An Update from the Alabama State House for the Week of February 2, 2026 - February 6, 2026
CHILD PREDATOR DEATH PENALTY ACT
• The Alabama Legislature awarded final passage on Thursday to the Child Predator
Death Penalty Act, which is sponsored by State Rep. Matt Simpson (R - Daphne), while
23 Democrats either vote against the measure or abstained.
• “This crime is the worst-of-the-worst offenses,” Simpson said on the House floor.
“When you take the innocence of the children, I believe in my heart that that is
the worst-of-the-worst offenses and as it being one of the worst-of-the-worst of-
fenses, it deserves the worst-of-the-worst punishments.”
• Originally sponsored in the Alabama House during the 2025 regular session, House Bill
41 allows prosecutors to request the death penalty for those convicted of raping,
sodomizing, or committing sexual torture on children younger than 12-years-old.
• Under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the death penalty is currently applicable only in
cases involving the loss of life — such as murder, robbery in which an individual is
killed, and others — but Simpson remains confident that passing the law in Alabama
will help force the court to reconsider its precedent.
• Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are among the states that
have enacted similar laws in a direct challenge to the narrow 5 - 4 decision by the
U.S. Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which found that executing child
predators was “unusual punishment” because so few states imposed the death
penalty for such offenses.
• The filing of the most recent version of the Child Predator Death Penalty Act follows on
the heels of a horrific child sex trafficking ring revelation in Bibb County that involved
abuse of children as young as three-years-old.• Gov. Kay Ivey prioritized the bill in her State of the State Address and has indicated her
strong intent of signing it into law.
PROHIBITING MUD DUMPING IN MOBILE BAY
• The Alabama Legislature awarded final passage on Tuesday to the “Save Our Bay” bill
by State Rep. Rhett Marques (R - Enterprise) on Tuesday that bans the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers or any other entity or individual from engaging in the practice of
“mud dumping” in Mobile Bay.
• ”Mud dumping” occurs when sediment and spoil from the dredging of shipping
channels is jettisoned by barges back onto the floor of the bay, where it turns the
water cloudy, and marine habitats like oyster beds, seagrasses, and other saltwater
wildlife are smothered beneath it, according to environmentalists.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fervently and ardently claims that its dredging prac-
tices, which is called “thin-layer placement,” replicates the natural spreading of silt
upon the floor of the bay.
• Roughly 90 million cubic yards of sediment could be dumped back into Mobile
Bay by the Corps in coming years as they maintain shipping channels.
• U.S. Sen. Katie Britt has already taken solid steps to protect Mobile Bay by passing a
federal provision that requires the Corps to dedicate 70% of all dredged sediment to
“beneficial uses,” and Marques’ state legislation explicitly bans mud dumping from be-
ing considered a “beneficial use” in Alabama.
• The bill closely mirrors laws that have already passed in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
and other states, and it is supported by the Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau,
the Seafood Association of Alabama, charter fishing operations, professional fishermen,
shrimpers, and oystermen, saltwater sports enthusiasts, and others.
• The bill now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey for signature.
PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM INAPPROPRIATE APPS
• The Alabama Legislature awarded final passage on Thursday to a bill by State Rep.
Chris Sells (R - Greenville) on Thursday that requires app stores to verify a user’s age
and link accounts held by minors to their parents.
• Sells, who previously passed a bill requiring cell phone porn filters to be activated
at the time of purchase, said the legislation will prevent children from
downloading apps without their parents’ knowledge.
• An earlier version of the legislation passed the House during the 2025 regular
session but was caught in a Senate logjam.• Under the provisions of the bill, children would be placed in an age category when
setting up an app store account, and parents or guardians would create linked accounts
allowing them to approve apps before download.
• The measure would also allow the attorney general to bring action when
violations by app stores occur, and parents would be enabled to bring civil actions
for failure to comply.
• It now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for review and signature.
BANNING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN STATE ELECTIONS
• The Alabama House approved a measure by State Rep. James Lomax (R - Huntsville)
on Tuesday that prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to political parties or
campaigns.
• Lomax’s bill mirrors federal legislation already on the books and brings Alabama
into compliance with the same ban that is in place in federal elections.
• Following the bill’s 94 to 0 House passage, Lomax released a statement that read:
Elections should be decided by the people who live, work, and raise their families
in this state – not by foreign entities with ulterior financial or political motives. A
2024 report found that a single foreign billionaire spent close to $100 million on
state ballot campaigns to push an agenda across the country. This is beyond
alarming, and I am proud to have passed legislation that slams the door shut on
international dark-money groups seeking to bring their views to our great state.
• The bill now proceeds to the Senate for consideration.
REQUIRING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR DEADLY FORCE
State Rep. David Faulkner (R - Mountain Brook) passed a measure in the Alabama House
on Tuesday that presumes a defendant’s use of physical or deadly physical force is
unjustified as self-defense if they alter or hide their weapon after the incident.
