Latest news with #HB132
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Scottsboro officials' terms would be extended a year under Alabama Legislature bills
A voter walks into Jackson Way Baptist Church during Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Huntsville, Ala. Two bills in the Legislature would extend the terms of officials in Scottsboro to get the city on the same election cycle as the rest of the state. (Eric Schultz for Alabama Reflector) Lawmakers are considering legislation that would modify the election cycle for a municipality located in the northeastern part of Alabama. Both HB 132, sponsored by Rep. Mike Kirkland, R-Scottsboro, and SB 139, filed by Senate Majority Leader Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, extend the term for the mayor of Scottsboro; the city council and the local board of education. Kirkland said in an interview that the legislation aims to put the city 'on the same cycle as other municipal elections across the state.' Scottsboro was excluded from a 2021 law that covered most Alabama cities. 'We were kind of out there, we weren't part of the original bill that moved the elections, so what this does is it gets us caught up with everybody else,' said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The two bills, nearly identical in language, will lengthen the terms of Scottsboro City Council that expire in 2026 to 2027, when elections for the next term will take place, and occur afterward on a four-year cycle. The bills would extend the mayor's term from 2028 to 2029. School board terms that expire in either 2028 or 2030 will be extended to 2029 and 2031, respectively. All future municipal and school board elections will take place in August. 'After the effective date of this act, if no candidate for mayor, member of the city council, or member of the city board of education receives a majority of votes cast in the regular municipal election, a second or run-off election shall be held on the fourth Tuesday following the regular election,' the bill states The Alabama Legislature in 2021 enacted a law standardizing municipal elections across the state and extending municipal official terms by a year. Scottsboro was not included in the law, requested from the Alabama League of Municipalities, because the city already had rules in place governing when its elections would take place. 'That affected all municipalities with the exception of a handful with local legislative bills that directed their elections,' said Scottsboro Mayor Jim McCamy, elected in 2020. 'The city of Scottsboro was one of those cities. We had two local bills way back in the 1950s that directed our elections, and because of that, we and any of the others that it didn't apply to had to have a local bill to put us on the same cycle as the rest of the state.' Local officials had been working with their state legislators to get legislation enacted, but their bills stalled because the Legislature had other priorities. Scottsboro is working to get legislation passed in the current session. Kirkland added that altering the terms for officials to get on the same cycle as the state would increase voter turnout. 'Typically, there is a competition for resources for ballots, but more specifically electronic vote-counting tabulators,' said Rob Johnston, director of legal services for the Alabama League of Municipalities. 'When the counties are using them for county and statewide elections, then the municipalities will have to find their own resources, and poll workers as well.' Scottsboro also wants to remove themselves from the presidential cycle to downplay the partisan impact of its elections because municipal officials are nonpartisan, not affiliated with a political party. 'Have you ever seen a Republican or Democrat pothole in a street?' McCamy said. 'I haven't, and I never have. It doesn't matter; it is what it is.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
For third year in a row, Utah lawmakers shoot down secure firearm storage law
Firearms and ammunition are stored inside a safe at a Salt Lake City resident's home on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) For the third year in a row, Utah lawmakers shot down attempts to pass a safe firearm storage law, which imposes certain penalties on people who fail to secure their guns. The bill, HB132, failed after a 4-4 vote Friday morning during a House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee meeting. Per House rules, if a bill receives a tie vote during a committee meeting, it fails. Sponsored by Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Millcreek, the bill would have imposed a class C misdemeanor called 'failure to secure a firearm resulting in a minor gaining access.' Anyone 18 or older who fails to secure their loaded firearm — which includes using a gun safe, trigger lock or other method — could be penalized if a minor accesses the gun and uses it in an 'unlawful' way. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX It's aimed at penalizing instances where children find their parent or guardian's unsecured firearm, and use it to commit a crime. It wouldn't punish parents for unintentional shootings, where their children find a gun and accidentally shoot themselves, or suicides. For the last three years, Stoddard has tried to pass some kind of safe storage bill. And each year, the bill has had fewer teeth. In 2023, it would have imposed criminal penalties on anyone who failed to safely store a firearm; in 2024, it would have imposed criminal penalties for people who fail to secure their firearm if it's accessed by someone who isn't supposed to have a gun, like a child or restricted person. 