Alabama House and Senate clash over bills, gaming as 2024 session concludes

When asked Thursday what to expect on the final day of the 2024 Alabama legislative session, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said “I don’t know if I could tell you with both noses on the ground.”

And several hours later, the answers were clear: the passage of an education budget; sniping between the House and Senate, and an attempted hail mary on a gambling package that consumed much of the session.

After stalling for several hours to give the Senate time to pass House bills, approved the 2025 Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget, which came out of committee where the Senate and House reconciled changes made in each chamber Tuesday.

The $9.3 billion ETF includes 2% pay raises for education employees and is about 6.8% bigger than this year’s $8.8 billion budget. It increases funding for local school boards of education and many education programs, including the Alabama Reading Initiative and the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative.

The afternoon, however, was dominated by a last-minute attempt from some House members to try to salvage something from a lottery and casino gambling package that consumed much of the session but died in the Senate last week. Several House members complained during a debate over the budgets about the defeat of the $1.2 billion revenue package, which many wanted to use to fund cost-of-living increases for education retirees.

The House broke for a recess to attempt negotiations. Ledbetter said after adjournment that they discussed “ideals” that “maybe they could get something for the people.” 

There was, however, little the chambers could do on the package, whether they wanted to or not. The  House and Senate had both adopted conference committee reports on the bills, though the votes to fully approve one of the bills, a constitutional amendment, fell short in the Senate. The Senate could only approve or reject the package; it could not alter it further.

 When it looked like gambling wasn’t going to move, Ledbetter said it was time to move on.

“I think, as I’ve said, we’ve passed it out twice. We could have passed it again, but just wasn’t meant to be this session, at this time,” Ledbetter said.

Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, who led negotiations on the bill for Democrats, said the caucus Thursday afternoon discussed what positions they could take if something came down from the Senate.

“The caucus was open to try to make sure we got something before the people. That was our goal from the beginning. It didn’t happen so we didn’t get a chance to act on it, which we thought was very unfortunate,” Jones said.

A unique session

Thursday wrapped up a legislative session that was characterized by a breakneck pace in its first half; a slow grind in its second, and a number of controversial and divisive bills. The Alabama Legislature passed bills setting up a voucher-like program for public school students; limits on absentee voting assistance; restrictions on publicly-funded diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and the teaching of so-called “divisive concepts.”

Much of the controversial legislation passed in a frantic four-week period that ran from early February to early March. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said the Democrats and Republicans worked together well this session “except those first five weeks when all the red meat was being poured at us.”

“I think, still think at the end of the day, we had some wins,” he said. “We took some losses and we took it on the chin and we big boys and we’ll come back next year and fight again.” 

Lawmakers also found themselves dealing with crises created by other branches of government. The Alabama Supreme Court in February declared that frozen embryos were children and that parents of destroyed embryos could claim civil damages, imperiling in vitro fertilization programs around the state.

In April, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen threatened to exclude President Joe Biden from the November ballot because the Democratic National Convention, which will nominate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, will take place after a state certification deadline. 

The Legislature passed a bill extending civil and criminal immunity for IVF operations, though some clinics said it may not be enough, and approved legislation to keep Biden and Harris on the ballot. Gov. Kay Ivey signed both bills. 

Ledbetter said that “Alabama has issues that need to be taken care of and we tried to address hard issues.” 

“We tried to address the ethics law. I thought we passed a good bill on that. It got hung up and we couldn’t get it out of the Senate, but I think we had good conversations, and there’s always another day for that,” he said.

Rep. Bryan Brinyark, R-Windham Springs, who served through his first session in the House after being elected to the chamber earlier this year, said  he was  excited to have gone through it. 

“I’ve been told that we’ll never have another one this hard and that it’s all downhill, and if I can make it through this one, then it’ll be all downhill from there,” Brinyark said.

Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, a vocal critic of the Senate on the last days of the session, said this session was a “colossal disaster” and nothing like what she’s seen in her 14 years in the House. She said it’s unfortunate that good bills never reached the floor because of “some senators taking positions to punish others, especially relative to the Birmingham Southern bill.”

“You had several other good pieces of legislation. Unfortunately, we didn’t get done what we probably should have done. We burned a lot of days that were unnecessary days that we burned that could have been put to use,” she said.

The gambling debate

The gambling debate dominated much of the session.The proposed package, as originally filed in the House, included a constitutional amendment to allow a lottery, sports betting and casino gambling at about seven locations in the state, and enabling legislation to regulate and distribute proceeds from the bill.

After the House passed the gambling proposal, which took less than a week from the bill’s introduction to its floor vote, it faced several obstacles in the Senate. At its arrival in the Senate, Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, the chair of the Senate’s Economic Development and Tourism Committee, said that the bill would likely not come to a committee vote that same week because they had “to do some caucus work before we take it to committee.” 

About a week after Albritton said the Senate was still working on the legislation, the bill went to committee for a public hearing with little notice, which was dominated by opponents to the bill. The bills were not on the agenda, and the committee did not vote on that day due to criticism of lack of information.

