Alabama House committee approves bill changing rioting definition
An Alabama House Committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would increase penalties for attacking first responders, but not after scaling it back from a somewhat more sweeping original version.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, creates a new crime of assaulting a first responder, carrying a penalty of two to 20 years in prison, and broadens the definition of inciting a riot to anyone who aids or abets a person who may riot. It also provides penalties for local governments that try to disband police departments.
But the bill, HB 445, got changed in a subcommittee. The current law defines rioting as a person engaged in tumultuous and violent conduct. Treadaway s legislation would have added anything that substantially obstructs a law enforcement or other government function to the definition.