Alabama House of Representatives
Alabama State Legislature
Type
Type	Lower house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	March 7, 2023
Leadership
Speaker	Nathaniel Ledbetter (R) since January 10, 2023
Speaker pro tempore	Chris Pringle (R) since January 10, 2023
Majority Leader	Scott Stadthagen (R) since November 11, 2022
Minority Leader	Anthony Daniels (D) since February 8, 2017
Structure
Seats	105
Seat display Map display
Political groups	Majority   Republican (74) Minority   Democratic (29) Vacant   Vacant (2)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Article IV,Alabama Constitution
Salary	$53,913/yr[1]
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	November 8, 2022 (105 seats)
Next election	November 3, 2026 (105 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative Control
Meeting place
House of Representatives Alabama State House Montgomery, Alabama
Website
Alabama House of Representatives
Rules
Alabama House of Representatives Rules

TheAlabama House of Representatives is thelower house of theAlabama Legislature, thestate legislature of state ofAlabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency containing at least 42,380 citizens. There are noterm limits in the House. The House is also one of the five lower houses of state legislatures in the United States that is elected every four years. Other lower houses, including theUnited States House of Representatives, are elected for a two-year term.

The House meets at theAlabama State House inMontgomery. TheSpeaker of the Alabama House of Representatives is its leader.

The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of theAlabama Legislature, with theupper house being theAlabama Senate. Both bodies are constitutionally required to convene annually at theAlabama State House.^[2] In quadrennial election years (e.g. 2018), they convene on the second Tuesday in January.^[2] In the first year after quadrennial election years (e.g. 2019), they convene on the first Tuesday in March.^[2] In the second and third years of quadrennium (e.g. 2020 and 2021), the Legislature convenes on the first Tuesday in February.^[2] From that date of convention, the House of Representatives must meet for 30 legislative days over the course of 105 calendar days.^[2]

The legislature is not permitted to call for special sessions, though they may determine the subject of those sessions by a two-thirds vote in the event that they do take place.^[2] Special sessions in the Alabama Legislature span 30 calendar days and meet for 12 of them.^[2]

The Alabama House of Representatives consists of 105 members, each representing single-member legislative districts of equal size. State representatives have a term length of four years, uncommonly lengthy among lower legislative chambers in the United States. Members have been elected in what correspond withUnited States midterm election years since 1902.

In order to serve in the House, an individual must have attained the age of 21.^[2] The person must also be a qualified voter who has resided in the state of Alabama for at least three years and in their legislative district for at least one year.^[2] In accordance with Section 46 of theConstitution of Alabama, "the terms of office of the senators and representatives shall commence on the day after the general election at which they are elected, and expire on the day after the general election held in the fourth year after their election."^[3] As a result, representatives formally assume their positions on the day afterElection Day in early November.

The most powerful individual in the chamber is thespeaker of the House, who is elected by all 105 representatives. Other leadership positions include the speaker pro tempore (also elected by the entire chamber) and the majority leader (elected by the majority party caucus).^[2]

The minority party is headed by the minority leader, who is elected by the minority party caucus.^[2]

Constitutional Amendment 57 provides the methods for setting legislative compensation.^[2] Since 2021, representatives earn $51,734 per year.^[4] Representatives are also allotted $85 per day for single overnight stays or $100 per day for multiple overnight stays in order to accommodate lodging needs.^[2] The presiding officer of the House of Representatives earns an additional $18,000 per year.^[2]

No retirement benefits are available to representatives.^[2]

House bills are referred to their committees of jurisdiction by the speaker.^[2] Bills can be introduced at any point in the legislative session.^[2]

Thegovernor of Alabama has the authority to use aline-item veto on appropriations bills as long as they are returned to the legislature before its adjournment. In most circumstances, during the legislative session, the governor has six days to consider vetoing legislation before it automatically becomes law.^[2] If session has concluded, the governor has 10 days to consider legislation.^[2] Vetoes can be overturned by a simple majority vote in both chambers of theAlabama Legislature.

