Latest news with #MackButler
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
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate committee approves ‘Don't Say Gay' expansion
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. A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill sponsored by Butler that would extend the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law through all grades in public school. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved an expansion of the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, prohibits discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation during instructional time in public schools. The law currently prohibits such discussions in K-5, but Butler's bill expands it to pre-K-12 to be in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January. 'When a student enters a school, they still carry with them their First Amendment rights. They can absolutely talk to a nurse, a teacher, a counselor, whoever they want,' Butler said. 'This is banning classroom discussions.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Senate Education Policy Committee also held a public hearing on the legislation, which was heavily populated by opponents. Paige Gant, a math professor, said the legislation does not accomplish anything. 'Kids in middle school and high school are aware that gay and transgender people exist as they have access to the internet,' she said. 'Attempting to stifle discussions of such topics will not change these realities.' The legislation also bans insignia like pride flags from being displayed in a classroom. Gant added that the bill only bans such in a classroom and not in a hallway where students could still be around them. 'This bill is frankly a waste of the Senate's time,' she said. Erin DeJager also spoke against the bill, arguing that it bans something that is not defined in Alabama law. The Legislature rushed a bill that defines sex-based terms at the beginning of the 2025 session. 'This term, 'gender identity,' is used to describe flags or insignia. This can be interpreted to be a box of girl scout cookies, as the Girl Scouts are certainly based on gender identity,' she said. The lone supporter of the bill that spoke, Ted Halley, who said he 'detransitioned' back to male after 12 years of identifying as a woman, repeated his comments from other related public hearings. 'When you enter the glitter club, you're welcomed. But when you leave, you get a target on your back,' he said. Detransition and regret are different concepts, a Harvard Medical School study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests, which may overlap in some people, but they are 'sometimes mistakenly viewed as synonymous.' Halley also spoke in favor of a bill Wednesday to allow parents to claim religious exemptions from vaccines without giving a reason. Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said the Legislature does not get to legislate morality. 'You lost me when you said the executive order of President Trump. The gentleman has 34 felonies,' he said. 'In addition to that, woke is this strange kind of language that's being used. I'd rather be woke than asleep.' Hatcher was the sole 'no' vote, but Sen. Randy Price, R-Opelika, said he had reservations about the bill. 'If you're going to take a bill that's going to take this type of stand in our school systems, we should have seen this bill the first week,' he said in an interview. 'It's just a timing thing.' Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, the chair of the committee, told Butler after the bill was approved that it is unlikely the Senate will pass it because of the timing. 'We're going to get it out of committee, but I'm not going to make any promises as to where this bill goes from here,' Chesteen said. 'If you're going to bring something like this next year, you need to get it early so that we're not backed up with all the House bills that we currently have before we try to move forward with anything like this.' Although the bill was filed early in the session, the House Education Policy committee did not approve the legislation until April 10, after a public hearing on April 3. There are four legislative days left in the 2025 legislative session. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama lawmakers proposing a bill banning people from buying soda with SNAP benefits
ALABAMA (WDHN) – The Alabama house filed a bill pushing to ban people from buying soda using SNAP benefits. Representative Mack Butler is sponsoring the bill. The measures of the legislation include requiring the Department of Human Resources to request a waiver from the federal government to exclude soda from SNAP until the waiver is approved. The department is required to complete the waiver process every year. Once the federal government accepts the waiver, the ban goes into effect. The bill gets proposed as several other Republican led states are forcing waivers to ban soda and candy from SNAP. If passed, the bill will get signed into law and it would go into effect on October 1st, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Don't Say Gay' expansion passes House committee
