The 2014 Alabama Legislature has official adjourned. A recap of the bills

The 2014 Alabama Legislature has "Adjourned Sine Die," thus signaling the end of the regular session. I guess the crappy weather kept the legislators indoors enough to push them through the legislation. Barring any special sessions, registered citizens can rest easy until the next legislative season.

So here is a recap of what passed and what didn't:

HB14: Criminal sex offenders over age 21, sex offenses against child 12 years of age or younger, surgical castration required prior to release from custody of Corrections Department.
Status: Never left committee
Comments: I never focused on this bill despite it receiving national attention. The legislature knew this law was one they would never touch.

HB21: Sex offenders, residence, sex offender clusters, licensing by sheriff, monitoring, regulation by Mental Health Department, penalties for violations, certain local and general laws repealed, Act 2010-515, 2010 Reg. Sess., repealed; Sec. 13A-11-204 repealed
Status: Never left committee.
Comments: I worked hard to get people to fight this bill. Hopefully the barrage of letters helped get this bill stalled.

HB 133: Human trafficking, Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking, adoption, Secs. 13A-6-150 to 13A-6-160, inclusive, 13A-6-170 repealed
Status: Never left committee
Comments: I'm always wary of human trafficking laws since they are used as mules for unrelated sex offender legislation (like Prop 35 in Cali). Thankfully no action was taken on this bill.

HB 224: Rape, sodomy, burglary in the first degree, person convicted of these crimes under certain conditions sentenced to minimum of 20 yrs in prison if victim is 65 yrs old or older, Secs. 13A-6-61, 13A-6-63, 13A-7-5 am'd.
Status: Stalled in committee
Comments: I never cared for mandatory minimums or status enhancements.

HB 413: Sex Offenders, registration and community notification, technical revisions and citations update various sections, petition for relief from employment, residency living restriction, civil division of circuit courts, absconding without registering, penalty, Secs. 12-15-107, 12-15-116, 13A-5-2, 13A-5-6, 14-9-41, 15-18-8, 15-19-7, 15-20A-4 to 15-20A-7, incl., 15-20A-9, 15-20A-11, 15-20A-14, 15-20A-16, 15-20A-18, 15-20A-21 to 15-20A-26, incl., 15-20A-28, 15-20A-29, 15-20A-32, 15-20A-34, 15-20A-35, 15-20A-37, 15-20A-39, 15-20A-40, 15-20A-43, 15-20A-45, 15-20A-46, 15-22-27.3, 32-6-49.24, 36-18-24, 36-18-25, 38-13-2, 38-13-4
Status: Stalled in committee
Comments: This law would have granted the potential for relief from registration laws under certain conditions. The only bad thing I saw was adding internet provider info. That was unnecessary.

HB 426/SB 297: Sex offenders, sex offender convicted of crime with a minor prohibited within 500 feet of public school K-12 property during instructional hours, Class C felony, Sec. 15-20A-17 am'd.
Status: Stalled in committee
Comments: SB 297 passed, but not as originally written. A highly watered down version applying to trespassing on school grounds replaced the 500 foot law.

SB 151: Bestiality and possession of obscene matter depicting bestiality, crime established, penalties
Status: Passed
Comments: It was good for a laugh, but whatever keeps Alabama from passing dumber legislation like HB21, I'm all for it.

New pre-filed bills in the House. Session begins Jan. 14

There are a couple of bills that were recently prefiled. One bill we should strongly support-- HB 134, which will put a muzzle on mugshot extortion publications. I haven't read the Trafficking bill in its entirety but I am concerned anytime I see civil forfeiture in any bill.

For now, our efforts should focus on stopping HB 21.

HB 133: Wallace Judiciary -- 1/10/2014
Human trafficking, Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking, adoption, Secs. 13A-6-150 to 13A-6-160, inclusive, 13A-6-170 repealed

About HB 133:It mainly discusses rules for laws dealing with "human trafficking."

Verdict: ReFORM-AL offers no opinion at this time, though civil forfeiture laws are always a concern due to potential for abuse.


HB 134:  England Public Safety and Homeland Security-- 1/10/2014
Websites containing personal information of persons convicted of crimes, required to remove information at no charge upon request, civil penalties, presumption of defamation

About HB 134: This bill will prevent mugshot websites or magazines from extorting people through posting their information publicly and demanding a fee to remove the offending mugshots.

VERDICT: ReFORM-AL strongly supports this bill