The Alabama Policy Institute on Monday declared the 2026 regular session its most productive on record.

In a news release, API President and CEO Stephanie Smith announced that 29 of the 30 proposals in its 2026 BluePrint for Alabama were enacted into law.

Smith hailed the outcome as a near sweep of the annual legislative agenda put forward by Alabama’s top conservative think tank and the capstone to “a record-breaking 56 conservative victories in the past three years.”

By API’s own prior accounting, 17 BluePrint items were successful in each of the 2024 and 2025 sessions, making the 2026 tally an impressive leap.

“This session, we moved the needle significantly,” Smith said. “The legislative body embraced our BluePrint ideas to provide full funding for education freedom, increase fiscal and ideological accountability in higher education, and return the Ten Commandments, prayer, and patriotism to public schools.”

Released each year ahead of the session, the BluePrint is organized under API’s three pillars, Free Markets, Limited Government, and Strong Families, and functions as both a conservative policy agenda and a scorecard against which lawmakers are ultimately measured.

The 2026 edition ran 30 items deep.

The wins

CHOOSE Act and AHSAA reform. Topping the BluePrint at Issue #1, full funding for Alabama’s universal school choice program cleared the Legislature, along with a statutory fix clarifying that Education Savings Accounts cannot be treated as athletic-eligibility-disqualifying “financial aid” by the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

This came as a direct response to the AHSAA’s attempt last fall to sideline CHOOSE Act families, which prompted Governor Kay Ivey and Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter to sue the association and secure a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the rule.

API’s BluePrint Issue #18 had called for broader AHSAA governance reform, including legislative appointments to the Central Board and elimination of the 1.5 private-school enrollment multiplier.

REINS-style regulatory reform and an end to judicial deference. Lawmakers adopted a version of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) framework API has pushed for years, requiring legislative sign-off on major agency rules and tightening oversight of federal grant acceptance.

Separately, the Legislature codified the end of judicial deference to state agencies’ interpretations of statutes they enforce — an idea previously carried as SB248 by State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) in 2025, and one API argues realigns state courts with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 rejection of Chevron deference.

Tax relief. The session delivered targeted cuts API had championed under BluePrint Issue #8, paired with a commitment to rein in future spending growth (Issue #9).

App Store Accountability Act. Alabama became a national leader on Big Tech accountability, enacting parental-consent requirements for app store downloads by minors — a core piece of API’s “Strengthen Internet Protections for Alabama’s Children” plank.

Religious Release Time Act. The Legislature established a statewide framework for off-campus religious instruction during the school day, fulfilling BluePrint Issue #27.

Ten Commandments and civics. Measures to promote the Ten Commandments in K-12 classrooms and improve civics instruction — BluePrint Issues #26 and #22 — also reached the governor’s desk.

Who got the credit

API singled out Governor Kay Ivey, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville), and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) for steering a conservative agenda through the process this session.

API also named specific legislative workhorses:

• State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine), and State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) for regulatory reform, government efficiency, and fiscal transparency;
• State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) and State Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur) for education freedom, higher education reform, and targeted budgeting;
• State Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville), State Sen. Keith Kelley (R-Anniston), State Rep. Mark Gidley (R-Hokes Bluff), and State Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) for the family values and religious liberty package;
• State Sen. Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook) and State Rep. Jim Carns (R-Vestavia Hills) for tax relief and pro-growth measures.

“We have proven that bold ideas lead to bold results,” Smith concluded, signaling more priorities on the horizon in the next quadrennium.