This act adds Section 16-23-3.2 to the Code of Alabama 1975, to: (1) require the State Board of Education to establish an expedited certification process for qualified out-of-state teachers to teach career and technical education (CTE) courses in the state; (2) establish requirements to be issued an expedited CTE teaching certificate from the State Superintendent, including possessing a valid teaching certificate, being recommended by a local superintendent, and passing a criminal background check; (3) authorize local boards of education to provide incentives for these teachers; and (4) require the State Superintendent to annually report on certificates issued pursuant to this act to the Governor and Legislature.

This act is the Talent Readiness and Industry Needs (TRAIN) Act. This act: (1) establishes state income and financial institution excise tax credits, beginning January 1, 2027, and ending December 31, 2031, for employers that loan qualified career technical education (CTE) employees to teach at eligible educational institutions, equal to an employee's salary payments or donations to community development foundations that support a CTE program or an instructor's salary; (2) sets an aggregate $10 million annual limit on statewide credits, limits donation credits to $4 million annually, and limits individual taxpayer credits to $250,000 annually or not more than 50 percent of tax liability; (3) conditions employers receiving a tax credit on satisfying certain criteria, including employers and eligible educational institutions entering into memorandums of understanding containing specified terms and employers receiving a TRAIN Act credit reservation certificate from the Department of Education; (4) authorizes the Departments of Education, Revenue, and Workforce to adopt rules to administer and enforce this act; (5) requires the Department of Education to annually report to the Legislature information on this tax credit; and (6) establishes and provides a process to obtain a workforce teaching certificate from the Department of Education authorizing employees to teach designated career and technical education programs at eligible educational institutions.

This act: (1) authorizes the rounding of in-person, cash transactions to the nearest five cents, except payment to state or local governmental entities; (2) provides that rounding a transaction does not affect the sale price or sales tax collected; and (3) authorizes rounding to be applied to the amount of the transaction or the amount of change tendered to customers.