Senate approves constitutional amendment to expand nonbailable offenses to include solicitation, conspiracy and shooting into occupied structures

The Alabama Senate on Feb. 25 voted to add two categories to the state's nonbailable-offense framework, approving a proposed constitutional amendment (SB118) that would subject solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or vehicle to the same pretrial hearing process as other nonbailable charges.

Senator Barfoot outlined the measure as an expansion of the constitutional framework that voters previously approved in the statewide measure often referenced on the floor. He said the amendment would add "solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit murder" and "shooting into an occupied building or vehicle" to the list of offenses for which a judge could hold the procedural hearing to determine whether bail should be denied under the state's nonbailable-offense procedures.

The Senate adopted a judiciary committee amendment that confines the measure to the two categories described and preserves the existing procedural framework for hearings established in earlier enabling law. Sponsors said the constitutional amendment does not change those procedures; it only expands the categories of conduct that can trigger them.

After adopting the committee amendment by unanimous consent, the Senate recorded the committee-adoption vote and later approved final passage. The clerk recorded the committee-adoption and passage tallies on the floor as unanimous or near-unanimous; the amendment and passage were adopted and SB118 passed as amended.