While the budgets and local bills appear to be the prominent issues for lawmakers going into the session that starts Tuesday, there will, of course, be other priority bills.
Here are few to look for early on.
Education
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said there will be education-related bills early in the House. Specifically, expanding career technical education opportunities is something his office has been working on.
Last year, the Legislature earmarked $100 million for career tech facilities, available via grants. The requests have outpaced the demand, Ledbetter said.
“Our hope is that we can come back this year and add some money to that,” he said.
At an Alabama State Board of Education retreat Friday, Rep. Frances Holk-Jones, R-Foley, also mentioned career tech training and the need to make it easier for those with work experience to teach.
“… We’re having trouble actually getting the instructors because they have to have regular teacher certification,” Holk-Jones said. “Well, if they’ve been a plumber for 30 years, they don’t necessarily need to go back and get their regular teaching certificate. So we’re working on changing some of those laws to make it easier for the people who have been welders and electricians for their entire career, but want to still give back to the school system, so we’re working on that.”
Meanwhile, the House and Senate education budget chairmen are expected to bring a bill that ties some funding for four- and two-year colleges to certain performance metrics, possibly including graduation rates and the number of in-demand degrees they produce.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, last year led discussions on the proposal. Orr previously said any new model would draw from the Education Opportunity Reserve Fund, which is projected to hold about $1.1 billion, and would provide additional dollars beyond base operating budgets.
Crime
Both Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said another priority is legislation allowing the death penalty when an adult is convicted of rape or sodomy of a child under 12.
The bill from Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, and Sen. April Weaver, R-Briefield, follows the arrest in July of at least seven people in connection with an underground bunker where as many as 10 child victims were raped and tortured, some over years.
Separately, a bill to help address crime in some metro areas is also expected.
Ongoing issues
Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville will bring back his bill to require smartphone app stores to verify users’ ages before granting unrestricted access. He sponsored the bill last year. It did not pass, but he did pass legislation requiring all smartphones and tablets to have obscene content filters automatically enabled for minors.
Chambliss told ADN his app store bill is the same as last year, but he his open to improvements.
Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, will also try again with his bill to consolidate many of the state’s occupational licensure boards under an umbrella state agency. Management issues at several boards have come to light in the last two years. Related to that issue, Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, last week filed Senate Bill 38 to allow the governor to remove the executive directors of occupational or professional licensing boards.
And Gudger last week said he will quickly move his bill to repeal a law of local interest he helped establish in 2025.
It created a community development district for a proposed luxury resort on Smith Lake in Cullman County. The legislation allowed the City of Cullman to annex the land for the development. The Cullman County Commission opposed the proposal and it became a point of controversy in two special House elections in Cullman County last year.
“But I’m listening to the people loud and clear,” Gudger said in August when announcing the repeal.
Alabama Daily News’ Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this report.