Alabama
CurrentFOCUS Act (HB 166)
Requires students to receive instruction on the risks and benefits of social media and how to use social media before entering eighth grade.
- Jurisdiction
- Alabama · State / DC
- Policy status
- Effective
- Implementation phase
- Current
- Requirement
- Required
- Grades
- Before grade 8; grades 8–12 transfers or students who have not completed the course.
- Audience
- Students
- Learning evidence
- Student instruction required
- Instrument
- Statute / enacted law
Dates & implementation
State course-development deadline July 1, 2025. Local boards must deliver the course before grade 8 and make it available to grades 8–12 transfers or students who have not completed it.
A legal effective date can precede school implementation. This record documents policy intent or requirements; it does not independently confirm delivery in every classroom.
Funding & support
Policy-specific support
State must develop and make the course available online. §6 does not specify a dedicated appropriation; separate funding programs require their own evidence.
Read funding sourceEvidence & source location
HB166 enrolled §6, PDF pp.5–6.
Instructional requirement is recorded separately from the act's device and internet-safety policy provisions.
Review history
Reviewed against official sources
Source availability checked Oct 4, 2026: Source reopened. This is separate from verification of the policy claim below.
Source review date recorded in database: 2026-10-04
2026-10-03 — Carried forward from the source-linked baseline; topic, grade and evidence-type inventory reviewed. Individual source was not re-opened in this update. 2026-10-04 — Substantive source review: HB166 enrolled §6 read. Required completion before eighth grade, plus grades8–12 transfers or students who have not completed the course; not a separate course required in every grade.
Record ID: AL-2025-SOCIAL-LIT-001
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