HB 146 Alabama House · 2025 Regular Session

Youthful offender status, to prohibit a judge from granting youthful offender status to any person who is 16 years of age and older and charged with murder

House Bill 146 amends current criminal procedure regarding youthful offender status. The bill prohibits a judge from granting youthful offender status to any person who is 16 years of age or older at the time of the offense. This exclusion specifically applies to individuals charged with capital murder or murder. This change means these particular charges would not be eligible for youthful offender consideration for defendants aged 16 or above.

Issues: ✗ Criminal Justice

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

House Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2025 Last action May 1, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Engrossed · 4 edits · Mar 4, 2025

MODERATE

This bill was amended to expand its protections by renaming it 'Jolee's Law' and clarifying that judges cannot grant youthful offender status to individuals aged 16 or older charged with capital murder or murder. The amendment also updated the age threshold for juvenile court jurisdiction from under 21 to under 21 years of age and added specific statutes for capital murder and murder cases.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly include capital murder alongside murder in the prohibition of youthful offender status for individuals aged 16 and older.

SCOPE

Added 'capital murder' to the list of crimes where youthful offender status is prohibited for individuals aged 16 or older.

DEFINITION

Changed the age threshold for juvenile court jurisdiction from 'under 19 years of age' to 'prior to the individual reaching 21 years of age'.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new section naming the act 'Jolee's Law' to establish its official citation.

TECHNICAL

Updated bill tracking numbers and page headers from 'Introduced' to 'Engrossed' status.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 30, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported Out of Committee Second House

upper

Apr 30, 2025

Introduced

Judiciary 1st Amendment (Judiciary)

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

Pending Committee Action in Second House (Judiciary)

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Motion to Add Cosponsor - Adopted Roll Call 354

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended - Adopted Roll Call 353

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 352

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

England 1st Amendment Offered

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 351

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Pettus 1st Amendment Offered

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 350

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Public Safety and Homeland Security Engrossed Substitute Offered (Public Safety and Homeland Security)

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported Out of Committee House of Origin (Public Safety and Homeland Security)

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Introduced

Public Safety and Homeland Security 1st Amendment (Public Safety and Homeland Security)

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Pending Committee Action in House of Origin (Public Safety and Homeland Security)

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors