Alabama lawmakers will soon consider whether to join a national reform effort by repealing large sections of existing state laws that place restrictions on how convicted felons can find jobs.

The measure, sponsored by Senator Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, would remove 783 sections of the Alabama code which restrict jobs that people, who have served time in prison, can get.

“You have 783 different spots in our code which put barriers in place for people to get a job if they have been to prison, regardless of the reason,” said Ward, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “You cannot get a license and it’s stupid stuff. There is a place in there that if you ever served in prison for a felony, whatsoever, you cannot get a license in interior design. And, if you’ve been to prison whatsoever, you cannot be a utility line worker or a certain kind of hair dresser.”

Ward said he wants to expedite the licensing process, and eliminate the barriers for convicted felons to re-enter the workforce while reducing recidivism. He said he’s unsure how many convicted felons in Alabama would be affected.

The measure would not require a constitutional amendment, which can only be approved through a ballot initiative.

“It’s statutory,” Ward said. “What you don’t want to do is repeal all 738 spots. If you do that, it creates a huge mess. What you would do is that if you fall into one of those licensures, the process will be expedited in a way that you can get your license and the prohibition will no longer be there.”

Ward said his proposed legislation will be pre-filed after the new Legislature arrives to Montgomery for the first time on January 8. The spring legislative session doesn’t begin until March.

Collateral consequences

The measure has been in the works for about a year, Ward said, as part of a national effort by the non-partisan, Chicago-based Uniform Law Commission. The group’s mission is to look for areas in state laws throughout the country and determine what can be streamlined and uniformed into similar pieces of legislation.

The commission’s work in 2018 has focused on licensing reform and the removal of so-called collateral consequences from state laws.

In Alabama, some of these 700-plus consequences represent prohibitions of convicted felons from doing the following, according to the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction website:

Operating a billiard room

Operating an adult business

Purchasing and operating a recreational vehicle dealership

Purchasing a beer wholesale business

Working as a licensed physical therapist

Ineligible to host mixed-martial arts events

Working as a licensed as a private investigator

Selling vacation time-shares

In addition, convicted felons are prohibited from brewing beer, mead, table wine or cider for personal use. Also, they can be prevented from certification as an interior designer.

“You are seeing these artificial barriers and they are just preventing people from a job,” said Ward.

Ward said there are some barriers that need to be in place, saying that convicted sex offenders should be not be given a chance to operate a child care center or that someone convicted of a financial crime should not receive a license to operate a financial institution.

“That’s a no-brainer,” he said.

He said the specifics of the measure still need to be worked out. That includes specifying which agency will be charged with overseeing licensing requests.

Ward also said there would be no reason for a budget increase to pay for it.

“We are looking at it in the judicial branch,” said Ward. “It would be an expedited hearing, so we don’t think it would require a lot of work and it’s best to fit in the judicial. It won’t be a full court hearing, but would be a quick review.”

Justice reform

Alabama, if it takes up the measure, would join an increasing number of states looking to eliminate hundreds of provisions existing within their state codes prohibiting convicted felons from applying for various licenses or competing for various jobs.

In Minnesota, lawmakers approved a new law earlier this year that required the state to publish all collateral consequences – there were at least 150 of them – and enable people to know of their existence and that convicted felons can apply for a variety of occupational licenses.

Minnesota also set up a committee to look into the issue, similar to what the Alabama Law Institute (ALI) has had in place for two years. The ALI committee is drafting the legislation which Ward will sponsor, and is in charge of notifying various organizations about the proposed bill.

Civil rights groups appear supportive of the concept ahead of a legislative session in Montgomery that is expected to include a number of criminal justice reform measures. Some of the higher-profile issues will include civil asset forfeiture reform, curbs on racial profiling by police, and marijuana legalization.

There is no indication whether Ward’s bill will be weaved into an overriding criminal justice package. Massachusetts, for instance, included a new licensing law as part of a more general criminal justice reform bill.

“Collateral consequences are penalties an individual faces in addition to any court-imposed punishment,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of the Montgomery-based Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. “Alabama has hundreds of these counterproductive barriers, including arbitrary limitations on employment opportunities. When an individual with a criminal history has a job, they will contribute more to the tax based, purchase more goods and are less likely to committee a new crime, thus reducing the amount of money that state and local governments must spend on their criminal justice systems.”

He called the measure a possible “win-win” in that it provides convicted felons who have served out their punishments a “fair chance at a fresh start” while bolstering state and local economies.

Shay Farley, senior policy counsel at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, said her organization welcomes attempts by Alabama lawmakers in lowering the barriers for people to find jobs.

“About 95 percent of those in prison will ultimately leave, and right now the state of Alabama and the federal government put roadblocks up to obtaining everything from housing to employment to public assistance,” said Farley. “Those roadblocks should be torn down, and this bill, by making more jobs available to the formerly incarcerated to obtain, is an excellent start.”