Senate amends Choose Act to shield participating students from athletic‑eligibility exclusion

The Senate passed an amendment to the state’s Choose Act and a related enforcement measure on March 31, 2026 that protects students who participate in the Choose Act from being excluded from interscholastic athletics solely because they receive program services.

Sen. Chamblas said the bill amends the Creating Hope and Opportunity for our Students (Choose) Act to establish a dedicated Choose Act fund, tighten program safeguards, and add an express athletic‑eligibility non‑discrimination enforcement mechanism. Under the new language, a "Choose Act participant" (a participating student, the student's parent, or a participating school) may bring a civil action in circuit court against an interscholastic athletic association — including the Alabama High School Athletic Association or the Alabama Independent School Association — if the association enforces or adopts a rule or policy that restricts a student's participation based solely on Choose Act status.

The statute directs courts to prioritize allowing participation over preserving the status quo, presumes that a Choose Act participant has established irreparable harm for injunction purposes, and authorizes courts to award actual economic damages, costs and reasonable attorney fees to prevailing Choose Act participants. The measure preserves association rules that apply neutrally to all students (for example, academically based eligibility, transfers or residency rules), but creates a specific enforcement path when discrimination is grounded solely in program participation.

Senators adopted a floor amendment clarifying that the provision applies to participation in interscholastic athletic activity and moved the bill for final passage; it passed on a recorded vote.