Latest news with #AlabamaHouseofRepresentatives
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Kay Ivey names new Public Service Commission president
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has named Cynthia Lee Almond to serve as the next Public Service Commission President. The appointment fills the seat left vacant by Twinkle Cavanaugh, who has taken a role in the Trump Administration. As president, Almond will lead the board responsible for regulating utilities in Alabama. Almond is a seasoned attorney and currently works in the private practice of law. She also takes the helm at the Public Service Commission after serving as a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives for District 63. Previously, Almond served four terms on the Tuscaloosa City Council, where she was elected president pro tem by her colleagues. 'I am honored to have been asked by Governor Ivey to fill this important position. It is one I accept with great enthusiasm,' said Almond. 'I know how important this commission is to the people of Alabama and to the industry sectors it regulates. I believe my training as an attorney and legislator will prove to be helpful in performing this role.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Four Republicans, one Democrat running in House District 12 special election
Members of the Alabama House of Representatives vote on a local bill on May 1, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The lights in each name represent how a member of the House voted. Green is for yes; blue is for abstention. Abstaining on local bills is common for representatives not from the area that will be affected by the bill. A special election will be held to fill the Cullman County area House District 12 seat on Oct. 28, with the primary on July 15.(Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Four Republicans and one Democratic candidate qualified for the Alabama House District 12 special election in Cullman County. Republican voters will have the choice between Heather Doyle, Clint Hollingsworth, Dan McWhorter and Cindy Myrex on July 15. The lone Democratic candidate, Matt Glover, will advance to the general election on Oct. 28 against the winner of the special election primary. If one Republican candidate does not receive 50% of votes, the special runoff election will take place on Aug. 12. Former Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Cullman, resigned in April after he was absent for much of the 2025 legislative session. All interviewed candidates said they are running for office for Cullman County representation in Montgomery. 'You didn't ask how anybody that lives there, how they felt about it,' Doyle said. 'This is our community, like we live there. This is going to affect us.' 'My plan is to represent the folks in this district like I have my constituents with the city,' Hollingsworth said. 'I'm gonna work hard for them, just like what I've done for the last 17 years on the city council, for the folks here that voted for me.' 'I didn't think we were getting much representation on the issues that I thought were important, so I figured I'd get involved,' McWhorter said. Efforts to schedule an interview with Myrex were not successful. Doyle, Glover and McWhorter also expressed opposition to SB 322, sponsored by Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills. It was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey on May 7 and allowed the City of Cullman to annex a resort on Smith Lake in Cullman County, a dry county, for the resort to serve alcohol. 'I mean, there's nothing I can do about that, even though I know that's the main concentration for the election. I just think it's wrong,' Doyle said. 'We're exploring what it would take to rescind the legislation,' McWhorter said. Glover's first priority in his campaign is giving the people more power, which he said was not present when the legislation passed. The Republican primary Doyle, 43, is a former teacher and realtor in the Smith Lake area of Cullman County. She wants to reform the court system, inspired by an ongoing custody battle in her personal life that she declined to explain because of potential implications in the litigation. 'I think we just need a better system, like something for inmates to even go to rehab,' she said in an interview Monday. 'I just think we need to do something better.' She also wants to reduce wasteful spending and government overreach by reviewing where state taxpayer dollars are going. 'I think we need to look closer at the budget and what we're spending and the programs,' she said. Finally, she wants to improve education in the state and be a voice for children in education and in custody battles. 'They don't get like issues that are going on with the court system, with kids, it's just not a man thing. They're not worried about kids, and they're not worried about women,' she said. 'And I just think we've got a lot of things going on with juveniles in the court system that I think just needs to be handled differently.' The first-time candidate said she is the best for the job because she will not rely on the politics of lawmaking to pass legislation. 'Nobody's going to be able to bribe me, I don't owe anybody a favor,' she said. 'I really think this is how politics work.' Hollingsworth, 47, owns a used car dealership in Cullman. He said in an interview on May 27 that he is prioritizing education and work force development. 'Investing in public education and job training programs is vital to prepare our students for future employment opportunities,' he said. He also said he wants the state to support volunteer fire departments more. There are 983 volunteer fire departments in the state, 23 of which are in Cullman County, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission. 'There's 17 in this district that I'm running for, and I want to help with funding and training and just trying to get people willing to serve and help their community,' Hollingsworth said. He also said he wants to improve transportation infrastructure. 