2026-09-10 · Alabama · Legislation

If someone tells you they have seen a prefiled 2027 Alabama HOA or condominium bill, they are mistaken. Not because none has been drafted — because the Senate's own rules make prefiling impossible until January 12, 2027.

This is a small procedural point with a large practical consequence, and it is worth stating plainly because the alternative is readers acting on bills that cannot yet exist.

The rule

Alabama Senate Rule 36 governs prefiling. It permits members to deliver bills to the Secretary of the Senate “[d]uring the period between the end of the Regular Session and the convening of the next Regular Session, or, in the first year of a quadrennium, between the Organizational Session and the Regular Session” — and then adds the proviso that closes the door:

“provided, however, that no bill shall be pre-filed under this rule after the commencement of the last Regular Session of the Legislature in any quadrennium and before the Organizational Session following the general election.”

2026 was the last Regular Session of this quadrennium. It convened January 13, 2026. So prefiling has been barred since that date and stays barred until the Organizational Session convenes after the general election.

The dates

Alabama's convening rule is set out on the Legislature's own process page: regular annual sessions begin “on the first Tuesday in February for the first, second and third years of the quadrennium,” and “[i]n the last year of the four-year term, the session will begin on the second Tuesday in January.” Organizational sessions “begin on the second Tuesday in January following the election of members of the Legislature, and are limited to ten consecutive calendar days.”

• Organizational Session: Tuesday, January 12, 2027
• 2027 Regular Session: Tuesday, February 2, 2027

That leaves a prefiling window of roughly three weeks, from January 12 to February 2, 2027.

We independently checked the Legislature's own document store: 2026RS/HB1-int.pdf returns a live document, while the equivalent 2027 Regular Session and 2027 Organizational Session paths return 404. There are no 2027 instruments.

1. Alabama Senate Rules — Rule 36 (pre-filing of bills) ↩
2. The Legislative Process — session convening rules, Alabama Legislature ↩
3. HJR 291, 2024 Regular Session — creating the Alabama Coastal Commercial Insurance Joint Interim Study Commission ↩