Wednesday, the 28^th day of the regular session: The House Ways and Means Education Committee adopted a substitute budget for the Education Trust Fund, and the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment approved new legislative district maps for the House and Senate. The House approved bills to give the Alabama Sentencing Commission more power to set punishment standards for non-violent crimes, to deposit 10 percent of certain petroleum inspection fees in the Agriculture Fund, and to create tax credits for businesses investing in impoverished communities. They also passed bills to require motorists to move over one lane for stopped utility vehicles, to require abortion clinics to meet the same standards as outpatient centers and to allow beer to be sold in 25.4 ounce bottles. The Senate passed bills setting the maximum amount public officials can accept as gifts under the ethics law as items valued at $25 and to provide funding for the Domestic Violence Program and the Children First Appropriation. They discussed, but did not vote on, a bill to amend the state Immigration Act, but voted to reject repealing the law.

Thursday, the 29^th meeting day of the session: The House Ways and Means-Education Committee carried over a Senate-passed charter schools bill, effectively killing it for this session. Read more here. The House passed bills to eliminate duplicate campaign finance reporting requirements, to make it a crime to possess a cell phone with the intent to deliver it to a prison inmate, and to authorize the state to reimburse counties for the expenses of running an election. They also gave final approval to a budget for the Education Trust Fund and bills to require metal recyclers to maintain additional records and to register with the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center as well as a bill that creates penalties for persons who possess certain stolen metals. Another bill given final approval provides relief for joint filers when one of them has liability that the other has become responsible for. The House changes to the budget were rejected by the Senate, and it now goes to a conference committee to resolve the differences. The Senate passed a $1.4 billion General Fund budget, which also appears headed to a conference committee. The Senate also passed bills to provide tax incentives for tourist attractions that locate in the state, to allow alcoholic beverage sales at state parks within a lodge, to tax cigar wrapping, and to extend a moratorium on solid waste landfills to May 31, 2014.

Wednesday, a committee day and the 25^th meeting day of the session: The House Health Committee approved bills to make it harder to get an abortion in Alabama. The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved a bill to extend the period for renewing a driver’s license to six months before the license is due to expire. The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved a bill changing the way Auburn trustees are selected. The Senate Health Committee held a public hearing but did not vote on a bill saying life begins at fertilization of an egg and implantation in the womb. The House approved bills to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in the lodge of Joe Wheeler State Park and to establish a council to consider the problem of elder abuse. The Senate joined the House in giving final approval to a bill to allow public employees’ overtime pay to count toward their state pensions and approved a bill to legalize charter schools and give traditional public schools more flexibility in following state regulations.

Thursday, the 26^th meeting day of the session: The House spent much of the day stalled by the dilatory tactics of Democratic members trying to slow down consideration of various measures. By the midnight adjournment, they passed bills to provide Alabama restaurants incentives for buying products from the state, to allow the state’s Parking Deck Authority to build a new parking deck for the Gordon Persons Office Building for state employees in Montgomery, and to allow spouses of military service members to expedite any professional licenses or certificates when the spouse is transferred to Alabama. They also approved a bill raising court fees and to require insurance companies to more clearly describe to homeowners what their policies do and don’t do. The Senate approved bills creating the crime of looting during a state of emergency, to make it a crime for a daycare worker to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, and to create the crime of computer tampering. They also approved bills to make it a misdemeanor offense to use the Internet or email to impersonate another person with the intent of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding someone and to give new taxing authority to the Jefferson County Commission to address the county’s bankruptcy.

Wednesday (a committee day): The House Ways and Means-General Fund Committee approved bills to raise court fees by $23 million per year and to exempt dormant businesses from a tax for the privilege of doing business in Alabama. They also conducted a public hearing on a bill to add a $1 cigarette tax but did not vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a House-passed immigration bill with some changes and a House-passed bill dealing with scrap metal sales.

Thursday: The House passed a number of local bills and general bills to legalize home brewing of beer, wine and cider and to require new construction at colleges and universities containing dorm rooms and classrooms to have state-approved safe rooms. The Senate, like the House, approved a number of bills of local application only. Additionally, they approved bills to make it easier for independent and third party candidates to get on the ballot, to clarify the state ethics law by allowing state workers and education employees to receive a gift worth $50 or less, and to approve a House-passed measure saying that terminating an ectopic pregnancy doesn’t count as an abortion under state law, and doctors are not required to report the terminations to the state health department like they do abortions.

Wednesday (a committee day): The House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee discussed, but took no action on, a proposed constitutional amendment to allow display of the Ten Commandments in state buildings. The House Commerce and Small Business Committee held a public hearing on a bill to give the state a uniform, statewide regulation of fireworks. The House Ways and Means-Education Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to give teachers $300 for classroom supplies. The House Ways and Means-General Fund Committee approved a Senate-passed bill providing a supplemental appropriation for prisons as well as funds for a woman who was wrongfully incarcerated. The House Education Policy Committee approved a bill to change the mandatory age for children to attend school from 7 to 6 years old. The Senate Health Committee approved bills to require the “morning after pill” be administered in the presence of a physician and to allow limited sales of baked goods, canned jellies and jams, and dried herbs from home businesses. The Senate Education Committee amended that chamber’s charter school bill to require more stringent reporting requirements. The Senate Finance and Taxation-Education approved an education budget.

Thursday: The House passed bills to make changes to the state’s immigration law, to establish a uniform grading system for evaluating the performance of schools and systems in Alabama, and to allow litigants in a civil case to take depositions and conduct discovery in another state. They also approved a conference committee report on legislative pay. The Senate approved a number of bills of local application only. Additionally, it approved general bills to allow pharmacies to sell cold and allergy medicine with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and to allow businesses destroyed by tornadoes last April to keep their tax breaks if they have to move to a new location to reopen.