State Senators Matt Woods, R-District 5, and Wes Kitchens, R-District 9, recently prefiled Senate Bill 31 for the 2026 Legislative Session. The bill would redefine the crime of “making a terrorist threat” under state law and would increase the punishment for that crime, whether committed in the first or second degree.
Under SB31, the crime of making a terrorist threat in the first degree would be redefined as taking place when a person “makes a credible threat to commit a crime of violence against a person or to damage any property by use of a bomb, explosive, weapon of mass destruction, firearm, deadly weapon, dangerous instrument, or other mechanism” and the threat is made to cause the evacuation of property, to retaliate against a person for their involvement in a legal proceeding, to disrupt school, church or government activity, or is made against an elected public official or a member of their staff.
In the legislation, the senators define a “credible threat” as any statement made to another person that causes the person to reasonably fear for their own safety or for the safety of the object of the threat. The threatened harm must also be “reasonably perceived to be made with the intent and apparent ability to carry out that threat.”
In addition to this new definition, the bill looks to increase the penalty for making a terrorist threat in the first degree from a Class C felony to a Class B felony–raising the maximum sentence from 10 years in prison with fines up to $15,000 to 20 years in prison with fines up to $30,000.
While the bill’s definition of making a terrorist threat in the first degree requires a “credible threat” to be made, its definition of making a terrorist threat in the second degree only requires that an individual make a threat to commit violence against another person or property, thereby causing fear or harm to another person. Under this definition, an individual would not need to be perceived as having the actual intent or ability to carry out the threat in order to be charged with making a terrorist threat in the second degree.
The legislation would maintain the current punishment for making a terrorist threat in the second degree as a Class A misdemeanor, but would allow the crime to be punishable as a Class D felony if the perpetrator “has a prior adjudication or conviction of making a terrorist threat in any degree” or if they commit “a second or subsequent offense of making a terrorist threat in the second degree within one year of making another terrorist threat in any degree.”
Additionally, the legislation provides that a school principal must immediately notify law enforcement if they become aware that a student has made a terrorist threat as defined by the bill, with any student charged with making a terrorist threat receiving a mandatory one-year suspension unless the charges are dismissed. Such a student would be banned from all public K-12 school property in the state for the duration of that suspension.
Any student convicted of making a terrorist threat in any degree would be expelled from school under the bill, with the student and their parent or guardian being required to pay restitution to law enforcement, emergency medical service providers and the local board of education for any “costs incurred relating to the crime.” The school may also recover court costs from the student and their parent or guardian.
Additionally, a student convicted of making a terrorist threat would not be allowed to return to school until “all criminal charges or offenses arising from the conduct have been disposed of by appropriate authorities,” the student has completed court-mandated psychiatric or psychological evaluation and counseling, and all other conditions set by the local board of education have been satisfied.
The senators’ bill will now go to the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration during the 2026 Legislative Session which will begin on Tuesday, January 13.
