Alabama House leadership anticipates a smoother relationship between the House and Senate this week as lawmakers attempt to put a bow on the 2025 legislative session.
As with every session, tensions rise toward the end, as lawmakers in both chambers begin to get antsy about their respective pieces of legislation reaching the finish line.
Last week, tensions peaked when State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre) asked the Senate to carry over House bills while threatening a filibuster over the House’s treatment of one of his bills. The House reciprocated, carrying over every Senate bill and declining to take up another Senate bill for the rest of the week.
Jones was intentionally ambiguous about which bills he was protesting. However, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) brought receipts, claiming the House had passed far more Senate bills than vice versa.
While both chambers finished the week without addressing one another’s bills, Senate leadership took a pointed step towards putting a stop to the most significant slowdowns in the Senate.
Senate Republicans met for a caucus meeting on Thursday during a recess and invoked cloture to limit debate and filibusters by Democrats. Due to Senate rules on debate, these bills would typically take hours to pass.
The two biggest offenders of Senate rules, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and State Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham), are notorious for using nearly any means necessary to slow down the Senate process, usually by engaging in incoherent and frequently banal monologues. Thursday’s cloture led to an aggressive exchange by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and Singleton.
WATCH: Lt. Gov. Ainsworth gavels down Senate Minority Leader Singleton on cloture day in Alabama Senate
RELATED: State Sen. Orr: ‘We are probably looking at cloturing every bill’ for rest of 2025 session
After the Senate’s cloture, combined with behind-the-scenes negotiations, Ledbetter told reporters at the end of last week’s business that both bodies should be ready to begin taking up one another’s bills this week.
“I think it's going to go smoothly,” Ledbetter said. “You know, it gets hot the last few days of session, and all of you that’s been here know, as the saying goes in the chamber, everybody's hair gets on fire because they want to particular bill out. It's important to them."
“I talked to [Senate] Pro Tem [Garlan] Gudger this morning, and we had a good conversation. I think next week you'll see house bills be on the calendar and we'll start seeing Senate bills on ours," he added.
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