Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur (top) listens to Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Jan. 14, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday passed a bill sponsored by Orr that makes second and subsequent convictions for stalking a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector).
An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill that would make it second and subsequent convictions for stalking a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
SB 273, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, makes second and subsequent stalking charges punishable by up to ten years in prison. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill with no discussion. The bill passed the Senate on Feb. 24.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, carried the bill in Orr’s absence.
Current law does not have a penalty for subsequent stalking charges, but the first offense is a class B misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to six months in jail.
Orr said in a committee meeting last month that the law “doesn’t have any teeth” for repeat violations.
“We’ve got a situation where multiple people from a class back in middle school, now they’re all adults in their 30s, and they’ve got somebody from their middle school class that is stalking seven or six or seven members of this class,” Orr said in February.
The bill moves to the full House.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Anna Barrett