SB73 Alabama 2015 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Dick Brewbaker

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2015

Title

Initiative, constitutional amendments, proposed by people, authorized, Legislature may offer alternate proposal, const. amend.

Summary

SB73 would let Alabama voters initiate general laws or constitutional amendments by ballot initiative, with the Legislature allowed to offer an alternate proposal.

What This Bill Does

It creates a process for the people to start enacting general laws or constitutional amendments through initiative. The Legislature can choose to pass the proposal as is or offer an alternative; if the Legislature does not enact it, the measure goes to a statewide vote. If enacted by initiative, laws would take effect without the Governor's signature, and constitutional amendments would be approved by voters. The bill also sets signature and time limits, and limits how many initiative measures can be handled in a session.

Who It Affects

• Qualified Alabama voters who can sign preliminary and final petitions, meet district signature requirements, and vote on initiated measures.
• State officials and institutions (Secretary of State, Alabama Law Institute, Legislative Reference Service, and the Legislature) who administer verification, drafting, analysis, publication, and ballots for the initiative process.

Key Provisions

• Establishes a people-initiated process to enact general laws or constitutional amendments, with the Legislature allowed to offer an alternate proposal.
• General-law initiative requires: at least 1,000 voter signatures, a refundable $1,000 filing fee, a registered agent, signature verification by the Secretary of State, full text prepared by the Alabama Law Institute within 90 days, and final petition thresholds of at least 7% of governor votes with district requirements totaling 1% per congressional district.
• If the Legislature does not enact the proposal by the designated date, it must go to a statewide ballot; if an alternate proposal is approved, both proposals go to ballot; enacted initiatives become law without the Governor's signature; no measure is sent to the Governor.
• Constitutional amendments via initiative require final petitions totaling at least 10% of governor votes with per-district thresholds of 1.3%; the Legislature may approve an alternative amendment; both go to ballot; must be approved by a majority of voters to become part of the Constitution.
• No more than two initiative-enacted measures (laws or amendments) may be enacted by the Legislature in a single session; if two similar proposals appear, the one with more votes prevails; identical initiatives failing cannot be resubmitted for two years.
• If two initiatives on essentially the same subject appear on the ballot, the one with the higher votes prevails to the extent of any conflict; impartial ballot summaries are prepared and the process avoids special elections dedicated solely to initiatives.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Constitutional Amendments