'Reliable transportation is essential for employment, education and our health care,' he said. 'Not just the county roads, but even 65 and interstate highways just need upgrades for sure.' The former Cullman County City Councilman said he is the best candidate because of his tenure on city council, which he has served on since 2008. 'It's a new challenge for me, but it encompasses areas that I'm already kind of used to,' he said. 'I'm just looking forward to helping and serving more people.' McWhorter, 68, has been a sales manager for Innovative Analytical Solutions in Bremen, Alabama, for a decade. McWhorter said in an interview on May 21 that his main priority is to implement a property tax cap for property owners who are at least 65 years old. 'Property ownership is either a right or it's a privilege,' McWhorter said. 'So if it's a right, we don't tax free speech, right? So why are you taxing my property?' Aside from that, McWhorter also wants a 'clean lottery bill' that would fund two years of tuition at technical colleges. The legislature failed to pass a comprehensive gaming bill in 2024, and the House rejected any attempts at another from the Senate this year. 'The second one is a clean lottery bill that'll fund two-year college tuition, or two years of college tuition for any high school graduate with a C average,' he said. Lastly, McWhorter wants to completely eliminate the tax on overtime, which is set to expire on June 30. He also mentioned eliminating daylight savings time as a goal. House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, an original supporter of the bill, has said the exemption created a larger hole in the Education Trust Fund (ETF) than expected. President Donald Trump has advocated for a national exemption in his second term. The lone Democrat Glover, 40, served on the Good Hope City Council from 2012-2016. He wants to prioritize local power. 'Returning power to local communities, like just trying to wrestle away some of the power that the state government has taken from like local cities and towns, which plays in with SB 322,' Glover said in an interview on May 23. He also said he opposes HB 445, sponsored by Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest, which was signed into law on May 14. The bill requires testing and labeling for all consumable hemp products and caps at 10 milligrams per individually wrapped product and 40 milligrams per package. It will require the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board to license retailers of these products, restrict retail establishments selling hemp products and impose an excise tax on consumable hemp products. 'With the amount of jobs that I think that's going to cost, and the amount of like, government overreach that is involved with it is pretty disgusting,' he said. Finally, Glover wants to advocate for direct ballot initiatives in order for Alabamians to have a say in a state lottery. Nineteen states have direct ballot initiatives, which allow citizens to propose constitutional amendments. 'A lot of that goes back to us not being able to get the lottery amendment on the ballot, like sports gambling, any number of things, but where they just won't pass it in Montgomery to allow the citizens to vote,' he said. Glover said he is running for office to show the people of the district that there are Democrats and that they deserve to be represented. 'We still exist. And I think there's just a lack of enthusiasm and motivation,' he said. 'When you see a statewide ballot with no Democrats running, it makes people less likely to turn out, and then it looks like that they're just not there.' Meet the Candidates Age: 43 Residence: Cullman Occupation: Realtor, former teacher Education: Associates degree, Accounting, Snead State Community College, 2006; Bachelor's degree, elementary education, Athens State University, 2010; Master's degree, instructional leadership, Athens State University, 2024 Party: Republican Previous political experience: first-time candidate Age: 47 Residence: Cullman Occupation: self-employed at a used car dealership Education: Bachelor's degree, K-12 physical education, Athens State University, 1999 Party: Republican Previous political experience: Cullman City Council since 2008 Age: 40 Residence: Cullman Occupation: Parts manager at a poultry plant Education: High school diploma, Good Hope High School, 2002 Party: Democrat Previous political experience: Good Hope City Council 2012-2016 Age: 68 Residence: Cold Springs Occupation: Sales manager at Innovative Analytical Solutions Education: Associates's degree, electronics, National Institute of Technology, 1984 Party: Republican Previous political experience: first-time candidate SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sponsor of ‘Don't Say Gay' expansion plans to revive bill next year
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, clapping on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on May 14, 2025, in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler said Thursday he would bring back the Don't Say Gay expansion next year after it did not receive final passage on the last day of session.(Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama lawmaker plans to bring back a bill next year that would prohibit all discussions of gender identity and sexuality during instructional time in public schools. HB 244 got approval from the House on April 18 and from the Senate Education Policy Committee on May 1. Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, chair of that committee, told Butler after the bill was approved that it is unlikely the Senate will pass it because of the timing and said it needed to be in his committee earlier in the year to have a chance of passage; at the time, there were four days left in the session. A Democratic filibuster launched in protest of the House's handling of local bills on the last day of the session doomed Butler's bill and many others. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Butler said he was offended by Chesteen's comment that he should have filed the bill sooner but said both men remedied that after the committee meeting. A message seeking comment from Chesteen was left Thursday afternoon. Butler filed the bill in February, but it did not go before the House Education Policy Committee until April 3, when the committee held a public hearing. The committee did not approve it until the following week. Butler said he asked Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, chair of the committee, for it to be put on the agenda many times earlier in the session. 'I repeatedly asked for it, and I was assured it was coming, it was coming, it was coming,' he said. 'The chair had other things she said she was dealing with, and I think they waited to deal with several controversial bills at one time.' A message seeking comment from Collins was left Thursday afternoon. Butler said next year he plans to have a companion bill in the Senate to improve the bill's chances of passage, 'so we can move on both at the same time, and whoever gets there first wins,' he said. Butler said Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, was handling the bill in the Senate and plans to ask him to sponsor the Senate version next year. Kelley said in an interview that he and Butler will be meeting soon about companion bills for next session soon. 'There may be some changes to it, a little bit here, a little bit there,' Kelley said. 'We're planning on bringing that back next year.' The law currently prohibits such discussions in K-5. Butler's bill would expand it to pre-K-12, which he said would bring it inline with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January. Critics of the bill said at the April 3 public hearing that the legislation is unconstitutional and unnecessary. A spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a consistent critic of the legislation, said in an interview Thursday she was relieved that the bill did not pass but she still had concerns for the legislation next year. 'I'm hoping that it stays dead, and I'm hoping that we don't see a new extension, a revival of it,' Makhayla DesRosiers, state community organizer for the Alabama SPLC office, said. Many members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke against the bill throughout the legislative process, all with similar concerns: what defines instructional time. DesRosiers said the lack of a definition opens the door for a complete prohibition of discussion. 'If I do extracurricular activities, is it also instructional time? If I'm learning something outside of my regular school hours, is that instructional time?' she asked. 'Who gets to define instructional time?' Butler has repeatedly said discussions of gender identity and sexuality are only prohibited when a teacher is teaching, but that is not explicit in the legislation. 'People keep saying the student can't do this or that. No, they carry their First Amendment rights with them into the school, and they absolutely can talk to the teacher, the principal, the nurse, the counselor, about whatever they want to talk about,' he said. Butler said the bill next year would be the original bill that was filed in February. A House amendment this spring removed a part of the bill that would have prohibited teachers from referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth. He said that is because another bill would have done the same thing. HB 246, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would give public educators legal immunity and students immunity from discipline for using a person's legal name and pronouns aligned with their reproductive organs, instead of the name and gender with which they identify. It did not receive final passage either. DesRosier said that while the people speaking out against the legislation may be small in number, legislation like this is not reflective of the state. 'Just because there is a majority of folks that are proposing and voting on these bills at the State House, that is not reflective of the communities they are elected to represent,' DesRosier said. 'As long as bigotry and hate and human rights violations are proposed and passed, there are always going to be folks that are resisting that.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Alabama lawmaker plans to revive failed religious vaccine exemption bill next year
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City (center) speaks to Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 29, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A bill that would have made it easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements failed to advance out of the Alabama Legislature this year. SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would have allowed parents to claim religious exemptions from vaccines for their children without requiring them to state a reason. The bill would have also required public colleges and universities to provide medical and religious exemptions to vaccine or testing requirements. But despite the bill's failure to become law, one lawmaker said he's committed to reintroducing the bill and feels confident it will pass in the next session. 'I plan to bring it back and continue to fight. We're going to keep chipping away until we feel like we've got our liberties back,' said Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, who introduced a companion bill in the House, in a phone interview Monday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill would have allowed parents or guardians to object to vaccination or testing requirements by submitting a written statement stating that the vaccination or testing conflicts with their religion as valid grounds for exemption from any school enrollment vaccine or testing requirement. It also specified that no additional forms, fees or documentation could be required of the parent, guardian or child for enrollment in any public K-12 school. The bill would have also extended these provisions to public colleges and universities. Alabama's measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination rate among kindergartners was 93.8% in the 2023-2024 school year, under the 95% rate set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to achieve herd immunity. An ongoing outbreak in West Texas that started with two unvaccinated school-age children in January has now spread to at least 29 other states. Orr said in a phone interview Friday that an amendment added by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, which he said proponents of the bill did not like, likely kept the bill from advancing in the House. The amendment would have required a student claiming a vaccine exemption to submit a board-approved physical evaluation form or the Alabama High School Athletic Association's Preparticipation Physical Education form, but it did not have an enforcement mechanism or sanctions for not submitting the form. 