Alabama Legislature

As thousands of college football fans gather on the Tuscaloosa campus of the University of Alabama for today's season opener against Western Kentucky, some things are missing. Namely the Black Student Union office and the queer resource center.

A divided federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision allowing Alabama to enforce its ban on treating transgender minors with puberty blockers and hormones.

The Alabama legislative season has concluded for the year with new laws going into effect this Saturday. The Parents Right to Know Act and the squatter’s law are among the laws that will be enacted. However, there are many issues that remain unresolved. Medicaid and healthcare expansion is one of them.

Lab-grown meat is not currently available in any U.S. grocery stores or restaurants. If some lawmakers have their way, it never will be. Alabama banned it this month

Some new Alabama laws go into effect this Saturday. One is supposed to broaden the rights of parents. Another deals with squatters.

Gambling legislation and proposed changes to the state ethics law failed to win final approval at the end of Alabama’s lawmaking session in Montgomery. Lawmakers faced a public backlash over IVF access. Clinics paused services following a state court ruling equating frozen embryos to children.

Gambling legislation remains stalled in the Alabama Senate with members expressing doubt that it will get another vote in the closing hours of the legislative session.

Alabama lawmakers gave final approval to legislation to provide state tax breaks to businesses that help their employees afford childcare. The Alabama Senate voted 31-0 for the bill that now goes to Governor Kay Ivey for her signature.

The Alabama Senate this week approved, and then killed, a bill that would give public school teachers eight weeks of paid parental leave. State Senator Vivian Davis Figures said it’s an example of the mostly male Legislature ignoring the concerns of women in the state.

A proposal to authorize a state lottery and allow casinos with slot machines and video poker, but not table games, at seven sites in the state remains stalled in the Alabama Legislature but could get another vote in the session's final three days.