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The Alabama Legislature convened for Day 22, out of 30, of its annual Regular Session on Tuesday, April 15 and convened in Session Thursday for Day 23. Twenty-six committee meeting were held during the week. The Legislature will next convene for Day 24 on Tuesday, April 22 with the House convening at 1 p.m. and the Senate convening at 2 p.m.
934 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.
SB252, 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.
SB91, 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.
SB83, 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.
SB224, Sen. Sessions: To further provide for the electronic monitoring of certain individuals in Mobile County.
SB200, 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.
SB221, Sen. Williams: To further provide for the compensation of the Mobile County Judge of Probate.
NOTABLE HOUSE FLOOR ACTION THIS WEEK
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 (as substituted).
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 (as substituted and amended).
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 without 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.
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 (as substituted).
HB179 by Rep. Gidley: To allow a public K-12 school or public charter school to accept a campus chaplain who meets certain requirements as a volunteer, to prohibit certain individuals from volunteering as a campus chaplain, and to allow each local board of education and the governing body of each public charter school to vote on whether to allow the volunteer services of a campus chaplain.
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 (as substituted).
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 (as substituted).
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 (as substituted).
HB480 by Rep. Treadaway: To provide that foreign national driver licenses may not be used as photo identification for voting purposes.
HB506 by Rep. Lovvorn: To provide that if an off-road vehicle is publicly owned by a state, county, or municipal law enforcement agency, fire department, volunteer fire department, or rescue squad and meets certain requirements, the vehicle may be designated as an authorized emergency vehicle and may be operated on public streets and highways to perform emergency services (as substituted).
HB509 by Rep. Sorrells: To prohibit state agencies from killing, testing, and prohibiting the transfer of cervids due to disease, subject to exceptions (as amended on House floor).
SENATE FLOOR ACTION
SB5 by Sen. Elliott: To further provide for the number and composition of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Archives and History and to further provide for the manner in which the members are appointed (as substituted).
SB13 by Sen. Allen: A proposed Constitutional Amendment to require local boards of education to adopt policies requiring each K-12 public school to broadcast or sanction the performance of the first stanza of The Star Spangled Banner at least once per week during school hours.
SB142 by Sen. Kitchens: To remove the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) as a voter registration database that the board of registrars or the Secretary of State may use to identify voters whose addresses may have changed.
SB158 by Sen. Barfoot: To provide that foreign national driver license may not be used as photo identification for voting purposes.
SB171 by Sen. Chambliss: To prohibit an individual from operating a motor vehicle on land submerged below navigable waters.
SB186 by Sen. Chambliss: To require manufacturers of certain Internet-enabled devices, including smartphones and tablets, to require the devices to contain a filter that is enabled during the activation of the device if the user is a minor, and only allow a user with a password to deactivate or reactivate the filter, to subject a manufacturer of a device in violation of this act to civil liability and provide for penalties (as substituted).
SB187 by Sen. Chambliss: To require app store providers to verify the age of users, to affiliate minor accounts with parent accounts and obtain consent from the holder of the parent account, to notify users when an app makes a significant change, to require app store providers to give developers real-time access to the age category and consent status for minor accounts, to require app store providers to protect personal age verification data, and to prevent app store providers and developers from enforcing contracts against minors, misrepresenting information in disclosures, and sharing personal age verification data (as substituted).
SB312 by Sen. Smitherman: To create a new alcoholic beverage license category that would allow businesses that sell and dispense alcoholic beverages at special events under an existing special event license to obtain an event storage license, and to create a new alcoholic beverage license category for businesses to sell and dispense alcoholic beverages at a special event held on state, county, or municipal owned property, such as concert venues, exhibition halls, historic properties, and parks (as substituted).
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 (as amended).
NOTABLE COMMITTEE ACTION THIS WEEK
HOUSE COMMITTEES
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, to require the local board of education to conduct a vote whether to adopt a policy allowing employees and students to voluntarily participate in a daily prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text, would provide for the submission of a consent form to participate, prohibit the prayer and reading from being conducted in the presence of any individual who has not consented to participate, to require the State Superintendent to withhold 25 percent of state funding allocated to certain offending local boards of education, and to authorize the Legislature to further reduce funding upon continued violations (substituted in House State Government Committee).
HB246 by Rep. Stadthagen: To prohibit employees of public schools and public institutions of higher education from using names or pronouns inconsistent with a student’s legal name or biological sex without written permission from the student’s parent or guardian, to protect employees from adverse employment action for declining to use a name other than a legal name or a pronoun other than a pronoun corresponding to the student’s biological sex or for declining to identify his or her own pronouns, and to protect students from disciplinary action for declining to use a name other than a legal name or a pronoun other than a pronoun corresponding to the student’s biological sex or for declining to identify his or her own pronouns.(substituted in House Education Policy Committee).
