The room-temperature absorption coefficient and ordinary refractive index for a ∼0.4-μm-thick p-type wurtzite Al0.09Ga0.91N epitaxial layer were determined via optical transmission measurements. The layer was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition and heavily doped (∼5×1019 cm−3) with Mg. Additional measurements of the refractive index by prism coupling to the layer confirmed the transmission results. The low-temperature AlN buffer layer altered the expected interference fringes of the transmission spectrum below the band-gap energy and had to be accounted for in the analysis. The absorption coefficient exhibited band-tail effects and had a reduced slope near band-gap energy as compared to undoped GaN. Using a detailed balance argument, the reduced slope was consistent with the lack of a peak in the continuous-wave photoluminescent emission.