API Celebrates BluePrint for Alabama Reforms Targeting Red Tape, Transparency, Public Safety, and Welfare Integrity Taking Effect on Oct 1st
BIRMINGHAM, AL — The Alabama Policy Institute (API) today celebrates the historic implementation of a massive package of legislative reforms that will fundamentally improve accountability, economic opportunity, and safety across the state. October 1st marks the effective date of multiple legislative priorities championed in the 2026 API BluePrint for Alabama.
Through partnership with legislative leadership, bill sponsors, and legislators, API championed wide-ranging solutions across several these issues:
Reforming Burdensome Occupational Licensing Infrastructure
- HB220 – BP Issue #4 (Rep. Chris Pringle): Restores executive accountability by authorizing the Governor, Speaker, and President Pro Tempore to replace board members over whom they hold appointing authority.
- HB156 – BP Issue #4 (Rep. Paul Lee): Establishes the Physician Assistants interstate licensure compact, expanding vital healthcare access.
- HB182 – BP Issue #4 (Rep. Tashina Morris): Requires the health department to accept military education or training as credit toward EMS licensure.
- SB149 – BP Issue #4 (Sen. Matt Woods): Creates the Military Veteran Temporary Teaching Certificate, smoothing the transition for veterans into classrooms.
- SB160 – BP Issue #4 (Sen. Matt Woods): Expands healthcare resources by establishing the Athletic Trainers interstate licensure compact.
- SB163 – BP Issue #4 (Sen. Kirk Hatcher): Adopts the Esthetics Licensure Compact under the Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering.
- SB183 – BP Issue #4 (Sen. Merika Coleman): Promotes micro-entrepreneurship by exempting natural hair styling from rigid state regulations.
- SB279 – BP Issue #4 (Sen. Clyde Chambliss): Expands exemptions within the practice of general contracting to encourage free enterprise.
Increasing Public Welfare Requirements & Promoting Tax Relief
- SB57 – BP Issue #6 (Sen. Arthur Orr): Requires the Department of Human Resources to request a waiver to prohibit the purchase of soda and candy with SNAP benefits, ensuring taxpayer funds support true nutrition.
- HB527 – BP Issue #8 (Rep. James Lomax): Establishes a targeted individual income tax deduction for qualified overtime income, letting hard-working hourly employees keep more of what they earn. (Note: Alabama’s grocery tax relief is already in effect).
Improving Regulatory Oversight & Government Transparency
- SB40 – BP Issue #11 (Sen. Sam Givhan): Authorizes the Contract Review Committee to formally recommend that the Governor decline to sign specific state contracts under review.
- SB59 – BP Issue #11 (Sen. Arthur Orr): Requires public higher education institutions to submit annual reports detailing state/federal funds expended, along with contingency plans for funding reductions.
- SB167 – BP Issue #11 (Sen. Arthur Orr): Revises the Administrative Procedure Act, preventing state courts from blindly deferring to an executive agency’s own interpretation of the law.
Strengthening Public Safety, Parental Rights, and Cultural Heritage
- SB209 – BP Issue #20 (Sen. Shay Shelnutt): Reforms K-12 sex education by establishing sexual risk avoidance as the state curriculum standard, requiring advance parental notice, and authorizing Attorney General enforcement.
- HB41 – BP Issue #23 (Rep. Matt Simpson): Substantially increases criminal penalties for first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, and sexual torture.
- SB30 – BP Issue #23 (Sen. Matt Woods): Voids non-disclosure or settlement provisions that prohibit reporting acts of sexual abuse, applying retroactively to empower survivors.
- SB199 – BP Issue #23 (Sen. Keith Kelley): Tightens restrictions on registered sex offenders and authorizes stricter enforcement rules by the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
- SB203 – BP Issue #23 (Sen. Vivian Figures): Establishes the crimes of authority figure sexual abuse and inpatient custodial misconduct, while expanding domestic violence penalties.
- SB99 – BP Issue #26 (Sen. Keith Kelley): Requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, acknowledging our legal heritage via private donations at zero cost to taxpayers.
“October 1st represents a defining moment for the future of our state,” said API President/CEO Stephanie Smith. “From unleashing our workforce to securing the safety of our children, bringing fiscal transparency to higher education, and safeguarding taxpayer welfare funds, these laws deliver a profoundly positive impact for every Alabamian. We offer our deepest gratitude to every sponsor, legislative leader, and member who partnered with us to turn these key BluePrint proposals into active law.”
These regulatory, social, and fiscal reforms cement what news outlets have called a record-breaking session for conservative policy, directly validating the strategic agenda created by API.
To view the complete statutory language and implementation guidelines for these acts, visit https://alison.legislature.
