HB 272: Firearm Concealed Carry Permits and Constitutional Carry
Sponsor: Rep. Shane Stringer (R-Citronelle)
BCA Position: Monitor
Status: Signed into Law
HB 272 will eliminate the requirement for person(s) to acquire a concealed carry permit in the State of Alabama. This new law will revise the presumption that an individual that is carrying a pistol without a permit is evidence of intent to commit a crime. The BCA team closely monitored this bill and engaged several times throughout the session to make necessary adjustments that ensured businesses were not affected and could continue to operate their business as current law allows.
HB 391: Business Privilege Tax
Sponsor: Rep. Steve Clouse (R-Ozark)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Signed into Law
HB 391 will lower the minimum business privilege tax from $100 to $50 for the taxable year beginning December. 31, 2022. Under current law, the minimum business privilege tax due for certain corporations, business trusts, limited liability entities, and disregarded entities is not less than $100. The most important provision of this bill is the eventual elimination of the minimum business privilege tax which, once it goes into effect after December 31, 2023, will save small businesses in Alabama $23 million a year.
SB 224: Unemployment Compensation Requirements Updated
Sponsor: Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Awaiting the Governor’s Signature
SB 224 increases the requirement standard for receiving unemployment compensation in Alabama. Under current law, an unemployed individual must make a reasonable and active effort to secure work for which he or she is qualified to be eligible to receive unemployment benefits. This bill would require an unemployed individual to search for work a certain number of times per week to be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.
HB 82: Small Business Relief and Revitalization Act
Sponsor: Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Signed into Law
HB 82 also known as the Small Business Relief and Revitalization Act allows businesses to exempt up to $40,000 of the market value of business personal property from ad valorem tax levied by the state. HB 82 also ensures that any relief funding from the American Rescue Plan Act received by qualifying disadvantaged farmers is exempt from state income tax. This bill provides a one-month extension of the due date of tax returns for Alabama financial institution excise taxpayers and corporate income taxpayers in the tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, without incurring a late filing penalty. HB 82 also increases the average monthly state sales tax liability threshold calculation to $5,000 or greater during the preceding calendar year for required estimated payments.
HB 408: Economic Development Incentives Reporting Requirements
Sponsor: Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the House Ways and Means Education Committee
HB 408 would have required the Alabama Department of Revenue to submit a Unified Economic Development Budget (UEDB) to provide policymakers and taxpayers with a comprehensive accounting of all economic development spending. The reporting requirements, among other provisions, included in this bill would have negatively impacted the effectiveness of many economic development incentives aimed at recruiting new jobs to the state.
SB 17: Security of Critical Infrastructure
Sponsor: Sen. Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Signed into Law
SB 17 increases protections for critical infrastructure assets through enacting enhanced criminal penalties for the act of damaging critical infrastructure. It also provides penalties for individuals who commit the crime of unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure asset with a weaponized unmanned aircraft system. Critical infrastructure assets need to be protected for public and environmental safety and economic stability reasons. These include facilities or structures such as a chemical manufacturing facility, a pipeline, a natural gas storage facility, an electric grid control center, and a water treatment facility.
HB 255: Local Government Broadband Grants
Sponsor: Rep. Randall Shedd (R-Cullman) and Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Passed the Legislature – Pending Statewide Vote
HB 255 proposes an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama which would authorize the state, a county, or a municipality to grant to public or private entities federal award funds or any other source of funding designated for broadband infrastructure by state law for providing or expanding broadband infrastructure.
SB 152: ARPA Relief Funding Tax Exemption – Child Tax Credit
Sponsor: Sen. Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Signed into Law
SB 152 ensures families aren’t penalized on their state income taxes for the increased child tax credit they received through the federal ARPA bill. The tax relief measures included under this bill include increased child tax credit, increased dependent care credit, and increased and modified earned income credit, which totals around $2 billion in additional pandemic relief benefits that were received by Alabama families.
HB 20: Extension of Sales Tax Exemption for Certain Military Aircraft Parts
Sponsor: Rep. Paul Lee (R-Dothan)
BCA Position: Support
Status: Awaiting the Governor’s Signature
HB 20 will extend the tax exemption for the gross receipts from the sale of parts, components, and systems that become a part of a fixed or rotary wing military aircraft and that satisfy other criteria from May 30, 2022, to May 30, 2032.
SB 57: Repeal/Sunset of Certain State Tax Credits, Incentives, and Abatements
Sponsor: Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee
SB 57 proposed a repeal of any tax incentive, credit, or abatement that doesn’t currently have a prescribed sunset or expiration provision unless the Legislature passes an extension on December 31, 2022. The Alabama tax code contains numerous individual and businesses tax incentives, credits and abatements that are often used as a tool to for economic development at the statewide and local levels. It would have established annual reporting requirements for all tax incentives, credits, and abatements that would be subject for review by the House and Senate Education committees.
HB 16 and HB 29: Private Right of Action Against Employers (COVID Vaccinations)
Sponsor: Rep. Tommy Hanes (R-Bryant)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the House Judiciary Committee
HB 16 and HB 29 would have established a private right of action against employers for any adverse reaction, injury, temporary, permanent disability or death of an employee arising from an employer mandate that the employee receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
HB 31: Civil Cause of Action Against Employers (Immunization Status Discrimination)
Sponsor: Rep. Ritchie Whorton (R-Owens Cross Roads)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the House Judiciary Committee
HB 31 would have created a civil cause of action prohibits employers for alleged discrimination against an individual based on their immunization status. HB 31 would have allowed for an employer, potential employer or place of public accommodation be subject to a civil cause of action. It listed available remedies to include, but not be limited to: injunctive relief; compensatory damages; punitive damages and attorney fees.
HB 130: Healthcare Certificate of Need Program
Sponsor: Rep. Andrew Sorrell (R-Muscle Shoals)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the House Health Committee
HB 130 would have repealed the certificate of need program and abolished the Certificate of Need Board, the State Health Planning and Development Agency, the Statewide Health Coordinating Council, and the Health Care Information and Data Advisory Council. Under existing law, health care services and facilities are required to apply for and receive a certificate of need before they can build new health care related facilities or offer expanded services.
SB 27: Prescription Drug Compliance Standards
Sponsors: Sen. Tom Butler (R-Madison)
BCA Position: Oppose
Status: Stalled in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee
SB 27 would have required a health insurer to communicate to a physician, or other health care professionals with the authority to prescribe drugs, within three business days of receiving a request for insurance coverage of a prescription drug benefit that the request is approved, denied or requires supplemental documentation. This legislation also required a health insurer to communicate with a physician regarding the approval or denial of the request within three business days of receiving sufficient supplemental documentation.
SB 10: Interactive Computer Service Provider Censorship
Sponsor: Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur)
BCA Position: Monitor
Status: Indefinitely Postponed in Senate
SB 10 would have prohibited a large interactive computer service provider from taking certain restrictive or suppressive action against a user of its service based on either a viewpoint expressed or shared by the user or true statements of fact expressed by the user. The bill provided for civil liabilities from an effected user against a major interactive computer service provider.