'Among the proponents, they were not happy with the Singleton amendment put on in the Senate,' Orr said. 'And among the opponents, they still want to stay with the status quo, which is a bit unnecessary, in my opinion.' Orr added that the House seemed reluctant to take up controversial bills toward the end of the session, adding that Butler would have to be asked for the specific reasons the bill didn't make it to the House floor. The bill passed the House Health Committee two weeks before the session ended, giving it enough time to be considered by the House, but Butler said that tension between the House and Senate toward the end of the session only allowed a number of priority bills to be passed. 'I don't think it was a priority either. The Back-the-Blue (package) was the big priority there at the last minute, which we did get across, but we have got to do a better job of waiting until the last minute on everything,' Butler said. Apriell Hartsfield, Kids Count director for VOICES for Alabama Children, who opposed the bill in its House committee hearing, said Monday that she was concerned about the potential impact on children's health and safety if similar legislation becomes law in the future. She said that declining vaccination rates can threaten community health, potentially leading to outbreaks and increased risk for everyone. She added that fewer vaccinated people lead to a higher risk for others, especially those who are immunocompromised or too young to be fully immunized. 'Our biggest concern are the most vulnerable of the children, and those are the children who are immunocompromised, so that they cannot, medically and for health reasons, get the immunizations, and then, of course, the youngest children, those who are too young to be fully immunized,' Hartsfield said. She said the existing process already allows parents to claim a religious exemption for required vaccines, and safeguards are in place to help public health officials address outbreaks effectively. Butler said he was concerned about the alleged adverse effects of vaccines, particularly the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that 'we're seeing so much, so many adverse effects from mainly the COVID vaccine, and now they're still pushing that out.' While rare adverse reactions related to the COVID-19 vaccine have been reported, such as anaphylaxis or myocarditis, the vaccine is considered safe, and these reactions are significantly less common than the severe health risks of a COVID-19 illness. Hartsfield said that discussions on the COVID-19 vaccine and school-required immunizations shouldn't be grouped together and that it's essential that parents and guardians understand the decades of research behind immunizations required in schools. She said that parents can't truly make an informed decision 'if we are reducing not just the accessibility to the vaccinations, but the accessibility to the information.' 'A lot of the misinformation that's out there, a lot of these things have been debunked over and over and again. It is the right of the parent to choose, but I think it's important that parents know what they're choosing, and that is where public health helps with that,' she said. Hartsfield also pointed to the economic impact that limiting vaccine access could have on the state and communities, saying that non-immunized children exposed to measles must be out for 21 days, which could impact working families. She also said that a measles outbreak or even a single case in a child care setting, which already faces challenges, could force closures. 'Alabama is right in the middle of states that have outbreaks. We don't have one yet, but as Dr. Scott Harris has said, it's really not a matter of if but when this is going to happen in Alabama,' she said. There were 1,024 confirmed measles cases across 30 states as of May 15, according to the CDC, where 96% of individuals are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Enhanced police immunity bill gets Alabama Legislature's approval, goes to Gov. Kay Ivey
Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, speaks about Senate changes to a bill extending police immunity in the Alabama House of Representatives on May 14, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Legislature Wednesday gave final approval to the bill, sending it to Gov. Kay Ivey. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Legislature passed a bill to enhance immunity protections for law enforcement in the final hours of the 2025 legislative session Wednesday. HB 202, sponsored by Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, changes the standard by which law enforcement can claim immunity as they perform their jobs and gives them additional procedural protections during litigation. The debate showed the stark differences in experiences with law enforcement between Republican lawmakers, nearly all of whom are white, and Democratic lawmakers, nearly all of whom are Black. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Democratic senators, who said the legislation would give law enforcement a 'license to kill' during debate, raised concerns that the bill could put nonwhite Alabamians at a higher risk of being victims of police brutality. 