Alabama Constitution: Rights, Government, and Amendments

The Alabama Constitution is the supreme law of the State of Alabama, setting out the rights of individuals, the structure and powers of state government, the rules for taxation and public debt, and the process for amending the document itself. The version in force today is the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, which voters ratified on November 8, 2022, to replace a 1901 constitution that had grown into one of the longest governing documents in the United States.¹

What Changed in 2022

The 1901 constitution had collected close to 1,000 amendments across more than a century, many of them applying to a single county or a narrow local issue. It was disorganized, repetitive, and still carried racist language that had long been unenforceable. In 2020, Alabama voters approved Amendment 951, which authorized a committee to recompile the document.¹

The recompilation was deliberately limited. The committee could group similar subjects together, remove racist language, delete repealed or duplicated provisions, consolidate economic development provisions, and arrange local amendments by county. No substantive legal powers were added or taken away. One notable deletion was Article XIV, Section 256 of the 1901 document, which had mandated separate schools for white and Black children.² The practical point for anyone reading the constitution today: the 2022 version is a cleaner organization of existing law, not a new set of rules.

Rights Guaranteed Under Article I

Article I of the constitution is the Declaration of Rights. Many of its protections overlap with the federal Bill of Rights, but Alabama courts can enforce them independently under state law. That matters when a federal court reads a right narrowly; the state version can still provide broader protection.

Religion, Speech, and Press

Section 3 bars the state from establishing any religion or giving preference to any religious group. It prohibits religious tests for public office and prevents the government from forcing anyone to attend or financially support a place of worship.³ Section 4 protects free speech and a free press, allowing any person to speak, write, and publish on any subject while remaining responsible for any abuse of that freedom.

Criminal Defendants

Section 6 covers the rights of anyone facing criminal charges. A defendant has the right to be heard in person or through an attorney, to be told the nature of the accusation, to confront witnesses, to compel favorable witnesses to appear, and to testify. Anyone charged by indictment is entitled to a speedy, public trial before an impartial jury in the county where the offense occurred. Section 6 also prohibits compelled self-incrimination and bars the government from depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.⁴

Firearms

Section 26 guarantees every citizen the right to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state.⁵ The provision is written as a straightforward individual right, without the federal Second Amendment’s reference to a well-regulated militia. Alabama courts have evaluated state firearms regulations in light of that wording.

How Alabama Government Is Structured

Section 42 divides state power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and expressly prohibits any one branch from exercising the power of another, so that Alabama operates as “a government of laws and not of individuals.”⁶

Legislature and Governor

Article IV creates the state legislature: a 35-member Senate and a 105-member House of Representatives. The legislature has the power to tax, spend, and make laws. Article V places the Governor at the head of the executive branch. Other executive officers with their own constitutional roles include the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State.

When both chambers pass a bill, the Governor has six days (excluding Sundays) to sign it, veto it, or let it become law without a signature. The legislature can override a veto by a majority of all elected members in each chamber, a lower bar than the two-thirds required in Congress. If the legislature adjourns before the Governor acts, the bill dies, which is Alabama’s version of a pocket veto.⁷

Courts

Article VI establishes the court system, from the Supreme Court of Alabama down through the courts of appeals, circuit courts, and district courts. All Alabama judges, including Supreme Court justices, are elected in partisan elections to six-year terms with no term limits. When a seat opens mid-term, the Governor appoints a replacement. An appointed judge, other than a probate judge, serves until the next general election occurring at least one year after the appointment, at which point the seat goes before voters for a full six-year term.⁸

Impeachment

Article VII gives the House of Representatives the power to bring impeachment charges and the Senate the role of trial court. A two-thirds vote of senators present is required for conviction. The Lieutenant Governor presides over impeachment trials; the Chief Justice presides if the Governor or Lieutenant Governor is the one on trial.

Officers not covered by the constitutional impeachment process, including circuit judges, district attorneys, sheriffs, and county officials, can be removed under Alabama Code Section 36-11-1. The grounds include willful neglect of duty, corruption, incompetency, substance abuse serious enough to interfere with the job, and any offense involving moral turpitude committed in office.⁹

How the Constitution Is Amended

Changing the Alabama Constitution requires both legislative action and a vote of the people. The process depends on whether the amendment is statewide or local.

Statewide Amendments

A proposed statewide amendment must be read on three separate days in each chamber and approved by a three-fifths vote of all elected members in each house. It then goes on either the next general election ballot or a special election set at least three months after the legislative session ends. The Governor publicizes the proposed amendment for at least eight consecutive weeks before the vote. If a majority of voters casting ballots on the question approve, the amendment becomes part of the constitution.¹⁰

Local Amendments

Amendments that affect only one county, or a political subdivision within a county, follow a separate track. The legislature decides whether the amendment is truly local in scope. If it is, approval comes from qualified voters in the affected area rather than a statewide vote. Notice runs once a week for four consecutive weeks in newspapers within that county.¹¹ This local-only process exists because a large share of Alabama’s constitutional amendments have historically dealt with single-county matters rather than statewide policy.

