3 unusual Alabama bills, including a ban on microchipping employees

Alabama’s 2023 legislative session begins Tuesday. Much of the lawmakers’ time will be spent on the topics we hear of every year — things like public safety and education.

But like every year, some out-of-the-ordinary bills also catch our attention. Here are a few interesting bills filed ahead of the 2023 session.

A bill to keep your employer from microchipping you

House Bill 4 would prohibit employers from mandating that their workers be implanted with a microchip or other “permanent identification marker.” Violation of the act would be a Class D felony under the proposed bill.

Certain other individuals are also prohibited from requiring others be implanted with a microchip under the proposed bill. HB 4 makes it illegal for state employees, insurance agents and people who work for a bail bonding company to require people to be implanted with a microchip or other permanent identification marker.

The bill doesn’t apply to those who voluntarily choose to be microchipped by their employer.

A few American companies have begun offering voluntary microchip implantations to their employees, but the practice has not caught on widely. No employers in Alabama or any other state currently require workers to be microchipped.

Rep. Prince Chestnut, D-Selma, introduced the legislation and said the bill is pre-emptive.

Three Square Market, a Wisconsin-based technology company, made headlines in 2017 when it introduced the idea to a few employees who volunteered. Workers told media outlets they used the chips — about the size of a large grain of rice and inserted between their thumb and forefinger — to do things like log into computers, gain access to buildings and buy food and drinks at the office cafeteria.

At least 11 other states have already banned the practice, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, and Rep. Kelvin Lawrence, D-White Hall, are co-sponsors of the bill.

Formal recognition of the Space Force

More than three years after the Space Force was officially established as the sixth branch of the U.S. military, a state senator wants recognition of it in Alabama law.

Sen. Tom Butler, R-Madison, introduced legislation that would include the Space Force in all references to the United States Armed Forces in Alabama’s code of laws. Space Force service members and veterans would then be subject to the same laws as other service members and veterans.

Butler, whose Senate district is adjacent to Redstone Arsenal, has sponsored other legislation about the Space Force in the past. In 2022, Butler’s bill allowing for the creation of an Alabama Space Guard pending national approval passed both chambers.

Federal lawmakers are considering legislation to allow for the creation of a National Guard component of the Space Force. If passed, Alabama would be authorized to create its own Space Guard.

A bill prohibiting those in jails, prisons from training dogs

Sen. April Weaver, R-Montevallo, filed a bill that would keep people incarcerated in jails or prisons from training dogs to recognize scents or track humans.

Weaver said in an interview with 1819 News that she filed the bill in response to the shootings of Bibb County Deputies Brad Johnson and Chris Poole. According to Weaver, Austin Patrick Hall, the man accused of shooting the officers, had worked in a dog training program while in prison.

Weaver said this gave Hall knowledge of how to elude tracking dogs during a manhunt after the incident.

Johnson died after he was shot. Poole was hospitalized and released shortly after.

Dog training programs in prisons are found to have many benefits for both the dogs and the incarcerated people who train them, including learning marketable skills, forming a nurturing bond and improving self-esteem.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Three interesting bills in 2023 Alabama legislative session