The Alabama Legislature’s 2026 regular session ended Thursday in a fight over a closed primary bill that ratcheted tensions in the Senate and helped doom several other pieces of legislation.
HB 541, sponsored by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would have required Alabama voters to register with a party to vote in primaries. The bill was the Alabama Republican Party’s top legislative priority after its winter meeting in March.
But the bill drew bipartisan opposition in the House, and divisions were clear among Senate Republicans Thursday. The standoff led to senators skipping around an agenda of bills and led to tense confrontations between legislators.
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Although Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, supported the primary bill and it was on the Senate’s agenda for the final day of session, other Republican members of the chamber were not supportive. Sen. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay, said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon that he planned to introduce a substitute for the bill, saying did not like how it excluded independent voters.
“I’ve been in the legislature since 2011. I got here in a special election, … when I ran I was Green, I wasn’t affiliated with a party. I had no clue,” Sessions said. “I was a farmer all my life, I voted Republican all my life, and felt like I was a Republican. I didn’t know I needed to be affiliated with the party to run for political office.”
According to a recent Gallup poll, 45% of Americans identified as independent. Identification with the Democratic and Republican parties was even, at 27% each. Without statewide party registration, it is impossible to say how those percentages apply to Alabama.
“I just want this body to know that it’s certainly not against the Republican Party. I feel like I am doing this for the citizens of the state of Alabama, because we represent all the citizens,” Sessions said. “We don’t just represent Republicans, we don’t just represent Democrats. We represent everyone that lives within our border, this state. And I just feel like there needs to be some give and take from this.”
The House adjourned, sine die, before the Senate, preventing the upper chamber from passing any more House bills. The bill also included an amendment from Tuesday’s committee meeting, which would have required concurrence or conference committee from the House.
“The House sine die’d,” Senate Majority Leader Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, said in an interview Thursday after the Senate adjourned. “We could have taken action on it, but it would have to be transmitted through the House, but since they left there was no option of getting to it.”
Gudger said he thought the upper chamber was moving towards a compromise on the bill, with Sessions’ substitute, but ran out of time.
“It was one of those (bills) that I think the people in the Republican Party pushed that on us, to be honest with you,” Gudger said. “In the end, I think we were kind of ready to get rolling on that.”
Gudger said the bill will likely return next year.
Slow progress
Senate Democrats also slowed progress in the chamber on a bill limiting the role of faculty senates at colleges and universities. Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, said on the floor that it was disappointing that some bills further into the agenda relating to veterans would not get passed because of a filibuster.
“We’ve got some military bills that are very important to me, very important to this body. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed that one person is going to prevent those from coming up today, but that’s just the way it is with the legislative session,” Jones said.
Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, whose father is a veteran, said the same.
“I have a heavy heart as well. I know this House Bill 67 is about elections, voting and campaigns, but House Bill 60, that is the last bill on the calendar for today, was very important also to military personnel,” Coleman said. “I guess we’ll talk a little about elections, voting and campaigns, and I guess we’re trying to get out of here because some people need to get to elections, voting and campaigns.”
The Senate later called those bills up to be voted on, out of order, before the House adjourned.
- HB 60, sponsored by Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, requires a court to continue a case when certain parties aren’t present because of completing service with the National Guard or Armed Forces of the United States. The bill passed 29-0.
- HB 233, sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, authorizes tuition assistance for workforce development through the National Guard Education Assistance Program. The bill passed 29-0.
- HB 307, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, allows spouses of veterans and the surviving spouse of deceased active duty service members to be considered for state employment before those who don’t have military connections. The bill passed 29-0. It was the final bill the Senate passed before sine die.
Also on the Senate’s agenda but did not receive a vote were:
- HB 169 would have decreased the number of board members for the Department of Archives and History from 17 to 16. It was carried over.
- HB 363 would have made disrupting a worship service a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
- HB 13 would have allowed local police to enforce immigration laws.
- HB 360 would have created a Second Amendment sales tax holiday.
