A bill to expand Alabama law on legal immunity for police officers passed in the final half-hour of the annual legislative session on Wednesday night.

HB202 by Rep. Rex Reynolds, a former Huntsville police chief, is a priority for Gov. Kay Ivey and Republican leaders in the House of Representatives.

The bill would rewrite Alabama’s law on police immunity from criminal prosecutions and from civil lawsuits.

Lawmakers have hashed out the bill in public hearings and when the House passed the bill after a three-hour debate in March. It has undergone changes.

But Republicans and Democrats remained on opposite sides.

On Wednesday night, the Republican majority in the Senate voted to end the debate on the bill shortly after 10 p.m., more than an hour into the discussion.

The Senate passed it by a vote of 25-6. That sent it back to the House.

At about 11:35 p.m., the House passed the bill 73-28.

That sends it to Ivey, who can sign it into law.

Reynolds and other supporters of the legislation say the legal protections are needed at a time when cities are struggling to hire and retain cops because of concerns that they will be accused of wrongdoing for split-second decisions that sometimes involve life and death.

Democrats have opposed the bill saying it will make it harder to hold police accountable.

Sen. Lance Bell, R-St. Clair County, handled the bill Wednesday night on the Senate floor.

Bell introduced a new version of the bill Wednesday night.

Bell, an attorney and former deputy sheriff, said the bill would clarify the law on immunity and would reduce frivolous lawsuits.

Bell said it would not protect police who act outside the scope of their jobs.

“To me this is about protecting them while they’re protecting us,” Bell said.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, repeated assertions he made in committee, calling the bill “a license to kill Black people.”

Smitherman is an attorney who taught constitutional law for 25 years.

Smitherman said Black people are at risk of bad decisions by police who are scared or actions by cops who are racist.

“We as a people don’t get the benefit of the doubt at all,” Smitherman said.

Turning to his Black Senate colleagues to help make his point, Smitherman urged them to be cautious driving home after the Senate adjourns.

“Be careful, because you’re going to be DWB. Driving while Black,“ Smitherman said.

Smitherman repeated a story he has told before on the Senate floor, describing when he was stopped by a police officer in Montgomery even though he was driving below the speed limit.

The senator said the officer approached his car with his hand on his gun and gave him conflicting instructions, telling him to hold out his hands while also asking him to pull out his driver license.

Smitherman said the story was an example of how Black people can be at risk if they are not cautious during their encounters with police.

Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, questioned the need for the bill and said it would erode public trust.

Stewart brought up the scandal in the Hanceville Police Department.

A grand jury indicted a former police chief and several officers and said the department should be abolished because of a “culture of corruption.”

Stewart said he supports police.

“But to have power unchecked, that is unacceptable in a democracy,” Stewart said.

Democratic Sens. Kirk Hatcher of Montgomery and Merika Coleman of Pleasant Grover also spoke in opposition to the bill.

This is a guest opinion column

Last year, when Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels led the bipartisan passage of the state tax exemption on overtime pay (the first of its kind in the nation), Alabama workers were ecstatic because it provided a meaningful way for them to combat the skyrocketing cost of living. They could immediately see the increase in their take-home pay– pay they earned by going above and beyond. Overtime pay that helped them offset rising grocery, utility, and rent bills. Maybe, even a little extra to put aside for the holidays.

But, with little warning, Republicans just slapped them in the face. Hard.

After voting unanimously last year to support the historic tax cut, including effusive praise from Governor Ivey and Republican leadership, they suddenly changed their minds this year and are now forcing the tax cut to expire in June.

Slap! How’s that feel?

You see, Republicans claimed without evidence that the tax cut was just too expensive, so instead of providing real relief to struggling Alabama workers and their families, they cravenly shaved another whole penny off the state’s regressive grocery tax. Talk about adding insult to injury at a time when eggs cost six dollars a dozen and ground beef is hitting historic highs— yeah, thanks a bunch guys for taking that one tiny penny off which will only save us one dollar for every hundred dollars we spend at the grocery store!

On top of that, they just increased the funding for the CHOOSE Act from $100 million to $180 million, which does nothing but divert even more public education money to for-profit private schools– schools with scant accountability that can raise their tuition at any time to increase their ever-growing profits.

Slapped again! And now we’re being told we should be grateful for that one bright, shiny penny and for helping rich kids continue their exclusive private education at “The Elite Academy for the Wealthy and Privileged!”

The irony here is overwhelming, especially as Republicans like Tommy Tuberville, have publicly stated that overtime pay should be exempt from federal taxes, as well. Like a broken clock that’s only right twice a day, Tuberville actually stumbled on a legitimate point here, because even he understands how more money in a worker’s paycheck goes right back into the local economy and still gets taxed.

The point is that Alabama workers need real relief in this time of historic economic uncertainty and fear. They don’t need to be slapped with what amounts to be the biggest tax increase on workers in Alabama history which will amount to over $300 million taken from their checks each year.

Not now, when Trump is telling us we can only buy two dolls and five pencils for Christmas because they’ll be more expensive— if we can even find them on the soon-to be empty shelves. Not now, when Alabama Republicans insist on using our public General Fund dollars to help finance billion dollar prisons that will be overcrowded and chock full of human rights abuses as soon as they are built. Not now, when we know that our state’s ETF budget is being played like three-card Monty at a carnival by some top Republican leaders and budget chairs to obscure how they are financing their own pet pork projects.

And it’s not just workers getting slapped around, it’s also employers and businesses that benefitted from the state tax exemption on overtime pay. That’s because it’s helped them keep trained, qualified workers on the production and service lines at a time when Alabama is facing labor shortages and low workforce participation rates.

Alabama Republicans made a serious mistake when they decided to slap Alabama workers with a big tax increase that they will immediately see in their smaller paychecks. On July 1st, that slap is really going to sting and Alabama workers aren’t just going to take that sitting down or let that slap go unanswered.

Alabama overtime workers need relief and we should be thankful for their extra effort, not penalizing them. Republicans better take heed and be careful when elections come in November, because they might just get slapped back hard– slapped right out of office and into reality.

State Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, has served in the Alabama House of Representatives since 2002.