HB9 By Representative Sells RFD Public Safety and Homeland Security Rd 1 04-FEB-20

SYNOPSIS: Under existing law, on January 1, 2015, all of the functions of the Marine Police Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources were transferred to the Department of Public Safety and the Marine Police Division was created as a division of the Department of Public Safety within the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency.

This bill would transfer the Marine Police Division back to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and would eliminate the Marine Police Division of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency. This bill would require the transfer to be fully implemented within one year.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

Relating to the Marine Police Division of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency; to amend Section 41-27-6 of the Code of Alabama 1975, to eliminate the Marine Police Division of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency; to transfer the powers, duties, functions, and jurisdiction of that division to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and to provide one year to implement the transfer.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:Section 1. Section 41-27-6 of the Code of Alabama 1975, is amended to read as follows:

§41-27-6.

"(a)(1) The Director of the Department of Public Safety shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, after consultation with the Governor, and shall hold office at the pleasure of the secretary. The director shall be appointed from a legacy agency as defined in Section 41-27-7. The salary of the director shall be set by the secretary, and shall not be subject to Section 36-6-6. A person appointed director shall have an extensive law enforcement background and, by virtue of office, is a state law enforcement officer with the immunity set forth in Section 6-5-338.

"(2) The director shall have overall supervision and management of functions transferred to the department pursuant to this section, subject to the approval of the secretary, including the power to change the working title of any position or to reorganize or rename any of the divisions, units, or functions specified in this section. Any change of working title shall not alter the classification or compensation of any person in the state Merit System.

"(3) All functions performed by the department on October 1, 2014, shall remain under the Department of Public Safety unless reorganized by the secretary or otherwise transferred pursuant to this chapter.

"(b)(1) The Highway Patrol Division of the Department of Public Safety succeeds to and is vested with all law enforcement functions of the following enforcement units, and a reference in any law to these enforcement units shall be deemed a reference to the Highway Patrol Division of the Department of Public Safety:

"a. The law enforcement unit of the Public Service Commission.

"b. The revenue enforcement officers of the Department of Revenue.

"(2) The director shall appoint a chief of the division.

"(c)(1) The Marine Police Division is hereby created within the Department of Public Safety. The director shall appoint a chief of the division.

"(2) The Marine Police Division of the Department of Public Safety succeeds to and is vested with all functions of the Marine Police Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. A reference in any law to the Marine Police Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources shall be deemed a reference to the Marine Police Division of the Department of Public Safety."

Section 2. (a) The Marine Police Division is established within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

(b) On the effective date of this act, all functions, powers, authority, duties, and jurisdiction and all books, records, funds, equipment, and personnel of the Marine Police Division of the Department of Public Safety of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency, established pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 41-27-6 of the Code of Alabama 1975, are transferred to the Marine Police Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and reestablished within that agency. The Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources shall have one year from the effective date of this act to implement the transfer provided for in this section, and at that time, the Marine Police Division shall function within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in the same manner that it functioned before January 1, 2015.

Section 3. This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Marine Police

Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency

Public Safety Department

Conservation and Natural Resources Department

State Government

Code Amended