MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A bill to expand immunity for police was approved in a Senate committee on Wednesday, though Democrats vowed to fight it on the Senate floor.
Carried by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, House Bill 202 would impose higher legal thresholds to prosecute or sue members of law enforcement, entitle officers facing charges or lawsuits to a pre-trial hearing to determine immunity, and facilitate the early dismissal of charges that fail to reach the higher legal threshold.
“We’re planning on fighting this bill, I think this is just a bad bill,” said Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, speaking with Alabama Daily News Wednesday. Singleton is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the bill was modified through several amendments.
The first amendment introduced was offered by Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, and would grant plaintiffs access to any bodycam footage in legal cases involving an officer, and ahead of the pre-trial immunity hearing. Under the bill, the pre-trial immunity hearing must be held within 45 days of charges being filed.
The amendment was approved by the body, but not without comment from Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, who has fiercely opposed the bill since its inception.
“I heard about the impact on law enforcement officers and all that, but what about the regular folks?” Smitherman asked. “Regular folks are going to get killed.”
Reynolds and the bill’s supporters, which include Gov. Kay Ivey, who first unveiled the bill as part of her Safe Alabama package of public safety bills, have argued the bill to be necessary to support law enforcement, with Reynolds regularly highlighting provisions in the bill that ensure officers are not granted immunity for conduct that violates a person’s constitutional rights.
Nevertheless, Democratic lawmakers have continued to push back against the measure, including the entirety of the Alabama House Democratic Caucus.
Singleton offered three other amendments to HB202, the first of which would establish a study commission to study the effect of the bill on police recruitment and retention, something the bill’s supporters have said the legislation would help to improve.
The amendment was adopted and received favorably by Reynolds, though Singleton’s second amendment, which would require law enforcement agencies to adopt an updated written policy on conduct, failed to pass.
“To stand here this morning, with this language, and force this on all the agencies, whether it be state police, local police, sheriff departments… that’s just a heavy lift,” Reynolds told ADN of Singleton’s proposal.
Singleton’s third and final amendment would require law enforcement agencies to collect and archive data related to use of excessive force allegations, an amendment that Reynolds received favorably, and was ultimately adopted.
The bill went on to pass through the committee as amended in a partisan split vote, though not without Smitherman making clear his continued opposition to the bill.
“This is a green light to kill Black folk,” Smitherman said. “This right here opens the green light for them to do anything.”
Reynolds told ADN after the meeting he wasn’t necessarily opposed to Singleton’s amendments, but rather, how they were presented in committee.
“I’m not happy with the procedural manner in which they occurred; we typically in the House extend the courtesy of giving the bill sponsor time to look at the amendments,” he told ADN.
“Even the amendment that we voted down, we might could have got there if we’d had time to work on it. That’s not the way to draft legislation. But otherwise, the other two amendments that Sen. Singleton brought, those are things that we’re already doing in some areas, so I was happy (and) I think they make the bill better.”