Firearm surrender bill approved in Senate
The Alabama Senate Thursday approved legislation that would allow citizens to turnover their firearms to a registered gun dealer or local law enforcement agency for a set amount of time without fear of repercussions, such as losing their ability to possess a firearm or being involuntarily committed.
Senate Bill 40 by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, is called the Houston/Hunter Act, named for military veterans Houston Tumlin and Hunter Whitley, both of whom died by suicide. Their mothers have advocated the bill, saying had it been law previously, it may have saved their sons.
The Senate unanimously supported the bill. Sen. Merika Coleman-Madison, D-Pleasant Grove, thanked Kelley for the bill and urged support of her Senate Bill 170, which would allow for court orders removing firearms for one year from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
“Let’s talk about Senate Bill 170 so we can save not only our veterans, but other people who are in trouble as well,” she said.
Kelley’s bill now moves to the House.
Bill adds defense contractor, pulp and paper facilities to ‘critical infrastructure’
The Alabama Senate on Thursday approved legislation adding defense contractor facilities and paper and pulp manufacturing plants to the state’s list of critical infrastructure.
State law defines critical infrastructure facilities as systems or assets “so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of the system or asset would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health, or national public safety.”
Trespassing at such a site is a Class A Misdemeanor.
Senate Bill 54 tweaks existing language to say damaging or stealing from such facilities is a Class C felony if it is done “intentionally, recklessly or with criminal negligence.
Bill sponsor Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, pulp and paper were added because of the significant role the timber industry plays in the state’s economy.
The existing list of more than 20 types of facilities includes steelmaking plants, mines, oil refineries, airports, ports and railroad facilities.
Bill extending cancer death benefits to volunteer firefighters passes House with strong support
A bill that would extend death benefits to the families and dependents of volunteer firefighters who die from work-related cancer passed unanimously in the Alabama House Thursday.
House Bill 35, sponsored by Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, would extend the death benefit as it relates to work-related cancer deaths that is currently provided for paid firefighters to volunteer firefighters, who Bedole said work across 83% of the state.
The bill passed out of the House last year, but stalled in the Senate amid lengthy debates over gambling legalization legislation.
House adopts Pharmacy Board reform bill as changed in committee
The Alabama House unanimously approved a bill Thursday that would see the continuance of the Alabama Board of Pharmacy, which issues fees and fines for pharmacists in the state, with significant reforms.
Sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, House Bill 123 was drafted in response to a number of operational issues found with the board, including charging fees in higher amounts than what’s authorized by law and violating open meeting laws.
The bill would expand and reform the pharmacy board’s membership, and as originally written, would have removed its authority to set non-disciplinary fines.
When introduced on the House floor, however, Underwood introduced a substitute that reinstated the board’s authority to issue non-disciplinary fines, as well as entitled board members to a $500 per diem, per day of official board business. Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, also introduced an amendment to the bill that would ensure the pharmacy board complies with open meeting laws.
Both the substitute and the amendment were adopted by the House unanimously, as was the bill itself, sending it off to the Senate.