March 19, 2018 Group Watch: News & Views from the State House
Bills of all kinds keep rolling along, pretty much unimpeded, and last week, the Legislature passed local bills plus bilsl to provide funding for the Department of Corrections among other state agencies.
- On Tuesday (19th day of session): The House passed several bills of local application only and general bills to provide civil immunity to persons providing transportation to healthcare providers without compensation; to provide that the threshold requirement for tax filing to be the sum of standard deduction and personal exemptions; to provide for the electronic filing of campaign finance reports; to create within the University of Alabama at Birmingham the Alabama Rural Hospital Resource Center; and to revise the definition of protected person in the Adult Protective Services Act. They also gave final passage of Senate-passed General fund appropriations, raises and one-time bonuses for active and retired state workers. The Senate passed a few bills of local application only and general bills to establish the filing requirement threshold to be the sum of standard deduction and to further definitions affecting land surveyors and engineers.
- On Wednesday (a committee day): The House Urban and Rural Development Committee approved a Senate-passed bill to create within the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Alabama Rural Hospital Resource Center. The House Boards, Agencies and Commissions Committee approved a Senate-passed bill relating to the Engineers and Land Surveyors Board.
- On Thursday (20th day of session): The House passed a large number of bills with local application only and general bills to reform the Juvenile Justice System with a number of amendments and to authorize tax abatements for data processing centers be extended for five years. The Senate also passed bills of local application only and House-passed bills to require state regulation of church-based child care facilities; to provide supplemental appropriation to certain entities; and to fund public education in the state of Alabama.
