After failing to receive Senate deliberation in the 2024 legislative session, State Rep. Kerry Underwood (R-Tuscumbia) has pre-filed a bill for the 2025 legislative session to bar convicted sex offenders from being employed or volunteering as first responders.
House Bill 27 (HB27) would amend the state law to prevent those who have been convicted of sex offenses from working as a first responder, which the bill defines as a "paramedic, firefighter, rescue squad member, emergency medical technician, or other individual who, in the course of his or her professional duties, responds to fire, medical, hazardous material or other similar emergencies, whether compensated or not."
An identical bill passed the House during the 2024 session. However, like many bills in that session, it was buried under a mountain of legislative gridlock over the hotly debated gambling package that ultimately died itself.
Underwood said he filed the bill after a situation arose in his district where an offender volunteered in a fire department. The issue also drew attention earlier this year in the strange case of a missing child.
In Barbour County, the search for a missing child created an online petition to remove the local volunteer fire chief after it was revealed that he was a convicted sex offender.
Texasville Volunteer Fire Chief Robert Joel Drawdy assisted in the search for a Clayton child on January 12. The child's mother reported him missing from a camper. She told investigators she briefly left him asleep in the camper while she went to the restroom at a place nearby.
Drawdy is a registered sex offender who was convicted in Florida in 1998 of two counts of attempted sexual battery of a victim 12 or older, with the offender coercing the victim by threat of force or violence.
Alabama Search and Rescue (ALSAR) said after arriving at the scene with its incident command truck and NASAR-certified tracking bloodhound teams, Drawdy asked searchers to leave. They said he told them to leave the area because ALSAR is not affiliated with AARS and "per the request of the Childersburg Rescue Squad."
The bill defines "first responder" as a paramedic, firefighter, rescue squad member, emergency medical technician, or other individual who, in the course of his or her professional duties, responds to fire, medical, hazardous material, or other similar emergencies, whether compensated or not.
Violating the bill's provisions would make someone subject to a Class C felony. However, no first responder employer or volunteer organization would be subject to liability.
The 2025 legislative session is slated to begin in February 2025.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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