Starting next year, students who take truck driving classes at Alabama community colleges and technical colleges will receive instruction on how to recognize, prevent, and report human trafficking.

The Legislature passed a bill in May requiring the training and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law. The bill was one of 10 recognized today during a ceremony at the State Capitol.

Rep. Merika Coleman, a Democrat from Jefferson County who sponsored the bill, said the legislation was initiated by the trucking industry to alert students, drivers and others that sex traffickers and labor traffickers operate in Alabama.

“This is something that they wanted to do so their truckers are armed with the other tools that they need in order to be able to identify traffic victims, but also to make sure that they don’t participate,” Coleman said. “We do know that those truck stops, in many situations across this country, is where those traffickers bring the victims in.”

Truckers Against Trafficking is a nonprofit organization that promotes awareness and intervention against trafficking. The organization’s message is that truck drivers, “as the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways,” are essential to the fight against trafficking.

The legislation made Alabama the ninth state to require Truckers Against Trafficking training for new holders of commercial driver’s licenses, according to a news release from the Alabama Trucking Association.

Coleman said law enforcement is doing a good job training officers how to identify trafficking.

“So, we wanted to provide the truckers with the same tools. If they see something, they’ll know how to report it,” Coleman said.

The victims of trafficking are often women and girls but also include young men, teenage boys and little boys, Coleman said.

“It’s a needed effort to make people more aware,” Ivey said this morning. “And like you say, if you see something, report it.”

Among the other legislation recognized during this morning’s ceremonial bill signing at the Capitol:

A bill to authorize the Alabama Department of Public Health to provide education and services regarding care for people with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or related diseases, and to authorize the department to receive funding and move the responsibility from the Department of Mental Health.

A bill to increase the statute of limitations for civil actions involving a sex offense.

A bill to provide magistrates, circuit court clerks, and district court clerks judicial immunity from any liability arising from the execution of their duties.

A bill to provide for the rights and responsibilities of people with disabilities regarding service animals in public housing.

A bill to require sheriffs and the Alabama Department of Corrections to provide personal hygiene products to female inmates.

A bill to prohibit denying or restricting a parent’s rights in custody cases, adoption cases, and foster care placements because of blindness.

A bill to increase fines, penalties and application fees charged by the Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects.

A bill to allow pharmacists and doctors to enter collaborative practice agreements.

A bill to require that pharmacy benefit managers allow pharmacies to disclose the prices of prescription drugs in certain cases and to require pharmacy benefit managers to register with the Alabama Department of Insurance.