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Senate advances bill elevating assaults on public officials to a felony

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill making assaults on public officials felonies, adding protections for pharmacists and nurses after debate.
January 15, 2026

AG establishes response teams to answer official and public questions about state health orders

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced today the establishment of response teams within the Attorney General’s Office to provide authoritative answers to law enforcement, public officials, businesses, employees and residents of Alabama concerning enforcement and compliance of the State Health Order relating to the coronavirus pandemic issued by Governor Kay Ivey and State Health Officer … Continued
April 10, 2020

How Alabama’s government stays broken

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist — or even any kind of scientist — to figure out that Alabama’s state government is broken.  I mean, really, just look around. At the poverty, the poor education, the racism, the arrested public officials, the in-your-face public corruption and the complete disregard for the welfare of the majority … Continued
February 19, 2020

Deception, subtlety and the wholesale destruction of current ethics laws mark proposed rewrite

Legislation proposed by Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, would radically alter the existing State Ethics Act rendering it useless as an effective tool to regulate the behavior of public officials, much less prosecute a rouge lawmaker. Testifying at a pre-trial hearing in the criminal case against then-Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard in April 2015, Ball … Continued
February 12, 2020

New ethics law: A brief analysis

An initial analysis of Senate Bill 230, which repeals and replaces sections of the Alabama Ethics Act as adopted in the 2010 special legislative session, finds that it makes two radical changes. First, it removes the section of code that governs using a public office for personal gain, and secondly, it essentially turns the Alabama … Continued
April 8, 2019

Jones backs sweeping ballot box access reform legislation

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, is co-sponsoring sweeping reform legislation that is intended to strengthen democracy in the United States by removing barriers to voting, reigning in the influence of money in politics and ensuring public officials work for the public interest. The legislation is being called the For the People Act. If passed, the … Continued
March 28, 2019

Rusty Glover: “It’s time for honest government that puts the people first”

In politics, as in life, it’s important to be honest with ourselves and with the people we serve. In the last several years, we have seen too much corruption in Montgomery. We’ve seen too many of our public officials who have not been honest with themselves and certainly were not honest with the people who … Continued
May 11, 2018

Piecemeal approach to ethics reform continues, and it’s questionable

Two bills designed to dramatically alter current ethics laws were approved by the House Ethics Committee last week. As introduced in the House, HB387, sponsored by Republican lawmaker Rep. Rich Wingo, would among other things allow public officials to hide potentially illegal acts under a new notifications rule. Wingo’s bill is companion legislation to SB221, … Continued
March 12, 2018

Are Hubbard-Riley emails key to answering the mystery surrounding HB317?

By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Controversy still clings to HB317, also known as The Alabama Jobs Enhancement Act, despite the substitute added Tuesday that, at first blush, appears to fix problems with the original bill. Concerns remain. The mystery of why a substantial change to the Ethics Act is linked to amendments addressing business … Continued
March 8, 2018