Tensions mount in Alabama Legislature as Republicans ram bills through

Tensions mounted in the Alabama Legislature Thursday as Republicans pushed through several bills dealing with religion and targeting LGBTQ+ Alabamians and immigrants. 

The legislation passed despite attempts from minority Democrats in both chambers to counter passage of the legislation. In the Senate, the majority GOP used cloture petitions and procedural moves to effectively prevent Democrats from debating the measures.  

Speaking after the House adjourned Thursday, Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said HB 437, sponsored by Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, establishing a shark alert system and the first bill on the agenda, was the exception to a day where time “was spent on things that will not move Alabama forward.” 

Other than that, the agenda consisted of an expansion of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law; a ban on drag performances; a mandate for displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools; a bill allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws and a bill renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

Drummond said the Legislature should be preparing for cuts to federal spending proposed by the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. The possible reduction include more than $800 million to Alabama Medicaid, a cornerstone of health care in the state. 

“We’ve got about, what about less than 10 days left in this session. And when we leave and those cuts happen, our children, as well as the citizens of Alabama, are going to be left with no recourse,” Drummond said. “What will they do? How will we fill these holes?”

High tension in the Senate

The atmosphere in the Senate became tense as majority Republicans clotured debate six times and kept Democratic senators from speaking on bills. Republican senators spoke at length on each of their own bills and asked for their bills to be read at length after calling for cloture, effectively excluding Democrats from debate for most of the Thursday session.

That led to a brief, heated exchange between Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, and Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth. Singleton, who tried to get Ainsworth’s attention several times, asked what he needed to do to be recognized.

“Do we have to shout?” Singleton asked.

Ainsworth maintained Singleton was out of order and he would be recognized when appropriate.

“Here’s the deal – It’s my decision who to recognize. For seven years, right now seven years, since I’ve been in here, always to the sponsor and I always go back to the sponsor and I’m going to continue doing that,” Ainsworth said to Singleton.

Senate Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said in a statement sent during the session that “Senate Republicans are serious about promoting conservative policies.”

“Senate Republicans are holding the line. We’re standing up for Alabama families and fighting for the values that make this state such a special place to live, work, worship, and raise children,” Gudger said in the statement.

‘Fundamentally unconstitutional’

Democrats in the House got more opportunities to speak, though Republicans clotured debate on the “Gulf of America” bill.

Thursday was the 23rd day of the 2025 legislative session. The Legislature can meet for up to 30 days in a 105-day calendar period. The last day the Legislature can meet is May 20. 

“The Legislature is not taking any action. The leadership of the state has not taken any action to put forth information so we can be working on a plan to help the people in our town, our state, absorb some of these cuts, or we rearrange some of the things we are doing to make up for some of the things that’s going to be lost,” Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, said.

Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, criticized the agenda, saying most of the bills would end up in court and cost Alabama over $500,000, like previously challenged laws. 

“The number one thing that we did today was taxpayers money by passing out of this house bills that are fundamentally unconstitutional on its face,” Tillman said. “There will be a ton of challenges to these bills if they become law.”