HUNTSVILLE — Next year's legislative session is less than five months away. Lawmakers will gather at the Alabama State House in Montgomery on Jan. 13, 2026, to convene the final legislative session of the current quadrenium.
Saturday, during a speech given to the Madison County Men's Republican Club, State Senate President Pro-Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) offered attendees a preview of the upcoming session.
The Cullman County Republican lawmaker said to expect a bill prefiled by State Rep. Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) and State Sen. April Weaver (R-Brierfield) to extend the death penalty to child rapists to be prioritized.
"As we keep moving through here, what's going to be happening in the future, in the 2026 session — we're bringing up two bills," he said. "One is — there was a horrible, horrible thing that happened right below Birmingham, and that was some young children were found in a basement, chained to beds, and people that were gang-related were taking $100 and letting people walk into that room and do whatever they wanted to to that child, over and over and over again. As soon as we got that, the senator for that particular area, Senator April Weaver, has now already prefiled a bill that I am 100% behind, and I believe my colleagues are as well, that will institute the death penalty for any of the child rapists. I want to quote Senator Weaver, from her press conference on that — but there's a special place in hell for people that take the innocence of the life of a small child.
In addition to the Simpson-Weaver bill, Gudger said also to anticipate a proposal to restrict masking for protesters.
Gudger continued, "Second is that there is a bill that President Trump has supported to require protesters to pull the mask down for law enforcement officers, and the anti-Trump and anti-Israel protesters across this country are cowardly trying to hide behind masks, and that's not going to happen in the state of Alabama. So that's another pre-filed bill."
"There are plenty of strong pieces of legislation and conservative legislation that were bringing to the state," he added. "Those are the two that we have."
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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