While Alabama lawmakers chose to spend a lot of time on bad and useless bills, they also managed to push some good legislation across the finish line.
Our staff has picked a handful of the very best bills to make it into law in the 2025 session.
House Bill 386—Reducing the grocery tax
Alabama lawmakers made a historic decision in the 2023 legislative session to cut the state’s sales tax rate on groceries in half from 4 percent to 2 percent. Democrats had been fighting for years to work toward elimination of the grocery tax and the one the idea became popular with Republicans, the legislation suddenly found a fast track to passage. However, that original bill only reduced the grocery tax by 1 percent initially, and implemented a framework that had prevented the state from moving forward with phase two and reducing the sales tax by another 1 percent. HB386 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, allowed the state to disregard that previous restriction and move forward with reducing the sales tax to 2 percent, offering relief to Alabama families of all incomes.
Senate Bill 199—Paid parental leave for state employees
The legislature under Gov. Kay Ivey has consistently voted to raise teacher and state employee salaries in the state year after year, but took a break this session to offer some new benefits. One of those new benefits is paid parental leave for state employees. The law provides eight weeks of paid leave to mothers and two weeks of paid leave to fathers after childbirth, adoption of a child aged 3 or younger, stillbirth or miscarriage.
Senate Bill 102—Presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women
A bill to expand presumptive eligibility for Medicaid coverage to all pregnant women found early bipartisan support between Democrat Rep. Marilyn Lands, R-Huntsville, and Republican Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover. The Senate version of their bill to expand eligibility to help cover prenatal care has been signed into law, giving new support to mothers. The bill allows a woman to qualify for one 60-day presumptive eligibility period per pregnancy, and Medicaid would be unable to retroactively deny coverage during the period.
House Bill 152—Sales tax exemption for feminine hygiene, baby products
In addition to reducing the grocery tax, lawmakers also voted unanimously to eliminate taxes on items including feminine hygiene products, diapers and baby formula in another move to support mothers. Hb152 by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, has been in the works for several sessions. The bill also exempts baby bottles, baby wipes, breast milk pumping equipment, and maternity clothing from the state sales tax.
Senate Bill 116—Ban on Glock switches
Alabama lawmakers have been famously loathe to pass any restrictions on firearms into law, making the passage of SB116 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, even more impressive. The bill has trended up in bipartisan support over the past several years as lawmakers looked for any common ground on gun control legislation. The law prohibits the possession of a device commonly known as a “Glock switch” that converts a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon. The devices have led some shooting situations to go from bad to worse due to the rapid rate of fire. Possession of such a device will now be a Class C felony under Alabama law.
