Latest news with #SB158
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House passes Senate bill prohibiting use of foreign national IDs to vote
Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, speaks in the Alabama House of Representatives on May 8, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery. The House passed a bill Treadaway carried that prohibits the use of foreign national IDs in Alabama elections. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that prohibits the use of foreign national ID or drivers license to vote in Alabama elections. SB 158, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, is the companion bill to HB 480, sponsored by Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, which passed the House on April 16. People from foreign countries with legal status in the country may apply for driver's licenses or IDs from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency but are not authorized to vote. House Democrats criticized Treadaway's bill as unnecessary. 'Our citizens might think that there's a problem with foreign nationalists using any form of ID they might have gotten from this country to register to vote,' said Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham. 'But we don't even have enough documentation to show where a foreign national would even try to register, let alone vote in the United States.' The bill passed 82-13. It goes to Gov. Kay Ivey.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DeWine calls for ban on cell phones in schools
Apr. 17—COLUMBUS — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine hosted a press conference this month supporting legislation that would ban the use of cell phones in public schools in Ohio. Sponsored by Sen. Jane Timken. R-Jackson Township, Senate Bill 158 incorporates language first introduced by DeWine in his executive budget — prohibiting student use of cell phones during the school day. "It's clear that we need to get cell phones out of our classrooms," said DeWine. "The constant distraction of cell phones makes it nearly impossible for students to focus and learn. Not only do they negatively impact student performance, but they can also be harmful to kids' mental and emotional health." "In schools that have already banned phones, we've heard from teachers, administrators, and parents who say the results have been remarkable. Student engagement has improved. Grades are better. Socialization is improving," DeWine said. "It's rare that one change can have such a positive difference. That's why it's time to make Ohio schools phone free." SB 158 will expedite the implementation process — allowing schools time over the summer to update their policies to prohibit student use of cell phones in time for the start of the 2025-2026 school year this fall. The bill includes exceptions for students using a cell phone for a documented purpose as part of an Individualized Education Program or for monitoring a health concern. "When phones are within reach, our children are constantly wondering, 'What am I missing? What notification did I miss?' This does not provide for a conducive learning environment, and also has damaging social effects," Timken said. "This legislation is a common sense approach to unplug our children from the constant distractions that they have in the classroom. It will reduce those distractions and will facilitate the building of the interpersonal relationships that are so vital to human development."
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bills would provide more Utah campgrounds options, acquire federal land advance
A pair of land bills advanced on unanimous votes from the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on Tuesday that would set up a mechanism to create state campgrounds and then to also facilitate up to 30,000 Bureau of Land Management acres for Utah to purchase or lease. The bill by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, gives the state the ability to create campgrounds — not a full blown state park — through a bottom-up process. Utah state parks received more than 1.3 million visitors in fiscal year 2024 and are often packed. Eliason spoke of how he sought to make a reservation at one particular park early in the season, but it was already booked during prime camping time. His bill, HB34, would give the state the ability to create state campgrounds but only with the approval of the local governing body such as a city council or county commission. The campground proposal would also need buy-in from the state representative from the area as well as the state senator. 'This bill does not create any state campgrounds. It simply creates the process by which we would evaluate and potentially approve state campgrounds,' Eliason said. 'It is a bottom up approach versus top down, which we are all too familiar with.' Eliason pointed to the example presented by the Utah Raptor State Park, due to open later this year. It moved forward by cobbling a number of landowners parcels together, including the school trust lands administration, the Division of Fire, Forestry and State Lands, as well as the federal government. This sort of cooperative approach was enshrined in a bill last year that had unanimous support, but Eliason said the Senate simply ran out of time to get it passed. 'There are all sorts of opportunities,' with state campgrounds that can alleviate to an extent the pressure valve on state parks, he stressed. Another measure directs the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office to conduct a survey of federal lands that may be suitable for lease or purchase. It caps the acreage at 30,000 acres per year and would have to be for the purpose of providing public good. SB158, introduced by Sen. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, sets up a process to facilitate a survey of federal lands that if acquired would accomplish a beneficial public purpose. Counties have worked in tandem with the federal government for such purposes, such as putting in a landfill, a park or fire station. 'What this bill does is it's an information gathering and a unifying voice within the state, under direction of PLPCO to track and provide resources and allow that (information) to be drawn upon,' Stratton said. 'We need to track that and have that information available if we're desiring to continue and continue the course of wise stewardship of the resources in our care.' Redge Johnson, director of PLPCO, said the mechanism has been used with success before with the federal government with success using provisions in the federal Recreation Public Purposes Act. 'But I don't think anybody knows exactly how many acres we've gotten, so I think this is a good bill to get in and track and see how many we have,' he said. The bill does not preclude private nongovernmental organizations from making purchases or leases.
