By Jacob Holmes
A new bill pre-filed for the upcoming legislative session would prevent convicted sex offenders from serving as first responders.
Rep. Kerry Underwood, R-Tuscumbia, filed House Bill 27 with a focus in keeping sex offenders from serving in volunteer fire departments.
Sex offenders are already barred under state law from working in schools and daycares.
“Without (this legislation) for that particular offender, we are basically opening the door and saying, you’re a first responder, if there’s a medical need, you can go into this day care, you can go into this facility,” Underwood told Alabama Daily News. “We want to make sure we don’t give them an opportunity to do that.”
The law defines a first responder as “paramedic, firefighter, rescue squad member, emergency medical technician, or other individual who, in the course of his or her professional duties, responds to fire, medical, hazardous material, or other similar emergencies, whether compensated or not.”
The law makes it a Class C felony for anyone who knowingly violates the law, but also emphasizes that the law does not create liability for any employer or volunteer organization of first responders.
The bill has the support of the Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments.
The bill is one of many that progressed through the Legislature last session only to fail without a vote in the Senate.
The House approved the bill and it passed out of a Senate committee, but did not make it to a vote on the floor as Senate members wrestled with a gambling bill in the waning days of session.
Underwood is hopeful the bill can make it into law during the upcoming session, which begins in February.
