Alabama Senate passes App Store Accountability Act requiring parental permission and age verification for minors

The Alabama Senate on the tenth legislative day passed House Bill 161, the App Store Accountability Act, a measure supporters said will require parental permission for minors, compel app stores to verify user age and require accurate age ratings from developers.

Senator Chambliss, sponsor of the Senate companion for the House bill, told colleagues the measure "protects minors by requiring parental permission" and that it "requires the app stores to verify the age" of users. He summarized the bill’s core aims as giving parents, not children, the ability to enter into contracts and to shield children from content and commercial terms they cannot legally accept.

Backers from both parties described broad support among families and advocacy groups. Senator Figures said the bill reflects work spanning several years and the goal of protecting children in a digital environment. "This is an attempt to help with children entering into contracts that they have no idea what they're doing," she said.

During debate, Senator Singleton offered an amendment to clarify two points: that enforcement for deceptive trade aspects of the bill would be exclusive to the attorney general and that nothing in the act would be construed to relieve any person from compliance with other state laws requiring age verification. Senator Singleton described the change as giving the attorney general "exclusivity" to take action under the act; the Senate adopted the Singleton amendment by long roll.

The Senate completed final passage by long roll vote; the clerk recorded 35 ayes and 0 nays. Senator Chambliss thanked colleagues on both sides of the aisle and Representative Sales, a House sponsor, for their work on the measure.

The bill’s effective date as amended is January 1, 2027, giving app stores, developers and other affected parties time to implement required verification and rating processes. The legislation also states explicitly that it does not supplant any other state laws that already require age verification.

Next steps: with Senate passage complete, the bill proceeds per the legislative process to any remaining enrollment and transmission steps defined between the chambers.