Goat Hill Report- Week Ending April 10, 2026

This week, the Alabama legislature completed its final three days – Days 28, 29 and 30 – and adjourned Sine Die on Thursday in the late afternoon. Despite pre-session predictions of a quick and uneventful session, the 2026 session was notable for controversial bills and intraparty battles, with several high-profile proposals coming up short on the final day. Details of the session’s final week and other political news are provided below.

What Passed

• General Fund Budget – On Wednesday, the Alabama Senate concurred with the changes made in the House to the $3.7 billion General Fund budget. The GF budget, SB146 by Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), the Senate Finance & Taxation General Fund Chairman, received a $12.6 million increase over the Senate-passed version of the bill – an increase of less than 1%. The House-passed version included slight increases for the Department of Human Resources (DHR), the Department of Mental Health (ADMH), and the Airport Development Grant Program. The primary issue that raised questions as to whether the Senate would concur was the House’s addition of $16 million for a 2% pay raise for state employees, $18 million for the State Employees Insurance Board to offset the rising healthcare costs, and also bonuses for retired state employees. State retirees have not gotten a cost-of-living adjustment added to their benefits since 2007, and these bonuses will be based on how long the retiree worked for the state. Ultimately, the Senate decided to accept those changes.
• Education Trust Fund Budget – On Tuesday, the House concurred with Senate changes to the $10.5 billion Education Trust Fund budget. The Senate version of the education budget maintained pay raises for teachers and less money for a health insurance program for education employees than Gov. Kay Ivey had proposed. Similar to the General Fund, the ETF included a one-time bonus for retirees of the Teachers’ Retirement System, subject to any leftover revenue to the ETF. The bonus will be $1 for every month served (an education retiree who worked for public schools for 30 years would get a bonus of $360). As part of the education budget package, current public education employees are due to receive a 2% raise. The budget also included $251.2 million for CHOOSE Act, the Education Savings Account program – an increase of 38%. providing $7,000 to qualifying children for non-public education expenses, including private school tuition, a 38% increase from fiscal year 2026. About $1.2 million will come directly from the ETF. The remainder of the funds comes from the ETF transfer and the CHOOSE Act fund. Governor Ivey quickly signed the ETF budget on Thursday.
• Career Tech-focused TRAIN Act Passes – On the final day, the Alabama House concurred in changes made in the Senate to HB517 by Rep. James Lomax (R-Huntsville), establishing the Talent Readiness and Industry Needs (TRAIN) Act. This bill would incentivize employers to temporarily loan qualified industry employees to teach CTE courses at eligible educational institutions, such as Alabama community colleges and public high schools. HB517 would create up to $10 million in annual income tax credits to offset a portion of the salary employers continue paying employees during their teaching assignments, with a cap of $250,000 per employer. The credits would be available beginning in the 2027 tax year. Lomax’s bill also creates the Workforce Teaching Certificate, which specifies minimum requirements, including a background check. HB517 is now pending signature from the Governor.
• Tax on Overtime Pay – on Wednesday, the Senate passed HB527 by Rep. James Lomax (R-Huntsville) establishing an individual income tax deduction of up to $1,000 on Alabamians’ overtime pay. The new deduction would be valid for money earned between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2027. This legislation revisited a previous effort to provide an overtime pay tax cut in Alabama. In 2023, House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) successfully brought an overtime tax exemption bill. However, initial estimates said that cut would cost the state about $34 million in lost revenue annually, but the final cost for the cut’s 18-month existence ballooned to over $400 million. The 2023 bill was a sunset law set to expire in June 2025, and despite bipartisan support the legislature never made it permanent. HB527 now awaits signature by the Governor.

What Didn’t Pass
Although the Alabama Legislature finished a significant amount of work this session, a few notable bills were left to die on the vine as well. Either through a procedural move or by the expiration of allotted time for the session, the following bills were not enacted.

