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HB461 INTRODUCED
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HB461
G3IV162-1
By Representatives Bedsole, Treadaway, Stringer, Reynolds,
Hendrix, Brown, Standridge, Chestnut
RFD: Public Safety and Homeland Security
First Read: 17-Feb-26
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G3IV162-1 02/10/2026 JWB (L)JWB 2026-540
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First Read: 17-Feb-26
SYNOPSIS:
This bill would establish a program at Marion
Military Institute that would confer a degree and
provide the necessary basic curriculum for individuals
to become certified law enforcement officers in the
State of Alabama.
This bill would require that the commission
grant individuals who graduate from the institute's
program provisional certification as Alabama law
enforcement officers, provided that the individual is
hired by an Alabama law enforcement agency within the
prescribed provisional time period.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to Marion Military Institute; to add Sections
16-60-340 and 36-21-46.1 to the Code of Alabama 1975; to
establish a program at Marion Military Institute that would
provide the necessary education and training for graduates to
become certified law enforcement officers in the State of
Alabama; and to require that the commission grant provisional
certification to graduates of the program.
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certification to graduates of the program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Sections 16-60-340 and 36-21-46.1 are added
to the Code of Alabama 1975, to read as follows:
§16-60-340
(a) The institute may establish a program that confers
an associate's degree where a student may complete the basic
training curriculum required for certification as a law
enforcement officer through the Alabama Peace Officers'
Standards and Training Commission.
(b) Pursuant to Section 36-21-46.1, students who
graduate from the institute having completed the program shall
be granted provisional certification as an Alabama law
enforcement officer upon graduation. Once the graduate is
hired or appointed as an officer with an Alabama law
enforcement agency, he or she shall be certified as an Alabama
law enforcement officer.
(c) For purposes of this program, the commission shall
recognize the institute as an Alabama law enforcement training
academy. Any student of the program is not required to be
gainfully employed as a full-time law enforcement officer by a
law enforcement agency while enrolled in the program.
(d) The institute shall work with the Alabama Peace
Officers' Standards and Training Commission in implementing
and administering the program. The commission shall adopt
rules to implement and administer the program.
§36-21-46.1
(a) Notwithstanding Section 36-21-46, an individual who
graduates from the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and
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graduates from the Alabama Peace Officers' Standards and
Training certification program at Marion Military Institute
established pursuant to Section 16-60-340 may be granted a
Provisional Alabama Law Enforcement Officer Certification upon
graduation.
(b) The provisional certification shall become a full
certification if the individual is hired on a full-time basis
as an officer of an Alabama law enforcement agency. The
commission, by rule, shall establish a provisional
certification period of at least six months, and if the
individual is not hired by an Alabama law enforcement agency
by the end of the provisional period, the provisional
certification shall expire.
(c) An individual who completes the program and is
hired by an Alabama law enforcement agency before the
expiration of the provisional period shall not have to
complete any further training to become fully certified. If an
individual's provisional certification expires before the
individual is hired by an Alabama law enforcement agency, the
individual shall be required to complete the generally
applicable course of training established by the commission.
(d) The commission shall adopt rules to implement and
administer the provisional certification process.
Section 2. This act shall become effective on June 1,
2026.
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