A smoother time in the House
The House of Representatives passed all bills on the chamber’s special order calendar, which sets the agenda for the day, except for one dealing that would have required the Montgomery Police Department to hire a certain number of officers or risk state takeover.
House members only stalled on five bills on a 17-bill calendar. The day started with multiple dam puns made by Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, on a bill that requires the Alabama Emergency Management Agency to administer the Alabama Dam Safety Program, replacing all responsibilities of local agencies.
“Thank you for picking this dam bill, and I hope you don’t regret it,” he said.
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter lightly refrained from participating in making the jokes before the bill passed.
“Okay are we ready to take a … vote,” he said.
The only serious debate happened on bills regarding school choice, religion in schools and a bill requiring schools to play the Star Spangled Banner once a week.
- SB 5, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, requires public schools to regularly perform the national anthem.
- SB 342, sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, would allow students who receive money from the CHOOSE Act, a voucher-like program providing money that can be used for private school tuition, to maintain athletic eligibility after moving to a high school.
- SB 99, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in history classrooms and common areas in every school in the district.
- SB 59, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, requires public colleges and universities to submit an annual report on how much money they received from the state and federal governments and how that money was spent.
- SB 9, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, bans vaping in all public indoor spaces.
Ledbetter said after the House adjourned that he felt like it was a productive session.
“We pass a lot of good stuff, but also the work of this body. I mean, it’s supposed to be a part-time job and they probably spend 60 hours a week doing it,” he said. “For them to stand up and do what they’ve done is to be commended, and I think they should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
Montgomery officials objected to the hiring bill, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, saying it would do little to address shortages and saying it would open the door to a state takeover. Ledbetter said the House did not get to the Montgomery Police Department Bill due to a lack of time and filibustering.
“To be honest with you, because it was going to be filibustered the whole way through,” he said. “I hate to cloture on the last day. I mean sometimes we have to do that [but] it got to the end of the day and it just wasn’t possible.”
Last day in the current Statehouse
Thursday marked the final meeting of the Legislature in the current Statehouse, barring any special sessions, until it moves into a new building. Lawmakers were ready to leave the current building Thursday afternoon.
The current Statehouse, which has long suffered mold and structural issues, will be vacated this summer. Staff and lawmakers will move into the new Statehouse under construction nearby. After the move, the building will be demolished.
Livingston said he has been sick for the last three weeks. He wiped his nose many times during the short interview.
“I’m ready to get out of here,” he said.
Gudger made similar comments.
“In case you didn’t know, we have a little bit of a mold problem here, and so I’m not going to sneeze as bad. So that’s a blessing,” he said. “I’m excited about the future and what that holds, but it’s truly turning of a page in a chapter where you’re going to have a brand new setting that is clean and fresh, and that’s the same way that I feel like our future is as we move over there.”
Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road said the building should have been gone a long time ago due to the high mold content.
“There are a lot of memories when you’re here for that long, but I’m also glad to see it go because with a lot of the employees that stay here full-time, it is a health issue because there’s a lot of mold in this building,” he said.
The Alabama Legislature regularly met in the Old State Capitol until 1985, when the Capitol was closed for renovations expected to last two years. Legislators moved to the current Statehouse, the former Highway Department building, in January 1986. While the move was initially expected to be temporary, work on the State Capitol took longer than expected, and lawmakers who enjoyed the additional space the Statehouse offered over the Capitol made the move permanent.
Torrential rains led to flooding and a loss of power in the Alabama Statehouse in 2009 forced lawmakers to use the Old House and Senate chambers as a temporary location.
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, said that while he’s sad he won’t be in the House Chambers next year, he’s looking forward to what the future holds.
“I am very much looking forward to serving the residents of Alabama in another capacity,” he said. “I’ve learned here that politics often, on social media, and sometimes on cable can be seen as just this constant, ugly fight and the people that are the meanest and the loudest get the most attention, but I’ve seen that Democrats and Republicans can work together, and we have strong differences on a lot of very important things, but there is a level of civility.”
