Taking on crime and immigration, supporting veterans, tax relief, and more on Speaker Ledbetter's 2025 legislative agenda

As lawmakers return to Montgomery tomorrow to begin the third year of the quadrennium, Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter says there’s a wide range of problems to solve and opportunities to capitalize on during the course of the 2025 legislative session.

Among those priorities include addressing violent crime in Alabama’s largest cities and upgrading state laws to complement a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration from the federal level.

Ledbetter says both of these topics will be the subject of multi-bill, multi-chamber legislative packages.

Immigration

Several members of his chamber, including State Rep. Ben Robbins (R-Sylacauga), are bringing immigration bills in concert with several members of the Senate, spearheaded by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine).

“I think it’s a combination of what it’s going to take to improve immigration status across the state of Alabama,” Ledbetter told Yellowhammer News. “With the open border that the Biden administration had – we have become a border state – and just about every state in the country has.”

“I think everybody’s really excited about Trump and how he’s hit the ground running, shut the border down and stopped the illegals from coming in. But we still gotta do our due diligence here and make sure that we protect the citizens of Alabama.”

Lawmakers working on the issue report the bills are still being drafted. They are expected to deal with laws ranging from stronger regulations on driver’s licenses and legal identification, stronger penalties against those who forge documents, additional fees on international wire transfers, and closer scrutiny on immigrant workers who attempt to utilize public benefits.

Crime

“We’ll have a package of about nine bills. We’ve been working on them for several months. Certainly, [State Rep. Allen Treadway] and [State Rep. Reed Ingram] has been engaged, as well as Sheriff Cunningham and Hoss Mack, the Sheriffs Association, the League of Municipalities, County Commission Association – we’ve had all the different people at the table,” Ledbetter said.

“Of course, [ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor] has done an excellent, excellent job. Hal started that task force for us there in Montgomery. And the numbers speak for themselves, with over 1,900 stops, and then in those stops, they captured 35 stolen cars, over 400 drug stops made. They’ve done a tremendous job.”

Ledbetter indicated Governor Ivey’s office is also involved in the package of crime bills and will outline the issues and policy solutions in her State of the State address on Tuesday night. He also thanked State Rep. Treadaway for his leadership on the issue along with State Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road).

“Once we roll out the package, it’s going to be impactful to the people across the state. You know one thing: police officers in the last few years have been vilified. What we want to do is we want to make sure that people across this state, across the country know that Alabama backs the men and women in blue.”

Speaker Ledbetter said his intended timeline will reach the governor’s desk before the first legislative spring break, which begins the week of March 16.

Among those pieces of legislation is expected to include a bill passed previously by the House, which would allow local and state prosecutors to enhance the penalties and streamline the prosecution against those in possession of a federally-illegal gun modification part, known as a Glock switch or auto sear.

“We passed that last year in the house and it’s been such an outpour from public safety, because it’s so dangerous … I think that’s something that the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sheriffs Association, and ALEA really want because of the dangerous aspect of it.”

Although yet to be filed, Ledbetter said that bill is being sponsored and driven from the Senate.

Overtime tax cut sunset

With the state tax cut on overtime work passed in 2023 lurching toward a June 2025 sunset, Ledbetter said the estimates presented to lawmakers were so inaccurate, the difference between $34 million and over $200 million – “you gotta take a second look at that,” Ledbetter said.

“We’ve got a lot of things going on we’ve got to make sure we’re able to fund but I do believe it may allow us to give a broader tax break to the citizens. So that’s something we’re certainly looking at.”

Ledbetter said whatever form of alternative relief lawmakers work toward will have the ultimate goal of putting money back into the pockets of Alabamians.

Veterans

Ledbetter said the accomplishments made by the House Veterans Affairs committee, and across the legislature, on the subject of mental health for veterans has been commendable – but much more will soon be done.

“You know, if you look at what we’ve done in the last five years, we’ve increased mental health over $400 million – putting in crisis care centers, we got seven of those brick and mortars, 15 mobile units, put a mental health coordinator at every school district, stepping up programs of peer-to-peer programs – and we’ll continue to try to put pieces in the puzzle,” Ledbetter said.

