Alabama Window Tint: 32 Percent on the Sides and Rear, and the Meter Must Be in the Officer's Hand Before the Stop

The chapter dates to Acts 1996, No. 96-534, and § 32-5C-1 defines the terms it turns on. Light transmission is the ratio, expressed in percentages, of light allowed to pass through a surface to the light falling on it. Light reflectance is the ratio of light reflected outward. Material means "Any transparent product or substance which reduces light transmission", which is why an opaque object stuck to the glass is handled by a different statute entirely.

Section 32-5C-2(a)(2) sets two thresholds at once on the rear windshield and the side and door windows: light transmission may not fall below 32 percent and light reflectance may not exceed 20 percent, and the section builds in a measurement tolerance of at least 3 percent in the driver's favor. Subsection (a)(1) treats the front windshield as a separate case with no percentage at all, prohibiting any material or glazing applied or affixed to it that reduces light transmission.

The seven exceptions in § 32-5C-3 are what a windshield may lawfully carry. They are adjustable sun visors mounted forward of the side windows and not attached to the glass; signs, stickers or other matter displayed in a seven-inch square in the lower corner of the front or rear windshield; direction, destination or termination signs on a passenger common carrier that do not interfere with the driver's clear view of approaching traffic; any transparent item that is not red or amber placed on the uppermost six inches of the windshield; any federal, state or local sticker or certificate required by law; any vehicle whose windows or windshield were tinted or darkened before factory delivery or as permitted by federal law or regulation; and any motor vehicle not registered in Alabama.

Act 2021-451 added the exemption in § 32-5C-2(b) for personal use vehicles belonging to, and occupied by, any active or retired state, local or federal law enforcement officer. Subsection (c) attaches a condition to it: those officers shall carry law enforcement identification while driving the exempted personal vehicles.

Medical exemptions run through the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency rather than a health department. Under § 32-5C-4(a), ALEA may issue an exemption to a person required for medical reasons to be shielded from the direct rays of the sun, on an application supported by a written statement of that fact from a physician licensed to practice medicine in Alabama, and the exemption covers any vehicle the person owns or is a habitual passenger in. Subsection (b), added by Act 2016-392, gives a wider exemption for light-sensitive prophyria, which the statute spells that way, extending to all areas of the windshield and windows the physician prescribes. Subsection (c) directs ALEA to design a decal carrying a unique identification number, to be placed on the windshield of each vehicle the exempt person operates, and permits a reasonable fee to cover the cost of the decal and the exemption process.

The supply side is regulated too. Section 32-5C-5 requires every manufacturer of tinting material to apply to the director for approval and registration of both the material and its label before shipping into Alabama, and approval is withheld unless the manufacturer shows the material does not breach § 32-5C-2 when applied. Section 32-5C-6 then requires a tinted vehicle to display a compliance label visible from outside, and forbids installing material that would put the vehicle out of compliance.

Alabama also keeps an older, wordier rule on the books alongside the percentages. Section 32-5-215(d), from Acts 1983, No. 83-572, bars operating a vehicle whose windshield, sidewing or rear window is tinted to the extent that occupants "cannot be easily identified or recognized through the sidewing or rear windows from outside the motor vehicle", and subsection (e) exempts manufactured windshield tinting and legally required decals. That test has no number attached, and it applies in addition to the 32 percent figure.

Nothing is measured at a periodic inspection, because Alabama has none for private cars. The Code contains no section using the phrases "motor vehicle inspection", "periodic inspection" or "inspection sticker"; the only vehicle inspection authorities in it are for commercial motor vehicles under § 32-9A-2 and § 32-9A-2.5 and for school buses under § 16-27-3. Enforcement of tint is therefore entirely roadside, and § 32-5C-2(a)(2) puts a condition on that stop which few states impose: the officer must already be carrying a meter capable of measuring light transmission before pulling the driver over.

Section 32-5C-7 sets a graduated penalty for any violation of the chapter. A first conviction carries a fine of not more than $100, or imprisonment for not more than 10 days, or both. A second conviction for an offense committed within one year after the date of the first carries not more than $200, or not more than 30 days, or both. A third conviction for a third or subsequent offense committed within one year after the date of the first carries not more than $500, or not more than three months, or both.

Installing noncomplying material is itself prohibited by § 32-5C-6, so the shop and the driver are separately exposed, and § 32-5C-5 makes it unlawful to alter or reproduce an approved label or to use one except as that section authorizes. A charge under § 32-5C-2(a)(2) cannot stand without a metered reading, since the subsection requires that light transmission be measured with a device or instrument capable of measuring it before a person may be charged. Violations of § 32-5-215(d) fall under the general Title 32 penalty in § 32-5A-8(b): up to $100 or 10 days for a first conviction, up to $200 or 30 days for a second within a year, and up to $500 or three months for a third or subsequent.