An Update from the Alabama State House for the Week of February 23, 2026 - February 27, 2026
CREATING A SECOND AMENDMENT TAX-FREE HOLIDAY
• The last weekend in August would become a tax-free Second Amendment holiday
weekend if legislation passed by the House on Tuesday and sponsored by State Rep.
Chris Sells (R - Greenville) becomes law.
• Under the provisions of House Bill 360, cartridge cases, bullets, primer, gunpowder
shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers, silencers, holsters, belts, hearing protection and cas-
es would be eligible to be tax exempt on that weekend.
• Archery equipment would also be exempt.
• Cities and counties would be empowered to suspend local sales taxes on the same items
during that weekend, as well.
• Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida are among the states that already
offer tax‑free weekends for gun and ammunition purchases.
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
PROTECTING CHURCHES FROM UNLAWFUL PROTESTS
• The Alabama House approved legislation by State Rep. Greg Barnes (R - Jasper) on
Tuesday that creates the new crime of disrupting a church service by unlawful protest,
riot or disorderly conduct.
• “Some will argue that protesting is a First Amendment right, but so is the right to
worship, and one person’s right should not infringe upon another’s,” Barnes said.
“A quote attributed to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes sums it up best — your right
to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.”• Under the provisions of Barnes’ legislation, a person would be guilty of the new crime
if they knowingly go into a church with the intention of disrupting a church service with
unlawful protest, riot or disorderly conduct, and a violation would be punishable by a
minimum sentence of one year and one day behind bars and a maximum of 10 years. A
fine of up to $15,000 may be assessed by the court, as well.
• Barnes said the law would not apply, for example, to spontaneous disagreements
among church members, but only to pre-planned and orchestrated disruptions and
demonstrations.
• He noted that the legislation is preventative in nature and is intended to shield Alabami-
ans from the same type of chaos and unruly anti-law enforcement protests that invaded
and disrupted a worship service in Minnesota in January.
• “Alabama has not yet experienced disruptions like Minnesota, and this legislation
will help ensure that our God-fearing, church-going constituents are never sub-
jected to those kinds of threats and dangerous situations,” Barnes said. “It’
s a pre-
ventative measure — just like you don’t invest in a sprinkler system after your
business burns down, you invest in a sprinkler system to prevent your business
from burning down.”
• The first-term lawmaker stressed the importance of protecting worshipers during church
services and allowing them to practice their faith and communion with God without dis-
turbance.
• “Protestors do not have the right to burst into someone’s house and demonstrate,
so this legislation simply extends that same protection to houses of worship,”
Barnes said.
• The bill now proceeds to the State Senate for consideration.
ALLOWING CHAPLAINS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
• The Alabama House approved a bill by State Rep. Mark Gidley (R - Hokes Bluff) on
Tuesday that allows public and charters schools to have volunteer chaplains to provide
supports services and counseling to teachers.
• All volunteers would be required to undergo a thorough background check, and
anyone convicted of a sexual offense would be immediately disqualified.
• Gidley noted that chaplains work in the U.S. Congress, hospitals, the military, law en-
forcement agencies, fire departments, hospices, and countless other professions and
workplaces.• Chaplains would complete a chaplaincy program and focus their work on teach-
ers, not students.
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
RECOGNIZING THE “GULF OF AMERICA”
• The Alabama House awarded approval on Tuesday to legislation sponsored by State
Rep. David Standridge (R - Hayden) that officially recognizes 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 recently did when it updated
its software 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 Senate for consideration.
ALABAMA POST ELECTION AUDIT ACT
• The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee awarded a favorable report
on Wednesday to the Alabama Post Election Audit Act, which is being sponsored in the
chamber this year by State Rep. Joe Lovvorn (R - Auburn)
• Noting that the legislation closely mirrors the House version that passed a Senate
committee last year but failed to secure final passage, Lovvorn said, “It doesn't go
way too far, but it does something — gives people some peace of mind.”
• House Bill 95 requires a post-election audit using a “clean machine” in one precinct in
each county to ensure ballots in county or statewide races were tabulated accurately and
reflect the true intent of the voters who cast ballots in that election.• Audits would be conducted no earlier than 31 days after an election, or after the
deadline for filing an election contest has passed, and must be completed within
30 days.
• The auditing process would be open to poll watchers and members of the media,
and the results - indicating whether the audits were clear or indicated deficiencies
- would be publicly reported.
• Alabama is the last state in the nation that does not have a bill mandating and governing
post-election audits.
• Former State Rep. Debbie Wood, who sponsored the bill in previous sessions, originally
drafted the legislation after it was discovered during a routine test that sample ballots
can be read and counted just like legitimate ballots if fed into tabulator machines cur-
rently in use across the state.
• When first introducing the measure several sessions ago, Wood noted that she
won her House seat by just six votes, which highlights the need for accurate and
tamper-free tabulations.
• The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration for final passage.
REQUIRING CDL DRIVERS TO BE ENGLISH PROFICIENT
• The House Transportation, Utilities, and Infrastructure Committee approved on
Wednesday a Senate bill being carried by State Rep. Steve Clouse (R - Ozark) that re-
quires trucker drivers with a commercial drivers license to be proficient in the English
language.
• Clouse told the committee that the legislation simply brings Alabama into accordance
with already established federal requirements.
• Major traffic accidents and fatalities have been prompted by drivers from other
countries being unable to read road signs and other warnings written in English,
according to Clouse.
• Under the provisions of the bill, a driver who is not proficient in English and receives a
traffic citation would face a $1,000 fine for the operator and $2,000 for the driver.
Those fines are doubled on subsequent violations.
• In addition to the language proficiency requirement, SB242 allows for the impoundment
of vehicles being operated by violators, and it creates the Class D felony crimes of pre-
senting a false foreign commercial license and operating a commercial motor vehicle
without proper documentation.• The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER DEPENDENTS
• The Alabama House on Thursday approved a bill by State Rep. Allen Treadaway (R -
Morris), who is a retired Birmingham deputy police chief, that would provide scholar-
ships for the dependents of long-serving law enforcement officers on the city, county,
and state levels.
• The bill is was originally part of the “Back The Blue” public safety package en-
acted last year and designed, in part, to encourage the retention of law enforce-
ment officers, but this measure was the victim of a legislative logjam in the Sen-
ate..
• It establishes the Alabama Law Enforcement Officers Family Scholarship Fund to
pay tuition and expenses for children and spouses of LEOs employed for at least
seven years by a single law enforcement agency in the state or at least 12 continu-
ous years full-time.
• The scholarships may be used for undergraduate courses offered by a public or
private technical school, college, or university in the state.
• The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
EXTENDING THE PERIOD FOR DNA WARRANTS
• The Alabama House approved a bill by House Rules Chair Joe Lovvorn (R - Auburn)
on Thursday that extends the time that law enforcement can collect DNA evidence.
• House Bill 454 increases the period that law enforcement can execute a search
warrant for a DNA reference sample from 10 days to 60 days before it is void.
• Lovvorn said he was sponsoring the bill on behalf of law enforcement agencies
who expressed the need for additional time in order to conduct investigations.
• The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
