Back to Alabama

HB117 • 2026

County commission procurement; procurement program allowed to apply to purchase of services, county commission allowed to consider administrative savings

County commission procurement; procurement program allowed to apply to purchase of services, county commission allowed to consider administrative savings

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Hill (J)
Last action
2026-02-17
Official status
Enacted
Effective date
2026-10-01

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text states programs must provide 'significant' savings but does not define a minimum dollar amount or percentage for what counts as significant.

Changes to How Alabama Counties Buy Goods and Services

This law lets county commissions use special purchasing programs for services, consider administrative savings as a reason to start these programs, and assign staff members to manage them.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows counties to buy services using approved procurement or purchasing programs.
  • Permits county commissions to count administrative savings when deciding to create a program.
  • Lets the chief administrative officer choose specific people to handle purchases under these programs.
  • Requires written rules that set spending limits for each purchase and monthly totals.
  • Mandates training for anyone using a purchasing card on how to document buys correctly.

Who It Names or Affects

  • County commissions in Alabama
  • Chief administrative officers of counties
  • Individuals designated by the county commission to make purchases

Terms To Know

Procurement or purchasing program
A system that uses special cards instead of standard purchase orders for approved items and services.
Administrative savings
Money saved by making the buying process simpler, which can be considered alongside cost savings when adopting a program.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The law does not specify exact dollar amounts for spending limits; counties must set these in their own written policies.
  • It is unclear which specific services can be bought until the county commission approves them first.
  • The bill text does not list penalties for counties that fail to follow these new rules.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-17 House

    Enacted

  2. 2026-02-10 Senate

    Signature Requested

  3. 2026-02-10 House

    Delivered to Governor

  4. 2026-02-05 Senate

    Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass - Adopted Roll Call 286 (Yeas 34, Nays 0)

  5. 2026-02-05 Senate

    Third Reading in Second House (Yeas 34, Nays 0)

  6. 2026-02-05 House

    Enrolled

  7. 2026-02-05 House

    Ready to Enroll

  8. 2026-01-29 Senate

    Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

  9. 2026-01-28 Senate

    Reported Out of Committee Second House

  10. 2026-01-20 House

    Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass - Adopted Roll Call 54 (Yeas 90, Nays 5)

  11. 2026-01-20 House

    Third Reading in House of Origin (Yeas 99, Nays 1)

  12. 2026-01-20 Senate

    Pending Committee Action in Second House

  13. 2026-01-20 Senate

    Read for the first time and referred to the Senate Committee on County and Municipal Government

  14. 2026-01-14 House

    Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

  15. 2026-01-14 House

    Reported Out of Committee House of Origin

  16. 2026-01-13 House

    Pending Committee Action in House of Origin

  17. 2026-01-13 House

    Read for the first time and referred to the House Committee on County and Municipal Government

Official Summary Text

This act amends Section 11-3-61, Code of Alabama 1975, to: (1) authorize services to be purchased using a procurement or purchasing program adopted by a county commission; (2) add administrative savings as a reason a county commission may adopt a procurement or purchasing program; and (3) authorize county chief administrative officers to designate individuals to perform tasks relating to these programs.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
HB117 ENROLLED
Page 0
HB117
RB4U1YN-2
By Representative Hill
RFD: County and Municipal Government
First Read: 13-Jan-26
PFD: 06-Jan-26
1
2
3
4
5
6
HB117 Enrolled
Page 1
PFD: 06-Jan-26
Enrolled, An Act,
Relating to county commission procurement; to amend
Section 11-3-61, Code of Alabama 1975; to allow a procurement
program to apply to purchases of services; to allow county
commissions to consider administrative savings; and to allow
county commissions to designate another individual to oversee
a procurement program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Section 11-3-61, Code of Alabama 1975, is
amended to read as follows:
"§11-3-61
(a) In addition to authority granted in Section
11-3-60, a county commission may adopt a procurement or
purchasing program designed to simplify the purchasing of
certain tangible personal property or services, provided the
program is designed in a manner that shall provide significant
cost savings or administrative savings to the county and
includes written policy and procedures for implementation and
administration of the program as set out in subsection (c).
For the purposes of this article, a "procurement or purchasing
program " is a purchase payment program utilized as an
alternative purchase order process with vendors agreeing to
participate in such process. The program shall be approved by
the county commission in order to allow individualized
purchases of tangible personal property items or services
which have received prior approval by the county commission
through use of a card programmed for limited purchases of
specific items or services by an individual designated by the
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
HB117 Enrolled
Page 2
specific items or services by an individual designated by the
county commission to make the purchases.
(b) Prior to implementation of a procurement or
purchasing program, the county commission shall make the
following determinations:
(1) That the program to be implemented meets
governmental accounting standards and practices for
development and administration of such program.
(2) That the program will provide significant cost
savings or administrative savings to the county.
(3) That the program has been developed and designed in
a manner that provides all necessary purchasing and accounting
documentation required by the Department of Examiners of
Public Accounts.
(4) That the program has been developed and designed
with sufficient safeguards to significantly reduce the risk of
mismanagement or misappropriation of funds.
(5) That the program will be carefully supervised and
overseen by the county chief administrative officer or his or
her designee .
(c) The county commission shall adopt written policy
and procedures for the implementation, administration, and
operation of the program, which policy and procedures shall
include at a minimum, each of the following:
(1) A monetary limit on the amount of any individual
purchase which may be made using a procurement or purchasing
card.
(2) A monetary limit on the total monthly amount that
may be purchased with a procurement or purchasing card, taking
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
HB117 Enrolled
Page 3
may be purchased with a procurement or purchasing card, taking
into consideration the county's debt limit.
(3) Procedures to ensure that any person utilizing a
procurement or purchasing card has been properly trained
regarding use of the card, including purchases whichthat are
allowed, proper process for documenting purchases, and daily
and monthly monetary limits.
(4) Procedures to ensure that the chief administrative
officer or designee carefully supervises and oversees the
administration of the program and the use of procurement or
purchasing cards within the county .
(5) Procedures for the chief administrative officer or
designee to keep accurate records of all purchases made with a
procurement or purchasing card, which records shall be
periodically reviewed by the chair of the county commission
and may be reviewed periodically by any member of the county
commission.
(6) Procedures to ensure that all procurement or
purchasing card bills are carefully reviewed by the chief
administrative officer or designee each month to make sure
that no unauthorized charges appear on the bill.
(7) Procedures to ensure the full cost of every
purchase made through the use of a procurement card is paid or
settled by electronic transfer within not more than 45 days of
the purchase.
(8) Procedures to ensure that the county is at all
times in compliance with the provisions of Article 3 of
Chapter 16 of Title 41.
(d) Any company, financial institution, or other
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
HB117 Enrolled
Page 4
(d) Any company, financial institution, or other
organization providing procurement card services as authorized
under this article shall ensure the county commission's
purchasing authority is suspended immediately should the
payment or electronic settlement for any item or service fail
to be received within the 45-day limit required in subdivision
(c)(7) of subsection (c) ."
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
HB117 Enrolled
Page 5
1, 2026.
________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Representatives
________________________________________________
President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
House of Representatives
I hereby certify that the within Act originated in and
was passed by the House 20-Jan-26.
John Treadwell
Clerk
Senate 05-Feb-26 Passed
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127