What passed in the Alabama Legislature: Feb. 4-6, 2025

by Anna Barrett and Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector
February 7, 2025

Here is a list of the bills that passed in the Alabama Legislature this week.

Feb. 6

House

HB 128, sponsored by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, extends the termination date for the Board of Nursing tol Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 102-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 129, sponsored by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, extends the termination date for the Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 130, sponsored by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board of Licensure for Professional Geologists to Oct. 1, 2027. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 131, sponsored by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board of Licensure of Athletic Trainers until Oct. 1, 2027. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 25, sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, allows local 911 districts to collaborate to carry out their powers and services. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 108, sponsored by Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 109, sponsored by Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, extends the termination date for the State Board of Podiatry to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 102-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 111, sponsored by Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview, extends the termination date for the Home Builders Licensure Board to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 112, sponsored by Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview, extends the termination date for the Alabama Onsite Wastewater Board to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 113, sponsored by Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview, extends the termination date for the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 117, sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board of Examiners in Marriage and Family Therapy to Oct. 1, 2027. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 118, sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, extends the termination date for the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 119, sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, extends the termination date for the Alabama Licensure Board for Interpreters and Transliterators to Oct. 1, 2027. The bill passed 104-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 120, sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, extends the termination date for the State Board of Genetic Counseling to Oct. 1, 2027. The bill passed 102-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 121, sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board for Register Interior Designers until Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 122, sponsored by Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, extends the termination date for the Board of Physical Therapy to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 124, sponsored by Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, extends the termination date for the Alabama Board of Optometry to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 102-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 126, sponsored by Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, extends the termination date for the State Board of Midwifery to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

HB 127, sponsored by Rep. Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, extends the termination date for the Board of Hearing Instrument Dealers to Oct. 1, 2029. The bill passed 103-0. It goes to the Senate.

Senate

SB 70, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, establishes the Alabama Veterans Resource Center to support services to veterans and their families residing in Alabama, such as assistance with accessing federal and state benefits, job placement services, and mental health and wellness programs. The bill passed 31-0. It goes to the House.

SB 79, sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabaster, creates definitions for “sex-based terms” — such as man, woman, boy, girl, father, mother, male, female and sex — strictly based on biological sex. The bill passed 26-5. It goes to the House.

SB 4, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, allows a sheriff or local chief of police to contract with and provide private K-12 schools school resource officers as long as a school resource officer is available to every public school in the county or municipality. The bill passed 30-0. It goes to the House.

SB 62, sponsored by Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, would prohibit the use of certain hunting, fishing, and related licenses as a valid or supplemental form of identification. The bill passed 31-0. It goes to the House.

SB 82, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would require a magistrate and a clerk to complete an annual audit of outstanding warrants for certain Class B and C misdemeanors and provide notification that it has been recalled to appropriate law enforcement agencies. The bill passed 31-0. It goes to the House.

SB 66, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, would establish presenting a forged document to a state employee or official as a crime punishable by a Class D felony or up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $7,500. The bill passed 31-0. It goes to the House.

SB 78, sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabaster, would make possession of butyl nitrite, commonly known as “whippets;” nitrous oxide, commonly known as “laughing gas;” and amyl nitrite, commonly known as “poppers,” a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $6,000. The bill passed 28-1. It goes to the House.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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SUMMARY: Good morning! Welcome to News 5 Now on WKRG’s Facebook page. Today’s top stories include the hiring of former Seahawks OC Ryan Grubb by the University of Alabama, and the Pensacola Blue Angels announcing practice sessions starting April 2nd. Alabama lawmakers are proposing a bill to expand legal protections for police using force. The state executed Demetrius Frasier for a 1991 murder, marking the fourth nitrogen gas execution in Alabama. An 18-year-old has been arrested in the shooting of a 5-year-old boy. Stay tuned for more news updates and our question of the day!

Former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator reunited with Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, the Blues get ready to practice in Pensacola and a man is in jail after an apartment shooting.

Source

Alabama Medicaid to request $1.184 billion for 2026

by Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector
February 7, 2025

The Alabama Medicaid Agency will request $1.184 billion from the state for FY 2026, about $229 million more than its budget this year. 

“Most of it is related to health care inflation cost,” Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar told legislators Thursday afternoon. “We have to build that in to make sure that we can pay our providers for what comes along.” 

The request was not a surprise but represents something of a landmark for Alabama Medicaid, a cornerstone of the state’s health care sector. 

Despite strict eligibility requirements that mostly limit the program to children, the elderly and those with disabilities, Medicaid provides health care coverage for about 20% of the state; pays for more than half the births in Alabama and is critical to keeping hospitals, nursing homes and medical practices open. 

Azar said that the increase in her request is technically $53 million, but it appears to be $229 million because of the federal aid the state received during the COVID-19 pandemic, aid that is no longer coming to the state. 

“It looks like the growth of the program is a lot more than it was, because we’ve had federal COVID dollars that has made the Legislature be able to appropriate us less,” she said. “And this year, that’s really moving away.”

Since last June, Alabama Medicaid enrollment has dropped by nearly 300,000 to 1.081 million, according to Azar’s presentation. This is nearly back to its pre-COVID enrollment at 1.054 million.

“I’ve always been an advocate for the people in this state that have needs. But there are some that have taken advantage of the system,” Rep. Chris Blacksher, R-Smiths Station, said. “That’s not fair to the people who truly need it.”

Medicaid makes up the largest single allocation in the Alabama General Fund budget, which pays for most noneducation state programs. But the state share is only a fraction of the total cost of the program. The federal government is expected to pay about 73% of the program’s costs next year. Azar estimates that Medicaid will receive over $7 billion from the federal government.

“I’m optimistic that I will be appropriated for my 2026 budget,” she said. “As long as we follow federal requirements, which is our full intention, we should draw our matching dollars for that state share.”

House General Fund Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, said the committee will try its best to grant Medicaid its requested budget.

“We certainly hope we can. We know that if we don’t, it impacts our hospitals, impacts our nursing homes and impacts our providers,” he said. “We really got to find a way to make that happen.”

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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