Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, walks on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Jan. 14, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate Committee passed a bill Wednesday that would exempt “covered” K-12 schools and higher education institutions construction projects costing less than $750,000 from all state inspections.
SB 88, sponsored by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, passed the committee 11-2. It would prevent the Division of Construction Management (DCM), located in the Department of Finance, from conducting inspections on school projects costing less than $750,000 for Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and fire and safety compliance.
“I was approached by several people in the education community in my area about the cost of construction and delays in construction when the Department of Construction Management gets involved in a project,” Stutts said to the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee.
Currently, DCM does not inspect projects under $750,000, save for those compliance issues.
Sens. Roger Smitherman, D-Birmingham and Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery voted against the bill, while Sen. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay, abstained.
Stutts claimed there are unnecessary inspections happening on smaller projects.
“We have qualified architects, we have qualified contractors. And when they get involved and are building relatively small projects, we don’t need somebody else to come inspect behind them and be in the middle of the process,” Stutts said.
Ryan Hollingsworth, executive director of School Superintendents of Alabama, spoke in favor of the bill. He said the Legislature in 2021 exempted most K-12 construction projects under $500,000 from DCM inspection, raising the threshold to $750,000 in 2022.
“This bill would take it back to the 2021 version and raise the $500,000 up to $750,000 with no required requirement to submit,” he said. “So we operated on that 2021 version for about a year, maybe a little longer. I’m not aware of issues that came up during that time. I never heard of those.”
Alec Whaley, a general contractor based in Troy, opposed the bill, saying there are certain counties that have no one other than the DCM to do safety inspections.
“I would hate for there to be an unintended consequence. It would be an effort to try to save some money in missing something and not having that peer review, and some children get hurt,” Whaley said.
Scott Williams, an architect speaking on behalf of the American Institute of Architects, said the bill isn’t necessary.
“We have a great process. We don’t feel that it’s horribly expensive. It’s not time consuming. If I organize my projects, I’ve got the building commissions reviews, I’ve got the building commissions inspections, all of it timed out pretty good,” he said.
When asked by Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, what kind of projects $750,000 can cover, Williams said it’s mostly renovations and echoed Whaley’s concerns about safety.
“The process of doing some work on an existing building opens up situations that you were not aware of when your program was initially started,” he said.
Smitherman also had safety concerns.
“If because the paramount decision and those pride decisions did not make the top priority, the safety and well being of the young people who are going to be affected by the projects, if they are not up to standard is simply this, we can’t bring them back if they’re dead,” Smitherman said.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said she voted for the bill because she understands the pressure K-12 schools are under for funding.
“When we can give charter schools and tax credits to people who already had decided to send their children to private schools, you’re trying to find ways to make up for the money you’re not getting because we’re not adequately funding you, which is our first priority,” Figures said. “So of course, I’m always about safety, but I also know that there will be inspectors. And as the contractor said, so many of these projects are small projects,” she said.
If passed, the legislation would go into effect Oct. 1. It goes to the Senate.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Andrea Tinker