---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the surrender of infants; to amend Sections 26-25-1, 26-25-2, 26-25-3, and 26-25-5, Code of Alabama 1975, and to add Sections 26-25-1.1 and 26-25-1.2 to the Code of Alabama 1975; to provide for the surrender of an infant to an emergency medical services provider or a hospital; to provide for the surrender of an infant in a baby safety device that meets certain requirements; to authorize the Department of Public Health to adopt rules relating to baby safety devices; to provide for an investigation into whether a surrendered infant is a missing child; to provide an affirmative defense to certain charges to parents who surrender an infant; to further provide for civil immunity for emergency medical services providers who accept surrendered infants; and to repeal Section 26-25-4, Code of Alabama 1975."
description: "Surrender of infants; anonymous surrender of infants to emergency medical services provider or hospital, provided for; installation and maintenance of baby safety devices, provided for; Department of Public Health, authorized to adopt rules; certain affirmative defenses, provided to parents; certain immunity from liability, provided to emergency medical services providers"
jurisdiction: "us/states/al"
legislature: "Alabama Legislature"
session: "2023rs"
identifier: "HB 473"
citation: "Alabama HB 473 (2023rs)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Surrender of infants"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Donna Givens"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-05-16T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-06-14T13:30:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7335a4a2-ea29-4b53-9588-c8351887722c"
source_url: "https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/bill-search"
source_hash: "2c7093f6ae651e487d1b44f7f55f6b7bf610f6666ba5c4e0e7cb9241d07ad42b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-al"]
---

# Alabama HB 473 (2023rs) — Relating to the surrender of infants; to amend Sections 26-25-1, 26-25-2, 26-25-3, and 26-25-5, Code of Alabama 1975, and to add Sections 26-25-1.1 and 26-25-1.2 to the Code of Alabama 1975; to provide for the surrender of an infant to an emergency medical services provider or a hospital; to provide for the surrender of an infant in a baby safety device that meets certain requirements; to authorize the Department of Public Health to adopt rules relating to baby safety devices; to provide for an investigation into whether a surrendered infant is a missing child; to provide an affirmative defense to certain charges to parents who surrender an infant; to further provide for civil immunity for emergency medical services providers who accept surrendered infants; and to repeal Section 26-25-4, Code of Alabama 1975.

Surrender of infants; anonymous surrender of infants to emergency medical services provider or hospital, provided for; installation and maintenance of baby safety devices, provided for; Department of Public Health, authorized to adopt rules; certain affirmative defenses, provided to parents; certain immunity from liability, provided to emergency medical services providers

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/HB473-int.pdf)
2. **Act 2023-508** (committee substitute) — [source](http://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1286175.AI1.pdf)
3. **Amendment 0LS1CC-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/0LS1CC-1.pdf)
4. **Amendment X3TM77-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/X3TM77-1.pdf)
5. **Children and Senior Advocacy Amendment N5QA88-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/N5QA88-1.pdf)
6. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/HB473-eng.pdf)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/HB473-enr.pdf)

## Votes

- Roll of the H for Vote 862 on HB473 (2023 Regular Session) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Roll of the S for Vote 1208 on HB473 (2023 Regular Session) — **31–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the S for Vote 1207 on HB473 (2023 Regular Session) — **31–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the H for Vote 863 on HB473 (2023 Regular Session) — **100–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Donna Givens — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-06-01T04:00:00+00:00** Enrolled
- **2023-06-01T04:00:00+00:00** Ready to Enroll
- **2023-06-01T04:00:00+00:00** Read A Third Time And Passed As Amended
- **2023-06-01T04:00:00+00:00** Adopt
- **2023-06-01T04:00:00+00:00** On Third Reading in Second House
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Read Second Time in Second House
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Out of Committee in Second House
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Favorably (Veterans and Military Affairs) `committee-passage`
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to Committee (Veterans and Military Affairs) `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Read First Time in Second House `reading-1`
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended `passage`
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** Adopt
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** On Third Reading in House of Origin
- **2023-05-23T04:00:00+00:00** Read Second Time in House of Origin
- **2023-05-23T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Out of Committee in House of Origin
- **2023-05-23T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Favorably (Children and Senior Advocacy) `committee-passage`
- **2023-05-23T04:00:00+00:00** AMD/SUB (Children and Senior Advocacy)
- **2023-05-22T04:00:00+00:00** AMD/SUB (Children and Senior Advocacy)
- **2023-05-16T04:00:00+00:00** Introduced and Referred (Children and Senior Advocacy) `introduction, referral`
- **2023-05-16T04:00:00+00:00** Read First Time in House of Origin `reading-1`
- **2023-06-14T13:30:00+00:00** Enacted as 2023-508 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7335a4a2-ea29-4b53-9588-c8351887722c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Alabama legislature records).