Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, speaks to a colleague on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 20, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Almond sponsors a bill that would require participants of unpermitted events to reimburse municipalities. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
A bill that would require participants of unpermitted events to reimburse municipalities passed the Alabama House Thursday 70-22.
HB 280, sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, requires participants to reimburse a plaintiff when a gathering is unpermitted and is disbanded. She said that it often costs municipalities thousands of dollars to shut down unpermitted parties.
“The city of Tuscaloosa, for example, will spend upwards of $100,000 on a weekend shutting down these parties,” she said. “There are extraordinary costs that we don’t think the taxpayers should have to bear the burden of.”
Almond said the bill mainly applies to gatherings that sell alcohol without a license or insurance. She said in Tuscaloosa, individuals have to apply for an alcohol license from the city council.
“But when you do it without having gone through the proper process, it becomes a public safety hazard,” Almond said.
The bill would also allow colleges and universities to disband unpermitted gatherings, in addition to local law enforcement agencies.
Almond said parties become an issue when people get hurt. Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Montgomery, there was a recent party in his district that led to 14 arrests.
“It’s something we’ve got to take action on because it’s our young people,” Ingram said. “We can’t control it because a lot of these parties show up on social media at 11 o’clock at night, and we don’t have the manpower to control it.”
Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, was the first to object that the bill is too broad because of what can be considered a public nuisance.
“I think this could be an infringement on people’s First Amendment right because it is so broad and is left to interpretation,” Moore said.
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Mobile, said the measure would not prevent violent crimes at parties.
“What could this bill have possibly done if it was already in law that would’ve stopped those things from happening?” Bracy asked. “We know these laws are not going to stop people from doing certain things.”
The chamber adopted a substitution 66-27 that would not hold property owners or landlords liable for any action that occurs at a gathering, as long as they are not part of the event promotion.
The bill now goes to the Alabama Senate.