Under existing law, a person who commits a capital offense may be sentenced to death or life without parole.
This bill would include as a capital offense murder by the defendant with knowledge of the presence of a child under the age of 14 years at the time of the offense, if the victim was the parent or legal guardian of the child.
This bill would also include additional aggravating circumstances in sentencing for capital offenses.
Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose.
The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment.
Source: Alabama Legislature