HB78 Alabama 2026 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Jeana RossRepresentative

Republican

Session

2026 Regular Session

Title

Early childhood education; guidelines for limited screen time for children in certain licensed child-care facilities, certain preschools, and public kindergarten established, annual training requirement for teachers and certain staff members established, Department of Early Childhood Education, Department of Human Resources, and State Board of Education authorized to implement and enforce limited screen time requirements

Summary

HB78 creates a Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act to set guidelines, training, and licensing requirements for limited screen time in early childhood settings and kindergarten.

What This Bill Does

It directs state agencies to develop evidence-based screen-time guidelines for birth through age five, publish them, and enforce them in licensed child-care facilities, certain preschools, and public kindergarten. It sets age-appropriate screen-time limits, emphasizes high-quality programming with adult supervision, and bans background or passive screen time in these settings. It ties licensing and program compliance to following the guidelines, authorizes rulemaking, and requires annual training for teachers and staff; it also requires local boards to adopt kindergarten screen-time policies by 2027-2028 and outlines potential corrective actions for noncompliance.

Who It Affects

• Children birth through age five in licensed child-care facilities, preschools, and public kindergarten will be guided by screen-time rules and policies.
• Teachers and staff who supervise children in these programs must complete annual screen-time training.
• Licensing entities (DHR and related child-care licensing) and school districts must enforce and monitor compliance with the guidelines.
• Local boards of education and kindergarten staff must adopt and enforce screen-time policies for kindergarten by 2027-2028.
• The Department of Early Childhood Education, the Department of Human Resources, and the State Board of Education will develop, publish, and enforce the guidelines.

Key Provisions

• Creates Article 4 of Chapter 24, Title 26, instituting screen-time standards for early childhood programs from birth through age five.
• Defines terms such as adult-supervised use, early childhood education programs, screen time, screen-based media, and licensed facilities.
• Requires age-appropriate screen-time limits, guidelines for high-quality programming, and prohibition of background television or passive screen time.
• Requires annual screen-time training for teachers and staff who closely supervise children.
• Requires licensing agencies to adopt and enforce the screen-time policy as a condition of licensing and to monitor compliance; may implement corrective actions for noncompliance.
• Mandates local boards to adopt a screen-time policy for kindergarten by the 2027-2028 school year and for teachers to complete the training annually.
• Allows the departments to adopt rules to implement and administer the article; includes exemptions for IEP/504 plans, diagnostic testing screen time, and virtual classes.
• Effective date: January 1, 2027.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07 on Mar 3, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Children