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Legislative briefs for May 2

House passes measure to increase penalties for child labor violations

The Alabama House voted unanimously Thursday to adopt a bill that would increase both civil and criminal penalties for corporations that violate child labor laws.

Carried in the House by Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, and in the Senate by Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, Senate Bill 119 would increase civil and criminal penalties for two categories of child labor law violations. 

The first category, which includes lower-level violations, would see fines increase from a flat $300 to a fine of at least $300. The second category, which includes more severe violations such as employing minors under 16 to operate dangerous machinery, would see fines increase from between $1,000 and $5,000, to $5,000 and $10,000.

Criminal penalties for child labor violations that result in the death or serious injury of a minor would be increased from a Class a misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

Speaking on the bill, Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, suggested that the penalties, while increased under the bill, were still insufficient given the nature of child labor law violations.

“We realize on families owning farms, that’s different, but if we have a company or organization that’s hiring kids underage, and something happens to that child, that (fine) seems to place very little value on the life of that child,” Hall said.

“I don’t disagree with you,” Almond said. “However, at least we’re moving in the right direction.”

While members adopted the bill unanimously, Hall abstained from the vote.

 

Bill designed to improve communication channels between inmates and families passes House

A bill that would create new positions within the Alabama Department of Corrections dedicated solely to facilitating communication and information between incarcerated Alabamians and their families passed unanimously Thursday in the Alabama House.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, was written in response to a legislative hearing last year in which distraught families of incarcerated Alabamians shared testimony as to the barriers of getting in contact with or getting information about their loved ones in prison.

“What this bill does is it allows the commissioner with the Department of Corrections to appoint exempt employees to act as liaisons between the prisoners who are within ADOC and their families to decimate information,” Hill explained when introducing his bill.

“People ought to be able to get information about family members that are in prison.”

Speaking on the bill, Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, thanked Hill for his efforts to improve Alabama’s prison system, but said lawmakers still had much left to do.

“I’ve said it before, and this is a joke, but it’s got some truth to it: being the Department of Corrections commissioner is like being Vanderbilt’s football coach,” England quipped. 

“But, if there is a process in place, laws, procedures and policies in place, we would avoid a lot of problems that we’re having if they were just followed.”

The bill passed unanimously.

 

Ban on ranked-choice voting sees House passage

The Alabama House voted along party lines Thursday to adopt a bill that would ban the practice of ranked-choice voting for elections.

Ranked-choice voting is a voting method that allows voters to rank their candidates in order of preference rather than just select one. 

Under this method, only first choice votes are counted, and if a candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they win the election. If no candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated.

First-choice votes for eliminated candidates are redistributed based on the voters’ second-choice, and the process repeats until one candidate receives a majority of votes.

Sponsored by Rep. Mark Shirey, R-Mobile, Senate Bill 186 would prohibit ranked-choice voting in Alabama in local, state and federal elections, and would go into effect on Oct. 1.

Shirey said that the bill was about preserving election integrity. He said ranked-choice voting was complicated and confusing for voters.

A number of House Democrats spoke against the bill, arguing that it was unnecessary to preemptively prohibit a voting method when the state’s voter participation was already extremely low when compared to other states.

“There was one thing that was said, and that was that this is preserving election integrity,” said Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham. 

“Let’s be real; this isn’t preserving election integrity, this is preserving the status quo so that people, lobbyists and the party apparatus out there who are not elected to be in this chamber have more power than the people of the state of Alabama.”

The bill ultimately passed along party lines with a vote of 74-28.

 

Alabama lawmakers approve legislation to ensure President Biden is on the November ballot

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama officials on Thursday approved legislation to ensure President Joe Biden will appear on the state’s November ballot, mirroring accommodations the state made four years ago for then-President Donald Trump.

The House of Representatives voted 93-0 for the legislation. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law the same day, a spokeswoman said.

“This is a great day in Alabama when in a bipartisan manner, we passed this legislation to ensure that President Joe Biden gains access to the ballot in Alabama,” Democratic state Sen. Merika Coleman, the bill’s sponsor, said. The Republican-dominated Alabama Legislature approved the bill without a dissenting vote.

The issue of Biden’s ballot access has arisen in Alabama and Ohio because the states’ early certification deadlines fall before the Democratic National Convention begins on Aug. 19. Republican secretaries of state warned that Biden might not appear on state ballots.

Alabama has one of the earliest candidate certification deadlines in the country, which has caused difficulties for whichever political party has the later convention date that year.

Trump faced the same issue in Alabama in 2020. The Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature passed legislation to change the certification deadline for the 2020 election to accommodate the date of the GOP convention.

The Alabama legislation will defer the state’s certification deadline from 82 days before the general election to 74 days to accommodate the date of the Democrats’ nominating convention.

 

Committee advances bill to let Alabama inmates speak at parole hearings

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A legislative committee on Thursday advanced a bill to allow state inmates, for the first time, to speak by phone or video conference at their parole hearings.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill after adding an amendment to give victims and law enforcement officials the option to also participate by electronic means instead of driving to Montgomery for the parole hearing.

The bill, which was approved in the Senate without a dissenting vote, now moves to the Alabama House of Representatives to be considered in the final three days of the legislative session.

Alabama is one of two states that do not allow inmates to speak at parole hearings.

“(Senate Bill) 312 gives the incarcerated inmate the ability to participate in the hearing and more importantly, it gives the Parole Board another opportunity or an opportunity to question that inmate,” Republican Sen. Will Barfoot, the bill sponsor, said.

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