The House approved pro-REALTOR legislation with HB 230, which affects buyer agreements, but other significant actions include final passage the “What Is A Woman” Act and the advancement of bills to combat human trafficking.

The Alabama House on Thursday unanimously approved House Bill 230, a REALTOR® priority bill sponsored by Rep. Randall Shedd (R-Cullman). The legislation reaffirms Alabama's existing RECAD framework, emphasizing early discussions of brokerage services and compensation, while protecting consumers from premature binding contracts. This bill clarifies that consumers in Alabama cannot be required to sign a binding contract simply to view a property. The bill requires a written buyer agreement before an offer to purchase is submitted, ensuring clear terms of representation. This balanced approach aims to provide greater transparency and consistency for both real estate professionals and consumers.

AAR offers its deepest thanks to Rep. Shedd for sponsoring the bill and ushering it through the House committee and on the floor. Shedd announced last week that he is retiring from the House to accept a position in the Senate President Pro Tem’s office, so passage of our legislation was the final act of his 50 year career in elected office. Shedd has been a tremendous friend to the Alabama REALTORS® during his tenure. Alabama REALTORS® also thanks House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and House Rules Committee Chair Joe Lovvorn (R-Auburn) for their help in placing the bill on the House special order calendar, and Rep. Jim Carns (R- Birmingham) for his help advancing the bill through committee.  

Companion bills being proposed in the House and Senate, HB 161and SB 131, would establish a uniform commercial building code for the state through the construction management division of the Department of Finance, but the division’s enforcement power would apply only to state buildings, schoolhouses, hotels, and movie theaters. For all other non-residential buildings, counties and municipalities would be permitted but not required to adopt the code. If adopted at the local level, the local code cannot be more stringent except for coastal areas subject to hurricanes. The bill specifically applies to non-residential properties only.

HB 161 passed the House last week with several amendments, which lengthened the period for the division to review the code for updates from three to six years and exempted structures or improvements regulated by the Home Builders Licensing Board, among other things.

One bill to watch is House Bill 201, which limits the areas in which drones may be used. The bill would prohibit the use of a drone near a school without the consent of the superintendent and in any place an individual has an expectation of privacy, like a backyard. AAR is working with the bill sponsor to allow REALTORS® and others who use drones to photograph or view property to continue to do so, while ensuring owners are protected from unreasonable intrusions on their property.

Senate Bill 174, which is sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville), was filed today, and its passage is a REALTOR® priority this session.  The legislation would require local governments to report business license schedules to the Alabama Department of Revenue, setting one place for businesses to go and determine how much they would pay in business licenses. In an effort to ease costs for license taxes charged, the bill would also allow taxpayers to appeal business license charges to the Alabama Tax Tribunal in Montgomery. Another aim of the bill is to cut down on mass collection letters from third party collection firms on business license taxes by creating a cause of action against firms for sending collection letters when they knew or should have known the charges are not lawfully due.

Several years ago, lawmakers passed a bill reducing the state sales tax by one percent, but because Alabama does not have home rule, local governments may not decrease local sales and use taxes unless the Legislature approves an additional measure. House Bill 191, sponsored by Rep. Alan Baker, would circumvent that problem. Passed unanimously by the House last Thursday, HB 191 would essentially set a process for local governments to exempt by resolution local sales and use taxes.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) is the sponsor of the companion bill, Senate Bill 160.

Last week, the Senate advanced several bills, including several bills dealing with illegal immigration and carried over to the call of the chair a priority bill of the governor to restructure the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs. A few of those bills are:

• SB 63 – The Senate passed SB 63, which would require law enforcement to fingerprint and gather DNA samples from undocumented immigrants in custody, which would then be turned over to state law enforcement.
• SB 53 – The bill, passed by the Senate, deals with human smuggling and, after some changes, would levy a felony charge against anyone who knowingly transports an undocumented immigrant. Exceptions are included for attorneys transporting clients, educators transporting students for educational purposes, and law enforcement
• SB 55 – This bill alters current law dealing with out-of-state driver’s licenses, providing that these licenses would not be recognized if the issuing state does not require the recipient to prove legal status at time of issuance. The bill passed the Senate last week.
• SB 35 – Passing out of committee last week, the bill would criminalize threatening to release sexually explicit material of another person as a means of extortion. 

The House of Representatives moved several bills in addition to the passage of HB 230, the REALTOR®-priority bill discussed above, including:

• HB 89 – Passed by the House, the bill would provide presumptive Medicaid eligibility to expecting mothers. 
• HB 67 – Favorably reported out of a House committee last week, the bill would prohibit drag performances at public schools and libraries and prohibit state entities from allowing minors to share specific facilities like bathrooms with members of the opposite sex.
• HB 243 – Receiving passage by the full House, the bill would unabate certain ad valorem and construction taxes and deposit proceeds into the Alabama Development Fund.

The House and Senate reconvened at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively today and are expected to meet only on Tuesday and Thursday, leaving Wednesday as a committee day. The crime and illegal immigration bills will likely continue their progress this week as legislative leadership tries to move priority bills first.