Rep. Chris England (D – Tuscaloosa)

This bill would allow individuals sentenced to life without the possibility of parole under the Habitual Felony Offender Act whose crimes involved no physical injury, are at least 50 years old, and have served at least 15 years to be eligible for resentencing.

Alabama prisons are being sued for unconstitutional overcrowding, understaffing, and violence. The amount of spending by the Alabama Department of Corrections continues to grow. How does continuing to incarcerate older people, who are the most expensive to incarcerate and the least likely to reoffend, help us and make our communities safer?

HB229 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but unfortunately didn’t make it to the Senate floor for a vote. We will see you next year!

Rep. Prince Chestnut (D-Selma)

This bill would make requiring employees to be microchipped illegal in the state of Alabama, and violation of the proposed law by an employer would be a class D felony. This means that an employer microchipping their employees would be akin to credit card fraud, possession of controlled substances or receiving stolen property.

Mainly, what is going on in the Black Belt? Are they microchipping people in Selma? Is this the beginning of the ever growing surveillance state? Definitely Black Mirror worthy…

HB4 passed out of the Senate.

HB4 was signed into law! We’ve avoided a potential Black Mirror episode for now…

Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa)

This bill would change the current practice of requiring at least 10 jurors to vote yes on the death penalty to require that any death sentence be by unanimous jury.

How will this affect death sentences moving forward? Will jurors who could have been holdouts now be pressured to sentence someone to death, or will the opposite be true? Truly a 12 Angry Men situation.

HB14 had a public hearing in the House Judiciary committee but no vote was taken.

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham)

This bill would potentially make voting rights restoration easier for those that lost them as a result of a criminal conviction. Currently, someone has to pay off their court debt (restitution, fines, fees, court costs) for a disqualifying conviction along with serving their time, if they have any, before their voting rights can be reinstated. (Check out voter reinstatement). If SB21 were to pass, one would still have to pay off their debt, but if they are on a payment plan they can get their voting rights restored as long as they pay court costs for a year.

Based on certain provisions, will this take away any discretion clerks or payees have in how their payments are allocated?

SB121 received a favorable report in Senate Judiciary but was postponed.

Rep. Ben Robbins (R-Sylacauga)

This bill would in effect incentivize rural development by giving a tax credit to remote workers, law enforcement, teachers and nurses in rural counties. The bill includes a three-tier system based on population size, with counties having less than 25,000 receiving a credit of $30,000 up to counties with a maximum population of 100,000 receiving a tax credit of $10,000.

Is this the ultimate modern economic development experiment? Is it possible to gentrify rural areas, or is the lack of walkable craft coffee shops and kombucha going to be the ultimate deal breaker? Not sure if this is what Richard Florida had in mind, but we are here for it anyway.

Received First Reading

Rep. Matt Simpson (R-Daphne)

This bill proposes creating a tiered mandatory minimum structure for fentanyl trafficking (selling, manufacturing, delivery, or possession) in Alabama. This change applies only to fentanyl as a single component.

Alabama has a fentanyl problem and people are dying. Will the threat of longer prison sentences reverse this troubling trend and make our communities safer?

HB1 has been signed into law.

HB1 will go into effect within the next couple of months.

Sen. April Weaver (R-Brierfield) / Rep. Russell Bedsole (R-Alabaster)

This bill proposes adjusting the rules and requirements for earning and keeping correctional incentive time (“good time”).

Around 9% of incarcerated people in Alabama qualify for good time credits. The Department of Corrections should make sure those that qualify meet the standing requirements. Our prisons have been and continue to experience severe overcrowding and understaffing – we see the fallout of this in the amount of violence, drug use, and deaths. How will reducing available good time credits affect these issues?

SB1 was signed into law by Governor Ivey on 4/14/23.

The law has gone into effect immediately.