Julie Bennett

In November, Alabama Republicans will complete their second consecutive four-year term in control of the Alabama Legislature.

On election day in November 2010, voters snapped 136 years of Democratic control of the State House and put the GOP in charge. Since then, Republicans have added a few more seats to their filibuster-proof supermajorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. That means Republicans can pass pretty much any legislation they want if they stick together.

Here are some of the major bills that have passed. Some had bipartisan support and some had Democratic sponsors.

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Brynn Anderson

Ethics reforms

Outgoing Gov. Bob Riley called a special session on ethics legislation in December 2010, seizing his only chance to work with a Republican-controlled Legislature. Lawmakers sent seven bills to Riley's desk, including some that reformers had wanted for years. One gave the Ethics Commission subpoena power. One tightened the law on what lobbyists and their employers could give to legislators. Another banned the practice of shuffling campaign contributions between political action committees, many of which existed only to hide the source of the money. And another prohibited legislators from working for a state agency, public school or college, which some called "double dipping." A committee is working on recommendations to revise the ethics law next year.

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Glenn Baeske

Immigration crackdown

During their first regular session in 2011, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed what was called the harshest law in the country on illegal immigration. House Bill 56 made presence in Alabama without documentation a crime under state law. It made it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to seek work and for a person to help an undocumented immigrant stay and work in the state. It made public schools check the immigration status of parents. Advocates said the goal was to make undocumented immigrants leave so they would not take jobs away from legal residents. Opponents said the law conflicted with Christian principles and violated federal law. Most of the key provisions were blocked by federal courts. The photo shows people protesting the immigration bill at Big Spring International Park in Huntsville in August 2011.

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AP Photo/The Kalamazoo Gazette, Mark Bugnaski

Stabilizing school spending

Public schools receive most of their state funding from income tax and sales tax. When the economy takes a sharp dip, revenues can fall below projections. For decades, downturns have forced mid-year budget cuts for Alabama schools, called proration. The Rolling Reserve Act, passed in 2011, placed an annual cap on education appropriations based on a 15-year history of revenues. Lawmakers can only appropriate up to the cap in the budget even if projected revenue is higher. The amount of revenue above the cap goes to a budget stabilization fund and a technology fund.

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Bob Gathany

Voter photo ID

The Legislature passed a bill in 2011 requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Republicans said it was needed to prevent voter fraud. Democrats denounced it as an effort to suppress votes, especially from low-income and elderly voters who did not drive. The law was in effect for the first time with the 2014 elections. Photo is outside Little Indian Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Monrovia in 2016.

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Julie Bennett

Closing participation in DROP

Lawmakers closed the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, known as DROP, to new participants with a bill passed in 2011. The Legislature had created DROP for the stated purpose of keeping experienced teachers and state employees on the job after they were eligible to draw a pension. Under DROP, they could keep working for up to five years and also begin to draw pension payments, which went to an interest-bearing account to be collected when they retired. Advocates for closing the program said it was too costly. Photo shows Sen. Del Marsh, right, who sponsored to bill to end DROP, speaking to Sen. Quinton Ross.

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Bob Gathany

Reporting campaign contributions

The Legislature passed a bill in 2011 to require candidates and political action committees to file their campaign finance reports electronically and required the secretary of state to put them in a searchable database for the public. The bill required donations of $20,000 or more to be reported within two days. In 2014, the Legislature repealed a $500 cap on corporate donations to candidates and authorized fines for candidates who don't report donations and expenditures on time.

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Mike Cason

Legislators' pay

In 2012, lawmakers and voters approved a constitutional amendment setting the salary of legislators at the median household income in the state, which for this year is about $46,000. The amendment replaced an archaic compensation plan that combined a daily salary with expense allowances. Legislators made about $56,000 under the old plan, not counting special sessions.

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Julie Bennett

Criminal justice reforms

The Legislature passed sentencing guidelines that judges are expected to follow unless there were special circumstances. The presumptive guidelines took effect in 2013. The intent was to preserve the state's scarce prison space for the worst offenders. In 2015, legislators passed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill that placed more emphasis on probation and parole and other programs outside of prison. Officials say the guidelines and reforms have caused a slow but steady drop in the prison population the last few years, although the number of inmates still far exceeds what prisons were designed to hold. The photo shows a dorm in Staton Correctional Facility in 2013.

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Julie Bennett

General Fund bailout

In 2012, the Legislature passed and voters approved a constitutional amendment to transfer $437 million over three years from the Alabama Trust Fund to the General Fund to balance the budget. Lawmakers relied on the transfers from 2013-2015 and have begun repaying the Alabama Trust Fund, which was created in the 1980s to preserve the state's payments for oil and gas drilling rights in state waters off the Gulf Coast.

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Saed Hindash/Lehigh Valley Live

Legalizing home brewing

In 2013, the Legislature passed a bill to make it legal to make beer and wine at home. Alabama was the last state to make home brewing legal. The laws allows those 21 and older to make up to 15 gallons of beer, wine, mead or cider every three months for personal use, except in dry counties.

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Mike Cason

Alabama Accountability Act

The Alabama Accountability Act, passed in 2013, was one of the most controversial bills of the last eight years. Republicans added a scholarship program and tax credit program for private school students to a bill on school policy at the last minute and jammed it through without a hearing and little debate. Critics said the bill was falsely sold as a way to help students in failing public schools. Proponents said it gave a new option for students who needed to change schools but whose parents could not afford private school. The Alabama Education Association sued to block the law but lost the case.

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Martin J. Reed

Carly's Law and Leni's Law

In 2014, the Legislature approved a bill authorizing a study at UAB on the treatment of severe seizure disorders with cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating substance taken from the marijuana plant. The bill was named Carly's Law after Carly Chandler, shown with her parents, Dustin and Amy Chandler, who led a powerful grassroots lobbying effort. Two years later, the Legislature passed Leni's Law, named after Leni Young, an Alabama child whose family moved to Oregon so she could legally receive treatment with cannabidiol. Leni had been turned down for the UAB study. Leni's Law allowed the use of cannabidiol in Alabama for certain conditions.

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Contributed

Authorizing charter schools

In 2015, the Legislature passed a bill to allow the establishment of charter schools, something most other states had already done. Charter schools are publicly funded but aren't bound by regulations on finance, personnel, scheduling and curriculum that apply to regular public schools. They operate in pursuit of specific goals spelled out in their charter and can be closed if they fail to meet them. Two charter schools have opened in Alabama so far. Acceleration Day and Evening Academy is in Mobile and University Charter School, shown above, is in Sumter County.

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Julie Bennett

Economic development incentives

In 2015, the Legislature overhauled Alabama's economic incentives laws used to recruit employers. The Alabama Jobs Act offers companies that meet certain qualifications cash rebates on their payroll and tax credits for capital investment. Special incentives apply to low-population counties and for hiring veterans. Advocates said the changes would make Alabama more competitive and stop its reliance on borrowing money for incentives. In the photo, Akio Toyoda, left, president of Toyota Motor Corporation and Masamichi Kogai, president and CEO of Mazda Motor Corporation, shake hands with Gov. Kay Ivey during a January 2018 announcement in Montgomery about a Toyota-Mazda automotive manufacturing plant coming to Huntsville.

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General Fund shortfalls

In 2015, Gov. Robert Bentley proposed a package of more than $500 million in tax increases that he said would provide a long-term fix for the persistently short General Fund. Lawmakers rejected the plan but did vote to raise the cigarette tax by 25 cents to 67.5 cents a pack. Lawmakers also changed the distribution of use taxes, which are sales taxes on products bought out of state, to send more to the General Fund and less to education.

