Committee approves law-enforcement family scholarship bill with optional specialty tag to fund program

The Ways and Means Education Committee gave a favorable report to HP188 as amended, a bill to create the Alabama Law Enforcement Family Scholarship program to help pay college-related costs for eligible dependents and spouses of long‑term law enforcement officers.

Representative Alan Treadaway, the bill sponsor, told the committee the scholarship would be administered by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and would cover ‘‘required education expenses including tuition, mandatory fees, course materials like books and digital media’’ for participating public two‑ and four‑year institutions and public technical colleges. The program would limit awards to eight semesters or 16…