The roads were treacherous in many parts of the state, but Alabama lawmakers still managed to get to the State House this week to hammer out a few bills.
One bill the Senate passed this week would do away with marriage licenses. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Greg Albritton, said this would take the state out of marriages. Under the proposed bill, couples wouldn’t need a probate judge to decide whether to issue a marriage license. And no ceremony would be required to make it official. Instead, a couple would submit documents to the judge stating that they aren’t currently married or related. Albritton first proposed similar bills in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.
Another bill the Senate passed, proposed by Democratic Sen. Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham, aims to curb racial profiling. Smitherman says he has been the victim of racial profiling by police. His bill would require police to record the race and ethnicity of people pulled over, as well as their own race.
And that’s where WBHM’s Gigi Douban begins this week’s legislative wrap-up with Don Dailey, host of Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal.