An Alabama Senate committee advanced a bill to allow the Alabama Law Enforcement Association to take over certain police departments if they don’t meet staffing requirements on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 298, sponsored by Senator Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, would give Alabama law enforcement agencies serving Class 3 municipalities five years to employ at least two full-time officers per every 1,000 residents, based on 2020 census numbers.
If the municipality fails to make annual staffing improvements of at least 10 percent during the five-year window, ALEA would have the opportunity to “assume operational oversight of the department,” until one year after staffing requirements are met.
ALEA would be authorized to create a plan to improve staffing, employ supplemental officers or resources, or enter the department into an agreement with other law enforcement agencies. Montgomery and Huntsville are the only Class 3 municipalities in the state.
During Tuesday’s Senate County and Municipal Government Committee meeting, Senate Taxation and General Committee Chair Senator Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, expressed concern that the bill could place additional financial burdens on local police departments since the bill does not mandate where funds needed for compliance are to be drawn from.
“This puts a great potential burden on the state,” Albritton said.
“I think this is a great idea. And we need to look at this so that we can make sure that we have the proper safety concerns in every municipality and throughout the state,” he continued. “But we’ve got to deal with this in a fiscal way in determining how we’re going to fund this and how it’s going and who’s going to be paying for it. And I’d look for the opportunity to work those details out between now and floor time, if you don’t mind.”
Senator Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, introduced an amendment to the legislation to mandate that all costs incurred by municipalities to comply with the bill would be drawn from Alabama’s general fund budget.
“This is an unfunded mandate,” the senator said of SB298. “And my position is, if we’re going to do this, then let’s make sure the state has the burden of paying for this.”
“This is Pandora’s Box,” Albritton said of the amendment. “If the state starts absorbing the cost, for every municipality’s or any municipality’s responsibility for safety, public safety, while we might be able to do that, we can’t do it without the funds to do so.”
Albritton requested that Hatcher withdraw his amendment and hold discussions on how the bill will be funded before it goes up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Senator Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, meanwhile, critiqued the bill’s structure for recruiting new officers.
“I’m definitely not questioning the sponsor, the gentleman’s heart in why he is moving forward with this piece of legislation, I just don’t think this is how you get there,” Coleman said. “I just kind of respectfully disagree in if you really want to have an opportunity to increase the number of officers, we ought to be offering some type of incentive, and this doesn’t do that.”
Coleman went on to question Albritton’s request to withhold a vote on Hatcher’s amendment.
“In asking the gentleman to hold back his amendment to protect the coffers of the city that he represents, when it looks as if the posture of the committee is that this bill is gonna move forward—that’s kind of a, in my opinion, a hard ask,” she said. “I just don’t know how we ask the gentleman to hold back on his amendment when this bill itself would be an unfunded mandate for the city of—the cities of Montgomery, in addition to Huntsville.”
The committee voted 6-3 against the amendment, with Hatcher, Coleman-Madison and Coleman in favor.
Senator Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, also expressed concern that the bill does not include a funding mechanism and that the legislation could negatively impact police staffing in smaller municipalities.
“Local municipalities, especially rural and small counties, are going to be hurt, because now you’re gonna have a recruitment grab frenzy, to get officers to try to meet this mandate, and where are you gonna get them from? You’re going to get them from your smaller cities that are in close proximity,” she said.
The senator also expressed concerns that the bill could put additional strain on ALEA staffing.
“They don’t have enough right to cover the whole state,” Coleman-Madison said. “They don’t have 1,000 [officers] right now, as I understand. And so, you’re going to be barring resources from them.”
The committee held a public hearing regarding Barfoot’s legislation last week, in which Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, Police Chief Jim Graboys and Baker Allen of the Alabama League of Municipalities spoke against the bill.
Graboys expressed concerns that the bill would negatively impact public confidence in affected agencies, hindering recruiting efforts and agency morale.
Reed, meanwhile, criticized the bill for attempting to exert greater state control over local government and expressed frustration that city officials had not been contacted while the bill was being drafted.
“I think this is a solution in search of a problem,” the mayor said. “Part of this is the core argument of where is the role of local government and what’s the role of state government, and I think for us, allowing the state to override local officials is a bridge too far.”
“This, as I said last week, is not a state versus city, it’s a good guy versus bad guy, and it’s an effort to get law enforcement numbers in municipalities so that we have the ability to fight crime,” Barfoot said on Tuesday in response to concerns raised during the hearing.
Hatcher and Albritton both pointed to ALEA’s Montgomery Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit, a current law enforcement initiative aimed at improving the city’s public safety.
“Do you see that as a remedy to portions of your bill?” Hatcher asked Barfoot about the initiative.
“The Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit is something that the taxpayers of the state of Alabama have funded by way of our votes,” Barfoot said. “I think that that is a great tool that has been used to great success in Montgomery, but that is not meant to be an extended thing.”
The senator argued that since Montgomery has consistently budgeted for police expansions, the bill would not place additional burdens on the city and highlighted that the legislation provides a mechanism for city municipalities to reimburse ALEA, should the agency take on additional expenses in enforcing the legislation.
A fiscal note released for SB298 last week projects that the bill would cost affected local government entities more than $50,000 annually to comply with the legislation.
If passed, SB298 would take effect on October 1, 2026.