“Everybody has worked so well together on this.”

In 2024, lawmakers passed 10 pro-military bills addressing several policy areas to further solidify Alabama’s status as one of the most military and veteran friendly states in the country. Ledbetter highlighted future investment from the private sector into the ongoing and expanded work on behalf of veterans, thanks in part to the buy-in from the public and the legislature.

Gambling

“I’ve been pretty clear. I think if anything comes – it’ll have to come from the Senate,” Ledbetter said.

“I think it’s got to be close to what the conference committee reported out. There’s gotta be most of what [State Rep. Andy Whitt] and [State Rep. Chris Blackshear], [State Sen. Greg Albritton], [State Sen. Randy Price] – it’s gotta be one of those two.”

“And without question, I think people are smart enough to vote yes or no – they know what they want to do. So, we’ll see how that goes.”

Before the 2024 session, Ledbetter and members of the House gaming task force identified the risks posed by illegal gambling operations across the state and made enforcement against them a central element of the legislation. Ledbetter said that must emerge as a focus of any future proposals – as well as clarity on what defines legal and illegal operations.

“First of all, you’ve got to make sure what is legal and what’s not legal. I think that’s up in the air, depending on who you talk to and how the conversation goes. The [Alabama] Supreme Court says they’re all illegal. There’s already 10 in the state. And that was the thing, I think the misperception, it kind of got the conversation strayed, because you had some money from out-of-state entities that was trying to stop it. And then you had illegal operations within the state that was trying to stop it,” Ledbetter said. “I do think it got misconstrued.”

Education

Education remains a top priority for Ledbetter, Governor Ivey, and legislative leaders. With a growing emphasis on improving teacher retention and funding mechanisms, lawmakers are exploring new strategies to strengthen the state’s education system.

“We had an issue earlier on, as you might remember, when we couldn’t get enough math and science teachers,” Ledbetter said. “We started the TEAMS Act, which has certainly helped fill those roles. And I think the way we changed our funding has allowed us to keep teachers that would’ve retired. So those things have been positive.”

Looking ahead, lawmakers are considering adjustments to the Alabama Foundation Program, the primary method of distributing education dollars to school districts. House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) and Senate Finance and Taxation Education Chairman Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) have already begun discussions on transitioning to a more weighted funding model, which could allocate additional resources to schools based on student needs.

“I really believe once everybody gets used to that, they’ll like it,” Ledbetter said. “It gives more flexibility to the local school systems, and will allow us to be able to put money in areas, if it’s ESL or if it’s in poverty-stricken areas. It certainly gives us opportunity to fund those areas better. So I think that’s going to be one of those steps. If you talk about doubling down and work that they’ve already done with their committees on the doing the budget process.”

Ledbetter praised Ivey’s leadership in raising teacher pay and boosting recruitment efforts, noting the tangible impact of these policies.

“We put that bill through last year, making Alabama’s teachers the highest starting salary in the Southeast. And it matters—it really matters,” he said. “We’re already seeing more young people considering education as a career, reversing the teacher shortage we faced before.”

With Governor Ivey expected to outline further education initiatives in her upcoming State of the State address, Ledbetter remains optimistic about continued progress in the sector.

“She said she wanted to move the numbers up, and she has. I applaud her for the work she’s done, and we’ll continue working together to make sure our students and teachers have the resources they need to succeed.”

New leadership

A rare dynamic going into the 2025 session for Speaker Ledbetter will be his new colleague in legislative leadership, incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman). Despite the change, now over halfway through the quadrennium, Ledbetter says the element of respect and reciprocity across chambers will stay the same.

“We’ve got a good working relationship already, and I believe he’s going to do a great job. I really do,” Ledbetter said of Gudger.

“I think he’s somebody that you can sit down and have a conversation with. We’ve already had a number of those, as you can imagine. But we’ve agreed that if we have a disagreement, it’s going to be behind closed doors, and that’s the way it always was for Greg [Reed]. You’ll never hear me say anything negative about the Pro Tem, and I feel like he’d be the same way.”

Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.