MONTGOMERY– New Alabama laws that took effect October 1, 2026, bring changes affecting drivers, property owners, pet owners, businesses and law enforcement families across the state.

The measures strengthen penalties for certain crimes, add safeguards against fraudulent property sales and expand indoor smoking restrictions to electronic nicotine devices. They also address outdoor dog care, confidentiality agreements involving sexual abuse and college scholarships for qualifying law enforcement families.

The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office recently shared a list of ten laws to help inform the public. While the office highlighted the changes for its community, the measures apply statewide.

Here is a closer look at what each law changes and the requirements and exceptions residents should understand.

Safe Streets Act Changes DUI Death and Hit-and-Run Penalties

The Devinee Rooney and John Wesley Holt Safe Streets Act, Senate Bill 169, changes Alabama’s treatment of fatal impaired-driving cases.

A person who causes another individual’s death while unlawfully driving or operating a vehicle or vessel under the influence now commits manslaughter. That offense is a Class B felony. Previously, the criminally negligent homicide statute classified qualifying DUI deaths as Class C felonies.

The act also establishes different penalties for leaving a crash scene, depending on the harm involved. A violation involving only property damage is a Class A misdemeanor. However, a case involving physical injury is a Class C felony. If the crash causes serious physical injury or death, the violation is a Class B felony.

In addition, the law allows courts to order restitution for victims who suffer damage or loss from the hit-and-run offense. That includes medical expenses and property damage.

These changes address both criminal punishment and victims’ financial losses. However, the facts of an individual crash still determine the charges prosecutors pursue.

Child Predator Act Adds Capital Offenses, With a Constitutional Barrier

The Child Predator Death Penalty Act, House Bill 41, adds three offenses involving children under 12 to Alabama’s capital-offense statute.

They are first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and sexual torture. The classification places those offenses within the state’s capital prosecution framework. However, it does not impose an automatic death sentence upon a charge or conviction.

A significant constitutional issue also remains. In its 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court barred death sentences for child rape when the victim did not die and death was not intended. Alabama’s enactment does not itself overturn that ruling.

As a result, the statute’s capital designation and the legal availability of an execution are separate questions. Courts must address the federal constitutional limits on punishment.

The act also adds murder of a first responder operating in an official capacity to the capital-offense list. That provision includes qualifying emergency medical services personnel, firefighters and volunteer firefighters.

Trey’s Law Limits Agreements That Silence Sexual Abuse Disclosures

Trey’s Law, Senate Bill 30, targets contract provisions that prevent people from disclosing sexual abuse or facts related to that abuse.

The protection applies to agreements entered into, executed or amended on or after October 1, 2026. These can include nondisclosure agreements, confidentiality clauses, employment contracts and settlement agreements.

For example, a new settlement cannot enforce a provision that bars someone from discussing sexual abuse covered by the law. The act defines that abuse by reference to specified Alabama criminal offenses. However, its protection does not depend on an offender’s arrest, conviction or sentence.

The law also distinguishes abuse-related confidentiality from other contract terms. It does not invalidate unrelated provisions or automatically eliminate confidentiality surrounding compensation.

For survivors, the act preserves the choice of whether to speak publicly. Instead of requiring disclosure, it removes contractual barriers that could otherwise prevent someone from discussing abuse.

Electronic Monitoring Violations Become a Separate Bail-Jumping Offense

House Bill 405 creates third-degree bail jumping for violations of court-ordered electronic monitoring.

The offense applies when a person has lawfully left custody, with or without bail, subject to electronic monitoring. Violating a court-ordered condition of that monitoring constitutes a Class C misdemeanor.

The law covers the conditions governing electronic monitoring, rather than simply requiring someone to wear a monitoring device. Therefore, the specific release order matters when authorities evaluate a possible violation.

However, the statute provides a defense if the violation was unintentional. It also provides a defense when the violation was unavoidable and arose from circumstances beyond the defendant’s control.

The defendant must raise the issue supporting that defense. As a result, the law distinguishes a monitoring violation from circumstances that qualify for the statutory defense.

Property Protection Act Targets Seller Impersonation and Title Fraud

The Alabama Property Protection Act of 2026, Senate Bill 292, adds safeguards against fraudulent real estate transactions.

Seller impersonation occurs when someone falsely presents themselves as a property owner to arrange a sale. The Alabama Securities Commission identifies vacant parcels and transactions conducted without an in-person meeting as common settings for that fraud.

Under the act, agents and brokers must obtain government-issued identification and ownership records in specified transactions involving an unknown, absent seller. It also requires settlement agents to validate identification and verify sellers in certain vacant or non-owner-occupied Class III property transfers. Those properties must also be unencumbered by a security instrument. Compliance documentation must remain on file for five years.

The commission can investigate complaints and administratively determine fraudulent conveyances. It also has authority to order remedies, including voiding fraudulent transfers, subject to court appeals.

In addition, the law strengthens criminal provisions, creates a title-fraud recovery fund and provides for property-record notification services. It imposes ownership-verification duties on online real estate platforms in specified transactions as well.

For owners, the commission’s complaint process provides another route to challenge a fraudulent transfer. However, the act also preserves existing civil remedies.

