Committee approves bill letting Alabama Port Authority set its own asset-tracking threshold

A House committee approved HB 903 at a meeting to allow the Alabama Port Authority to adopt its own procedures for tracking equipment and other items, removing a uniform $500-per-item tracking requirement.

Sponsor Representative Brown, speaking to the committee, said the current rule requires the port to track every item purchased at $500 or more “at the time of purchase,” including equipment bought decades ago, and that requirement imposes ongoing manpower costs. "You can imagine they bought a piece of equipment in 1940. They're still having to track it every single year," Brown said.

The measure would permit the port authority to establish procedures similar to those used by state universities to determine which items must be tracked. Backers argued the change would reduce unnecessary recordkeeping and related expenses; opponents did not speak during the recorded discussion. A motion to advance the bill was made and seconded; the committee approved the measure by voice vote. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally.

Because the transcript contains only the committee discussion and a voice vote, the record does not specify whether the change requires follow-up rules or administrative action by a state agency or which statutory provisions currently mandate the $500 threshold. The bill text should be consulted for implementation details.

The committee chair called the item, the sponsor presented the bill, a motion and second were recorded, and the bill was advanced by voice vote with no roll-call totals provided. No formal amendment was recorded in the transcript of this item.

The measure will return in bill form for whatever next step the House rules require; the transcript does not specify timing or assignment to a subsequent committee or floor action.