HB 307

HB307 ENROLLED
1 HB307
2 4UFNBI3-3
3 By Representatives Rehm, Starnes, Oliver, Treadaway, Wood (R),
4 Brown, Marques, Smith, Paschal, Ross, Gidley, Butler,
5 Lipscomb, Sellers, Lamb, Moore (P), Wilcox, Hurst, Lee,
6 Blackshear
7 RFD: Military and Veterans' Affairs
8 First Read: 21-Jan-26
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1 Enrolled, An Act,
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3Relating to military spouse hiring preference; to amend
4 Section 36-26-15, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide spouses of
5 active duty service members with additional points on ratings
6 for state employment; to authorize political subdivisions and
7 private employers to give preference to veterans and the
8 spouses of veterans and active duty service members when
9 considering these individuals for employment; and to make
10 nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the existing
11 code language to current style.
12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
13Section 1. Section 36-26-15, Code of Alabama 1975, is
14 amended to read as follows:
15"§36-26-15
16(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
17 have the following meanings:
18(1) ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE MEMBER. An individual who is on
19 active duty as a member of the National Guard or a reserve or
20 active component of the Armed Forces of the United States.
21(2) VETERAN. An individual who has ever served in the
22 National Guard or a reserve or active component of the Armed
23 Forces of the United States and been honorably discharged.
24(b)(1) The director shall conduct tests to establish
25 employment registers for the various classes of positions in
26 the classified service. The tests shall take into
27 consideration elements of character, reputation, education,
28 aptitude, experience, knowledge, skill, personality, physical
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29 fitness, and other pertinent matters and may be written or
30 oral or any other demonstration of fitness as the director may
31 determine. For a promotion test, the qualifications shall
32 include the requirement that an applicant be employed in a
33 position in such within a class and for such a length of time,
34 as the director shall specify, subject to the rules.
35(2) Public notice of the time, place, and general scope
36 of every test shall be given. The director, with the approval
37 of the board, shall determine the qualifications for admission
38 to any test. Admission to tests shall be open to all persons
39 individuals who appear to possess the required qualifications
40 and may be lawfully appointed to a position in the class for
41 which a list is to be established, and no. No fee shall may be
42 charged therefor for admission to a test. The director may,
43 however, reject the application of any person individual for
44 admission to a test or may, strike the name of any person
45 individual from a list, or refuse to certify the name of any
46 person individual on a list for a position if he or she finds
47 that such person lacks the individual:
48a. Lacks any of the required qualifications or is
49 physically unfit to perform effectively the duties of the
50 position in which he or she seeks employment;
51b. or is Is addicted to the habitual excessive use of
52 drugs or intoxicating liquor or has;
53c. Has been convicted of a crime involving moral
54 turpitude or is guilty of any notoriously disgraceful conduct
55 or;
56d. has Has been dismissed from the public service for
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57 delinquency; or
58e. has Has made a false statement of a material fact
59 or practiced or attempted to practice any fraud or deception
60 in his or her application or test or in attempting to secure
61 appointment.
62(b)(c)(1) All persons who have been honorably
63 discharged from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or
64 Coast Guard who have ever served in the armed forces of the
65 United States at any time A veteran, and the spouse of a
66 veteran, shall have five points added to any earned ratings in
67 examination for entrance to the classified service.
68(2) The spouse of an active duty service member shall
69 have five points added to any earned ratings.
70(3) All persons who have ever served in the armed
71 forces of the United States at any time who have been
72 honorably discharged and A veteran who established establishes
73 by official records of the United States the present existence
74 of that he or she has a service-connected disability and
75 because of the disability are is entitled to pension,
76 compensation, or disability allowance under existing laws and
77 widows of such persons who shall have died in line of duty
78 during any such period and widows of such persons who shall
79 have been honorably discharged from the Army, Navy, Air Force,
80 Marine Corps or Coast Guard and wives of such persons who
81 shall have been honorably discharged from the Army, Navy, Air
82 Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard who, because of
83 service-connected disability are not themselves qualified but
84 whose wives are qualified,, and the spouse of such a veteran,
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85 shall have 10 points added to any earned ratings.
86(4) The surviving spouse of an active duty service
87 member who died in the line of duty shall have 10 points added
88 to any earned ratings.
89(d)(1) In entering upon registers the names of
90 preference claimants name of an individual entitled to five
91 additional points, they will the individual shall take the
92 place to which their ratings entitle them his or her rating
93 entitles him or her on the register with nonveterans (, the
94 earned ratings augmented by the five points to which they are
95 he or she is entitled), and will shall be certified when their
96 ratings are his or her rating is reached.