Commercial Driving Law Adds Documentation and English Requirements

The Highway Safety and Fairness Act, Senate Bill 242, addresses commercial-driver credentials and English proficiency.

Drivers must hold a valid domestic commercial license or permit, or a qualifying foreign commercial license recognized under federal rules. However, qualifying foreign-license holders must also carry required documentation authorizing their entry for commercial driving.

Knowingly driving without that required documentation in immediate possession can constitute a Class D felony. The offense can drop to a Class A misdemeanor if the driver proves the documentation existed at the time. Knowingly presenting a fake foreign commercial license with the required fraudulent intent also constitutes a Class D felony.

The act also requires commercial drivers to meet federal English standards. Those standards address reading and speaking English sufficiently for the work, including understanding traffic signs and responding to official inquiries.

For a first English-proficiency violation, fines can reach $1,000 for the driver and $2,000 for the carrier. Repeat violations can bring maximum fines of $2,000 and $4,000, respectively. In addition, the law provides for vehicle impoundment under specified circumstances.

Towed Vehicles Can Enter the State Reporting System Immediately

House Bill 42 allows a person holding a towed vehicle to report it to the state immediately after towing.

The Alabama Department of Revenue describes the change as eliminating the mandatory five-day waiting period for reporting towed vehicles. Reports go through the department’s Unclaimed/Abandoned Vehicle Portal.

However, immediate reporting does not authorize an immediate sale or automatic transfer of ownership. The law retains procedures for identifying owners and lienholders, requesting records and providing notice.

The department also places a 60-calendar-day hold on the title record after receiving a report, subject to statutory exceptions. If the holder returns the vehicle to its recorded owner or lienholder during that period, the holder must report the return. That report is due within five calendar days.

The change therefore concerns when reporting can begin. The remaining notification and abandoned-vehicle procedures still govern what happens afterward.

Indoor Smoking Restrictions Now Cover Vaping

Senate Bill 9 adds electronic nicotine delivery systems to Alabama’s statutory definition of smoking.

As a result, vaping now falls under the same state indoor-air restrictions that apply to smoking tobacco. The act also renames the law the Vivian Davis Figures and Barbara Drummond Clean Indoor Air Act.

The Alabama Department of Public Health explains the practical change this way: where the act prohibits smoking, it now prohibits electronic nicotine devices as well.

Covered public places include enclosed areas such as government buildings, hospitals, schools, libraries, restaurants and retail establishments. However, the act’s existing provisions determine the restrictions within those settings. The amendment does not establish a universal ban on vaping in every indoor space.

For example, a private residence does not meet the law’s definition of a public place. Businesses and public facilities should also review their policies and signs to reflect the addition of electronic devices.

Beau’s Law Establishes Standards for Outdoor Dog Care

Beau’s Law, Senate Bill 361, establishes requirements for food, water, shelter, sanitation, confinement and tethering.

Dogs kept on tethers or in enclosures must have continuous access to adequate food, water and shelter. Shelter must protect against weather and allow a dog to stand, turn and lie with its limbs extended. It also must remain free of accumulated waste, water and debris.

A stationary tether requires a trolley system. In addition, tethering rules require appropriate weight, a properly fitted collar or harness, swivels and protection from entanglement. Logging chains, choke collars and pinch collars are prohibited.

However, the act contains exceptions. These address activities such as agricultural work, hunting and training, along with specified temporary restraint and recreational situations. Veterinary, grooming, boarding and service-dog situations also qualify for exceptions to tethering and enclosure requirements.

A first violation is a Class C misdemeanor; a second is a Class B misdemeanor. Third and subsequent violations are Class A misdemeanors.

Certified officers can remove a dog whose life is in danger under the act’s procedures. Owners may also face boarding and veterinary costs. The law does not replace existing animal-cruelty protections.

Scholarship Law Supports Qualifying Law Enforcement Families

House Bill 98 establishes the Alabama Law Enforcement Officers’ Family Scholarship Program, administered by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.

It covers eligible spouses and natural or adopted children of qualifying officers with at least 15 years of full-time Alabama service. Certain former officers also qualify if they separated within ten years through resignation, retirement or death, rather than disciplinary termination.

Children must be under 24. Both spouse and child applicants must have lived in Alabama for the preceding five years. However, applicants eligible for the separate police officers’ survivors education benefit cannot receive this scholarship.

Awards cover tuition and mandatory fees at participating accredited public institutions for up to eight semesters or 12 quarters. The maximum is $2,500 per academic period, after other assistance applies. A $1,500 cap applies to recipients qualifying for specified campus-employment tuition discounts.

Books, supplies and course-specific fees do not qualify. Applications also require enrollment, FAFSA and family-relationship documentation.

Funding limits matter because awards depend on available money. The law provides for annual Education Trust Fund appropriations beginning with the fiscal year starting October 1, 2027.

A new blackout license plate will also support the scholarship fund. Although the act took effect October 1, the Department of Revenue says the plate becomes available January 1, 2027. It carries an additional $50 annual fee, with $46.75 directed to the scholarship fund.

Residents can review the linked laws and agency guidance for additional information about specific requirements. The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office shared the list as part of its effort to keep the public informed about changes in state law.