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HB135 ENGROSSED
Page 0
HB135
U9UVZDX-2
By Representative Brown
RFD: Ports, Waterways and Intermodal Transit
First Read: 13-Jan-26
PFD: 08-Jan-26
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HB135 Engrossed
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PFD: 08-Jan-26
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to ports; to create the Alabama Port
Infrastructure Grant Program and Alabama Port Infrastructure
Fund; to amend Sections 41-23-130, 41-23-131, 41-23-132,
41-23-133, and 41-23-134, Code of Alabama 1975; to provide for
the administration of the program by the Alabama Department of
Economic and Community Affairs; and to provide for funding of
the program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Sections 41-23-130, 41-23-131, 41-23-132,
41-23-133, and 41-23-134, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to
read as follows:
"§41-23-130
When used in this article, the following words and
phrases have the following meanings unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:
(1) DEPARTMENT or ADECA. The Alabama Department of
Economic and Community Affairs.
(2) FUND. The Alabama Port Infrastructure Fund created
by Section 41-23-132.
(1)(3) INLAND PORTSPORT. Inland Any portsport, including
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(1)(3) INLAND PORTSPORT. Inland Any portsport, including
portsa port owned or operated by the Alabama State Port
Authority, arethat is physical sites physically located away
from traditional land, air, and coastal borders with the
vision to facilitate and process international and domestic
trade through strategic investment in multi-modal multimodal
transportation assets and by promoting value-added services as
goods move through the supply chain. The term specifically
excludes the Port of Mobile.
(2)(4) INTERMODAL FACILITY. A transportation element
that accommodates and interconnects different modes of
transportation and serves intrastate, interstate, and
international movement of people and goods and facilitates the
movement of goods on two or more modes involving either direct
transfer or intermediate storage.
(5) PORT. Any inland port as defined in subsection (3),
public port located in coastal areas, or the Port of Mobile.
(3)(6) PORT FACILITY. Any authority, municipality,
county, or publicly owned inland port through which cargo is
transported by way of waterborne ship, barge, or railroad, to
or from destinations inside or outside this state and which
handles cargo owned by third parties .
(7) PROGRAM. The Alabama Port Infrastructure Grant
Program created by Section 41-23-131. "
"§41-23-131
(a) The Alabama Port Infrastructure Grant Program Inland
Ports and Intermodal Development Fund is created within the
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to
receive appropriations from the State General Fund for the
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receive appropriations from the State General Fund for the
purpose of financing improvements to existing publicly owned
inland ports and intermodal facility infrastructure . The
program shall award grants to fund the improvement,
maintenance, and construction of ports and intermodal
facilities within the state . Funding for the grant
program Grants shall be awarded on a competitive bid basis for
inland port and intermodal facility port and intermodal
facility projects that will have a significant local or
regional impact. Priority of funding shall be given to inland
ports and intermodal facilities that have proven performance
in reducing congestion on public highways and increasing
tonnage at port facilities and that will enhance regional
competitiveness for port operators and users.
(b) Any project funded from this program shall meet the
following requirements:
(1) The minimum amount of participation for local
matching funds is 20 percent of the project amount.
(2) The amount awarded from the program may not exceed
50 percent of the total budgeted project costs.
(3) The award amount of an individual grant may not
exceed 20 percent of the total grant funds awarded in a single
fiscal year.
(4) The indirect costs and administrative costs of the
project may not exceed 10 percent of the amount awarded.
(c) The department shall develop application procedures
and eligibility criteria for the program and shall award
grants to facilitate the program. Grants shall be awarded
based on a competitive scoring system developed by the
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based on a competitive scoring system developed by the
department. The department may fund partial awards if funding
requested from the program exceeds the amount of available
funding.