Any action other than voluntarily providing the weapon to law enforcement negates the
self-defense presumption under the provisions of his bill
Though Alabama allows the use of deadly force in its “Stand Your Ground” statute, a
preponderance of the evidence must indicate it was justified, so altering, hiding, or
destroying a weapon raises serious questions.
The bill, which passed by a 104 - 0 margin, now goes to the Senate for consideration.RAISING ATTEMPTING TO ELUDE TO FELONY LEVEL
• Attempting to elude police would be raised from misdemeanor to felony level under
legislation sponsored by State Rep. Reed Ingram (R - Montgomery) and approved by
the Alabama House on Tuesday.
• Under the provisions of HB37, attempting to elude would rise from a Class A
misdemeanor to Class D felony level.
• The bill also uncharges penalties for eluding with children in the vehicle, striking
law enforcement officers in their vehicles, or eluding while the offender is on pre-
trial release
• Gov. Kay Ivey highlighted the need for the measure during her 2026 State of the State
Address
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
PROHIBITING HUMAN CLONING
• A measure passed in the House by State Rep. Phillip Rigsby (R - Huntsville) on Tues-
day would prohibit performing or attempting human cloning, participating in cloning
attempts, and shipping or receiving embryos or cells for cloning purposes.
• The legislation specifically states that in vitro fertilization or fertility measures are
not prohibited by the bill unless they are conducted with the intent of cloning an-
other human being.
• Violation of the law, if passed and enacted, would constitute a Class C felony punish-
able by up to 10 years in prison.
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
ALLOWING ACCESS TO CAREER TRAINING FOR HOMESCHOOLERS
• The Alabama House approved a bill by State Rep. Susan DuBose (R - Hoover) on
Tuesday that would provide homeschooled students the opportunity to participate in
career training education programs.
• Full-time, standalone CTE schools currently do not have to opt-in and allow
homeschoolers to enroll.
• Under the provisions of the bill, homeschoolers would have to wait for public school
students to be accommodated before being accepted because of limited space in CTE
programs around the state.• Those students would also be required to enroll as nontraditional public school
students and pay course fees.
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
EXTENDING DEADLINES FOR CRIME VICTIM COMPENSATION CLAIMS
• A bill sponsored by State Rep. Russell Bedsole (R - Alabaster) and passed in the House
on Tuesday would extend the time frame for filing claims with the Alabama Crime Vic-
tims Compensation Commission from one year to two years following the injury or
death.
• The Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission said claims often get filed af-
ter the current one year deadline because victims are unaware they are entitled to com-
pensation or have difficulty navigating the application process.
• Other states, such as Florida, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, and others, have re-
cently extended their claim deadlines, as well.
• The bill now goes to the Senate.
RECOGNIZING THE “GULF OF AMERICA”
• The House State Government Committee awarded a favorable report on Wednesday to
legislation sponsored by State Rep. David Standridge (R - Hayden) that officially rec-
ognizes the newly-named “Gulf of America.”
• Almost immediately after taking office for his second term, President Donald
Trump issued and signed an executive order officially renaming the Gulf of Mex-
ico as the Gulf of America.
• As a Gulf coast state, Standridge said it is important for Alabama to embrace and
follow the executive order much like Google Maps did when it updated its soft-
ware to include the Gulf of America.
• Standridge’s bill requires all state and local entities in Alabama to recognize the name
on newly created maps, documents, educational materials websites, official communi-
cations and other resources by the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1.
• The bill also requires state and local entities to update the name on existing re-
sources if it is deemed “practicable.”
• The measure now proceeds to the full House for consideration.PROTECTING CHURCHES FROM DISRUPTIVE PROTESTS
• The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee awarded a favorable re-
port on Wednesday to legislation by State Rep. Greg Barnes (R - Jasper) that allows
anyone who enters church property with the intent to riot, harass, or disrupt a service to
be charged with a Class C felony and face up to five years in prison on a second of-
fense.
• The legislation is intended to prevent situations similar to a recent event in Min-
nesota in which protesters burst into a church and disrupted worship services in
protest of local enforcement actions being taken by the federal Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency.
• Felony charges would apply only to individuals who entered a church with the intent to
disrupt, and prosecutors would carry the burden of proving prior intent.
• An already enacted federal law also makes such church disruptions a felony.
• The bill now goes to the House for consideration.
REQUIRING ACCOUNTABILITY FROM APPOINTEES
• The House State Government Committee awarded a favorable report on Wednesday to legisla-
tion sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle (R - Mobile) and Speaker Nathaniel Ledbet-
ter (R - Rainsville) that provides the governor, the speaker of the House, and the president pro
tempore of the Senate with the authority to remove and replace board and commission mem-
bers that they appoint.
• Pringle said the bill is necessary in case an appointed individual habitually fails to show
up to meetings or requires removal for other reasons.
• The legislation applies to “any board, authority, or commission comprised of individual mem-
bers, of which some or all members are appointed, as established under state law” and notes
that all appointees “serve at the pleasure” of their appointing authority.
• The bill, which passed unanimously, now goes to the House floor for consideration.
