The University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law
To implement a new rule or edit an existing rule, a state agency must submit a proposal to the Alabama Legislative Services Agency.
The Agency keeps a list of all current proposed rules on their website under the Agency Proposed Rules tab. There, they have organized everything by agency, as well as whether it's a Proposed Amended Rule or a Proposed New Rule. Each proposal links out to a page where you can find the notice of proposal, how and where to submit a commit, when the comment period ends, and a draft of the new/amended rule.
Towards the top of the Agency Proposed Rules page, there is an option to see the Archive of proposed rules. You can use this page to search for proposed new/amended rules dating back to March 2011.
You can also find links to proposed administrative rules on the Alabama Secretary of State website. You can locate them by hovering over the Records tab at the top of the page, then hovering over Administrative Code, when you should see Proposed Rules. If you click on Administrative Code, it will redirect you to the Alabama Legislative Services Agency page for the Alabama Administrative Code so, if you're just looking for the proposed rules, make sure you hover and don't follow the link.
The Alabama Administrative Monthly is a register of the rule changes that have been proposed by state agencies that is published on the last business day of each month. Each state agency must file a notice of rule change with the Legislative Services Agency for publication in the Alabama Administrative Monthly. Like the Agency Proposed Rules tab, it contains a list of notices that the Legislative Services Agency received throughout the month that have been proposed to be added, amended, or repealed. Each notice includes a description of the substance of the proposed rule changes, specifies a comment period, and provides the manner in which a member of the public may submit comments to the agency regarding the proposal. However, it also contains a list of all adopted rules that have been certified by the Legislative Services Agency during the prior month. You can also use the Archive tab at the top of the page to find links to the Alabama Administrative Monthly dating back to January 2007.
You can also find a physical copy of the Alabama Administrative Monthly here in the Bounds Law Library, however, it hasn't been updated since September 2021, so, while it might be a good resource if you're looking for a physical copy, you'll want to use the online version if you're looking for something more current.
The Alabama Legislative Services Agency also has a separate tab for emergency rules. For a list of currently active emergency rules, you can use the Emergency Rules tab on the left hand side. Each emergency rule should include a link to a page where you can learn what rule has been amended, why it's necessary, when the emergency rule expires and a copy of the rule.
You can also find a list of archived emergency rules dating back to August 2020 by selecting the Archive tab at the top right of the Emergency Rules page.
One resource many forget to check when doing Alabama Administrative Law research is the Alabama Attorney General's Office. The Office has an Opinions Division that is responsible for preparing draft opinions on questions of law posed to the attorney general. You can do a search of opinions dating back to 1979 using their Opinions Search page. For older opinions, check out HeinOnline's State Attorney General Reports and Opinions, where you can find opinions dating back to 1894.
Unlike some other states, the Executive Orders of the Governor play a large role in Alabama's administrative law. They are often used to provide general direction for Executive Branch agencies which would use the required rulemaking process to implement policies outlined in the EO. They can also be used to repeal previous regulations.
The Governor has used her EOs for a number of reasons, including:
To find EOs dating back to 2017, please check the Governor's page on Executive Orders. For older EOs, please check the Alabama Department of Archives & History, which keeps EOs dating back to 1943.