1 SYNOPSIS: This bill proposes an amendment to

2 Section 124 of the Official Recompiled

3 Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as

4 amended. Under existing law, the governor

5 does not have to provide notice to any

6 party prior to granting a reprieve and

7 commutation to a person sentenced to

8 death.

9 This proposed amendment would require

10 the governor to provide 30 days’ notice to

11 the victim’s family, Attorney General,

12 district attorney, judge, sheriff, and

13 police chief before granting a reprieve

14 and commutation to a pers on sentenced to

15 death.

16

17 A BILL

18 TO BE ENTITLED

19 AN ACT

20

21 Proposing an amendment to Section 124 of the Recompiled

22 Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended; to require the

23 governor to provide 30 days’ notice to the victim’s family

24 and other interested part ies prior to granting a reprieve and

25 commutation to a person sentenced to death.

26 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:

 1 Section 1. The following amendment to Section 124 of the

2 Official Recompiled Constitution of Alabama of 19 01, as

3 amended, is prop osed and s hall become valid as a part thereof

4 when approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting

5 thereon and in accordance with Sections 284, 285, and 287 of

6 the Official Recompiled Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as

7 amended:

8 PROPOSED AMENDMENT

9 (a) Section 124 of the Official Recompiled Constitution

10 of Alabama of 1901, is amended to read as follows:

11 “Section 124 . Part I. The governor shall have power to

12 grant reprieves and commutations to commute the sentence of a

13 persons under sentence of death to a sentence of life without

14 the possibility of parole . The governor shall have no power

15 to grant a commutation to a person under sentence of death

16 until 30 days' notice that the prisoner is being considered

17 therefor has been given by the governor to the Attorney

18 General; the victim’s immediate family, or if there is no

19 immediate family, the victim’s next of kin; the judge who

20 presided over the case; the district attorney who tried the

21 subject's case; the chief of police in the municipality in

22 which the crime occurred, if the crime was committed in an

23 incorporated area with a police department; and to the

24 sheriff of the county where convicted; and to the same

25 officials of the county where the crime occurred if different

26 from the county of conviction; provi ded, however, that if

 1 they are dead or not serving, the notice shall be given to

2 the district attorney, incumbent sheriff, and the presiding

3 judge of the circuit in which the subject was convicted. The

4 governor also shall be required to provide the same no tice to

5 the Crime Victims Compensation Commission.

6 “Part II. The legislature shall have power to provide

7 for and to regulate the administration of pardons, paroles,

8 remission of fines and forfeitures, and may authorize the

9 courts having criminal jurisdict ion to suspend sentence and

10 to order probation.

11 “Part III. No pardon shall relieve from civil and

12 political disabilities unless specifically expressed in the

13 pardon.

14 Section 2. An election upon the proposed amendment shall

15 be held in accordance with Sect ions 284 and 285 of the

16 Official Recompiled Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as

17 amended, and the election laws of this state.

18 Section 3. The appropriate election official shall

19 assign a ballot number for the proposed constitutional

20 amendment on the electio n ballot and shall set forth the

21 following description of the substance or subject matter of

22 the proposed constitutional amendment:

23 “Proposing an amendment to Section 124 of the Recompiled

24 Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended; to require the

25 governor to provide 30 days’ notice to the victim’s family

1 and other interested parties prior to granting a reprieve and

2 commutation to a person sentenced to death.

3 Proposed by Act ___________.”

4 This description shall be followed by the following

5 language:

6 “Yes ( ) No ( ).”