Bill would exempt nursing mothers from jury duty
The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously supported on Wednesday Senate Bill 76 would allow nursing mothers to be exempted from jury duty.
“Nursing mothers already face a unique set of stresses in their daily lives and worrying about being called for jury duty should not be one of them,” bill sponsor Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield said.
The legislation came from a situation in Jefferson County where a nursing mother was forced to bring her infant to report to jury duty.
“You would think good sense would rule, but evidently statute has to take over,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, said.
The bill now moves to the Senate.
Bill to remove sales tax on menstrual, baby products advances
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, is trying again this session to remove the state’s sales tax from menstrual hygiene products, baby formula and some other baby care items.
Senate Bill 159 was approved without discussion Wednesday in the Senate education budget committee, chaired by Orr. The same bill came close to final passage last year.
According to a fiscal note on Orr’s bill, it would reduce revenue to the Education Trust Fund by $10.5 million annually.
Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, is again sponsoring the same bill in the House.
Bill criminalizes the threatened release of sexually explicit images
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Senate Bill 35 to criminalize threatening to release sexually explicit material of another person as means of extortion, though some committee members said the bill is too broad.
The bill from Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, would expand the crime of sexual extortion to include instances where an individual threatens to release sexually explicit images or videos of another person as a means to compel action. It would be a Class B felony, punishable with up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $30,000.
Some Democrats and Republicans Wednesday said that without putting a requirement of proof of a threat into the new proposed law, it could be abused. Sen. Vivian Figures, R-Mobile, said she has sons and wouldn’t want to see them wrongly accused under this bill.
“I think there should be some language about proof,” Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile said. “… I really think this could be used against somebody.”
Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Madison, also said 20 years in prison may be too harsh.
While “revenge porn” cases can involve people in or previously in relationships, there have also been cases of teens targeted by scammers and lured into sending them explicit images and then threatened with their release.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said young people have killed themselves over such threats.
The bill moves to the Senate and Figures asked Allen to keep working on some of the concerns brought up in committee. He agreed, saying no family should go through what some already have.
“No grandparent needs that call at 12:50 in the morning,” Allen said to the committee.
Effort to expand electronic monitoring of delinquent juveniles advances in committee
The House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that could see electronic monitoring of delinquent juveniles expanded in the state.
While electronic monitoring of juveniles is already authorized under state law, House Bill 199, sponsored by Rep. Travis Hendrix, D-Fairfield, would authorize the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, or any other state agency, to provide electronic monitoring services, thereby expanding the practice’s use for municipalities without sufficient resources.
The bill was Hendrix’s first as a state lawmaker to advance through a committee, with Hendrix telling Alabama Daily News that were it to become law, he felt it could significantly reduce juvenile crime.
“I had a cousin that has court issues, back and forth out of court, and if that option was given to him in terms of electronic monitoring, I think he probably would be in a better position than he is today,” Hendrix told ADN. “I think it’ll be good for Alabama in general when it comes to trying to keep track of juvenile delinquents that are high risk, the ones who are continuing to commit crimes.”
The bill closely mirrors one of Gov. Kay Ivey’s inclusions in her ‘Safe Alabama’ bill package designed to improve public safety and reduce crime. Hendrix told ADN that he has, and will continue to work closely with the governor’s office on the legislation.
Pardons and Paroles Board reform bill advances through Judiciary Committee after third attempt
A bill that would reform the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles by mandating the body follow its own parole release guidelines, or provide a written explanation for deviating from its guidelines, narrowly passed through the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
House Bill 40 is the third attempt by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, to establish a form of oversight for the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which he argued has regularly acted outside of its authority.
“One of the responsibilities that the board was given in 2019 was to take two years of data to determine if the current guidelines they have work or not; it is now 2025, and they still haven’t done it,” England said. “One of the things that oversight would provide is that (it) would do what the current board has refused to do for the last five or six years.”
The Pardons and Parole Board has received increased scrutiny in recent years due to the dramatic decline in the state’s parole grant rate, gradually dropping from 53% in 2018 to 8% in 2023. England first filed a bill that would establish oversight to the board in 2023, and again in 2024, but failed to advance the legislation out of committee both times.
After the meeting, England said he was “surprised” to see his bill advance through the committee. It received six votes in opposition from Republican Reps. Cynthia Almond of Tuscaloosa, Russell Bedsole of Alabaster, David Faulkner of Mountain Brook, Phillip Pettus of Greenhill, Matt Simpson of Daphne, and Jerry Starnes of Prattville.
Bill banning drag performances at public schools, libraries with vocal pushback
The House Committee on State Government approved a bill Wednesday that would both prohibit drag performances at public schools and libraries and also prohibit state entities from allowing minors to share certain facilities with members of the opposite sex.
The bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, drew some public opposition from people arguing it harms transgender Alabamians and that the language defining drag performances was overly broad.
Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, questioned Stadthagen about why he filed the legislation.
“I’m trying to understand what’s behind this bill, I feel like there must have been some impetus for this to be introduced,” Lands said.
Stadthagen referenced news articles that documented drag performances in settings where minors were present, and said his bill was an effort to prohibit such incidents.
“I just feel like that so much of what we’re doing here is overreach and a very reactive measure when there really isn’t a problem there,” Lands said.
“So you would agree that it is appropriate for a man to be dressed as a woman in a sexual manner in front of a child?” Stadthagen asked. “Would you agree to that or not?”
“Not in a sexual manner, but that’s not part of this bill,” Lands said.
The bill ultimately passed with three dissenting votes.
Alabama Daily News later asked Stadthagen if he shared any concerns regarding the bill’s language being overly broad, to which he said he was “100%” certain the bill would only “impact the people it needs to go after.”
Bill to borrow additional $500 million for prisons advances to Senate
The Alabama Senate General Fund committee advanced Wednesday chairman Sen. Greg Albritton’s Senate Bill 60 to allow the state to borrow an additional $500 million for prison construction.
In 2021, lawmakers approved a plan and spending about $1.2 billion on two new 4,000-bed prisons. That included borrowing up to $785 million.
“Then reality set in,” Albritton, R-Range, told the committee.
The first prison, under construction in Elmore County, is now expected to cost more than $1 billion, eating up most of the allocated funding.
The state is committed to building the second prison in Escambia County, citing an increasing prison population and court orders about dangerous and crowded prison conditions.
The state still has the ability to borrow about $285 million of the original $785 million. An additional borrowing capacity will assure the projects are completed, Albritton said. He also said the state may not need to borrow the total amount.
State officials haven’t publicly said how much the second prison in Escambia County will cost, but have said about 60% of the needed funds are in hand.
According to a fiscal note on the bill, borrowing $1.285 billion will cost the state about $30.5 million over 30 years.
The bill now moves to the Senate.