Who Can Vote

To register in Alabama, a person must be a United States citizen, live in Alabama, and be at least 18 years old on or before election day. People who have been declared mentally incompetent by a court cannot register. A felony conviction disqualifies a person from voting only if the offense involves what Alabama law calls “moral turpitude.”¹²

The moral turpitude list, updated under Alabama Legislative Act 2024-341, includes roughly 50 specific crimes ranging from murder and rape to drug trafficking and bigamy.¹³ Felony convictions for crimes not on that list do not trigger a voting ban. Alabama also has a process for restoring voting rights after a sentence is completed, with specifics that depend on the offense.

Why Local Governments Have Limited Power

Alabama follows Dillon’s Rule. Counties and cities have only the powers the legislature or constitution specifically gives them. In states that allow broad “home rule,” local governments manage much of their own business. In Alabama, counties and municipalities typically need explicit permission from the state legislature to adjust a local tax, regulate land use, or set up a new public program.

Counties are the most constrained. They function as administrative arms of the state. Creating local ordinances, choosing which services to provide, or raising revenue all require legislative or constitutional authorization. Cities have somewhat more room, including authority to levy property taxes, adopt zoning regulations, and operate utilities. The legislature can still limit or reverse what cities do.

Amendment 909, ratified in 2022, gave counties the option to exercise a narrow set of five authorities on their own, including personnel matters, litter and animal control programs, and emergency services such as ambulance operations. Even with that expansion, counties still cannot levy taxes, assess fees, or adopt zoning rules without separate authorization. The constitution also caps municipal debt at 20 percent of the total assessed value of property within the city and bars local governments from lending public money to private individuals or corporations.¹⁴

Taxes, Education Funding, and Debt Limits

The constitution requires the legislature to establish and maintain a system of public schools. Most of the money flows through the Education Trust Fund, the state’s largest operating fund. Twelve tax sources feed the ETF, with the largest contributions from individual and corporate income taxes, sales tax, utility tax, and use tax. The fund supports K-12 schools, two- and four-year colleges, public libraries, scholarship programs, and fine arts initiatives.¹⁵

Property Tax Classes

Alabama’s property tax system is built around four constitutional classes, each assessed at a different percentage of market value:

Class I, utility property, is assessed at 30 percent of market value.
Class II, all other property not fitting the remaining categories, is assessed at 20 percent.
Class III, residential, agricultural, and forest land, is assessed at 10 percent.
Class IV, privately owned passenger cars and pickup trucks, is assessed at 15 percent.¹⁶

Because of the low assessment ratios, Alabama consistently has some of the lowest property tax burdens in the country. A home worth $200,000 is assessed on only $20,000 of that value before millage rates apply.

State and Local Debt

The constitution sharply limits state borrowing. Section 213 prohibits any new state debt except to repel an invasion or suppress an insurrection, and even then only with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The Governor may authorize temporary loans to cover treasury shortfalls, but those loans are capped at $300,000, and no new borrowing is permitted until the existing loan is repaid.¹⁷ Section 94 separately prevents the legislature from authorizing any county, city, or other subdivision to lend public money to private individuals or corporations or to acquire stock in any company.¹⁴ These restrictions have been part of the state’s governing document since the 19th century.

1
Alabama Secretary of State. Ballot Statement for the Constitution of Alabama of 2022
2
Ballotpedia. Alabama Recompiled Constitution Ratification Question (2022)
3
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 3 – Religious Freedom
4
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 6 – Rights of Persons in Criminal Prosecutions Generally
5
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 26 – Right to Bear Arms
6
Alabama Legislature. Constitution of Alabama 2022 – Section 42
7
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 125 – Presentation of Bills to Governor
8
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 17-14-6 – Judges and Clerks; Vacancies
9
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 36-11-1 – Persons Subject to Impeachment and Removal from Office
10
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 284 – Amendments
11
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Constitution Section 284.01 – Proposed Constitutional Amendments Affecting Only One County
12
Alabama Secretary of State. Alabama 2026 Voter Guide
13
Alabama Secretary of State. Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude
14
Alabama Legislature. Constitution of Alabama 2022 – Section 94
15
Executive Budget Office. Education Trust Fund – Description
16
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 40-8-1 – Classification of Property; Assessment Rate
17
Justia Law. Alabama Constitution Section 213 – State Debt