Tag: Alabama Legislature
Police Jurisdiction Bill Gets Public Hearing
A bill in the Alabama Legislature would stop the growth of police jurisdictions in the state and rein in municipalities’ ability to enforce planning and zoning requirements outside their limits.
Senate Bill 107 from Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Daphne, was approved in the Senate 30-to-0 earlier this month. On Tuesday, it had a public hearing in the House County and Municipal Government Committee.
“What is before you is a bill that essentially freezes police jurisdictions where they currently exist, allowing the municipality to outgrow them in time,” Elliott said. “As amended, the bill freezes planning jurisdictions at a mile-and-a-half out from the current city limit lines. It continues to allow the collection of sales taxes to fund public safety in those jurisdictions. It also rolls back municipal authority over building permits (in the jurisdictions).” Read more.
Medical Marijuana Bill Gains Senate Approval
A bill to legalize and regulate medical marijuana passed the Alabama Senate Wednesday, a major step forward in a years-long effort to allow the use of the drug to treat chronic pain and other conditions.
Senate Bill 46 sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana products to treat more than 16 qualifying medical conditions and symptoms listed in the bill, including post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, Crohn’s disease, HIV/AIDS-related nausea, and cancer-related chronic pain and nausea. An amendment added on the Senate floor by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, added sickle cell anemia to the list of approved conditions.
The bill would create a Medical Cannabis Commission to oversee regulations and licensing for medical marijuana cultivators, processors and dispensaries, and also would require a statewide seed-to-sale tracking system for all cannabis in the state.
Read more.
House Passes Bill Requiring Pre-K and Community Corrections, Aniah’s Law and Others
Citing Census Data Delay, Lawmakers Seek to Move 2022 Elections
Police Jurisdiction Bill Gets Public Hearing
Birmingham Mayor, Council Pushing Two Separate Wish Lists in Legislature
This year, the city of Birmingham is sending two sets of lobbyists to Montgomery — one from Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office and one from the City Council.
Councilors made that decision last month, claiming they’d been excluded from planning the city’s legislative agenda, and on Tuesday they approved a legislative agenda of their own — one that only slightly overlaps with Woodfin’s priorities.
The primary area of agreement between the two agendas is about bolstering city revenue through fines. Both the mayor and council are pushing legislation that would increase penalties for littering, dumping and weed abatement. Both also want to tie parking tickets to car tag renewal, providing a built-in enforcement mechanism for a ticketing system that currently lacks one.
Woodfin and the council also are both pushing for an increase in the maximum number of entertainment districts allowed in a municipality. Birmingham has four such areas — Pepper Place, Uptown, Five Points South and Avondale — where people are allowed to drink alcohol outside, though they must have purchased that alcohol from a restaurant, bar or venue in that district. State law caps the number of entertainment districts a city can have at five; Woodfin and the council both hope to raise that number to 15.
The similarities mostly end there. Read more.
Ivey Declares Monday Supermarket Employee Day
MONTGOMERY — Gov. Kay Ivey proclaimed Monday Supermarket Employee Day in Alabama as a way to honor grocery store workers who continued to work throughout the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
Report Shows Lower Recidivism Rates in Community Corrections Programs; Legislation Pending
Criminal offenders who served their sentences in programs in which they stayed in their own communities under supervision were on average significantly less likely to commit new felonies than other offenders under the Alabama Department of Corrections oversight, a recent study found.
But some community correction programs had recidivism rates much higher than others and varied in the fees offenders had to pay. Meanwhile, the programs for non-violent felony offenders aren’t available in some areas of the state.
“The better the program and the better managed it is at the local level, the lower the recidivism rate,” said Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur and chairman of the Alabama Commission on Evaluation of Services. Read more.
Citing Census Data Delay, Lawmakers Seek to Move 2022 Elections
Police Jurisdiction Bill Gets Public Hearing
Bills Would Allow Student-Athletes Compensation for Likeness
MONTGOMERY — Bills in the Alabama Legislature would allow student-athletes at Alabama institutions of higher education to be compensated whenever their name, image or likeness is used in promotional material. Read more.
More About the Legislature
Bill Would Create Sexual Assault Survivor ‘Bill of Rights’
Leadership Pleased With First Two Weeks of Session
Bill Would Create Sexual Assault Survivor ‘Bill of Rights’
MONTGOMERY — Legislation moving through the Legislature would create a sexual assault survivor “bill of rights” and set a requirement for how long law enforcement must preserve evidence from sexual assault cases.
Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollinger’s Island, is sponsoring House Bill 137, which is scheduled to be considered in the House Tuesday.
“My whole purpose of this legislation is to try and protect sexual assault victims and help bring perpetrators and criminals to justice,” Brown told Alabama Daily News.
Read more.
Census Data Delay Puts Redistricting on Hold, Could Impact Candidates
A delay in U.S. Census Bureau data until this fall could mean an odd situation for the state’s elected officials and those who wish to unseat them in 2022. State campaign finance law allows candidates to start fundraising in late May of this year. But the required redrawing of legislative and congressional districts based on the new Census data now won’t be complete likely until late in the year. Read more.
Leadership Pleased With First Two Weeks of Session
MONTGOMERY — House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, says he is pleased with what has been accomplished so far in the legislative session and expects the same amount of productivity when lawmakers come back in a week.
“What we’ve gotten done over these last two weeks is phenomenal,” McCutcheon told reporters upon the House’s adjournment Thursday. “We’ve even done better than I thought we would.”
Three priority bills — renewing and revamping economic development incentives, untaxing COVID-19 relief funds and providing limited liability to businesses, schools and organizations from COVID-19 related lawsuits — all passed in short order and have been signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey.
Increased safety precautions, including limiting public access to the State House, will still be in place when legislators come back, McCutcheon said, but there could be a loosening of restrictions as time moves on. Read more.
Legislative Briefs: Alcohol Delivery, License Plate Data Among Bills Gaining Approval
The Senate on Thursday approved a bill to allow home delivery of beer, wine and alcohol. Sen. Jabo Waggoner’s Senate Bill 126 sets up a delivery license process, fees and rules This legislation is the same as Rep. Gil Isbell’s House Bill 229, which has received committee approval. Isbell, R-Gadsden, last month said the legislation would allow companies such as Birmingham-based Shipt that bring people their groceries to also bring alcohol.
“It’s about the convenience; we’re in a busy world,” Isbell said.
The bills are separate from legislation to allow direct shipment of wine from wineries and retailers to Alabamians’ homes.
Read more.
