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On Wednesday, the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 202, sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-District 21, which would expand criminal and civil liability immunity for law enforcement officers in the state.
Before the bill’s passage, multiple amendments were brought by members of the committee, some of which were successfully added to the legislation.
Committee Vice Chairman Sam Givhan, R-District 7, introduced an amendment that, among other things, allows plaintiffs suing law enforcement over use of excessive force to access recordings including body cam footage of the incident in question. The amendment was subsequently adopted with the support of Rep. Reynolds.
Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-District 24, also introduced several amendments to the legislation.
Singleton’s first amendment would require the establishment of a study commission “to study the effect of [HB202] on the recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers.” The commission would be composed of members of both the Alabama House and Senate, including the chairs of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The committee went on to adopt the amendment.
Singleton’s second proposed amendment looked to establish a written policy, drafted by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission, which would set uniform standards for law enforcement across the state specifically with regards to use of force.
Several members of the committee, including Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile; Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham; and Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-District 18, supported Singleton’s amendment as a way to ensure that officers in the state are not receiving uniform immunity without also receiving uniform training.
“Wouldn’t you think that if we’re going to give everybody immunity, that they all should at least be APOSTC certified?” Singleton said.
“If we’re going to give immunity to everybody, then everybody should operate under the same rules, policies and regulations,” Figures added.
However, Rep. Reynolds and other members of the committee claimed that it would place an undue burden on law enforcement. The Republican members of the committee ultimately prevented the amendment from passing.
Lastly, Singleton presented an amendment to require the collection of data “relating to use of excessive force allegations against law enforcement agencies.” Under the amendment, local and municipal law enforcement agencies would be required to collect “a description of the type of excessive force alleged” and “a description of the race or ethnicity of the law enforcement officer and victim of the use of force which are the subject of the allegations.” Reynolds considered the amendment to be friendly, and it was quickly adopted.
The committee then discussed the bill as amended, with several of the members, including Sen. Smitherman, stating that they still had strong concerns about the legislation and how it would provide legal immunity for law enforcement officers who use excessive force against Alabama’s citizens.
“It’s a green light to kill black folks,” Smitherman said, arguing that the bill lacked the necessary guardrails to protect civilians from excessive force by a police officer. In Alabama and across the country, Black individuals are disproportionately the victims of police violence.
Under the bill, an officer would lose civil immunity if they violate “a clearly established state or federal statutory or constitutional right of the plaintiff of which every reasonable law enforcement officer would have known at the time of the law enforcement officer’s conduct,” but Smitherman argued that this provision is too vague to adequately protect Alabamians or to discourage officers from using excessive force.
“What in the Constitution, then, is going to protect someone before they die? Because all this is is that after they kill them, then their constitutional right kicks in, that you violated their civil rights… but we’re never going to get there,” Smitherman stated. He also noted that the Constitution does not outline any procedures or regulations for how a police officer should conduct themselves or how they should use their discretion when it comes to matters of lethal force.
Despite these concerns and calls from other Democrats on the committee to refrain from rushing the legislation through the body, the committee ultimately passed HB202 on a vote of 9-4. Sens. Figures, Singleton, Smitherman and Coleman-Madison voted against the bill’s passage.
HB202 will now go to the Senate floor. If the Senate passes the legislation, it will then be sent to the governor’s desk to either be vetoed or signed into law.
