Alabama lawmakers scrambled Wednesday night to pass their final piece of legislation, a bill that would expand criminal and civil immunity protections for police officers.
Democrats in the Senate derailed the last day of the session with an hours-long filibuster. The Senate gaveled in at 1 p.m. and brought forward House Bill 202 by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, at around 9:30 p.m., just two-and-a-half hours before time would run out on the 2025 Legislative Session.
Despite Democrats harshly criticizing the bill, which Senators substituted on the floor, the Senate passed the bill along party lines about an hour later, transmitting it to the House to concur with the changes and send it to the desk of Gov. Kay Ivey for passage.
“When this bill passes, and young Black men and women are killed, you will have blood on your hands,” Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, told her colleagues.
The House gaveled in about 11 p.m. and Democrats there spoke out against the bill, but Republicans soon blocked debate, and the bill received final passage with about 20 minutes to spare.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s official X account posted immediate support for the passage of the law.
“Providing enhanced legal protections will allow our law enforcement to carry out their duties courageously and effectively,” Ivey said.
One of Ivey’s priority bills, the law passed out of the House in early March but stalled in the Senate, finally passing through a committee at the end of April.
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.”
Reynolds and supporters of the bill say the law will help to recruit and retain officers by giving them peace of mind as they attempt to carry out their duties, and Reynolds has balked at suggestions that the law would allow police to skirt accountability when using excessive force.
