Governor and her Cabinet Set Special Order Bills for 2018

Gov. Claudia Hubbard and her Cabinet have chosen the special order bills for the 2018 Alabama YMCA Youth Legislature. These bills will take precedence over all other bills and will be debated first in their respective chambers. The regular order calendar as set by the Rules Committees will follow this legislation.

HOUSE

1. HB40 by Joe Higgins, Saint James School, Montgomery – Repeal of Alabama’s 2011 Voter ID Law.
2. HB6 by Chloe Kinderman, Mountain Brook High School, Birmingham delegation – Rural Hospital Support Act – a 25-cent cigarette tax to supplement Medicaid reimbursement to rural hospitals.
3. HB67 by Luckett Robinson, St. Paul’s Episcopal School, Mobile – Abolish Judicial Elections – creates a nonpartisan committee to select judicial candidates for Alabama’s circuit courts, the Court of Civil Appeals, Court of Criminal Appeals and Alabama Supreme Court based on merit. Gives the governor appointment authority based on the committee’s selections with approval of the Alabama Senate.

SENATE

1. SB19 by Hayden Sledge, Mountain Brook High School, Birmingham – A Necessity for Any Life – Public and private schools that donate leftover food to local shelters would receive a tax break that would be determined by the value of 15 percent of the donated food.
2. SB22 by Katherine Voorhees, Spain Park High School, Hoover – Reform Solitary Confinement – Bans solitary confinement as a punishment for juvenile offenders and for those with mental disabilities. Limits solitary confinement for adult prisoner to 14 days.
3. SB36 by Addison Smith, St. Paul’s Episcopal School, Mobile – Rural Development Act – Under certain circumstances, grants businesses a $3,000 credit for each new full-time employee, and a $2,750 credit for each $50,000 net gain in qualified investment when they expand within a county with a population of less than 25,000. The credits may be used to obtain a refund of state sales and use taxes paid; against the income tax liability of the taxpayer; or as a refundable credit claimed on the income tax return.

FIRST YEAR

1. FYB2 by Virginia Cobbs, Mountain Brook High School, Birmingham – The Energy Revival Act – taxes bituminous coal, subbituminous coal and lignite at $1.40, $1.45, and $1.47, respectively, per 10,000 Btu of fuel. The tax proceeds are to subsidize energy research and development; provide grants for scholarships for nuclear engineering and research students; and fund grants and loans for companies building nuclear power plants and producing nuclear energy in Alabama.
2. FYB40 by James Snead and Easton Strickler, The Montgomery Academy – Recycling Routes in Alabama – Requires recycling pickup service in every Alabama city with a population of 1, 000 or more manned by nonviolent prisoners.
3. FYB71 by Hannah Hale, The Montgomery Academy – Death with Dignity – legalizes physician-assisted suicide for those with terminal illnesses.

For a full list of bills and other conference documents, go to https://alyig.org/conference/