HB78 Alabama 2026 Session

Updated Jan 23, 2026

House Bill

In Second Chamber

Current Status

2026 Regular Session

Session

Sponsor

Summary

Primary Sponsor: Jeana Ross Representative
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
Description: This bill would require the Department of Early Childhood Education to develop guidelines for the appropriate use of screen time in child-care facilities, prekindergarten, and kindergarten.
This bill would require the guidelines to define what constitutes "high-quality programming" and set limits on the amount of screen time that may be used in early childhood education settings, depending on the age of the child.
This bill would require the Department of Early Childhood Education to develop guidelines for healthy screen time practices for children and make the guidelines publicly available at no cost to parents and guardians.
This bill would require the Department of Early Childhood Education, in collaboration with the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and the State Board of Education, to create a training program on the appropriate use of screen time for teachers and other staff members who supervise children.
This bill would require each licensed child-care facility to implement the guidelines and training requirements as a condition for licensure by DHR.
This bill would require certain prekindergarten HB78 INTRODUCED classrooms and each public kindergarten classroom to implement the guidelines and training requirements.
This bill would also require DHR to oversee the implementation of this act for licensed child-care facilities, the Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood Education for prekindergarten classrooms, and local boards of education for kindergarten classrooms.
Subjects: Children