House Committee advances police officer immunity bill

February 26, 2025 – MONTGOMERY, AL – The House Judiciary Committee advanced controversial legislation that would give police officers greater criminal and civil immunity while performing their duties.

House Bill 202 ((HB202 is sponsored by state Representative Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville). The legislation is part of Governor Kay Ivey's (R) "Bach the Blue" bills designed to crack down on the state's out of control crime problem.

The bill was substituted and amended by the Judiciary Committee.

"Thank you and the committee for being patient with this very important bill for law enforcement," Rep. Reynolds told the committee.

Reynolds thanked Reps. Tillman, Simpson, and Chestnuet for working with him on the bill last week. Reynolds is a former Huntsville police chief.

Reps. Ontario Tillman (D-Birmingham) and Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) both had amendments to the bill that were adopted by Reynolds.

Rep. Christopher England (D-Tuscaloosa) said, "There is a lot easier way to do this."

Attorney Will Parker said that the new legislation "Will maintains the universality of all officers no matter who they are employed by."

Chairman Jim Hill (R-Odenville) said that the bill, "would not be retroactive."

Rep. England said, "This is a massive under taking."In all forms and fashions the average Alabamian supports law enforcement."

England warned of the danger that law enforcement might become, "we ever lose the ability to hold them accountable."

"There are a lot of provisions in this bill that I think are quite objectionable," said England. "They go too far on the criminal side that basically says to the public that the officer is criminally immune."

"What this bill does is create a special class of people, England said. "You will see more people get off on procedural nuances that are not available to anybody else in the state of Alabama."

England said that SB2020 would mean that to prosecute a police officer the prosecution would have to prove in a hearing that, "Was the actions taken within the Discretionary authority of a law enforcement officer?" before the trial could proceed.

Reynolds said, "We lost four police officers nationally this weekend."

Reynolds said that that 21-year-old policeman on patrol needs some assurance that the state is not going to come after him if he has to make a critical decision in the heat of the moment.;

England said that if he were a prosector attempting to prosecute an officer.

"Part of what I have to prove if you use the immunity standard is if what they were doing was not within their discretional duty." If the Judge in the pretrial hearing or the jury in later deliberations find that what the officer was doing was within the line of duty then that officer could not be held criminally culpable. "The immunity hearing is like a stand your ground hearing. The jury would have to determine a legal determination. Self-defense is already available to law enforcement."

Rep. England introduced two amendments.

Reynolds objected to both.

Simpson motioned for the two amendments to be tabled. Those tabling motions passed.

Rep. Penny McClammey (D-Montgomery) said that while she supports the police in general, "We do have some bad apples. I do not thin we should be giving them immunity."

Reynolds that this was not "blanket immunity."

The Committee voted to give SB202 a favorable report. It can now be considered by the full House