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, speaking to the House Education Policy Committee on April 9, 2025, in the Alabama House in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler's bill that would expand the state's "Don't Say Gay" law passed the committee on April 9, 2025.(Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama House committee approved legislation to expand the state's 'Don't Say Gay' law throughout K-12 public schools on Wednesday. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality. The legislation also prohibits the display of pride flags and insignia in the classroom. An amendment from Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, was adopted unanimously to remove a portion of the bill that would prohibit referring to students by their preferred gender if it conflicts with their assigned sex at birth. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 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. 'Some felt there was another bill that is addressing that issue. So it's still there to some degree,' Butler said. The law currently bans such discussions from kindergarten to fifth grade, but Butler said the expansion aligns with President Donald Trump's agenda and executive order. 'We're trying to get as close as we could to President Trump's executive order,' Butler said. The House Education Policy Committee held a public hearing on the legislation last week, which drew significant criticism from mostly transgender and nonbinary Alabamians. Former Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, the first openly gay representative elected to the Alabama Legislature, said her sexuality did not make her colleagues gay. 'And you all who served with me know that. Just because I served with you doesn't mean that you became gay either,' she said last week. Butler said the law will improve public education. 'If you saw the headlines yesterday, there were almost 40,000 applicants for the CHOOSE Act, telling you that clearly there's dissatisfaction of what we're doing with public education, and this will actually help,' he said. The bill will now be considered by the full House. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama representative makes new attempt to expand state's ‘Don't Say Gay' law
The "Drag me to the Capitol" protest started in front of the Alabama Judicial Building on May 16. 2023. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would expand an existing state ban classroom instruction and discussion on gender and sexuality to all grades. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) A House representative is bringing back an attempt to expand Alabama's 'Don't Say Gay' law, which critics say infringe on teachers' and students' free speech. HB 244, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would prohibit public school teachers at all grade levels from teaching or discussing gender identity or sexuality. The law currently bans such discussions from kindergarten to fifth grade. The bill is assigned to the House Education Policy Committee. Chairwoman Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said she expects to take up the legislation soon, but not this week. Butler said in a phone interview on Tuesday that he received a complaint from a constituent that a teacher was deviating from curriculum to discuss sexuality. Butler would not identify the school. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'And that's not part of the curriculum,' Butler said. 'It's not what they were hired to do.' Butler sponsored a similar bill last year, but it died in the Senate. This year, the bill strikes language that would allow 'classroom discussion' that is 'developmentally appropriate.' Katie Glenn, senior policy associate at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that language could impact students confiding in teachers. 'There are questions when looking at the broad and vague language in this bill about whether it would allow a student to seek out a teacher who they thought was safe to have a conversation with them,' she said. 'Is that a classroom discussion? Can students ask questions and can a teacher answer them? According to this bill, probably not.' Glenn said the portion of the bill that bans flags and insignia in classrooms is too vague and unconstitutional. 'You cannot tell a teacher that they can't have a Pride flag bumper sticker on their car and park it in the school parking lot,' she said. 'And we heard objections last legislative session from both sides of the aisle about this.' Butler, however, said the bill does not infringe on free speech. 'It's being honest,' Butler said. 'We want to focus on the curriculum, not the teacher's ideology.' The bill would also prohibit teachers and students from using any pronoun or name that does not align with an individual's biological sex. 'If you are a lady, and I'm not calling you a he,' Butler said. 'I'm not required to play along.' Alabama enacted its ban in 2022 as part of a broader bill that also forced transgender students to use the bathroom of the sex they were assigned at birth. In 2023, Florida passed a similar bill. As a result, the College Board, which manages AP classes and curriculum, would not change the AP Psychology curriculum. According to the College Board, AP Psychology covers gender and sexual orientation as it relates to physical and social changes that influence behavior and mental processes. Six of Florida's largest school districts took the class out of circulation. Butler said he needs to see the AP Psychology curriculum, but thinks teaching gender and sexuality in school is radical. 'Some of the stuff that we are teaching is not healthy,' Butler said. 'If it's so great, you know, the school board will adopt that curriculum and teach it.' Butler also said the expansion to all primary and secondary education is to be in line with President Donald Trump's recent executive order. 'We send our children to school to be educated, not indoctrinated, but some extremists see classrooms as a captive audience that can be used to force their ideas on the next generation,' Butler said in a statement Monday. Butler said in his statement that the bill would improve test scores if classrooms focus on the basics. 'It's a small minority of people that are pushing this agenda, they would have you believe that if this population wants it, but I can assure you, the moms and dads do not,' he said. Glenn said that students perform better when they feel accepted, and the bill would prohibit LGBTQ+ students from that security. 'It's just an incredibly vague and broad bill that is bound to sweep up people in targeted circumstances,' Glenn said. 'It's not going to help students in the state of Alabama. It's not gonna make their education better. It's going to, for some of them, make their lives much worse.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
