First Day of the 2025 Session

The 2025 session is off to an optimistic start Tuesday as Garlan Gudger was sworn in as our newest Senate President Pro Tem. Sen. Gudger replaced Greg Reed, who is now leading the Alabama Department of Workforce (formerly known as the Department of Labor).

Several new bills hit daylight including SB86 (Orr) and companion bill HB142 (Rafferty), a bipartisan effort calling for the establishment of portable benefit accounts for independent contractors. Contractors can “opt-in” to establish benefit accounts used to fund health, life and retirement benefits. Hiring parties can deduct contributions into a contractor’s account as they would compensation. You can read more about these bills here: Bill will allow portable benefits for gig workers - Alabama Daily News. The Finance and Taxation – General Fund Committee is scheduled to consider SB86 today, so don’t expect this bill to gather moss.

To take a look at the bills we are watching, click THE DETAILS button below.

There have been 259 bills filed as of this morning. The bills in their entirety can be found at https://alison.legislature.state.al.us and, if you have any additional questions or comments, please reach out to me at rpearson@alabama.cpa.