Pardons and Paroles Board; increase members on board; further provide for selection of chair; parole consideration guidelines after denial of parole established
SB324 revises Alabama law governing the Board of Pardons and Paroles. It expands the board from three members to five, requires the membership to reflect the state’s racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic diversity, and increases the number of law-enforcement-qualified members from one to two. The bill also changes the appointment process for vacancies, requiring the Governor to appoint from a list of five nominees submitted by a nominating committee made up of the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, with Senate confirmation procedures and deadlines spelled out in more detail.
The bill also changes how the board selects its chair. Instead of the Governor designating the chair, the board itself must choose a chair from among its members by December 1 of each even-numbered year, with the chair beginning service on January 1. It also updates quorum requirements from two members to three, while leaving other basic board rules in place, including compensation, oath, impeachment, and vacancy procedures.
SB324 amends Sections 15-22-20 and 15-22-37 of the Code of Alabama 1975 and would materially change the structure and operation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. It requires the Governor to appoint two additional board members by January 1, 2026, and makes the act effective October 1, 2025. The bill also adds rulemaking mandates for the board, including limited supervision programs based on validated risk and needs assessments, recidivism-reduction referrals, reward-and-sanction systems, discharge review procedures, and specific future parole reconsideration timelines after a denial. It further requires public posting of the board’s existing rules and policies on its website and applies portions of the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act to the board’s rulemaking, with exceptions for supervision-related policies.
The bill appears to have generally favorable support in the Senate, where it passed third reading by a 16-8 vote after being amended. The available voting history suggests the measure advanced with a clear majority, though not unanimously, indicating meaningful support for reforming the parole board while still drawing some opposition. No committee transcript is available, so the record does not show detailed debate, but the final vote pattern suggests the bill was viewed as a significant administrative and parole-policy reform rather than a routine technical change.
The main points of contention likely center on the expansion of the board, the shift in chair selection from the Governor to the board itself, and the more prescriptive parole reconsideration timelines. Critics may object to increasing the size of the board, changing the balance of appointment power, or limiting how long the board can wait before reconsidering parole for certain inmates. Supporters are likely focused on improving board capacity, adding diversity and law-enforcement experience, increasing transparency, and creating more structured parole review and supervision practices that emphasize risk assessment, recidivism reduction, and prison-space management.