Alabama

Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. It is a safe Republican state and holds 9 electoral votes.

State House
The Alabama State House is composed of 105 members, each directly elected from a state house district. Members serve terms of 4 years. Elections to all House seats occur during each even-numbered year opposite presidential elections.

The Alabama House is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any House member may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant House committee at the beginning of the next week. The number of bills any individual member may draft is unlimited; however, each bill requires 25 hours to draft.

There is a committee system in the Alabama House. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills. A House member must serve on at least 1 and at most 2 committees. If the member has a sufficient number of political points, they may choose to serve as the ranking member of their political party on at most 1 of their chosen committees.

Playable subcommittees include Appropriations; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Education; Health Care; Transportation, Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development; Judiciary, Public Safety, and Corrections; Commerce, Labor, and Career Development; Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources; Human Services.

Non-playable subcommittees include: Agriculture; Elections and General Government; Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security; Ethics.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the House's majority party within that committee. Above all other members of the House, a committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the Senate.

Once a bill is granted a committee hearing, all ranking and regular members on the committee have the right to offer amendments and have those amendments voted on. A tie or majority vote leads to the adoption of an amendment. After the amendment process is complete, a final committee vote is held. A tie or majority vote allows the bill to advance to the floor of the full House. The entire committee phase takes one week. When a bill reaches the House floor, a hearing is held. Any member of the House may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held. Upon passage by the House, a bill is sent either: (a) to the Senate, (b) to the governor, or (c) to conference report. The House floor phase takes one week.

If the House considers a Senate-approved bill but then passes an amended version, the bill must be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must hold a floor vote on whether to approve the conference report.

Districts
In default mode (3/5/2021), the State House district configuration extremely favors the Republican Party. 63 out of 105 districts lean Republican by more than 15%. 12 other districts lean Republican by 10 to 15%. 5 out of 105 districts lean Democratic by more than 15%, and another 3 districts lean Democratic by 10 to 15%. A neutral election year leads to a party breakdown of 75R-8D and 22 tossups, 14 of which lean Democratic and 8 lean Republican by 3 percent or more. In order to win the majority, Democrats would need to win 11 seats that lean Republican by 15% or more.

State Senate
The Alabama State Senate is composed of 35 members, each directly elected from a state senate district. Members serve terms of 4 years. Elections to the Alabama Senate are not staggered. Elections to all seats occur opposite to presidential elections.

The Alabama Senate is charged with the passage of state legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the House, are sent to the governor for consideration. Any state senator may draft bills, which will then be assigned to the relevant Senate committee at the beginning of the next week. After a bill's hearing on the Senate floor, any senator may offer amendments, which are immediately voted on. When the amendment process is complete, a final floor vote is held.

If the Senate amends and passes a bill that began in the House, the bill will be sent for a conference report to adjust any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions. After that, both chambers must vote on whether to approve the conference report. There is a committee system in the Alabama Senate. Committees hold specialized hearings on relevant bills.

A committee chair is the ranking member of the majority party within a committee. Above all other senators, a committee chair has the right of first review over any draft bill on an issue that falls within the purview of the committee. The committee chair may grant or refuse a hearing. If the committee chair refuses to grant a hearing on a bill, that bill can no longer advance. This is true even if the bill already passed through the House.

Districts
In default mode (3/5/2021), the State Senate district configuration extremely favors the Republican Party. 19 out of 35 districts lean Republican by more than 15%. Another seven districts lean Republican between 10 and 15%, and two more lean Republican between eight and 10%. One district leans Democratic by exactly 21%, while another district leans Democratic by exactly 10.8%. Under this configuration, a neutral election year leads to an average party breakdown of 28R-2D and 5 tossups that lean 4D-1R. To win party control in the State Senate, the Democratic Party needs to win 8 seats that lean Republican by 15% or more.

Governor
The governor of Alabama is directly elected to terms of 4 years. Elections to the governorship are held in even years opposite to U.S. presidential elections. The governor may sign into law or veto any state bill that has passed through both houses of the state legislature. The governor may also draft legislation and send it to the state legislature for consideration. Draft bills from the governor almost always begin in the State House and have to withstand the regular committee process.