The Senate ended up passing a stripped down version of what the House passed. The House rejected the proposal, sending it to negotiations, where it stalled further. After reaching a compromise, which the House passed, the proposal died in the Senate after Albritton, a proponent of gambling expansion, voted against the proposal.

Republicans seemed focused on tackling political issues early in the session. The Legislature prioritized passing a ban on providing payment for absentee ballot assistance, also criminalizing “knowingly” providing an absentee ballot with pre-filled information. 

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman and carried in the House by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, prohibits any payment for assistance in absentee ballot applications or providing pre-filled information on absentee ballots.

Proponents argued that the legislation is essential for safeguarding election integrity, but critics argued that the bill could disproportionately impact individuals with disabilities in rural areas who rely on assistance in the voting process.

Alabama has since been sued by civil rights groups, alleging it amounts to voter suppression.

Lawmakers also pushed a bill to limit the use of public funds for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. It also outlines several “divisive concepts” that teachers or other public employees cannot compel others to accept or conform.

Divisive concepts include “the moral character of an individual is determined by his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin” and “meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist.”

Dead bills

The Alabama House ended on a lighthearted note, with House Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, presenting the Shroud Award — a humorous award going to the representative with “deadest” bill — and several members delivering heartfelt speeches, including Ledbetter, who called the House members “family.”

The Alabama Senate had a more tense ending.

Senators killed time over the course of Thursday by speaking extensively on confirmations and local legislation in conversations that veered towards food and fun facts on Marshall County.

“You know, Guntersville — did you know that they have a world record for the speed on water happened right on Lake Guntersville?” said Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab.

The record was broken in 1967, according to the Lake’s website.

The Senate recessed twice over the day, which Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said came from disputes between members.

“There were some disagreements over items on the listing of things on confirmations versus local bills,” he said. “So, we had a lot of different questions on things we were trying to get accomplished during the day.” 

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, who filibustered for extensive periods of time, said the delays came from disagreements between the House and Senate Thursday afternoon. He said some local bills carried by senators were not on the House agenda, so they were stalling on House bills in the Senate.

“It’s not a bad trade off,” he said. “Eight for two.”

Smitherman also had issues with bills on the Senate’s agenda Thursday. The Senate did not reach the Senate’s special calendar Thursday due to the slow down, which, in the process, killed some of the more controversial bills in the session.

Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, said Democrats in the Senate had major concerns over three bills: HB 167, sponsored by Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, which would require filters on devices used by minors to block “obscenity,” with a password; HB 195, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, which would require sexual education in public schools to be “sexual risk avoidance,” with encouragement of abstinence and HB 111, also sponsored by DuBose, which would define male and female, along with similar gendered terms, on the sole basis of biological organs.

A few other notable or controversial bills also died on the last day without making it on the calendar.

HB 385, sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, could have subjected librarians to arrest if a person accused them of distributing obscene or harmful materials to minors or exposing them to people dressed in revealing clothing.

If passed, it would have expanded the term “sexual conduct” in state law to include conduct that “knowingly exposes minors to persons who are dressed in sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, or are stripping, or engaged in lewd and lascivious dancing, presentations, or activities in K-12 public schools, public libraries, and other public places where minors are expected and are known to be present without parental consent.”

HB 130, sponsored by Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would have expanded the limitations on teachers addressing sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through fifth grade to kindergarten through the eighth grade. The bill would also limit pride flags in the classroom.

HB 36, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, would ban the possession of any part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert a firearm into a machine gun. It would make possession a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

‘I’m tired’

Shortly before the Senate adjourned Thursday evening, Smitherman told the chamber that the day, which dragged on for hours and recesses, did not have to go the way that it did.

Smitherman said that Singleton lost a local bill in the House related to pari-mutuel betting that he said would impact 200 people’s jobs.

“They don’t even have a ghost of a chance to get their jobs back until we come back in here,” he said.

Smitherman said that his Republican colleagues were not willing to risk themselves the way that he was.

“We don’t ever leave, we don’t leave here consistently feeling good on the last day because there’s always something,” he said.

Singleton told reporters after the Senate adjourned that his takeaway from the session “is that I’m tired.”

The 2024 legislative session included a number bills that caused friction between Democrats and Republicans, especially in the first half of the session mainly in a local government committee.

Singleton said the session, particularly the anti-DEI legislation had been taxing, and said his takeaway from the session “is that I’m tired.” He added that Democrats attempted to amend bills targeting marginalized populations to dull their impact.

“We believe that we wanted to protect the rights of people to be able to have these freedoms that America give us, and so we want to fight those and I think we did a really good job,” he said.

Reed also said that the Democrats and Republicans had worked well together, despite disagreements.

“I think the reason that we’ve been able to accomplish so much with a laundry list of themes that you all had interviewed us over and over and over about all the things that we’re doing for the people of Alabama, whether it’s children, whether it’s retirees, whether it’s business owners, all the all the different topics, being able to move that forward, okay, is something that is important to the body important to the Senate,” he said.

He also referenced several pieces of legislation, including the budgets.

“I cannot remember a session where we did more in more different topics than we did in this session,” he said.