The Alabama House on Thursday wrapped the week’s work by approving three bills before adjourning just after noon.
House Bill 119, sponsored by Rep. Gil Isbell, R-Gadsden, would allow any retailer licensed to sell alcohol for off-premises consumption to sell beer and wine through a drive-through or walk-up window. An amendment was offered that would require all occupants in a vehicle using a drive-through window to buy alcohol be at least 21 years old, but the amendment failed in a vote. The bill was approved in a 65-18 vote.
House members also passed HB 3 sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, would add emergency management agencies to the state’s definition of entities that provide public safety services, which would allow those agencies to apply for a broader scope of federal funding, Treadaway said.
HB 21 introduced by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would include pipelines, mining operations and mining infrastructure to the list of critical infrastructure that is, by law, a crime to trespass on. The bill also increases the criminal charge for damaging critical infrastructure from a misdemeanor to a Class C felony, and would make it a Class C felony to damage that infrastructure using weaponized unmanned aircraft systems.
HB 21 was substituted for the identical Senate Bill 17, which members approved on a vote of 99 to 1 with two abstentions.
