Update from Gov. Ivey: SB119, budgets signed
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Gov. Kay Ivey speaks at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Alabama Update. Photo submitted
Special to the News
Monday morning, Gov. Kay Ivey signed Senate Bill 119, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot and Rep. Cynthia Almond.
The bill, which is intended to combat inner city gun violence, includes:
- New firearm possession prohibitions. It will now be a class C felony for someone to possess a firearm if he or she has been convicted of (a) any felony offense within the past five years or (b) three felony offenses at any time. It will now be a class C felony for someone to possess a firearm while out on bail awaiting trial for certain prescribed offenses (e.g., a violent offense).
- Increased penalty for shooting into occupied dwelling. It will now be a Class A felony – not a Class B felony, as is the case under current law – for someone to shoot into an occupied dwelling.
- New probation/parole sanctions for firearm possession. It will be easier to sanction probationers and parolees found in possession of a firearm. Moreover, a probationer or parolee’s conviction for illegal firearm possession will now result in mandatory revocation of his or her probation or parole.
- Aniah’s Law expansion. Aniah’s Law will be expanded to include shooting into an occupied dwelling and solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy to commit murder.
Most provisions in SB119 will become effective October 1. The only exception is the Aniah’s Law amendment, which will take effect upon ratification of the constitutional amendment proposed by SB118.
During her speech to the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Monday, Gov. Ivey announced she had signed the bill. She remarked, “I am also proud to announce to you first that this morning, I signed into law another one of our Safe Alabama public safety bills – Senate Bill 119 – which will help get more bad guys off our streets to ensure safety in our communities. We have a few more working their way through the process, and I am confident those will be heading my way soon.”
Also, while in Huntsville, the governor announced she signed the General Fund and Education Trust Fund, as well as the RAISE Act.
She said, “These historic investments in core functions of government and our students’ education are possible through our track-record of conservative budgeting and strong leadership…”
The governor went on to add about the ETF, “The budgets we made official this morning will continue investing in proven programs like the Literacy and Numeracy acts. It will support our Turnaround Schools initiative to target some of our lowest performing schools. It will continue allowing these successful education reform policies to take shape while taking an active approach to do everything we can to support students, teachers and parents. It is fully funding the CHOOSE Act – our education savings account program.”
