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 quarters and cap assistance at $3,000 per academic period.

The bill sets an annual appropriation cap of $10,000,000 from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and allows private donations; under a committee amendment, proceeds from a voluntary specialty ‘‘black’’ vehicle tag would be the first funds expended for the program, with ETF dollars used if tag proceeds are insufficient. Representative Kevin Kiel said a similar tag raised about $7 million in Mississippi and would be voluntary, with $50 of each tag sale directed to the scholarship fund.

The bill defines eligible students as dependents under age 27 (the transcript phrase was ‘‘under 27 years old’’) who have been Alabama residents for at least two years; current or surviving spouses may also qualify if they meet the residency requirement. To qualify, the officer must be certified by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission and must have served full time at the same department for at least seven years or 12 years across multiple agencies; officers terminated for disciplinary action are excluded. Scholarships are secondary to other grants and gifts.

Two technical amendments fixed statutory citations and added career‑technical postsecondary programs and campus police certified through the Peace Officers commission to the list of qualifying agencies. Representative Drummond moved that the committee give the bill a favorable report as amended; Representative Wood seconded, and the committee approved the bill by voice vote.

The committee also adopted the specialty‑tag amendment by voice vote; members clarified that ACHE would ensure car‑tag proceeds are expended first and the ETF appropriation would cover any balance. Several members asked staff (identified in the record as ‘‘Dustin’’) to confirm that ‘‘academic period’’ references in the bill align with semesters/quarters.

The measure will move from committee as a favorable report with the adopted amendments; the transcript does not record a roll‑call vote count, only voice votes recorded as ‘‘aye’’ and ‘‘the amendment passes’’ or ‘‘bill is passed.’”