Act 2011-688, SB137, amends Sections 32-7-19, 32-7-20, 32-7-22, 32-7-24, 32-7A-2, 32-7A-3, 32-7A-4, 32-7A-5, 32-7A-6, 32-7A-7, and 32-7A-8, Code of Alabama 1975, to require the verification of motor vehicle liability insurance or other methods of financial responsibility allowed by law prior to motor vehicle registration and re-registration. The act also allows the Department of Revenue and law enforcement to electronically verify motor vehicle liability insurance or other methods of financial responsibility allowed by law with an online insurance verification system. The act also repeals Sections 32-7A-9 to 32-7A-22, Code of Alabama 1975.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Sections 2, 5, and 7 are effective June 14, 2011, and Sections 1, 3, 4, and 6, are effective January 1, 2013, except that portion of Section 3 amending Section 32-7A-12, Code of Alabama 1975, which is effective June 14, 2011.

Act 2012-179, SB280, is Karina’s Law. The act provides for the State Registrar to issue a Certificate of Foreign Birth following a foreign adoption without judicial proceedings if certain criteria are satisfied.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-265, SB50, provides for the posting of information relating to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline in certain establishments and provides penalties for failure to comply with the act.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-312, HB113, amends Sections 27-7-1, 27-7-5, 27-7-14.1, 27-7-17, 27-7-37, and 27-8A-6, Code of Alabama 1975, to eliminate the insurance producer lines of authority for automobile and industrial fire and provide a transition for existing producer licenses. The act adds travel and crop insurance as limited lines insurance and provides exceptions to the prelicensing course of study to qualify for an insurance producer license for applicants with a college insurance degree and for applicants for the variable life and variable annuity line of authority. The act authorizes the Commissioner of Insurance to prescribe by regulation alternative methods to serve administrative complaints. The act eliminates certain exemptions from the continuing education requirements of insurance producers while providing a grandfather provision for those currently exempt and eliminates the requirement that insurance producers certify compliance with the continuing education requirement. The act authorizes the commissioner to require applicants to submit fingerprints and to conduct a criminal history record check of all new applicants. The act requires vendors to hold a certain license to offer a policy of portable electronics insurance and provides fees for a limited lines insurance producer license for portable electronics insurance. The act also repeals Sections 27-7-20 and 27-7-21, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to suspension or revocation of insurance licenses.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-319, HB403, amends Sections 27-44-2, 27-44-3, 27-44-5, 27-44-8, 27-44-9, 27-44-11, and 27-44-18, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to insurance, to provide the scope and purpose of the Alabama Life and Disability Insurance Guaranty Association. The act provides that payees under a structured settlement annuity are covered based on the residency of the payee and not the residency of the owner of the contract. The act avoids duplication of coverage by coordinating with applicable guaranty associations in other states and specifies the limits of coverage for life insurance policies to be $300,000 in death benefits and $100,000 in cash surrender values. The act specifies the limits of coverage for disability and long-term care insurance and basic hospital, medical, and surgical insurance or major medical insurance, as well as for any coverage other than disability income, long-term care, basic hospital, medical, and surgical insurance or major medical insurance. The act specifies the limits of coverage of annuity contracts to be $250,000 of the present value of annuity benefits and provides a maximum Class A assessment of $300 per year per member insurer. The act permits a member insurer to appeal a decision of the association to the Commissioner of Insurance within 60 days and provides a stay on all proceedings in which an insolvent insurer is a party for 180 days.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-397, HB460, amends Sections 27-25-3 and 27-25-4, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to insurance, to provide for the qualifications and procedures for the licensing of title insurance agents by providing definitions and exceptions to the licensing requirements. The act authorizes the Commissioner of Insurance to require fingerprints of initial applicants for a title insurance agent license and requires the commissioner to conduct a criminal history record check on each applicant. The act requires title insurance agents to pass a written examination, with certain exceptions, and to complete minimum continuing education requirements on a biennial basis.

The act further provides for denial, non-renewal, and revocation of licenses, as well as for fees for the issuance and renewal of licenses.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-407, SB30, requires the Division of Control and Accounts of the State Department of Finance to post and maintain a statewide database, at no charge for access by the public, on the state’s website of each request for a proposal for a public contract by the state, any agency, board, commission, or department of the state which received federal funds, the State Board of Education, a public college or trade school, or a public university. The act also provides that, beginning on October 1, 2013, the division may charge any agency, board, commission, or department of the state that receives state or federally appropriated funds for the database services or any other services provided by the division.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-470, SB348, is the Alabama Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act. The act establishes an Alabama court procedure for recognizing money judgments issued by a foreign country. The act specifies the burdens of proof for parties and revises the grounds for denying foreign judgments. The act also establishes a statute of limitations for recognition of foreign judgments.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-499, HB14, authorizes the presiding circuit judge of each judicial circuit to create guidelines providing for certain pretrial proceedings in civil, criminal, or probate cases in circuit, district, and probate court to be conducted by telephone conferencing or other audio-video telecommunication means.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-504, HB93, amends Sections 37-15-2 and 37-15-5, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the “One-Call Notification System,” to further provide for the definition of “person.” The act also provides that underground facility operators who elect to conduct an in-house program to receive excavation and demolition notifications in lieu of participating in the one-call notification system are responsible under certain conditions for damages to underground facilities.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-518, HB399, is the Alabama Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act. The act allows litigants in another state to depose individuals and conduct discovery in this state and allows out-of-state litigants to request a subpoena from the circuit clerk of the county in order to obtain discoverable material in that county. The act specifies that the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure will be applicable to all subpoenas served under this act. The act also provides that privileges extended to out-of-state litigants by this act will only apply if reciprocal privileges are provided by the jurisdiction where the action is pending.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.

Act 2012-550, HB222, amends Sections 19-3A-409 and 19-3A-505, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the Alabama Principal and Income Act, to further distinguish between the principal of a trust and the distribution of income from a trust. The act also provides for certain transitional matters in the application of the act.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Jan. 1, 2013.