New Alabama Senate Bill Targets AHSAA and Hundreds of Schools Could Pay the Price

SB73 would force sweeping governance changes or strip public schools of eligibility to compete, with an October start date looming

Alabama State Senators meeting on the senate floor in February of 2025. Almost one year later, Senate Bill 73 that was proposed on January 13 could shake up Alabama high school sports. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A new bill was introduced in the Alabama Senate on Tuesday which has major implications for public schools and the AHSAA if it were to pass.

As first reported by the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday, the bill outlines that it would "prohibit public k-12 schools from being a member of an athletic association whose governing body is comprised of certain members and that enforces rules relating to student-athlete eligibility which were not adopted in accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act."

Section 1A

The bill further outlines that any public school within the state cannot be a member of the AHSAA or any athletic association unless the governing body of the athletic association "is comprised of at least 50 percent of members who are appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, or the Lieutenant Governor."

Section 1B

The bill then specifically outlines the actual number of appointees that must be appointed by the state's government. Four members must be each be appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore and three members by the Lieutenant Governor.

Section 1C

The summary in part C of Section 1 of SB73 says that a public school may not be a member of an athletic association that enforces a rule or bylaw that relates to the eligibility of a student-athlete that is not in accordance with the procedure act that is mentioned in the opening statement of the bill.

👀”Pay Close Attention”

This ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/HypEnNpOpL

— Hall-Tech Sports (@HallTechSports1) January 15, 2026

Section 2 Summary

In Section 2 of the bill, it is outlined that "The Legislative Council may authorize any entity to voluntarily adopt rules pursuant to the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act."

Section 3 outlines the start date of SB73

The bill is set to go into effect on October 1 of this year in the midst of the high school football season.

Negative possible result if the bill passes

As stated in the Montgomery Advertiser, if the bill does pass and goes in effect in October that would mean over 300 public schools who fall under the AHSAA would not be able to stay members. It remains to be seen how this would affect the public schools during the football season, particularly in the postseason, but the bill needs to pass first. The only way to prevent something like this from arising would be for the AHSAA to follow to necessary guidelines that are laid out in SB73. However, if the AHSAA does not make the required changes, that would result in over 300 schools would not be able to stay members of the athletic association.