The Alabama Legislature picked up momentum last week as the first major bills of the 2026 regular session were signed into law, and House and Senate committees continued advancing legislation to the floors of both chambers at a rapid pace.

In the Senate, floor action is shifting away from local bills, appointment confirmations, and other routine matters that dominated the early days of the session. True to that shift, the Senate gave final passage last week to three high-profile measures: the Child Predator Death Penalty Act, the Save Our Bay Act, and an app store consumer protection bill. Similar activity is expected in the weeks ahead.

The House, operating at a faster pace under Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R–Rainsville), continued moving through its calendars with relative ease. While the Legislature scheduled two meeting days last week and again this week, a return to three-day work weeks is expected soon.

There are 20 of 30 meeting days remaining in the 2026 regular session.

AAR's Wholesaling and Unsolicited Real Estate Offers Legislation

The Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee awarded a favorable report on Wednesday to Alabama REALTOR®-priority legislation sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr (R–Decatur).

Senate Bill 246 will protect Alabama property owners from deceptive, fraudulent, and predatory real estate investment schemes by prosecuting and regulating the conduct with the Alabama Securities Commission.

The bill targets:

• “Wholesaling” arrangements that disguise the buyer’s true role and profit
• Long-term recorded service agreements that cloud title and burden future owners
• Below-market, equity-stripping purchase offers presented as routine inquiries
• Repeated, mass, unsolicited investor solicitations that pressure owners
• Contract structures that prevent informed consent and fair market exposure

Many modern real-estate schemes are no longer focused on the legitimate purchase and ownership of property. Instead, they are designed to extract economic value from property owners through resale, assignment, optioning, and complex contract structures. These schemes are deployed at scale by large investment firms, hedge funds, and private equity backed entities operating through networks of affiliated or front companies. Although presented as real estate transactions these arrangements function in practice as financial investment products secured by real estate and should be regulated with the same transparency and oversight as other financial investment products. These practices most often harm seniors, long-term owners, heirs, and financially vulnerable families—and undermine confidence in the real estate marketplace.

Click here to read SB 246 and here for a recap of the bill in the CNN Week 1.

SB 246 now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

License Plate Bill
The Alabama House approved on Thursday bill by State Rep. Russell Bedsole (R - Alabaster) that extends the lifespan of state license plate designs, such as the Alabama REALTORS® specialty license plate available to members of AAR, from five years to ten years.

Alabama is among the few states in the nation that requires license plates to be redesigned on a five-year cycle, and Bedsole said his legislation could cut the current cost to produce license plates in half.

That bill, too, proceeds to the Senate.

Appointments Bill – Allows Removal of Board and Commission Appointees
On Wednesday, the House State Government Committee issued a favorable report on legislation sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle (R–Mobile) and Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R–Rainsville) that would grant the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate authority to remove and replace board and commission members they appoint.

Pringle stated the bill is intended to address situations in which an appointee habitually fails to attend meetings or must be removed for other reasons.

The legislation applies to any board, authority, or commission comprised of individual members, of which some or all members are appointed, as established under state law and specifies that all appointees “serve at the pleasure” of their appointing authority.

The bill now advances to the House floor.

Two bills being monitored by Alabama REALTORS® received final passage last week and were sent to Gov. Kay Ivey for signature.

“Save Our Bay” – Mobile Bay Mud Dumping Ban Sent to Governor
The Legislature approved the “Save Our Bay” bill sponsored by Rep. Rhett Marques (R–Enterprise) and Sen. Chris Elliott (R–Josephine), which prohibits the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or any other entity, from “mud dumping” in Mobile Bay. The bill also specifies that mud dumping may not be treated as a “beneficial use” of dredged sediment, aligning Alabama law with similar measures adopted in other coastal states.

App Store Bill – Requires Age Verification and Parental Approval for Minors
The Senate also gave final passage to legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Sells (R–Greenville) and Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R–Prattville) requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and link minors’ accounts to a parent or guardian for download approvals. The bill authorizes enforcement by the attorney general and allows civil actions for noncompliance.

While both chambers will meet for two days this week, Speaker Ledbetter and Pro Tem Gudger have indicated that next week, and perhaps the week after, will return to the faster than normal three-day meeting schedule.

The Alabama Legislature is constitutionally allowed to meet for a maximum of 30 days within a 105-day period, and three-day weeks will allow the leaders to meet their goal of adjourning by mid-April at the latest so legislators with primary opponents may return to their districts and campaign prior to the May 19 party elections.