97(2) The name of a veteran an individual with military
98 preference with the an augmented rating is shall be entered
99 ahead of the name of a nonveteran an individual without
100 military preference when their ratings are the same.
101(3) The names of persons name of an individual entitled
102 to a 10-point preference, however, will shall be placed ahead
103 of all others on the a register with the same rating (ahead of
104 veterans, including individuals entitled to a five-point
105 preference and nonveterans), individuals without military
106 preference, and shall be then be certified in the order of
107 their augmented ratings.
108(e) An appointing officer who passes over a an eligible
109 veteran eligible and selects a nonveteran with the same or
110 lower rating shall file with the director the reasons for so
111 doing, which reasons will which shall become a part of the
112 veteran's record but will may not be made available to anyone
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113 other than the veteran himself, except in the discretion of
114 the appointing officer.
115(f) When reductions are being made in any part of the
116 classified service, persons individuals entitled to military
117 preference in appointment shall be the last to be discharged
118 or, dropped, or reduced in rank or salary if their record is
119 good or if their efficiency rating is equal to that of any
120 employee in competition with them who is retained in the
121 service in their department.
122(c)(g) The board shall, in establishing and
123 administering standards of personnel qualifications, pay
124 plans, and tests both for current and future personnel now in
125 place as well as that later employed, shall cooperate with and
126 avail itself fully of the advice and assistance of the
127 appointing authorities involved and of the federal government
128 in those departments administered in whole or in part with
129 federal funds."
130Section 2. (a) For purposes of this section, the
131 following terms have the following meanings:
132(1) ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE MEMBER. An individual that is
133 on active duty as a member of the National Guard or a reserve
134 or active component of the Armed Forces of the United States.
135(2) ELIGIBLE VETERAN. An individual who has ever served
136 in the National Guard or a reserve or active component of the
137 Armed Forces of the United States and been honorably
138 discharged.
139(b) A county, municipality, or other political
140 subdivision of the state may grant a preference in hiring and
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141 promotion to any of the following individuals:
142(1) An eligible veteran;
143(2) The spouse of an eligible veteran;
144(3) The spouse of an active duty service member; and
145(4) The surviving spouse of a deceased eligible
146 veteran.
147(c) A political subdivision that grants preference in
148 hiring or promotion pursuant to subsection (b) may adopt an
149 ordinance providing for the implementation of the preference.
150Section 3. (a) For purposes of this section, the
151 following terms have the following meanings:
152(1) ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE MEMBER. An individual that is
153 on active duty as a member of the National Guard or a reserve
154 or active component of the Armed Forces of the United States.
155(2) PRIVATE EMPLOYER. A sole proprietorship,
156 corporation, partnership, association, limited liability
157 corporation, or any other entity with one or more employees.
158(3) VETERAN. An individual who has ever served in the
159 National Guard or a reserve or active component of the Armed
160 Forces of the United States and been honorably discharged.
161(b) A private employer may adopt a voluntary veterans'
162 preference employment policy. Such a policy shall be in
163 writing and applied uniformly to the hiring and promotion
164 decisions of the employer.
165(c) A private employer may offer a voluntary veterans'
166 preference employment policy to all of the following:
167(1) A veteran who submits to the employer a copy of the
168 veteran's Department of Defense Form 214 or its successor form
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169 or record.
170(2) The spouse of a veteran who submits to the
171 employer:
172a. A copy of the veteran's Department of Defense Form
173 214 or its successor form or record; and
174b. Proof of marriage to the veteran.
175(3)a. A spouse of an active duty service member who
176 submits to the employer proof of the service member's active
177 status and proof of marriage to the service member.
178b. Preference provided to a spouse of an active duty
179 service member is limited to the time during which the service
180 member remains on active duty and up to 180 days after the
181 service member's discharge or separation from service.
182(d)(1) A private employer that implements a voluntary
183 veterans' preference employment policy shall notify the
184 Alabama Department of Workforce of the policy. The department
185 shall use the information to maintain a registry of the
186 private employers that have a voluntary veterans' preference
187 employment policy in the state, and shall make the registry
188 available on the department's website.
189(2) The department shall establish and maintain a page
190 on the department's website through which this information may
191 be submitted to the department.
192(e) A voluntary veterans' preference employment policy
193 shall not be considered a violation of any state or local law.
194Section 4. This act shall become effective on January
195 1, 2027.
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204________________________________________________
205Speaker of the House of Representatives
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209________________________________________________
210President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
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213House of Representatives
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215I hereby certify that the within Act originated in and
216 was passed by the House 03-Mar-26.
217
218John Treadwell
219Clerk
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225 Senate  09-Apr-26  Passed
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