MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Lawmakers are headed back to Montgomery for a three-legislative-day week, and all signs point to that it will be a busy one.
Here’s some of what to expect in the State House today.
General Fund budget, SSUT update in Senate committee
The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee has a packed agenda for this afternoon.
Chair Greg Albritton, R-Range, is carrying all 10 items on the slate, including a revised draft of the 2027 General Fund budget. He said he expects the committee to vote on the budget today.
Gov. Kay Ivey in January sent lawmakers her proposed $3.69 billion General Fund budget. It calls for level funding of all state agencies’ operations and maintenance. It reflects a $28.5 million drop from the current year’s $3.71 billion budget.
General Fund revenues are expected to decline by 4.2% in fiscal 2027, which begins Oct. 1, 2026. So far in fiscal ’26, revenues are up 0.77%.
The committee will also consider an update to how the state distributes online sales tax revenues to municipalities and counties and a 2% pay increase for state employees.
The meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in the Finance and Taxation Room.
House to vote on school prayer, doxing
The House’s proposed calendar starts with a bang today.
Lawmakers will begin the day with Rep. Reed Ingram’s House Bill 511, which would require all public schools to provide time each day for prayer.
The proposal includes conducting the Pledge of Allegiance daily and would allow the state to withhold up to 25% of a district’s state funding. Student participation in both prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance would remain optional.
The bill calls for a constitutional amendment that would appear on the statewide ballot in November if approved by the Legislature.
The House will also consider Rep. Donna Givens’ House Bill 106, which broadens what can be considered doxing.
In 2023, lawmakers passed a bill to create the crime of doxing, the act of finding and publishing private or identifying information online with malicious intent. Private information includes a victim’s home address and photographs or information about their children.
Any Alabamian can be doxed, but the original law lays out a separate category for the doxing of law enforcement officers, firefighters and public servants. In either category, a person can only be charged with doxing if their victim is actually harassed or impeded from performing their governmental duty.
Givens’, R-Loxley, bill removes the requirement that the victim is actually harassed as a result of their information being published online. Making the information public, regardless of whether harm is caused, would be considered doxing.
The bill also establishes harsher penalties for doxing, especially for multiple offenses when harassment occurs.
Also on the calendar are bills concerning public corruption, municipal runoff election procedures and tax abatements for data centers.
The House is set to convene at 1:00 p.m. for the 20th legislative day. There are 10 days remaining in the 2026 session.
The Senate’s special order calendar is not yet available. The Senate is scheduled to gavel in at 2:00 p.m.