SB105 • 2026

Counties and municipalities; online publication of financial statements, audits, expenditures, and budgets required

Budget

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Kelley
Last action: 2026-03-05
Official status: Pending Committee Action in Second House
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official status label says the bill passed both chambers, but the last action listed is pending committee in a second house; this suggests the provided text may be from an earlier version or there is conflicting metadata. The effective date is explicitly stated as October 1, 2028.

SB105: Online Publication of County and City Financial Records

This law requires county commissions and city governing bodies to post their financial statements, audits, monthly spending lists, and budgets on the internet starting October 1, 2028.

What This Bill Does

Requires counties and cities to publish annual financial reports covering a full fiscal year ending on the last day of that period.
Mandates that these documents include audits, monthly expenditures, and approved budgets posted in a prominent location on their official website.
Allows agencies without websites to post the data on state association websites instead.
Authorizes the Chief Examiner of Public Accounts to create rules for how this publishing happens.

Who It Names or Affects

County commissions
Municipal governing bodies (city councils or mayors)
The Department of Examiners of Public Accounts

Terms To Know

Fiscal year: A 12-month period used for accounting and budgeting, which ends on a specific date set by the county or city.
Audit: An official review of financial records included in the required annual reports.
Redact: To remove specific details from a document before publishing it, such as information about safety or security.

Limits and Unknowns

The law does not take effect until October 1, 2028.
Agencies may hide line-item spending details if they relate to the safety and security of critical infrastructure or other protected information.
Specific rules for how agencies must publish these documents will be created later by state officials.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

2JVMVSK-1

R 685 • Kelley

Adopted

Plain English: This amendment gives the Chief Examiner of the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts the power to create rules about how counties and cities must publish their financial information online.

It adds authority for the Chief Examiner to adopt official rules regarding this bill.
It specifies that any rules about publishing budgets, audits, or expenditures will be made by the Chief Examiner.

The provided text only shows specific line replacements and does not include the full original law, so it is unclear what other details might have changed.
The exact content of the rules that the Chief Examiner can create is not described in this amendment.

QNPPC51-1

R 686 • Kelley

Adopted

Plain English: This amendment allows counties and municipalities to hide specific spending details online if revealing them would threaten the safety of critical infrastructure or expose confidential information.

Counties and cities can remove line-item details from their monthly public expense reports when those items relate directly to protecting critical infrastructure.

The amendment does not define exactly what counts as 'critical infrastructure' beyond referring to a specific section of the Alabama Code.
It is unclear how much information can be hidden under the category of 'otherwise protected or confidential information.'
This change only applies to monthly expenditure reports and may not affect other financial documents like annual audits.

Bill History

2026-03-05 House
Pending Committee Action in Second House
2026-03-05 House
Read for the first time and referred to the House Committee on County and Municipal Government
2026-03-04 Senate
Engrossed
2026-03-03 Senate
Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended - Adopted Roll Call 687 (Yeas 33, Nays 0)
2026-03-03 Senate
Kelley motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 686 (Yeas 31, Nays 0)
2026-03-03 Senate
Kelley motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 685 (Yeas 30, Nays 0)
2026-03-03 Senate
Third Reading in House of Origin (Yeas 27, Nays 2)
2026-03-03 Senate
Kelley 1st Amendment Offered
2026-03-03 Senate
County and Municipal Government 1st Amendment Offered
2026-01-20 Senate
Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar
2026-01-20 Senate
Reported Out of Committee House of Origin
2026-01-20 Senate
County and Municipal Government 1st Amendment
2026-01-13 Senate
Pending Committee Action in House of Origin
2026-01-13 Senate
Read for the first time and referred to the Senate Committee on County and Municipal Government

Official Summary Text

Counties and municipalities; online publication of financial statements, audits, expenditures, and budgets required

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SB105 ENGROSSED
Page 0
SB105
KHB3TAU-2
By Senators Kelley, Orr, Kitchens
RFD: County and Municipal Government
First Read: 13-Jan-26
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SB105 Engrossed
Page 1
First Read: 13-Jan-26
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to counties and municipalities; to require the
governing bodies of each county and municipality to publish
online all financial statements, audits, monthly expenditures,
and budgets; and to authorize the Chief Examiner of the
Department of Examiners of Public Accounts to adopt rules.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) All county commissions and municipal
governing bodies shall annually publish all financial
statements relating to the financial status of the county or
municipality, for the 12-month period ending on the last day
of the fiscal year as established by the county or
municipality. The fiscal statements shall include, but not be
limited to, audits, monthly expenditures, and budgets which
shall be published in a prominent location on the official
website of the county or municipality.
(b) If the county or municipality does not maintain an
official website, the information required in subsection (a)
shall be posted on the website of the Association of County
Commissions of Alabama or the Alabama League of
Municipalities, as appropriate.
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SB105 Engrossed
Page 2
Municipalities, as appropriate.
(c) Any rules related to publishing information
described in subsection (a) shall be prescribed by the Chief
Examiner of the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts as
authorized in Section 41-5A-5, Code of Alabama 1975.
(d) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (a),
a county commission or municipal governing body may redact
from published monthly expenditures specific line-item details
of expenditures that relate directly to the safety and
security of critical infrastructure as defined by Section
13A-7-4.3, Code of Alabama 1975, or any otherwise protected or
confidential information.
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2028.
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SB105 Engrossed
Page 3
1, 2028.
Senate
Read for the first time and referred
to the Senate committee on County
and Municipal Government
................13-Jan-26
Read for the second time and placed
on the calendar:
1 amendment
................20-Jan-26
Read for the third time and passed
as amended
Yeas 33
Nays 0
Abstains 0
................03-Mar-26
Patrick Harris,
Secretary.
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