HB379 by Rep. Garrett: To exclude certain nonresident, remote workers from state income tax in certain circumstances (amended in House Ways and Means Education Committee).
HB412 by Rep. Stringer: To further provide for the crime of unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure facility, and to further provide for the crime of criminal tampering in the first degree (amended in House Judiciary Committee).
HB483 by Rep. Shaw: To exempt virtual currency from ad valorem taxation (House Ways and Means General Fund Committee).
HB521 by Rep. Lipscomb: To define a new category of ready to drink mixed liquor beverages containing no more than seven percent alcohol by volume, called “mixed spirit beverages, to institute a licensing structure in Alabama for mixed spirit beverages, which would require all mixed spirit beverages, other than those sold in Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board stores, to be distributed through licensed wholesalers to licensed retailers for on-premises and off-premises consumption, and to provide for the levy of a privilege or excise tax on mixed spirit beverages (substituted and amended in House Economic Development and Tourism 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).
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 (House Ways and Means Education 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 (amended in House Judiciary Committee).
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 (House Education Policy Committee).
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 (House Judiciary Committee).
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 (House Judiciary Committee).
SB196 by Sen. Orr: To establish a program allowing eligible 11th and 12th grade students to take all courses at an eligible public institution of higher education and receive high school credit for the coursework, to create the Move on When Ready Fund, and to authorize payment from the fund to a public institution of higher education for courses taken pursuant to the program (substituted in House Education Policy Committee and re-referred to House Ways and Means Education Committee).
SENATE COMMITTEES
HB320 by Rep. Pringle: To provide certain additional methods of publication that would serve as a safe harbor for the award of a contract for public works in the event a publication by newspaper fails to be completed, and to establish the Study Commission on Public Notice of Title 39 Advertisements to study and make recommendations regarding the establishment of a centralized website for notice of advertisements for certain public bids (substituted in Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
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 (amended in Senate Transportation and Energy Committee).
HB380 by Rep. Rigsby: To create the crime of human cloning and provide criminal penalties (Carried Over in Senate Judiciary 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 (Senate County and Municipal Government 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 (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee).
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 (Public Hearing but no vote in Senate Banking and Insurance Committee).
SB268 by Sen. England: To define a new category of ready to drink mixed liquor beverages containing no more than seven percent alcohol by volume, called “mixed spirit beverages, to institute a licensing structure in Alabama for mixed spirit beverages, which would require all mixed spirit beverages, other than those sold in Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board stores, to be distributed through licensed wholesalers to licensed retailers for on-premises and off-premises consumption, and to provide for the levy of a privilege or excise tax on mixed spirit beverages (substituted and amended in Senate Tourism Committee).
SB271 by Sen. Allen: To prohibit municipalities from imposing certain fees or charges on natural or manufactured gas utilities in connection with the granting of consent to use public streets and places (Senate Transportation and Energy 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 (Senate Education Policy Committee).
SB282 by Sen. Barfoot: To exempt virtual currency from ad valorem taxes (Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee).
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).
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).
NOTABLE INTRODUCTIONS
HOUSE
HB567 by Rep. Wilcox: To increase the percent of total value of equalized taxable property, within a Class 2 (Mobile) municipality, that may be included in tax increment districts created by the municipality (House Mobile County Legislation).
HB578 by Rep. Wood: To prohibit the Alabama Department of Environmental Management from processing certain permits for quarries unless approved by a local government, to provide procedure for quarry approval by a local government, including required information to considered and a public hearing, and to establish a residential advisory board for monitoring approved quarries (House State Government Committee).
HB582 by Rep. Butler: To prohibit the use of the concepts of social-emotional learing for the training of teachers or the training, instruction, or education of students, and to require parental consent for a student to participate in certain surveys and evaluations (House Education Policy Committee).
HB588 by Rep Lawrence: To establish state privilege tax and a local privilege tax on the net gambling revenues from pari-mutuel wagering on historical horse racing (House Economic Development and Tourism Committee).
HB596 by Rep. Sells: To prohibit persons from transporting out of this state a live catfish harvested in public waters (House State Government Committee).
HB597 by Rep. Clouse: To provide for alternate delivery methods for public works projects, to further provide for who can file a protest, and to clarify how these provisions will be construed by the court (House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee).
SENATE
SB332 by Sen. Givhan: To provide for alternate delivery methods for public works projects, to further provide for who can file a protest, and to clarify how these provisions will be construed by the court (Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development 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.
