Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville (left) listens to Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 13, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Judiciary Committee approved his bill expanding police immunity. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama House Committee passed legislation Wednesday that enhances immunity for law enforcement officers despite the objections raised by civil rights advocates and Democrats during a public hearing the week before.
The House Judiciary Committee approved HB 202, sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, would set a new, heightened standard for holding officers accountable for wrongdoing. It also establishes additional legal proceedings that could impede members of the public who are seeking damages, or prevent prosecutors from obtaining convictions when officers misbehave or cause injuries, perhaps even death.
“I think we have done a good job working with the representatives who had concerns about the bill,” Reynolds said.
Several lawmakers and state law enforcement agency leaders met Thursday last week to discuss modifications to the bill after several Democrats on the committee expressed concerns. Key components remain.
Democrats still opposed the legislation, saying the bill would make it nearly impossible to hold law enforcement accountable, which is already difficult in the state.
HB 202 protects law enforcement, including corrections officers working in jails and prisons, from civil liability claims and from prosecution unless they behave recklessly, or they violate someone’s constitutional rights.
It also creates an additional step — a hearing to determine whether the officer is immune from prosecution, even before the court proceeds to a trial.
Members of the committee approved the amendments before voting on the legislation overall.
“It did change,” said Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Birmingham. “However, it did not go far enough in our opinion.”
Tillman received enough support from committee members to modify bill language around the pretrial hearing phase.
“We made sure the judge is the one who makes the decision on the questions of law, as opposed to the jury to make a decision on a question of law, which is not their purview,” Tillman said.
During the hearing, it will be the judge who determines whether the law enforcement officer is immune.
Tillman’s amendment also put in place a 45-day limit for an officer to appeal a judge’s decision to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.
That amendment, however, only applies to the hearing, and not to the rest of the case should it proceed. Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, was especially concerned with the bill’s potential consequences during criminal proceedings when an officer is prosecuted.
“There are a lot of provisions in this bill … that they go too far, especially on the criminal side, that I think would send a message to the public that an officer is basically criminally immune from prosecution,” England said.
The legislation, according to England, establishes police as a separate class of people and affords them protections that would not otherwise be available to the public at large.
“Before we talk about criminal offenses, before we talk about crime or any of the facts of the case, I first have to establish the police officer was operating outside their discretionary authority. If not, then I lose,” England said.
The plaintiff would then demonstrate to the jury that the officer violated a person’s rights afforded by the state constitution or U.S. Constitution. Then, only after proving those two separate elements to the jury, can the prosecutor then convince the jury of the facts of the case for the officer to be held accountable.
“This bill creates a standard where I may have to prove two things that may not have had anything to do with the crime itself,” England said. “Ultimately, if that happens, we will see more people, before we even talk about what happened, get off on procedural nuances that aren’t available to anybody else in the state of Alabama.”