'You will have blood on your hands,' said Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Reynolds, a retired police chief, said after the House convened that while he hears the concerns of his Democratic colleagues, he also thinks about the families of fallen police officers. 'But we turn that nickel around, and we've got to say the same thing about our fallen officers,' Reynolds said. 'We hope it will restore some faith in our officers, that we do have their back in Alabama. We hope it increases recruitment and helps for the retention of our officers.' The bill the Senate passed 25-6 after a nearly two-hour debate and went back to the House for concurrence due to Senate changes. The House voted to concurred shortly after, sending the bill to Gov. Kay Ivey. Ivey wrote in a social media post that she looked forward to 'swiftly signing it into law.' Currently, law enforcement officers can face prosecution or lawsuits if they act 'willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, beyond his or her authority, or under a mistaken interpretation of the law.' Under the legislation, the officer would have to violate rights explicitly outlined in the constitutions of Alabama or the United States. The legislation grants law enforcement officers a hearing at the start of civil or criminal cases to determine if their actions were within their discretionary authority. If the court rules in favor of the officer, the case is dismissed. If the appeal is rejected, the officer can appeal the verdict to the Alabama Supreme Court, but the appeal is time-limited. Even if the appeal is rejected, the officer can continue to assert their defense. Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, asked Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, who handled the bill in the Senate,f the intent of the bill was because of the 'dangerous' nature of police work, which Bell said was one of the reasons. Stewart said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies professions like log work and construction, but 'unfortunately, law enforcement is not included.' 'I'm talking about the true intent this legislation gives the veneer that it is about protecting police officers, but we know that this is about outsized influence,' Stewart said, saying that the bill comes at a more 'inopportune time' after the Hanceville Police Department was disbanded following the arrest of the police chief and four officers. 'This legislation erodes public trust. A grand jury investigation revealed that a rampant culture of corruption within the department,' he said. Under the bill, plaintiffs can't gather evidence during discovery in civil cases when the officer requests dismissal. They can also obtain video footage in civil lawsuits but not criminal cases. A study commission will evaluate the legislation's impact on law enforcement recruitment and retention. Under the legislation, law enforcement agencies must collect and submit data to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency about excessive force committed by officers and the race and ethnicity of both officers and victims. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, tried to amend the bill so that law enforcement training would be uniform across the state, but Bell said that was an unfriendly amendment, saying that law enforcement already receives adequate training. 'Before we can carry a gun, before you're putting a badge on and going out there, you have all kinds of training on those scenarios,' Bell said during the debate. The House debated Reynolds' motion to concur in Senate changes for about 45 minutes. Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, brought similar concerns as he did when the legislation passed the House on March 6. 'I still have my concerns about this bill,' Tillman said. 'What it is actually doing is taking away judicial discretion. It is dictating to the courts and judges on how they should view police officers.' After Tillman and other Black Democrats spoke on the bill, debate was clotured, limiting the rest of debate to 10 minutes. Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, the only white Democrat to speak against the bill, asked Reynolds to look at the situation from an empathy standpoint. 'At the end of the day I think about… just hearing my colleagues over and over again, individuals that don't look like us, very candidly. The concerns about Black men that will be disproportionately affected by this,' he said. Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, asked for the bill to be read at length with about two minutes left of debate and with about 25 minutes left of Legislative session. 'At concurrence, on the third reading, the bill cannot be read at length,' House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter told Bracy. The House concurred 73-28 with Senate changes with 24 minutes left of the session. House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter commended Reynolds after the Legislature adjourned on Wednesday. 'I can't thank our members enough to stay into the late hour to try to get a bill that was important to law enforcement across the state,' he said. 'The men and women in blue protect us every morning that and every afternoon, and we just had to stay another hour and a half to give them a protection.' Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, pointed to the 'legacy' of police violence and the reason that Black senators are the ones speaking against the bill is because Black Americans are often those impacted by this violence, saying that 'it is very hard to even remotely feel what we feel about this.' 'One of the things I struggle with is how easy it is for so many of my colleagues to compartmentalize things like this,' Hatcher said, saying that if he were in his Republican colleagues' position, he 'would be sensitive to what happens to (their) children.' Hatcher said there was no justification for the legislation and warned that the body will be held accountable for the laws they choose to codify into law. 'This train has left the station,' Hatcher said. 'But we can make very clear, this law does not protect good cops.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
