MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House this week is poised to tackle a number of bills targeting illegal immigration, improving public safety and reforming the state Veterans Affairs Department, Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, previewed to Alabama Daily News last week.
Speaking just outside the House chamber at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ledbetter said of the bills targeting immigration, he expected several to advance in House committees this week, and that some could be taken up on the House floor as soon as Thursday.
“What we’re trying to do now is to make sure that those that are here that have committed crimes, those are the ones we’ll try to capture,” Ledbetter told ADN. “We’re going to follow suit with the federal government on that with the bills we have, I think it’s very close to that mark.”
The Alabama Senate passed three bills earlier this month targeting illegal immigration, bills that would require law enforcement to collect DNA samples of undocumented immigrants, enhanced criminal penalties for smuggling undocumented immigrants, and reject out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to people who do not prove their legal status at the time of issuance.
While those three bills could potentially be taken up on the House floor Thursday, two bills targeting illegal immigration originating in the House advanced in committee last week, and five new ones were filed last week as well.
Ledbetter said he also expected the House to take up Gov. Kay Ivey’s Safe Alabama bill package, a package of eight bills designed to improve public safety and reduce crime.
Two of the eight bills – House Bills 188 and 199, which would create a scholarship program for law enforcement officers’ families and expand electronic monitoring for delinquent juveniles, respectively – sailed through the House last week with strong bipartisan support. The majority of the package has garnered bipartisan support, save for one bill that would enhance legal protections for police.
That bill, House Bill 202, sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, has seen opposition from House Democrats, who say the bill could compromise the ability to hold members of law enforcement accountable for criminal conduct. Ivey, Ledbetter and Republican leadership have stood behind the bill.
The bill has yet to pass out of committee, but saw significant reforms proposed to its language in the form of a bill substitute shared last Wednesday during a public hearing.
While Ledbetter has remained supportive of the bill, he did say lawmakers were working hard to ensure it would not cause unintended negative consequences if ultimately passed into law.
“There has been a lot of discussion and a lot of language that’s been taken in and out of the bill; the intent is to help, not to hurt, and so we’re trying to get to that point,” he said. “That’s the way it should be, the process should work in that manner and we look forward to getting it on the floor and moving it. It’s getting closer, I will say that.”
Ledbetter also anticipated that Senate Bill 67, which would reform the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs to make its commissioner a member of the governor’s cabinet, would be taken up by the House. As originally written, the bill would have also changed the ADVA Board to an advisory role, but that language was stripped out on the Senate floor by a bill substitute.
The bill passed out of the Senate last week, and comes months after a public dispute between Ivey’s office and the then-ADVA Commissioner Kent Davis.
“We wanted to see what the Senate did to it, that’s why we didn’t move the House version, to kind of get an idea of what they were going to do and what they would accept,” Ledbetter said.
“I think there’s a good chance, once we get that bill down here, we may pass it as is because they did a lot of work with it. Some of the work that they’ve done I think is positive and I commend them for the work they’ve done on the bill.”