We’ve taken a look at a handful of the very best and the very worst bills that Alabama lawmakers passed in the 2025 session, but there are a whole slew of bills that Alabama lawmakers left on the cutting room floor that we can expect to see again.
To conclude our look back at the 2025 Legislative Session at the worst bills that haven’t (yet) made it across the finish line, we needed more than just five slots, so here are two full handfuls of bills that died in session this year.
House Bill 4 — The “Jail the Librarians” bill
This turned out to be one of themes surprisingly dead bills of the legislative session after garnering 50 sponsors in the House before lawmakers even set foot in Montgomery. We’ve covered this bill, sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, ad nauseam over the years as it has shifted and contorted into the monster it has become. Originally designed to target drag shows and gender nonconformity, groups like Clean Up Alabama took hold and helped to retrofit the bill to allow librarians to be criminally charged for certain materials on the shelves. The intent has been clearly to charge librarians with a misdemeanor if they shelve books that are “sexually explicit” or have transgender themes in them, even though that’s not what the law says. Even if you support the idea of this bill, the legalese has become a mangled mess ripe for lawsuits and confusion.
Senate Bill 277 – Abstinence-based sex education
Alabama lawmakers are working to ensure there is no “comprehensive sex education” taught on Alabama school campuses, instead promoting “sexual risk avoidance” programs—a rebranding of abstinence-only sex education. Alabama already has restrictions on sex education and also has some of the worst teen pregnancy rates in the country. Now lawmakers like Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, want to go one step further and make sure local school districts can’t partner with comprehensive sex education programs in any way.
Senate Bill 5 — Politicizing the Archives board
This bill got so close to passing, we briefly thought it had made it through. But an amendment in the House required the Senate to concur, allowing Democrats to launch a filibuster that saw the bill die on the cusp of passage. It’s no secret that Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, brought this bill in the wake of the Department of Archives and History allowing a one-hour program on LGBTQ+ history. Which is exactly why the Department of Archives and History board needs to be protected from politicization, as those who seek to censor certain information would gain control of one our most important institutions to remain nonpartisan. This bill will be back again and will pass next time unless you demand your representatives oppose it.
House Bill 244 — The “Don’t Say Gay” bill
This bill by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would expand the state’s prohibition on classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation and gender identity through 12th grade, and would also ban teachers from displaying pride flags or other LGBTQ+ supportive insignias on school grounds. This is yet another nonsense bill based on this idea that woke teachers are after your kids—do we need to bring out the “litter box in the classroom” lie again? Much like librarians, there’s an easy target to come after schoolteachers that can be painted as some kind of predators trying to indoctrinate your children. In reality, this bill is beyond vague and especially in higher grades could interfere with proper instruction. Can a high school class discuss the original Chinese folktale of Hua Mulan? Or would that venture too far into gender identity? What about Henry VIII and his wives? Twelfth Night? The list goes on far beyond whatever scary image certain people have in their heads.
House Bill 178 — The Ten Commandments bill
Lawmakers are still really, really in a tizzy about religion being forced out of public schools and are doing all they can to get it back in there. This bill by Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, seeks to skirt the law by using only private funds to display the Ten Commandments throughout public schools. These displays would be required in every single classroom that teaches history across the state, only once private funding had been achieved to display them. You can argue that having the Ten Commandments in classrooms won’t hurt anyone and that it isn’t the government promoting one particular religion, but it is still favoring some religions over others. And the real lunacy is thinking that a poster of the Ten Commandments is going to suddenly bring revival to students. Hearing lawmakers talk, you almost imagine a classroom of second graders breaking out into tongues as the teacher hangs the poster on the wall.
House Bill 367 — No public funds to promote vaccines
This is simply one of the most egregiously stupid and harmful bills that we saw crop up among an onslaught of such bills this session. HB367 by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would block local health departments and the Alabama Department of Public Health from using taxpayer money to fund campaigns to promote vaccines. You know, like the campaigns you see around flu season that simply say “Hey, go get a shot, help keep everyone safe.” Butler contends these campaigns are merely to bolster profits for pharmaceutical companies who offer the vaccines, and said the messages aren’t beneficial if they don’t emphasize the side effects. Those very uncommon side effects that are far less risky than the illnesses the vaccines help fight. Thankfully this bill went nowhere, and it never ever should. It’s a dystopian nightmare to think of health departments being hogtied against promoting public health.
House Bill 518 — Charging women with murder for abortions
While this bill has thankfully not gained much traction, it is still concerning that it continues to resurface and certain lawmakers and groups are raising the heat to try and gain support. HB518 by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would allow women who have an abortion to be charged with homicide, going against a longstanding tradition among the pro-life movement against criminalizing mothers and instead focusing on abortion providers. With mifepristone (the abortion pill) still available, more pro-life lobbyists could foreseeably turn toward legal consequences for pregnant women seeking abortions if unable to stop the medical abortion market.
Senate Bill 278 — Mandating religious elective time in schools
Local school boards can already choose to create their own policies allowing certain students to be released for “religious instruction time” that can count toward school credit. But this bill by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, would have required all local school boards to adopt some sort of policy on allowing the practice, although the specific policies would be up to each individual board. Still, the bill goes beyond the pale by trying to force school boards to allow valuable instructional time to be sacrificed for religious instruction in yet another scheme that skirts the boundary between church and state.
House Bill 231 — Mandatory pledge and prayer in schools
Back again we are to forcing religion into schools, and not just any religion mind you. The original version of this bill specifically mandated that the prayers be within the “judeo-Christian religion.” That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, but worse than that, it’s another example of the wrong-headed focus of lawmakers who support these bills in the name of Christianity. There are much better ways to go about spreading your faith than trying to force prayer into schools.
House Bill 7 — Making all law enforcement like ICE
HB7 by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would deputize Alabama law enforcement agencies to serve as a mini version of ICE—because the real ICE agents are doing such a bang-up job right now. Considering the current political climate, this bill would only further terrorize immigrants living and working in Alabama trying to improve their lives while contributing to the state. We’ve done this rodeo before in 2011 and crops were left rotting in the fields. Turns out you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
