Alabama Lawmakers

Alabama lawmakers have advanced legislation that would prohibit teacher-led discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools and also ban Pride flags from being displayed in classrooms. The legislation is part of a wave of laws across the country that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

Former Alabama Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Terry Everett has died. He was 87. Gov. Kay Ivey's office says he died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Rehobeth on Tuesday. Everett represented the state’s 2nd District from 1993 to 2009.

Republicans in the Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday advanced a bill to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities and state agencies. The House also approved legislation to make it a crime to pay someone for collecting absentee ballot applications.

Alabama lawmakers have moved closer to approving protections for fertility clinics. Lawmakers in both chambers on Thursday advanced legislation that should shield IVF providers from civil lawsuits and prosecution for the “damage to or death of an embryo” during IVF services. The measures could be approved by early next week.

Republicans have not released their ideas for redrawing Alabama’s congressional districts to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, leading Democrats on Thursday to accuse the GOP legislative majority of shutting them, and the public, out of the process ahead of next week’s special session.

The legislation will reduce the tax on groceries in Alabama to 3% on Sept. 1, 2023, and aims to reduce to 2% on Sept. 1, 2024.

A bill that would limit Alabama’s LGBTQ+ community did not pass this year’s legislative session, but civil rights activists are still concerned House Bill 405 could come back in 2024.

House Bill 77 will lower the state's prepaid sales tax burden. It will also give some businesses the option to no longer prepay taxes.

The Alabama Senate advances a bill that would prohibit the state from contracting with companies that refuse to work with fossil fuel businesses and gunmakers.

Alabama lawmakers have approved harsher penalties for trafficking fentanyl, with punishments of up to life imprisonment, as lawmakers try to respond to the deadly overdose crisis. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the legislation into law Thursday afternoon.