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Bill Starling

BP oil spill settlement

In 2016, the Legislature turned to the $1 billion BP oil spill settlement to help the stagnant General Fund. The plan authorized a bond issue and dedicated BP's payments to the state to pay off the bonds. The bond proceeds were used to repay $400 million transferred from the Alabama Trust Fund to balance the budget, provide $120 million to Medicaid and provide $120 million to road projects in Baldwin and Mobile counties. Photo shows oil slopping up on the sand at an Alabama beach.

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Bloomberg/Jim Young

Taxing online sales

Federal court rulings and the absence of action by Congress have made it hard for states to collect sales taxes on items bought online. That's been a problem for state and local governments who are dependent on sales taxes, as online sales have cut deeply into traditional retail sales. In 2015, the Legislature passed the Simplified Sellers Use Tax, a voluntary program that allowed out-of-state online sellers to collect a flat 8 percent tax on sales to Alabama customers. The state collected $52 million from the tax in fiscal year 2017. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June bolstered states' ability to collect taxes on online sales. Boxes move along a conveyor belt at the Amazon.com fulfillment center in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 1, 2017.

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Mike Cason

Minimum wage

A bill passed in 2016 prohibited cities from setting their own minimum wages. It came after the Birmingham City Council voted to raise the minimum to $10.10 an hour in the city. The state law blocked Birmingham's effort and led to a federal lawsuit that is ongoing. Alabama does not have its own minimum wage, so employers follow the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, last raised in 2009. The photo shows a rally by workers opposing the state law outside the federal courthouse in Montgomery

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Serve Ligtenberg/AP

Adoptions by gay couples

In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill prohibiting the state from refusing to license or renew licenses for faith-based child placement agencies because of policies that align with their religious views, including not placing children with same-sex couples. Supporters said the purpose was to make sure that faith-based agencies are not at risk of being forced to close because of decisions based on their beliefs. Critics said it allowed discrimination against gay couples. The law does not apply to agencies that receive federal or state funds. The photo shows Dutch gay couple Jos and Jarko De Witte van Leeuwen who were planning to adopt a child from the United States.

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Gerald Herbert/AP

Confederate monuments

In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill to prohibit the removal of memorials, statues or monuments that have been in place 40 years or more. The legislation came in response to growing calls for removals of Confederate memorials. The law also prohibits renaming a street or building named after a historical figure for more than 40 years. Memorials 20 to 40 years old cannot be altered or renamed without approval of a newly created Committee on Alabama Monument Protection. Photo shows workers taking down the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in New Orleans.

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Dave Martin/AP

Death penalty sentences

Alabama was the last state to allow judges to impose a death sentence after a jury has recommended life without parole for a capital offense. In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill ending that practice. Juries now have the final say on whether to impose death or life without parole. Photo shows the death chamber at Holman prison in Atmore.

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Mike Cason

Child care center safety

State law requires child care centers in Alabama to be licensed and meet minimum standards, but centers that claim a church affiliation are exempt. This year, the Legislature passed a compromise bill to add new regulations for church-affiliated centers, including criminal background checks of employees. But it did not require all church-affiliated centers to be licensed or meet the minimum standards. Some advocates said it was an incremental improvement but that gaps in child safety protections remain. Incidents at some unlicensed centers, including the August 2017 death of a 5-year-old boy left in a van by a driver for an unlicensed center in Mobile, helped build support for the new requirements. The photo shows the child care center at First Baptist Church in Montgomery, which is licensed.

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Julie Bennett

Executions by nitrogen

The Legislature authorized a new form of execution in a bill passed this year, by nitrogen hypoxia. The condemned inmate would die from oxygen deprivation by breathing only nitrogen. Proponents, including the sponsor, Sen. Trip Pittman, shown in the photo, said it would be a humane form of execution. Critics question that and point out that the method has never been used. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also passed laws on nitrogen hypoxia. The Alabama law allows condemned inmates to choose nitrogen hypoxia over lethal injection and says nitrogen hypoxia would become the default method if lethal injection is found unconstitutional. The Associated Press reported that 51 of Alabama's 180 death row inmates have opted for nitrogen hypoxia. The state has released no information about how it would be carried out.