(b)(d) To receive funds under this article, an inland a
port or intermodal facility shall file an application with the
department describing how the funds will be used and any other
information the department may require. No application shall
be approved or funds distributed unless the expenditure of
funds are:
(1) Directly related to capital improvements, dredging
for project development in the immediate vicinity of an
existing inland port, economic development of an inland a port
facility, or the rebuilding or rehabilitation of basic
waterway and port infrastructure;
(2) For a project or use directly related to intermodal
infrastructure development;
(3) For a purpose outside the normal operating budget
of an inland a port, or intermodal infrastructure facility , or
a river-related community; or
(4) For purposes of making improvements to ports or
intermodal infrastructure facilities;
(4)(5) For purpose of assessment or planning or for
efforts to grow and expand ports or intermodal infrastructure
facilities; or
(6) For purposes of establishing or constructing new
ports, or to acquire land for new ports, if a feasibility
study and competitive analysis have been conducted and
submitted for review to the department .
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submitted for review to the department .
(c)(e) Funding shall not be approved used for routine
maintenance, administrative, and operational expenses, or for
the dredging of waterways within the state that are not in the
immediate vicinity of an inland a port facility . Additionally,
the use of funding to establish or construct new inland ports,
or to acquire land for new inland ports, shall not be eligible
for funding unless a feasibility study and competitive
analysis have been conducted and submitted for review to the
department ."
"§41-23-132
(a) The Alabama Port Infrastructure Fund is created in
the State Treasury to be administered by the department to
fund the program. The fund is subject to appropriations by the
Legislature. Monies in the fund shall only be expended for
purposes listed in this article. The fund shall be budgeted
and allotted in accordance with Article 4 of Chapter 4 of
Title 41 and Chapter 19 of Title 41.
(a)(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to
the contrary, the Legislature shall annually appropriate
twofive million dollars ($2,000,000) ($5,000,000) from the
State General Fund to the Alabama Department of Economic and
Community Affairs to establish a grant program to facilitate
and coordinate inland port and transfer facility development,
improvement, maintenance, onsite storage, moorings, and
construction fund the program . The appropriation shall be
effective beginning fiscal year 2026 and continue through the
2028 fiscal year, unless continued by an act of the
Legislature.
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Legislature.
(b)(c) Upon appropriations, the monies shall be kept in
the Inland Ports and Intermodal Development Fund fund created
in this section Section 41-23-131 and shall be subject to audit
by the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts in the same
manner as all other department funds. Any unexpended monies
remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall
remain in the fund and shall not revert . to the State General
Fund. The amount of the appropriation for the upcoming fiscal
year appropriation shall be reduced by the amount carried
forward such that the department will have no more than five
million dollars ($5,000,000) in any single fiscal year to
administer the grant program. Any monies that remain
unexpended at the end of the third fiscal year shall revert to
the State General Fund. Any unencumbered funds remaining
pursuant to this article after three years shall revert to the
State General Fund
(d) No more than ten percent of the total amount
appropriated for the program in any fiscal year may be
expended for administration of the program.
(e) For any fiscal year in which grants are awarded
under the program, by the first day of the next regular
session of the Legislature, the department shall publish an
annual report regarding the grants awarded under the program
during the prior fiscal year. The report shall include the
improvements made to ports and intermodal facilities supported
by grant funds ."
"§41-23-133
(a) This article shall not apply nor have any effect on
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(a) This article shall not apply nor have any effect on
any state agency currently having with control over local port
or infrastructure commissions or authorities.
(b) This article shall not change affect any existing
other laws that apply to any existing port or infrastructure
commission or authority, or to powers presently provided for
conducting and developing the water transportation industry,
and all such existing laws are expressly preserved and shall
not be preempted by this article.
(c) No provision of this article shall be construed to
authorize any diversion from local port or infrastructure
commissions or authorities of fees, funds, donations, grants,
or monies to which the commission or authorities are otherwise
entitled .
(d) Nothing in this article shall be construed to limit
any port's ability to receive funding from other sources as
provided for by state or federal law ."
"§41-23-134
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community
Affairs department shall adopt rules, restrictions, and
eligibility requirements as are necessary to implement and
administer this article."
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
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1, 2026.
House of Representatives
Read for the first time and referred
to the House of Representatives
committee on Ports, Waterways and
Intermodal Transit
................13-Jan-26
Read for the second time and placed
on the calendar:
1 amendment
................21-Jan-26
Read for the third time and passed
as amended
Yeas 103
Nays 0
Abstains 0
................26-Feb-26
John Treadwell
Clerk
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