'There's not really any lower we can go to at this point,' Stoddard said earlier this week. The penalty 'is the same as speeding in a school zone. If I have a loud party at my house, it's a class C misdemeanor.' There are 26 states that have some kind of law around securing firearms. Stoddard says his bill is similar to a Florida law that holds adults criminally liable if a child gains access to their firearm and wields it 'in a public place' or 'in a rude, careless, angry or threatening manner.' Utah sees three children shot unintentionally in one month, renewing calls for firearm storage laws 'This isn't something novel. This isn't making Utah a trailblazer. There are other states that have taken up this issue, it's not just blue states,' said Stoddard during the committee meeting on Friday. Although the bill ultimately failed, he told Utah News Dispatch that a 4-4 vote is the closest his safe storage bills have come to getting out of committee and to the House floor. He plans on bringing it back next legislative session. The rejection of Stoddard's bill comes on the heels of three instances this summer where children under 10 years old unintentionally shot themselves after finding an unsecured firearm. Two of the shootings were fatal, involving a 5-year-old boy who found a handgun in his parents' bedroom and an 8-year-old boy who shot himself in a car while his mother was inside a gas station. Although HB132 wouldn't have imposed criminal penalties on the parents in these instances, Stoddard and other gun control advocates say that having laws on the books to encourage safe storage could still reduce the number of unintentional shootings. 'I can't say that this is going to prevent these situations had the law been in place … but I think it sends a message that we care enough to do something,' Stoddard said. 'This doesn't target suicides, but would it help with suicides? Absolutely.' The data back up that claim. A study this year from the Rand Corporation showed secure storage laws result in a decrease in unintentional firearm injuries and deaths among children. A 2020 study published in the National Institute of Medicine found that firearm negligence laws resulted in a 15% reduction in firearm homicides, a 12% reduction in firearm suicides and a 13% reduction in unintentional firearm fatalities, all among children under 14 years old. And according to an older study, published in 1997 in the National Institute of Medicine, unintentional shooting deaths among children younger than 15 years old decreased by 23% after states passed a secure storage law. The bill did face some opposition from gun rights groups — a spokesperson from the Utah Shooting Sports Council said there are already negligence laws in place, and told the committee on Friday that the group didn't feel like the state needs additional legislation. And the group Women for Gun Rights said the bill was a 'slippery slope,' telling lawmakers that Utahns should be able to access their firearms quickly. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah House committee shoots down bill penalizing unsafe storage of firearms
Utah lawmakers voted for the third straight year against a Democrat-led bill addressing the safe storage of firearms on Friday. A proposal to hold adults accountable in some circumstances if they fail to lock up a firearm used by a minor to commit a crime was shot down. Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, has proposed similar bills in previous years, though his latest attempt has been watered down from what he previously pushed. In 2023, he ran a bill that would have required firearm owners to securely store weapons when they were not being used and imposed a fine for those who failed to comply. After that failed to clear an initial vote, he proposed the same legislation last year, with the same result. Stoddard changed his approach during the 2025 legislative session and sponsored HB132, which creates a class C misdemeanor charge for adults who don't secure a firearm — but only if a minor uses it to commit a crime. The bill has carve-outs that protect a firearm owner if the minor obtains the firearm by unlawfully accessing the storage area, if it is used in self-defense or if the person reports to police that a minor obtained their firearm. It also allows owners an affirmative defense to prosecution if they 'took reasonable precautions to ensure that the firearm was properly secured and not accessible to a minor.' 'This statute is really the lowest level we can go,' Stoddard told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee Friday. He said it's unlikely the statute would be used often, but said it's a necessary accountability tool in cases where kids take a parent's gun to school or use it to commit other crimes. 'If we're not willing to support this low level of firearm responsibility, we just have to say, 'OK, we're fine with these kids committing these crimes with the firearms,'' he added. State law already has a section that says parents can be held accountable if they give their child a firearm, but Stoddard said a different section provides an exception and makes it difficult to charge under the statute. The bill was supported by the Utah Parent Teacher Association and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. Brett Robinson, a senior attorney in the office, said gang crimes are often committed by minors who obtained a firearm from a parent or guardian. 'It's better for us to respond to these crimes at a lower level and make sure we have that responsible gun ownership in the homes,' he said. 'A lot of the times they're getting these guns from home and I think this is an appropriate way to address that and perhaps cut down on the more serious crimes that we are asked to look into.' The bill was opposed by the Utah Shooting Sports Council, a gun rights organization, which argued that the existing code already addresses the issue and further legislation is unnecessary. HB132 ultimately failed after a 4-4 vote. Two Republicans — Reps. Melissa Ballard, R-North Salt Lake, and Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo — joined Stoddard and Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, in favoring the bill. Three members of the committee — all Republicans — were absent. The full House of Representatives voted to approve another firearm safety bill later Friday. HB104 requires that schools provide firearm safety instruction to students, which the sponsor said will reduce the number of accidental shootings. Three such shootings occurred during a several-week span last summer resulting in the deaths of two children, aged 5 and 8. 'It's important that these kids that don't have firearms in their homes — realistically this ought to be taught by their parents — but a lot of times when they don't have any firearms in their homes or do any hunting or shooting, these kids are not taught what to do when they come in contact with a firearm,' said Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City. He said the school instruction could take 'five or 10 minutes' and could be done by video or other similar means. The bill requires two firearm safety trainings per year for elementary school students and one for middle and high schoolers.
