A bill in honor of fallen Ashford Marine Lance Corporal Jason Barfield has passed the state Senate.

If it goes into law, Alabama will offer state tax help to families of dead servicemen or women within one year of their deaths.

The bill's sponsor, state Senator Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, addressed the full Senate in the final minutes of Thursday's meeting.

This is the first bill she's passed since returning to work from the state's gambling corruption re-trial.

"Just before we adjourned, I went to the microphone and asked would they consider bringing a bill up out of order that was very important to families who have lost family members overseas while serving our country, and there was just a hush over the Senate, and there was no objections over doing that. So I brought it up and we passed it with a 35-0 vote."

The bill now heads to the House, where Representative Paul Lee of Dothan is the sponsor.