State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) will carry the coveted Senate Bill 1 (SB1) designation in the 2025 legislative session, which would give Alabama's school workers access to compensation for on-the-job injuries.
The legislation flew through the Senate in the 2024 session. However, like many other bills, the legislative drama surrounding gambling legislation caused the bill to die on the vine.
"It just sort of got caught up at the end of the session," Givhan said. "You know there was some drama the last couple of days, so it was really just a victim of the calendar. I don't think there's a question about it passing this go around."
Under current law, public education employees injured on the job must pay out-of-pocket expenses and seek reimbursement from the Board of Adjustment. Givhan's bill would give public education employees the same compensation benefits as other state employees. The bill would also create the Public Education Employee Injury Compensation Program, the Public Education Employee Injury Compensation Trust Fund, and the Public Education Employee Injury Compensation Board to distribute benefits.
Givhan told 1819 News he swiftly re-filed the bill for next year's session since the issue is so pressing and the current system for reimbursing injured education employees is "not acceptable."
"I learned that our education team, whether it be teachers, coaches, bus drivers, janitors, lunchroom workers, they don't have workers comp," Givhan said. "Now, there is a program under the Board of Adjustment where people can make a claim, but I don't deem that to be a meaningful recovery for somebody that's got a traumatic injury."
He continued, "We've got a situation now where we've got a person that did not have ten years in the system, so, therefore, could not retire. And they're basically blinded and permanently, totally disabled because they were trying to prevent a child from hurting themselves, and they basically have gotten almost nothing from the state of Alabama. That's not acceptable. We provide these benefits for state employees, but not in education."
The bill does not currently have a fiscal note telling what the estimated cost will be to the state, but according to Givhan, the bill had a $14 million note last year to come out of the Education Trust Fund.
Givhan said the bill faced no opposition in the last session but failed to pass because of extant circumstances. He expects little substantive pushback in 2025 and looks forward to passing it early.
"You can never tell what hurdles might arise out of any given session, but because this is perceived as an injustice, if you will, for our education employees, I think you're going to see broad base support for this," Givhan said. "There may be some nuanced tweaks that we need to look at. But, overall, I think we've got a good bill and look forward to getting it passed this time."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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