State representatives are given year-round personal staff at the Capitol, as well as some staff who are shared between members.^[2] Representatives for select counties are entitled to shared district office staff.^[2] All committees have paid clerical staff, while only some committees have additional professional staff.^[2]

Committee members and committee chairpersons are both assigned by the speaker.^[2]

There are currently 33 standing committees in the House.^[5] They are as follows:

• ↑ Member was first elected in a special election.

Throughout most of the state's history, the Democratic Party has held the majority in the Alabama House of Representatives except for a few brief exceptions. TheWhig Party controlled the lower house in 1819 and again from 1821 to 1823, and for the last time from 1837 to 1838.

After the Civil War and emancipation, granting of citizenship and the franchise tofreedmen, most joined theRepublican Party. Politics became competitive for several years.Republicans, white and black, held the majority of seats during theReconstruction period from 1868 to 1870, and again from 1872 to 1874.

Among the House's historical firsts was the election of its first African-American members in 1868, when 27 black Republicans were elected.^[6] Among those African Americans elected to the lower house in 1872 was Rev.Mentor Dotson, a teacher. His granddaughterHelen Elsie Austin in 1930 was the first African-American woman to graduate fromUniversity of Cincinnati Law School, and in 1937 the first black and first woman to be appointed as state assistant attorney general of Ohio. She had a career as counsel to several federal agencies, was active in civil rights, and served a decade as a USForeign Service Officer in Africa.

Beginning in 1876, white Democrats regained control of the state house, through a combination of fraud, intimidation, and armed attacks on Republicans. At the turn of the 20th century, they passed laws that essentially disenfranchised both blacks and poor whites, causing a dramatic drop in voter rolls. Alabama white Democrats helped form theSolid South in Congress. For decades a failure to redistrict according to census returns resulted in the state legislature being dominated by rural counties and conservative Democrats.

In 1922 the first female member was elected to the State House:Hattie Hooker Wilkins of Dallas County, who served a single four-year term.^[7]

Some 136 years of Democratic control of the State House ended in November 2010. Beginning with the 2010 general election,Republicans swept to a large majority in the state house. They increased this margin in the elections in 2014 and 2018.

Election	Election map[s]	Speaker	Session dates	Composition[t]
				D	R	I
1994		James S. Clark (D)	March 7, 1995 – July 31, 1995	73	32	0
			February 6, 1996 – May 15, 1996
			February 4, 1997 – May 19, 1997	71	34
			January 13, 1998 – April 27, 1998	68	37
1998		Seth Hammett (D)	March 2, 1999 – June 9, 1999	69	36
			February 1, 2000 – May 15, 2000
			February 6, 2001 – May 21, 2001	68	37
			January 8, 2002 – April 17, 2002	67	38
2002			March 4, 2003 – June 16, 2003	63	42
			February 3, 2004 – May 17, 2004
			February 1, 2005 – May 16, 2005
			January 10, 2006 – April 17, 2006	62	43
2006			March 6, 2007 – June 7, 2007
			February 5, 2008 – May 19, 2008
			February 3, 2009 – May 15, 2009
			January 12, 2010 – April 22, 2010	60	45
2010		Mike Hubbard (R)	March 1, 2011 – June 9, 2011	39	66
			February 7, 2012 – May 16, 2012
			February 5, 2013 – May 20, 2013	38		1
			January 14, 2014 – April 4, 2014	37	67
2014			March 3, 2015 – June 4, 2015	33	72	0
			February 2, 2016 – May 4, 2016
		Mac McCutcheon (R)	February 7, 2017 – May 19, 2017
			January 9, 2018 – March 29, 2018
2018			March 5, 2019 – May 31, 2019	28	77
			February 4, 2020 – May 18, 2020
			February 2, 2021 – May 17, 2021
			January 11, 2022 – April 7, 2022
2022		Nathaniel Ledbetter (R)	March 7, 2023 – June 6, 2023
			February 6, 2024 – May 9, 2024	29	76

• Government of Alabama
• Alabama Senate
• Impeachment in Alabama
• Alabama Republican Party
• Alabama Democratic Party

• Alabama House of Representatives official site

32°22′37″N86°17′57″W / 32.37694°N 86.29917°W /32.37694; -86.29917

• Alabama House of Representatives
• Alabama Legislature
• State lower houses in the United States
• Politics of Alabama

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