Alabama Lawmakers

Alabama lawmakers are eyeing an overhaul to Alabama’s method of funding public schools. A panel of lawmakers heard information Monday about possible new formulas for how state money would get divvied among school systems.

Republicans in the Alabama Senate on Tuesday picked Sen. Garlan Gudger of Cullman to be the next Senate president pro tempore. Republicans named Gudger as their nominee after a closed-door meeting. The powerful position is vacant because Senate Pro Tempore Greg Reed is stepping down to join Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration.

A conference to discuss the changing educational landscape in Alabama and explore what’s possible for the future is on the books. More than 400 education advocates, policymakers, school leaders, teachers, students, parents and community stakeholders from across the state are headed to Birmingham for the Alabama Opportunity Summit.

A statewide, member-led nonprofit organization advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty is recommending a plan of action for local lawmakers. The 2025 roadmap for change in Alabama from Alabama Arise has expanding Medicaid and ending the state sales tax on groceries as top goals on the legislative agenda.

An Alabama bill that impacts college DEI programs, bathroom access has been in effect across the Yellowhammer State for about a week. The SB129 legislation prohibits public universities, K-12 school systems and state agencies in Alabama from maintaining DEI offices.

State lawmakers from Mississippi and Alabama are playing each other in softball this weekend to raise money for charity. The states' Republican governors are placing friendly bets on the outcome.

A statewide nonprofit is calling on Alabamians to lobby for support around a federal program that gives summer financial assistance food-insecure children. This comes after Governor Kay Ivey cited cost concerns for opting out of the Summer EBT initiative.

Alabama lawmakers advanced legislation that could see librarians prosecuted for providing “harmful” materials or programs to minors. The Alabama bill removes the existing exemption for public libraries in the state’s obscenity law.

Alabama lawmakers advanced a bill making it a crime for medical examiners to retain a deceased person’s organs without family permission. The bill would make it a felony for a medical examiner to retain a deceased person’s organs without getting that permission from “the appropriate next of kin.”

Alabama lawmakers have advanced legislation to define who is considered a man or a woman under state law, saying it must be based on reproductive systems and not gender identity. The Alabama House of Representatives voted 77-24 for the legislation.