HB403ENGROSSED
Page 0
HB403
4U5G13R-2
By Representatives Bedsole, Pettus, Treadaway, Stringer,
Woods, Brinyark, Starnes, Bolton, Shaver
RFD: Public Safety and Homeland Security
First Read: 06-Mar-25
1
2
3
4
5
6 HB403 Engrossed
Page 1
First Read: 06-Mar-25
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to crimes and offenses; to amend Section
13A-6-260, Code of Alabama 1975, to further provide for
definitions; and to add Section 13A-6-264 to the Code of
Alabama 1975, to provide for the establishment, development,
management, and maintenance of the Alabama Criminal Enterprise
Database.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Section 13A-6-260, Code of Alabama 1975, is
amended to read as follows:
"§13A-6-260
For the purposes of this article, the following terms
have the following meanings:
(1) ALEA. The Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency.
(1)(2) CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE. Any combination,
confederation, alliance, network, conspiracy, understanding,
or other similar arrangement in law or in fact, including a
streetgang as defined in Section 13A-6-26, of three or more
persons, through its membership or through the agency of any
member, that engages in a course or pattern of criminal
activity.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 HB403 Engrossed
Page 2
activity.
(2)(3) CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE MEMBER. a. An individual who
meets three or more of the following at the time of the
planning or commission of the underlying offense:
a.1. Admits to criminal enterprise membership.
b.2. Is voluntarily identified as a criminal enterprise
member by a parent or guardian.
c.3. Is identified as a criminal enterprise member by a
reliable informant.
d.4. Adopts the style of dress of a criminal
enterprise.
e.5. Adopts the use of a hand sign identified as used
by a criminal enterprise.
f.6. Has a tattoo identified as used by a criminal
enterprise.
g.7. Associates with one or more known criminal
enterprise members.
h.8. Is identified as a criminal enterprise member by
physical evidence.
i.9. Has been observed in the company of one or more
known criminal enterprise members four or more times.
Observation in a custodial setting requires a willful
association. This paragraph may be used to identify criminal
enterprise members who recruit and organize in jails, prisons,
and or other detention settings.
j.10. Has authored any communication indicating
responsibility for the commission of any crime by a criminal
enterprise.
b. Where a single act or factual transaction satisfied
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56 HB403 Engrossed
Page 3
b. Where a single act or factual transaction satisfied
the requirements of more than one of the criteria in this
subdivisionparagraph a., each of those criteria has been
satisfied for the purposes of this subdivisiondefinition.
(4) CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY. Any federal law
enforcement agency, prosecuting agency, or corrections agency,
or any state, county, or municipal law enforcement agency,
prosecuting agency, or corrections agency in this state.
(5) DATABASE. The Alabama Criminal Enterprise Database.
(6) DATABASE INFORMATION. Either of the following:
a. Any contents of the database.
b. Any records, including electronically stored
information, that are generated or transmitted to ALEA's
possession, custody, or control due to a criminal justice
agency's submission of information for inclusion in the
database.
(3)(7) DESTRUCTIVE DEVICE. The same meaning as in
Section 13A-10-190.
(4)(8) FIREARM. Any of the following:
a. Any weapon which will, is designed to, or may be
readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an
explosive or the frame or receiver of any such weapon.
b. A firearm silencer.
c. A destructive device.
(5)(9) FIREARMS SILENCER. Any device for silencing,
muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm,
including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned,
and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm
silencer, and any part intended only for use in such assembly
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84 HB403 Engrossed
Page 4
silencer, and any part intended only for use in such assembly
or fabrication.
(6)(10) MACHINE GUN. Any weapon that shoots, is
designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot
automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by
a single function of the trigger. The term shall also include
the frame receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and
intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts
designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a
machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machine
gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or
under the control of a person.
(11) SECRETARY. The Secretary of ALEA.
(7)(12) SHORT-BARRELED RIFLE. The same meaning as in
Section 13A-11-62.
(8)(13) SHORT-BARRELED SHOTGUN. The same meaning as in
Section 13A-11-62."
Section 2. Section 13A-6-264 is added to the Code of
Alabama 1975, to read as follows:
§13A-6-264
(a) Subject to the availability of funding, ALEA shall
establish a statewide inter-jurisdictional criminal
intelligence system known as the Alabama Criminal Enterprise
Database.
(b) ALEA shall establish, develop, manage, and maintain
the database in accordance with the Criminal Intelligence
Systems Operating Policies adopted by the United States
Department of Justice and codified in 28 C.F.R. Part 23.
(c) Any criminal justice agency may submit information
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112 HB403 Engrossed
Page 5
(c) Any criminal justice agency may submit information
for inclusion in the database.
(d) To the extent permitted under subsection (b), the
database may contain any information about a person reasonably
suspected of criminal conduct or activity that meets both of
the following criteria:
(1) The information is relevant to the person's
suspected criminal conduct or activity.
(2) The information is relevant to identifying an
individual as a criminal enterprise member or identifying a
criminal enterprise.
(e) Subject to rules established by the secretary, any
criminal justice agency may access the database for legitimate
law enforcement or criminal justice purposes.
(f) ALEA may not permit any person or entity to access
database information in its possession, custody, or control
unless one of the following conditions applies:
(1) The access is made by personnel of a criminal
justice agency pursuant to subsection (e).
(2) The access is necessary for ALEA to establish,
develop, manage, or maintain the database.
(3) The access is necessary for ALEA to comply with a
court order, discovery request, or subpoena for the production
of database information as authorized in subsection (h).
(4) The access is permitted under subsection (b).
(g) Database information shall be deemed confidential
and shall not be subject to public disclosure under Article 3
of Chapter 12 of Title 36, Code of Alabama 1975.
(h) In any criminal, civil, or administrative
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140 HB403 Engrossed
Page 6
(h) In any criminal, civil, or administrative
proceeding, database information shall not be used as evidence
or be subject to discovery by subpoena or otherwise, except as
required by subsection (b), the Constitution of Alabama of
2022, the Constitution of the United States, or as necessary
for a criminal justice agency to pursue a legitimate law
enforcement or criminal justice purpose.
(i) Nothing in this section shall affect the
disclosure, discovery, or admissibility of information that a
criminal justice agency has in its possession, custody, or
control by any means other than the agency's access to the
database or submission of information to the database.
(j)(1) The secretary shall adopt rules establishing a
uniform digital process for criminal justice agencies to
submit information for inclusion in the database.
(2) The secretary shall adopt rules regarding the use
of database information and may establish and impose civil
penalties and other sanctions for the violation of such rules.
(3) The secretary may adopt rules that otherwise
promote the effective establishment, development, management,
maintenance, or use of the database in compliance with federal
standards.
Section 3. This act shall become effective on June 1,
2025.
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163 HB403 Engrossed
Page 7
2025.
House of Representatives
Read for the first time and referred
to the House of Representatives
committee on Public Safety and
Homeland Security
................06-Mar-25
Read for the second time and placed
on the calendar:
0 amendments
................19-Mar-25
Read for the third time and passed
as amended
Yeas 77
Nays 21
Abstains 2
................08-Apr-25
John Treadwell
Clerk
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185