Here are six Alabama legislated briefs to be aware of as you start your weekend:
Bill would give governor, lawmakers power to appoint archives board members
A bill pending in the Alabama Senate would give the Alabama governor and legislative leadership the ability to appoint members of the Alabama Department of Archives and History Board and expand its membership.
Currently, new members are selected by the existing board and confirmed by the Alabama Senate.
A substitute Senate Bill 5 by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, was approved Wednesday (Feb. 19) in the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee, chaired by Elliott. It’s similar to Elliott’s 2024 Senate Bill 5, which advanced but fell short of final passage.
Elliott previously said that he filed the bill in response to, at least in part, a lecture on LBGT history in the state hosted in 2023 by the Archives Department that he and around a dozen other lawmakers had asked the agency to cancel.
Elliott said the self-appointing board didn’t feel it had to listen to the Legislature or the executive branch.
In committee Tuesday, Elliott said he and the department are “neutral” on the current bill.
“That might mean we’ve compromised enough to move it along,” he said.
In a statement to ADN on Tuesday, Alabama Department of Archives and History Director Steve Murray said the existing governance structure has served the state well for 124 years.
“It facilitates oversight by board members who are well informed of the agency’s work, committed to its mission, and representative of a cross section of the state,” Murray said. “The agency does not support SB5, but we appreciate Senator Elliot’s willingness to consider our suggestions, a few of which were accepted. We remain concerned that having multiple appointing authorities with the ability to remove members at-will is counter-productive to maintaining an engaged board of public servants.”
Bill restricts ATV use in waterways
Legislation pending in the Alabama Senate would prohibit people from operating all terrain vehicles and other recreational vehicles in creeks and riverbeds unless they own the adjoining property.
Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, sponsor of Senate Bill 171, said current law considers navigable water to be public thoroughfares, similar to roadways.
But that law was before ATVs and side-by-sides, Chambliss told the committee and described these vehicles doing damage to people’s personal property and disrupting environments.
The proposed law would not apply to watercraft.
Violating the law would be a Class C misdemeanor.
Senate approves workers’ compensation bill for educators
Senate lawmakers unanimously approved Senate Bill 1 on Tuesday, advancing a proposal to establish a workers’ compensation program for education employees.
Sponsored by Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, the bill would provide coverage for K–12 and higher education employees, who currently do not receive workers’ compensation benefits.
Currently, educators must pay out-of-pocket for medical bills related to their injury and request reimbursement from the state Board of Adjustment, which reviews claims for damages from those hurt within a state agency or property. The process can be slow and may leave teachers with significant out-of-pocket costs.
Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said teachers face challenges of students with behavioral disorders and other situations that “put our teachers in the line of fire on a daily basis.”
Givhan introduced a similar bill last year, which passed the Senate but stalled in the House before the session ended. The bill carries a $14.9 million fiscal note.
A workers’ compensation program could help with the state’s teacher shortage, he said.
“We’ve got to have a benefits package and a lifestyle package that makes [educators] want to stay in this arena and makes new people want to come into it,” Givhan said.
The bill now moves to a House committee.
Alabama House votes to extend ability for state to wiretap for drug crimes indefinitely
The Alabama House unanimously approved a bill Tuesday to extend the state’s ability to wiretap Alabamians suspected of certain felony drug offenses.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, extends a law passed in 2022 that allowed for the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to monitor electronic communications of Alabamians suspected of felony drug offenses such as drug trafficking, distribution or manufacturing. The Alabama Attorney General would still be required to receive approval from a circuit judge to initiate wiretapping.
Since the law went into effect in 2022, Reynolds said that wiretapping has produced 10 search warrants, and led to the confiscation of 2,500 grams of fentanyl, 12,000 grams of cocaine, 100,000 grams of marijuana, 37 firearms, 10 vehicles, and more than $230,000 in cash. It has also led to 19 arrests.
Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, voiced some concerns on the House floor over allowing the law to be extended indefinitely, but ultimately voted in favor of the bill, as did every member of the House.
Bill establishing Veterans Resource Center sent to Governor’s desk for approval
A bill that would establish the Alabama Veterans Resource Center, a public corporation designed to provide support services for veterans and their families, was sent to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk Tuesday after passing both chambers.
Under the bill, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, the veterans center would help veterans with accessing their federal and state benefits, provide career counseling and job placement, mental health services, education and training opportunities, and support for spouses and dependents.
The legislation would also establish the Alabama Veterans Resource Center Fund in the State Treasury, which the Legislature could appropriate funds to during future legislative sessions. A fiscal note attached to the bill does not include a total cost for the initiative, but does note that meetings of a board proposed to manage the center could cost the state an estimated $2,000 per meeting to cover travel expenses.
The bill sailed through the House Tuesday, albeit with one substitute that would include language related to compliance with open meeting laws, and one amendment from Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollingers Island, that would allow for the board managing the center to hold private meetings through what is known as executive session. It later passed in the Senate, and now makes its way to Ivey’s desk for final approval.
Effort to reform Alabama Board of Pharmacy amid noncompliance issues advances committee
House Bill 123, which would reform the Alabama Board of Pharmacy by expanding its membership and more clearly define its authority to issue fines, advanced Tuesday in the House Committee on Boards, Agencies and Commissions.
Sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, the bill is a response to significant issues of noncompliance found with the Pharmacy Board’s operations, including charging higher license fees than what’s authorized by law and violating open meeting laws.
Under the bill, the board’s membership would be expanded from five members to nine, the board’s executive secretary must not have served for the board within the past five years, and the board would have its authority removed to set non-disciplinary administrative penalties.
Underwood has worked on the bill with Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, and told Alabama Daily News after its passage that he believed it would reach the House floor on Thursday.
“Sen. Kelley and I have worked hard together on this and I feel like we’re right where we need to be with it,” Underwood told ADN. “It is a bill that does change a lot in how the Pharmacy Board operates, but at this point, their guidance was vague and this clears up so much stuff.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mary Sell, Alexander Willis and Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News. It is reprinted with permission.
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