provide an exemption from jury service for nursing mothers (Senate Judiciary 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 (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
HB258 by Rep. Carns: To change the primary election in off-presidential years to the second Tuesday in May (amended in Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB302 by Rep. Robbins: To require labor brokers who recruit a certain number of foreign workers for employment in the State to register with the Department of Workforce, and to require labor brokers and nonprofit organizations to inform the Department if they directly sponsor a foreign worker or identify individuals or organizations they may be using to act as sponsors (amended in Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
HB324 by Rep. Sells: To provide that a sheriff’s term of office begins at noon on the first day of the term (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
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 (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
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 (Senate Judiciary 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 (Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee).
SB166 by Sen. Kelley: To require each local board of education and public institution of higher education to display, in an entry way or other common area of a school, the Ten Commandments along with a statement of context and excerpts from certain foundational documents from our Nation’s history, subject to the availability of donated funds or displays (substituted in Senate Education Policy 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).
SB270 by Sen. Weaver: To provide that any county sales and use tax authorized by local law, where any portion of the proceeds is distributed to a county board of education for capital projects, that portion of the tax to be distributed to the county board of education for capital projects may only be levied in areas served by the county board of education (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB272 by Sen. Williams: To prohibit boards of water and sewer commissioners from restricting public recreation uses of owned or controlled water bodies (Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee).
SB277 by Sen. Shelnutt: To require sex education and human reproductive process curriculum and programs to teach sexual risk avoidance and encourage abstinence from all sexual activity, to prohibit the promotion of abortions or any sexual activity, and to prohibit demonstrations of contraceptives (Public Hearing and favorable report in Senate Education Policy Committee).
SB278 by Sen. Shelnutt: To further provide for the provision on elective credit for students of public K-12 schools who attend religious instruction during the school day (Public Hearing but no vote in Senate Education Policy Committee).
SB279 by Sen. Givhan: To authorize the Legislative Council to contract for the demolition of the building designated as the current Alabama State House, upon completion of the new Alabama State House, to provide for the disposition of certain property and materials affixed to the building, and to provide for the sale of items in the chambers that will not be relocated to the new Alabama State House (Senate State Governmental Affairs Committee).
SB291 by Sen. Givhan: To allow a political party and local or other affiliated party organizations to transfer funds among themselves (Senate State Governmental Affairs Committee).
SB296 by Sen. Kelley: To provide for the operation of off-road vehicles on certain public roads, and to provide for the registration and licensure of off-road vehicles (Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee).
SB302 by Sen. Shelnutt: To authorize individuals of a certain age who carry certain health insurance to operate or ride on a motorcycle with protective headgear (Senate Banking and Insurance Committee).
SB316 by Sen. Singleton: To require the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board to issue an educational tourism distillery license, to regulate retail sales of alcoholic beverages by the licensee, to levy a tax on liquor manufactured by the licensee, and to provide for storage of liquor manufactured by the licensee (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS IN HOUSE
HB533 by Rep. Garrett: To create the Renewing Alabama’s Investment in Student Excellence (RAISE) Act to establish a process to provide additional funding for public K-12 schools for the purpose of addressing the educational needs of the student population and improving educational outcomes (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB535 by Rep. Tillman: To allow unemployment benefits when an employer locks out employees during a labor dispute (House Commerce and Small Business Committee).
HB536 by Rep. Tillman: To require the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to establish a program to educate law enforcement officers about post traumatic stress syndrome, and to provide cooperation between ALEA and local law enforcement agencies (House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
HB538 by Rep. Hall: To alter the official coast of arms of the State of Alabama (House State Government Committee).
HB543 by Rep. Brown: To increase the market value threshold amount for which tangible personal property is exempt from the state ad valorem tax (House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
HB555 by Rep. Hall: To create the Single Parent Support Tax Credit to provide a state income tax credit to certain single parents (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB558 by Rep. Garrett: To create the Renewing Alabama’s Investment in Student Excellence (RAISE) Act to establish a process to provide additional funding for public K-12 schools for the purpose of addressing the educational needs of the student population and improving educational outcomes (House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB560 by Rep. Givens: To require local boards of education to adopt policies prohibiting the acquisition of library materials that are harmful to minors, to require local boards of education to approve library materials before they may be placed in school library catalogs, to require local boards of education to establish a local advisory council and consider the recommendations of the advisory council, to provide a mechanism to submit a written challenge for school library materials, to provide for the rights of parents relating to their child’s access to library materials, and to authorize the State Board of Education to adopt rules (House Education Policy Committee).
HB561 by Rep. Lands: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to provide that the people may propose the enactment of general laws and constitutional amendments by an initiative measure subject to the same limitations imposed on the Legislature and that the Legislature may offer an alternate proposal (House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee).
HB565 by Rep. Lawrence: To require municipalities to provide a copy of the new boundaries of its municipal voting districts to the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment following an adjustment of the boundaries (House County and Municipal Government Committee).
HB566 by Rep. Easterbrook: To prohibit certain municipalities and all counties from requiring construction plans for new single family residencies under three floors in height to be approved by a registered architect or licensed professional engineer (House Commerce and Small Business Committee).
HJR227 by Rep. Pringle: To commend Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson for his faithful and unwavering service to the citizens of Mobile (House Rules Committee).
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS IN SENATE
SB300 by Sen. Sessions: To increase the market value threshold amount for which tangible personal property is exempt from the state ad valorem tax (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
SB304 by Sen. Orr: To establish the Alabama Energy Infrastructure Bank as a division within the State Industrial Development Authority for the purpose of selecting and assisting in the financing of qualified energy infrastructure projects necessary to meet the energy demands of economic development and industrial recruitment projects throughout the State of Alabama (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB306 by Sen. Kitchens: To require the online publication of certain county and municipal discretionary account funds and expenditures (Senate County and Municipal Government Committee).
SB307 by Sen. Kelley: To require the online publication of all county and municipal financial statements, audits, monthly expenditures, and budgets (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB312 by Sen. Smitherman: To require the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board to issue a license to dispense alcoholic beverages on an occasional basis on property controlled by the state or a political subdivision, and to require the ABC Board to issue a license to store alcoholic beverages in a facility for transfer to locations also licensed by the board for special events (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB318 by Sen. Singleton: To require certain disclosure when advertising service contracts, and to further provide for the limitations, exceptions, and exclusions of contracts that must be disclosed (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
SB323 by Sen. Sessions: To prohibit state agencies from killing, testing, and prohibiting the transfer of cervids due to disease, subject to exceptions, and to provide that cervids possessed by a licensee are the personal property of that licensee (Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee).
BUDGETS
HB186, Rep. Reynolds: $3.7 Billion General Fund Budget Passed House; pending in Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee.
SB112, Sen. Orr: $9.9 Billion Education Trust Fund Budget Passed Senate; Pending in House Ways and Means Education Committee.
