Goat Hill Report- Week Ending February 14, 2025

This week the Alabama legislature completed its second week of the 2025 session. The legislature held another three-day week in anticipation of taking off two weeks in March for Spring Break (the weeks of March 10 and March 24). The legislature has now completed six days out of a possible 30 legislative days, and the session is expected to wrap up in mid-May. Details of this week’s notable action and news items are provided below.

Governor Announces “Safe Alabama” Package Aimed at Crime

On Wednesday, Gov. Kay Ivey formally announced a package of bills designed to improve public safety and reduce crime, which she titled “Safe Alabama”. Ivey was joined by mayors from some of the state’s largest cities who expressed their support for the initiative, as well as legislators and law enforcement officials. The broad-based effort is considered a response to widely-reported crime events over the past few years in the state’s metro areas – particularly in Birmingham and Montgomery. The ‘Safe Alabama’ bill package, which the Governor referenced in her State of the State speech last week, includes eight bills:

• Back the Blue Legal Protection Act providing expanded civil liability protection for law enforcement officers in their official duties.
• Alabama Law Enforcement Officers’ Family Scholarship Program establishing financial assistance for college tuition and related expenses to eligible dependents, aimed at boosting recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers.
• Officer Impersonation Prevention Act which would broaden the current crime of “impersonating a peace officer”.
• Inner City Gun Violence Act would: expand existing law to enhance penalties for convicted felons in possession of a firearm; strengthen “Aniah’s Law” regarding pre-trial detention by expanding the list of crimes for which bail may be denied; increase the penalty from a Class B to a Class A felony for shooting into an occupied dwelling; and revise certain provisions of parole/probation revocation.
• Aniah’s Law Constitutional Revision to align the state constitution with provisions of the Inner City Gun Violence Act
• Metro Area Crime Suppression Budget Proposal to boost funding to the Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit with $3 million in recurring funds for a permanent crime suppression unit.
• Glock Switch Ban to make it a Class C felony for a person to knowingly possess a part or combination of parts designed to convert a pistol into a fully automatic machine gun. Glock switches are already prohibited under federal law, but the legislation in the State House would give law enforcement the ability to make an immediate arrest under state statute.
• Juvenile Accountability and Monitoring Act to provide for electronic monitoring of juveniles by the Board of Pardon and Paroles or any state agency pending disposition of their case, and also repeal the 72-hour limitation on confinement of juvenile status offenders.

Although some House Democrats have voiced support for most of the package, later on Wednesday the House Democratic Caucus released a statement expressing its opposition to the Back the Blue Legal Protection Act, arguing that it would not “improve public safety, prevent crime, or reduce the prevalence of gun violence in our streets.” House Democrats also expressed concern over the Juvenile Accountability and Monitoring Act. While not expressing outright opposition to the bill, it was named as another potential bill of concern for House Democrats.

Funding Formula Report Adopted

On Thursday morning, a joint legislative commission met to consider a report outlining potential changes to Alabama’s K-12 funding model. The commission’s work has been led by Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) and Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), who each serve as Chairman of the education budget committee in their respective chambers. Alabama’s current funding model, known as the Foundation Program, was adopted in the early 1990s and relies heavily on a per teacher-unit calculation when determining state allocations for local school districts. According to recent information provided by the A+ Education Partnership and the Bellwether Foundation, over 40 states currently use some version of a student-based model for this purpose. The commission has met regularly over the last nine months to consider potential changes to current model. The overarching goal is to find a way to better target individual student needs, which ample research has shown leads to better educational outcomes. In early meetings, the commission established a guiding principle that any proposal which resulted in any loss of funding for local districts – even a single district – would be unpalatable and not move forward.

A final report was adopted at yesterday’s meeting, in which three final options were recommended: (1) No changes to the current funding model; (2) Replacing the Foundation Program in its entirety with a student-based model; or (3) Developing a hybrid model which retains the Foundation Program but includes individual student weights. Individual student weights mentioned as priorities in the report included poverty, special education, English learners, gifted, and charter schools. It is anticipated that the hybrid model (option 3) will be pursued during the 2025 Legislative Session and would most likely be phased in over a multi-year period. Executive support for changing the funding model is gaining momentum as well; Governor Kay Ivey recently recommended an additional $100 million for student needs in her proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget. The next steps in this process are for the Legislature to craft a bill to reflect the “formula” changes and to negotiate an initial amount of funding – which could be more than the Governor’s recommendation.

Rep. Barbara Drummond Running for Mayor of Mobile

Rep. Barbara Drummond (D-Mobile) will be a candidate in this August’s election for Mayor of Mobile. Drummond officially registered her principal campaign committee with the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office on Feb. 3, and an official announcement is expected soon. Rep. Drummond does not need to resign her legislative seat to run for mayor, and she is not expected to do so. Drummond was first elected to the House in 2014 and currently serves as chair of the Alabama House Democratic Caucus. She is a former aide to Sam Jones’ mayoral administration, in addition to her prior work as Mobile County public affairs director and as a reporter and columnist with the Mobile Press-Register. The non-partisan municipal contest to replace retiring Mayor Sandy Stimpson is shaping up to be a crowded and prominent field. County Commissioner Connie Hudson and District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis have announced their candidacy, while former County Commissioner Stephen Nodine and State Senator Vivian Figures have indicated they may enter the race.

Rep. Randall Shedd Announces Resignation

Rep. Randall Shedd (R-Fairview) is resigning his seat in the legislature to become the Director of Constituent Affairs for newly-seated Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman). A member of the Alabama House of Representatives since 2013, Shedd previously served as a Cullman County commissioner and mayor of Fairview. With the vacancy, Gov. Kay Ivey will call a special election for the District 11 seat which includes portions of Cullman and Blount counties.

State House Construction Update

A presentation on the progress of Alabama’s new Statehouse was made to the Legislative Council, a panel of 20 legislative leaders, on Thursday, February 13. Steve Timms, assistant director of real estate investments for the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA), reported that contracts have been awarded on about 90% of the project and that it is about $5 million under the budget of $292 million. Timms’ update showed the six-story layout floor-by-floor, including the meeting chambers for both the House and Senate on the fifth level and public galleries on the sixth. RSA is building the new facility and then leasing it back to the state, and their goal is to have the building ready for occupancy by November 2026, with the legislature aiming to use the new building beginning with the 2027 legislative session.

The Alabama Legislature will reconvene on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.