Alabama Memorial Preservation Act
The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act is a 2017 Alabama state law (Act of Alabama 2017-354) that prohibits the "relocation, removal, alteration, renaming, or other disturbance of any architecturally significant building, memorial building, memorial street, or monument located on public property which has been in place for 40 or more years."
The law created the 11-member Alabama Monument Protection Committee, its members to be appointed by September 1, 2017, and charged it with reviewing applications for waivers for any such actions by local governments, institutions or other custodians of public property.
In 2015 the status of monuments honoring the Confederate States of America was challenged by numerous activists in the wake of a mass shooting at an African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina. In Alabama, calls were made to remove Confederate flags from the grounds of the state capitol and to remove the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument from Birmingham's Linn Park. The Birmingham Park & Recreation Board voted to study the possibility of removing the statue, prompting rallies from activists clamoring for quicker action, as well as protests from "heritage" groups like Save our South. That group filed a lawsuit against the city and the board seeking to require the monument's preservation, but the case was dismissed.
An earlier version of the law was first sponsored during the 2015 legislative session by Gerald Allen, who represents Alabama Senate District 21 in Lamar, Pickens and Tuscaloosa Counties. Originally titled the "Alabama Heritage Protection Act", his bill was intended to protect all statues, monuments, memorials, or plaques on public property. That bill contained an exception for such memorials that needed to be relocated for transportation projects. It died in committee. A revived version of Allen's bill passed the Senate and a House committee in 2016, but did not come to a vote in the House during that session.
A new version of the bill, co-sponsored by House District 30 Representative Mack Butler, passed both houses in 2017. The Senate version passed Allen's bill, with an amendment by Linda Coleman-Madison reducing the protection period from 50 years to 20 years, meaning that Civil Rights Movement monuments would have the same protection. When it reached the House, several opponents noted that the timing, following the removal of the flags from the capitol, made it clear that Confederate heritage was the motivation for the bill. After three hours of debate, the measure passed by a 72-29 vote.
It was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey on June 24, 2017. The bill also restricts the renaming or relocating monuments or memorials that have been in place for more than 20 years by requiring petition to the Alabama Monument Protection Committee. The law establishes a fine of $25,000 for any action taken in violation of the law. Exceptions to the requirements of the law are granted to artifacts in museum collections, to actions taken for transportation, port or utility projects.
The first enforcement of the law was initiated by a lawsuit filed by Attorney General of Alabama Steve Marshall claiming that Birmingham mayor William Bell's order to conceal the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument on August 15, 2017 violated the " letter and spirit" of the law, leaving him no choice but to act.
References
- Cason, Mike (March 9, 2017) "Alabama Senate passes bill to preserve historic monuments, names." The Birmingham News
- Koplowitz, Howard (April 25, 2017) "Alabama House passes monument preservation bill after heated debate." The Birmingham News
- Cason, Mike (May 25, 2017) "Gov. Kay Ivey signs bill protecting Confederate monuments." The Birmingham News
- Edgemon, Erin (August 16, 2017) "AG files lawsuit against Birmingham over Confederate monument." The Birmingham News