April 22, 2024 Group Watch: Day-by-Day, Play-by-Play
Tuesday, 22nd day:
- The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved a bill to establish the employer tax credit, childcare provider tax credit and nonprofit childcare provider tax credit.
- The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee approved a Senate-passed a bill to establish the Alabama Workforce Pathways Act, to provide different pathways for earning a high school diploma based on future career paths.
- The House Fiscal Responsibility Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to create the Alabama Growth Alliance.
- The House passed bills to provide appropriations from the Education Trust Fund for public education and other programs such as Talladega College, Tuskegee University, Southern Preparatory Academy and the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences in Demopolis. Select agencies received supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal year, and a separate bill provides for teacher pay raise.
- In addition to appropriation bills, the House also passed bills to create the Alabama Adventure Awaits sales tax holiday and to provide that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission has the primary responsibility over regulation, licensing and enforcement of cannabis cultivation.
- The Senate passed bills to require municipal officials to participate in training; to revise the appointment process for the Director of the Alabama Film Office; to provide compensation to full-time public education employees for on-the-job injuries; to revise the requirements for companies participating in the Alabama Jobs Act; and to condition employers’ eligibility for economic development incentives upon employers refraining from certain practices relating to labor organizations.
Wednesday, a committee day:
- The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved bills to repeal the Distressed Institution of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program and to rename the Alabama Film Office as the Alabama Entertainment Office.
- The House Education Policy Committee approved bills to require each local board of education to adopt an internet safety policy for district-owned devices used in school and to prohibit the use of certain platforms; and to increase the maximum compensation for members of local boards of education conditioned upon the completion of certain training requirements.
- The House Commerce and Small Business Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to condition an employer’s eligibility for economic development incentives upon the employer refraining from certain practices relating to employee representation by a labor organization.
- The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee approved bills to require the Department of Youth Services to reimburse a county detention facility for housing a child once the child has been ordered to the custody of the Department of Youth Services. The committee approved both the House-passed and the version originating in the Senate.
- The Senate Education Policy Committee approved bills of origins in both chambers to provide a uniform system of procedural due process protections for students facing suspensions or expulsion for violating the student code of conduct or state law.
Thursday, 23rd day:
- The House passed bills to provide for remote early enrollment of transferring military children with specials needs; to create the Alabama Workforce Housing Tax Credit; to establish the employer tax credit and childcare provider tax credit; and further define warrant procedures for certain digital, electronic or telephonic means of obtaining a warrant.
- The Senate passed bills to establish the Alabama Workforce Transformation Act FY24 and the Alabama Workforce Pathways Act to allow different pathways for high school diplomas based on future career plans.
