by Cindy Greene, CCR, RPR, Legislative Committee Chair
The 2025 Alabama Legislative Session began on Tuesday, February 4th, 2025, and ended on May 14, 2025, with several bills that were filed that could affect Alabama court reporters, freelance or officials.
As some of you will remember, Senator Chris Elliott filed a bill last year that could have been detrimental to our licensure board. The bill proposed to lump a lot of state agencies and boards into the Department of Labor with one executive director who would control the listed boards and agencies, of which the Alabama Board of Court Reporting (ABCR) was included when it was first filed but later removed from the bill thanks to the efforts of ABCR Director Victor Biebighauser, your ACRA Board, as well as ACRA members staying vigilant in keeping an eye out for any bills being filed that can affect our profession.
After the bill Senator Elliott filed in 2024 failed to make it out of committee, he made it well known that he intended to file a similar bill in 2025. So, prior to this year’s legislative session, your ACRA Board of Directors worked together to address this issue, and ACRA President Cyndi Tumlin sent a letter to Senator Elliott explaining the many reasons why the Alabama Board of Court Reporting (ABCR) should not be included in a bill that lumps many state boards and agencies together. Thankfully, when Senator Elliott filed SB193 on February 20, 2025, the Alabama Board of Court Reporting was not included!
Another bill filed this session that could affect our profession was HB307, which ultimately passed both the House and the Senate, Governor Ivey signed into law on May 13, 2025, and became Act No. 2025-332. This act created what will be known and cited as the Speedy Trial Act and will become effective June 1, 2025. This act states that “the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, upon request from the Attorney General or a district attorney, may appoint a sitting or retired circuit judge to temporarily serve in a given case or cases arising from one or more violent offenses, as defined in Section 12-25-32, Code of Alabama 1975”. This act states the procedures and requirements of assigning a visiting judge on certain criminal cases, as well as the court reporter covering those proceedings, which could be a sitting judge’s Official Court Reporter or a Special Court Reporter (a freelance CR) provided for a retired judge. This act also created what is known as the Speedy Trial Fund. At the discretion of the Chief Justice, the monies of this fund may be used for expenses of the visiting judge, which could include payment of a Special Court Reporter.
Many court reporters in our state cover what are known as drug court proceedings. A bill was filed this session that affects drug courts, SB200, which passed both the House and Senate, signed by Governor Ivey on April 17, 2025, is now Act No. 2025-182. This act is to be known and cited as the Honorable Pete Johnson Accountability Court Act. This act changes the name from “drug courts” to “accountability courts” and expands the scope of whom they serve to include offenders with mental illness and offenders who are veterans. This act also changes some of the procedures and requirements of these courts. This act becomes effective October 1, 2025.
A bill that was filed this session that caught a lot of attention across Alabama was SB199, which proposed to give paid paternal leave to state employees, and it set out specific state employees, which included “court officials and employees of the Unified Judicial System as set forth in section 36-6-1(a)(3)”. Of course, in order to see whether Official Court Reporters are included, I looked up Alabama Code Section 36-6-1(a)(3), and it states “All court officials and employees of the Unified Judicial System serving the trial courts.” This bill was passed by the House and Senate, signed by Governor Ivey on April 2, 2025, and is Act No. 2025-81, and is to be known and cited as the Alabama Public Employee Paid Parental Leave Act of 2025 and becomes effective July 1, 2025.
As we all know, Alabama Official Court Reporters do not accrue sick or annual leave as other state judicial employees. And, in speaking with several Official Court Reporters across the state through the years, being out due to having a baby was not handled the same way in every circuit, which has caused a lot of confusion when it comes to how maternity leave for an Official Court Reporter is handled. Hopefully, this new law that takes effect July 1, 2025 will give some clarity and consistency across the state to officials who are out of work after their baby is born, or the adoption of a child, or whose spouse gives birth.
Many bills are filed in the Alabama Legislature each year, and the ACRA Board of Directors work very hard to read each bill that is filed to see if there’s any language that can affect our court system, licensure board, or state employees, that ultimately affect Alabama court reporters. As you know, the ACRA Board of Directors consists of very busy court reporters who volunteer their time and energy in keeping its members updated and aware of issues and changes affecting our profession in Alabama and nationwide. However, the board cannot do it without its members! It is so very important that all ACRA members, freelance and officials, be aware of what goes on in our state and to be advocates of our profession on a consistent basis. We don’t want to be like several other states that have unfortunately found out the hard way that, if no one is spending time consistently reading the bills that are filed and looking for language that could affect our profession, a bill can quickly be introduced, sent to a committee, be on the house or senate floor for a vote, sent to the Governor and become law before court reporters in the state find out about it – way too late to do anything about it.
If you want to read about the bills I’ve mentioned in this article, you can go to the Alabama Legislature website at alison.legislature.state.al.us. And if you are interested in being on an ACRA committee, you can go to the ACRA website at alcra.org or contact any ACRA board member.