• Closed Primaries Bill – HB541 by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity), which would have required voters to declare political party affiliation when registering to vote in order to vote in primaries, made it onto the Senate calendar on the final day. The bill before the Senate included an amendment from committee that would have required a concurrence in the House. The House adjourned Sine Die before the Senate began debate on the bill, rendering any consideration of the issue moot.
• One-Year Moratorium on Solar Farms – SB354 by Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Range), would have prohibited the construction and operation of new solar facilities for one year. The sponsor’s stated purpose for the bill was to allow for more openness and public input by citizens affected by projects in their area. Amendments were successfully added to limit the projects in question to those in the two counties bordering Mobile Bay, to prohibit local governments from creating any regulations more stringent than the bill during the year-long moratorium, and to apply the moratorium to carbon dioxide storage projects as well. The bill passed 27-4 with the amendments. However, since the bill passed within the last five legislative days of the session, to be transmitted to the House for concurrence and final passage to get it on the Governor’s desk for signature, the Senate had to give unanimous consent for the transmittal. An objection to the transmittal effectively killed the bill in the Senate.
• Montgomery/Huntsville Police Staffing – SB289 sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road), would have given law enforcement agencies serving Class 3 municipalities five years to employ at least 1.9 full-time officers for every 1,000 residents in the city. The two Class 3 municipalities in Alabama are Montgomery and Huntsville. Departments not meeting the quota within five years, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency could have taken over “operational oversight” of the department. This oversight would continue for one year after the department in question met the benchmark. The bill drew sharp objections from the City of Montgomery and Montgomery civic leaders as the bill moved through the legislature. Although the bill made it onto the last day’s calendar on Thursday, the House simply did not have the time to consider it before adjournment.

Bills of Interest to the Concrete Industry
Two bills of interest to the concrete industry passed the final week of the session. Senate Bill 304 by Sen. Greg Albritton received final approval on Wednesday but not before several amendments were added. Most notable was a provision that allowed the city where a business is located to calculate a business license in one of the three ways. 1) A flat fee not to exceed $500 2) A flat fee not to exceed $500 plus gross revenue on business derived in the city where the business has a location or 3) gross revenue fee based on business derived in the city where the business has a location. The change was made to help offset business license revenue that could be lost due to separation of gross revenue between project cities and business location cities.

A project city or where the concrete is delivered will still be able to calculate a business based on a flat fee or gross revenue. This will not change. The law will not impact the delivery license provision in the code that allows for a city to charge a business license fee not more than $100 when less than $75,000 is delivered inside the city.

The problem with the current system is many home-based cities calculate the business license on all revenue derived from the plant even if the concrete was shipped outside the plant city. The city where the concrete is delivered frequently calculates a gross revenue business license as well. Thus, the same yard of concrete, is effectively being double counted.

The law also does not require a city to increase a business license to $500; this will be at the discretion of the city. The legislation will impact construction groups including contractors, subcontractors, numerous specialty trade groups, plus suppliers of concrete, ready mix, or cement.

Senate Bill 341 by Sen. Josh Carnley will establish a work zone pilot program on the interstate system. The legislation allows ALEA to add speed cameras in an area of road construction along the interstate. If a vehicle is found to be speeding 10 mph above the posted limit, a speed camera will take a picture of the vehicle, and ALEA will issue a ticket for $250.00. The ticket will not impact driving records as the camera will not be able to determine who was driving the car. The ticket will be issued to the owner of the vehicle.

Primary Election a Month Away
With the session completed, all eyes are now on the upcoming Primary Election on May 19. Although the race to succeed the term-limited Governor Kay Ivey appears to be a coronation of U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R), several other key races are highly competitive. Specifically…

• U.S. Senate – In the race for Tuberville’s open U.S. Senate seat, it is shaping up as a three-way race in the GOP Primary between Congressman Barry Moore (R-CD1), Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Navy Seal Jared Hudson. Moore has edged ahead in polling after the endorsement of President Trump, but the race remains competitive.
• Lt. Governor – The battle in the GOP Primary to succeed term-limited Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth is also a three-way contest, between Secretary of State Wes Allen, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate and former State Republican Party Chairman John Wahl. Wahl received a boost with a Trump endorsement, but the race appears headed to a runoff likely between Allen and Wahl.

The Primary Runoff will be held on June 16. A more detailed Primary Election Preview will be provided to you in the coming weeks.

This is the final Goat Hill Report for the session.