Alabama lawmakers steered mostly clear of disagreement Tuesday and let contentious bills die on the last day of what House and Senate leaders called a successful annual session.

A bill to make it a crime to help people cast absentee ballots, with some exceptions for family members and others, was left off the Senate agenda. Republicans said the bill would protect election integrity by outlawing “ballot harvesting,” while Democrats said it would criminalize the work of civic groups, churches, and neighbors who help the elderly, homebound, and disabled cast their votes.

The Senate took no action on a bill to crack down on sales of vaping products to people under 21 because of sharp disagreement the measure. A bill to require students to attend kindergarten or pass a school readiness test before admission to test to first grade was left off the last-day agenda in the Senate.

A bill to put more teeth in the Alabama public records law was allowed to die without a vote in the House. It would have set deadlines for government agencies to respond to requests for copies of records. Alabama’s public records law is weak, partly it does not include any requirements for agencies to respond to requests by any certain times.

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said he met with Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, and others to come up with a last-day agenda that would avoid filibusters and disruptions.

“One of the things we tried to do is pass bills that we knew wouldn’t tie us up because we knew this was our last chance and there was no use in bringing something that’s going to blow up the House floor,” Ledbetter said after the House adjourned. “If this is something that’s going to be contentious, there’s no use in putting it on the House floor.”

The House and Senate did pass bills on Tuesday and reached final agreements on some that had gone to conference committees. They expanded the impact of a tax cut bill that passed last week, approving an executive amendment by Gov. Kay Ivey that removed a cap on a bill that exempts overtime pay from the 5% state income tax. They passed a bill adding new restrictions to holding a cellphone while driving, an expansion of the state law that already bans texting while driving. If Ivey signs it into law, police could only give warnings for the first year. After that, the fine on a first violation would be $50.

After adjournment today, Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said the session that started on March 7 produced some big wins for taxpayers. Lawmakers passed a bill to reduce the state sales tax on food, an idea talked about for decades. They approved a one-time state income tax rebate of $150 to individuals and $300 to married couples filing jointly. They updated and expanded the tax incentive laws to recruit industry. They passed a bill to mandate prison time for knowingly possessing one gram or more of fentanyl, the drug that is the leading cause of overdose deaths.

“I couldn’t be happier with how the session went,” said Ledbetter, who was elected speaker in January to replace Mac McCutcheon, who retired. “There’s always some things that you’d like to have done more or like to have seen finished. But that’s just part of the process. As you know, there’s more ways to kill a bill than there are to pass one. So, from my standpoint, for first time being speaker, I couldn’t have asked for it to have went any better.”

Reed said strong bipartisan support on the food tax cut and overtime tax exemption were examples of how lawmakers worked to build consensus on legislation that will help Alabama families.

“We’ve built strong relationships, Republican and Democrat, House and Senate,” Reed said. “We’ve seen it on display on some of the things we’ve worked on to make sure the people of Alabama know we’re trying to work together to accomplish things that are important to them. And we’ve got a whole long list of great accomplishments and I could not be more pleased.”

Ledbetter said the public records law was left off the House calendar Tuesday because of the governor’s concerns.

“I think it’s one of the things that the governor really wanted to look at closer,” Ledbetter said. “I think the executive branch wanted to make sure it was something that was OK. And I think we’ve got another shot at it next year. We’ll see where it goes and we’ll go from there.”

The Alabama Press Association supported the bill, SB196 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, as an incremental step toward strengthening access to public records. A 2019 study by a researcher at the University of Arizona ranked Alabama last among states in responsiveness to requests for records.

Ivey issued an executive order in January directing state agencies to be more responsive to records requests. But Gina Maiola, communications director for the governor, said the governor did not support SB196.

“We have made meaningful progress already through the governor’s executive order on public records, and this bill, on this final day of session, was not ready for passage,” Maiola said in an email.

Senate Pro Tem Reed was asked about the Senate’s decision not to consider the absentee ballot bill, HB209 by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, on Tuesday. Discussions about the bill filled committee rooms for public hearings. It passed the House and was supported by Secretary of State Wes Allen. Reed said it was one of several bills that fell short of the consensus needed for last-day consideration.

“It was primarily because there were questions, there were conflicts, there were issues, maybe unintended consequences that had been discussed,” Reed said. “Many members of the body felt like those particular pieces of legislation needed some more review. So I don’t know that those pieces of legislation are gone from discussion by any means. I think they will very much be topics that we will once again be standing here talking about in the coming months and in the next session.”

Reed said lawmakers will try again next year on the bill to more tightly restrict vaping by minors. Reed said educators in his district have told him that vaping by middle school and high school students is one of the biggest challenges they face, along with social media.

“I think that legislation that we had before us, that legislation had a lot of good points, but it also brought a number of topics that were concerning to members of the Senate,” Reed said. “We will look moving forward at vaping legislation that is focused not on the tobacco industry, not on the vaping industry, but primarily how do we keep these products away from our children. And that’s the number one focus. I think you’ll definitely see that legislation back.”

Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, has sponsored HB43, the bill on kindergarten and first-grade readiness for several years. Speaker Ledbetter said he told Warren he would work her to try to overcome opposition in the Senate so the bill can pass next year.

“I think that’s part of the process,” Ledbetter said. “If we don’t get it across the line because of issues, we need to sit down and have that conversation and see if there’s something we can do to move it. And I told her I will do that early on next year to give us more time.”

Another bill that died on the last day would have allowed state inmates serving life without parole who have been in prison at least 23 years and whose crimes did not cause a serious physical injury to apply for a new sentence. HB229, by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would have given a second-chance sentencing opportunity about 300 state inmates.

The Senate’s last-day agenda did not include HB298 by Rep. Chris Sells, R-Evergreen, which would have required cellphone and tablet manufacturers to set devices to automatically activate filters to block pornography and material harmful to minors when the devices are turned on in Alabama.