At a glance: key confirmations and bills the Alabama Senate approved on the tenth legislative day

On its tenth legislative day the Alabama Senate moved through committee reports and a heavy calendar, confirming several nominees and passing multiple bills with broad bipartisan consent.

Confirmations: The Senate confirmed several nominees reported favorably from the confirmations committee. Among those approved were Eileen S. Meyer and Tiffany Martin to the Alabama Board of Midwifery, multiple trustees for the University of West Alabama, and Patricia Sims and Tony Cochran to the Alabama State Port Authority board; roll calls commonly showed unanimous or near-unanimous support (typical tallies reported were in the 31–34 aye range, with 0 nays in many instances).

Committee and floor actions: Standing committees reported dozens of bills for second reading and placement on the calendar across Finance & Taxation, State Governmental Affairs, Education Policy, Banking & Insurance, Fiscal Responsibility & Economic Development, Transportation & Energy, and Local Legislation. The Rules Committee reported a special order calendar (SR 34) to set priority consideration for several items.

Notable bills adopted with little extended debate included Senate Bill 59 (higher education reporting timing; committee amendment adopted), Senate Bill 62 (Charter School Finance Authority, committee amendments addressing immunity/liability; passed 34–0), Senate Bill 103 as substituted (Construction Recruitment Institute; substitute adopted and final passage by previous role), SB 169 (crimes and offenses; final passage), SB 86 (surety bonds and motor fuel assessments), SB 167 (Administrative Procedure Act changes), and several house bills taken up and referred to committees. House messages delivering additional bills were read and referred to appropriate committees throughout the floor session.

Leaders and committee chairs praised cross-committee cooperation: the president thanked members of the sunset committee and committee chairs for completing a heavy set of items on the tenth legislative day. The Senate adjourned until 2 p.m. on Feb. 10.

For readers: vote tallies and the precise committee references are recorded in the Senate journal and in the clerk’s transcript for the day.