Alabama top stories in brief

• After executing Kenneth Smith by nitrogen hypoxia, the first state execution using nitrogen gas, the Alabama State Attorney General’s office has asked the Alabama State Supreme Court to approve a second execution by nitrogen hypoxia for Alan Eugene Miller. Miller was convicted of killing three people in 1999. Miller, like Smith, survived an attempted execution by lethal injection. After the failed execution, Alabama reached an agreement with Miller’s lawyers that any future attempt to execute Miller would only be through nitrogen hypoxia. However, a lawsuit by another death row inmate is seeking to block the use of nitrogen gas, even as Alabama has reached out to help other states considering using nitrogen gas. The lawsuit claims that the use of nitrogen gas is neither quick nor painless citing multiple eyewitness accounts of Smith shaking and convulsing for several minutes before his death. If the state supreme court were to approve nitrogen hypoxia for Miller, Gov. Kay Ivey would set the execution date. 

• SB129, a higher education bill has passed the Alabama State Senate and moved to the Alabama House of Representatives. If it were to pass the house, SB129 would ban public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, ban the use of a list of “divisive concepts” in the classroom and require all public universities to disallow students from using a bathroom other than their biological sex. The bill has ignited controversy between Democrats and Republicans across the state, with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin urging Black athletes to attend universities and colleges outside of Alabama were the bill to pass. 

• A recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law and families can sue clinics for wrongful death of a minor has caused the University of Alabama at Birmingham to pause its in vitro fertilization procedures due to concerns for criminal prosecution. Alabama Fertility Services and Mobile Infirmary paused parts of  for the same reason. As part of IVF procedures, unhealthy embryos may be discarded or donated, and under the new ruling, this could place doctors at risk for prosecution. Health providers across the state have raised concerns in response to the ruling, and numerous members of the Alabama legislature have begun working on bills to protect IVF procedures and keep doctors from prosecution. The Alabama Attorney General’s office released a statement last week saying that they had no intention of prosecuting families or their providers. 

• Two officers with the Alabama Department of Corrections have been indicted for first degree assault against a man incarcerated in an ADOC facility. The two were accused of assaulting a 75 year old inmate in Limestone Correctional Facility.

Alabama legislative update

As of Feb. 25, there have been 381 bills filed with the Alabama legislature. Of these, three have been sent to Gov. Kay Ivey. The bills will become law unless Ivey chooses to veto them within six days from when they were sent to the governor’s office. 

• SB39 allows public dams to be part of a program for voluntary dam inspections. It is an amendment to a bill passed last year which allowed private dam owners to opt into dam inspections. 

• SB63 limits the liability of county commissions in lawsuits where a single official was given control over the use of public funds. 

• SB28 is a constitutional amendment that would give the Houston County Commission the authority to appoint members to the Board of Houston County Health Care Authority.

Announcements

• Our new column, The Longleaf Hiker by Xander Swain will come out on our website on March 1. In his first column, Xander travels to the Kathy Stiles Freeland Bibb County Glades Preserve, home to many rare and unique species of plants. Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss it!