Latest news with #SB40
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House approves bill allowing participation in firearm surrender program
Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville (left) listens to Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 13, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Tuesday approved SB 40, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, and carried by Bedsole, which creates a firearm surrender program for people experiencing suicidal thoughts. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would allow people experiencing suicidal thoughts to surrender a firearm to a licensed gun dealer. SB 40, sponsored by Rep. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, passed 93-1. Known as the Houston-Hunter Act, it would provide liability protection for federally-licensed firearms dealers who choose to participate in the Safer Together Program, where they may accept surrendered firearms from community members. 'They can place their weapon in there and they can walk away,' Bedsole, who carried the Senate bill in the House, said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX He said any federally licensed firearm dealer or gun store can choose to participate in the program. Bedsole sponsors the House version of the bill, which passed the House 98-2 in February. Alabama has some of the highest rates of firearm death in the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,278 Alabamians died by gunfire in 2022, a rate of 25.5 per 100,000 people, the fourth highest in the nation and a larger total than New York States, which has almost four times the population of Alabama. The CDC said 840 Alabamians died by suicide in 2022. That ranks Alabama 26th for suicides per capita. In the United States, 54% of suicides were done by gunfire. Rep. Travis Hendrix, D-Birmingham, a former policeman, shared a story of a co-worker that almost committed suicide. 'If this program was available two years ago, he probably would've been in a better situation,' Hendrix said. Bedsole said the idea for the bill came from a crisis intervention conference he went to in Indiana. He said he met some people from Alabama that told him about the nonprofit program. 'Here's the heart and passion: If we can save just one person's life and prevent them from using their own weapon as an act of suicide, then this program is worth it,' he said. The bill passed with a House Judiciary Committee substitute that mirrored the language of the House bill in the Senate bill. It goes to the Senate for concurrence or a conference committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate passes voluntary firearm storage bill
Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, speaks to a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama Legislature began its 2025 regular session on Tuesday. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Senate passed a bill 31-0 Thursday to allow people experiencing suicidal thoughts to surrender a firearm to a licensed gun dealer. SB 40, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, would provide liability protection for Federal Firearms License dealers who choose to participate in the Safer Together Program, where they may accept surrendered firearms from community members. 'Because it's all voluntary, we hope that more gun owners will do that. More gun shop, retailers will be willing to do that, and so the veteran or the individual going through the crisis can go in and store those arms safely,' Kelley said after the Senate adjourned. The bill is named after two veterans, Houston Lee Tumlin and Hunter Chase Whitley, who died by suicide after returning from active duty. The proposal was first floated in August at the first Veterans Mental Health Steering Committee, where Jason Smith, an Alabama National Guard Resilience and Risk Reduction coordinator and member of the committee, said the program is designed to be voluntary, confidential and temporary, meant to delay access to firearms during periods of crisis. Alabama's veteran suicide rate in 2021 was 35.4 per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That was slightly higher than the national average (33.9) but significantly higher than the overall suicide rate in Alabama, which was 20.2 per 100,000 in 2021. Kelley said that providing additional options in times of crisis is 'absolutely critical.' 'I think that has a big role in it. Veterans can understand and talk to other veterans, and a lot of these gun shop owners are veterans themselves,' Kelley said. The bill now moves to The Alabama House of Representatives. The House passed a similar bill on Tuesday, which was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ohio Senate bill seeks tax credits for donors to anti-abortion pregnancy centers
File photo of an ultrasound. (Getty Images.) An Ohio Republican state senator has reintroduced legislation to provide tax credits for donations to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers. State Sen. Sandra O'Brien, R-Ashtabula, introduced Senate Bill 40 in the Senate Ways and Means Committee this week, a similar measure to one she championed in the previous General Assembly, but which failed to pass. The bill would allow a nonrefundable income or commercial activity tax credit for 'donations to a certified Ohio nonprofit pregnancy resource center that primarily serves Ohio residents and offers free or low-cost pregnancy resources and assistance,' according to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission analysis of the bill. Ohio voters passed a state constitutional amendment in 2023 protecting reproductive rights with 57% support, including access to abortion care. Pregnancy resource centers, also called crisis pregnancy centers, are facilities that are not equipped for medical procedures beyond ultrasound services or pregnancy tests, and provide referrals and counseling to pregnant individuals but steer visitors away from abortion as an option. 'As the pro-life movement makes the case for life, it is more important than ever to take concrete steps to support women and families facing an unexpected pregnancy,' O'Brien said during sponsor testimony for her bill. 'Helping to sustain and expand the work that local PRCs are already doing in their communities only serves to help the communities in which they are involved.' O'Brien praised the facilities, saying the need is 'getting greater and greater in Ohio.' 'Some of the mothers (who go to the centers) … are between a rock and a hard place, because perhaps they're questioning what they should do, and yet, maybe the father or maybe their families are encouraging them not to bring a baby into the world, and they're a little confused and they're just looking for help,' O'Brien told the committee. Creating a tax credit for donations to the centers indicates that the state is 'investing in a network providing high-quality health care to pregnant women,' she said. The facilities are often religiously affiliated, and while some mention abortion as one of the options for pregnant individuals who reach out to them, information provided about abortion services is often medically debunked or false, and information meant to dissuade individuals from pursuing abortion services. In fact, facilities that could be a part of the tax credit and those which receive grant money from the state are barred from 'promoting' abortion services or counsel about the option. SB 40 states that donations must go to a 'qualifying pregnancy resource center,' defined as a Ohio-based 501(c)(3) non-profit, that serves the 'principal purpose' of free or low-cost assistance, including pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and other services 'to pregnant women carrying their pregnancies to term.' The facility cannot be a hospital, nursing home or residential care facility, and must not 'perform, promote or contract with an organization that performs nontherapeutic abortions, and is not affiliated with a person that performs or promotes nontherapeutic abortions.' Under the bill, a nontherapeutic abortion is 'one that is performed or induced when the life of the mother would not be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or when the pregnancy of the mother was not the result of rape or incest reported to a law enforcement agency.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX While O'Brien touted the tax credit as a way to incentivize Ohio businesses and individuals to donate to the centers, people are already donating 'like there's no tomorrow,' she told the committee. Plus, the state already directs funding toward some of the facilities, through grants distributed from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In an annual report released last May by the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, 118 grants totaling $13.5 million were given out, with 41 of them listed as 'children's initiatives.' Grant money went to Elizabeth's New Life Center, Inc., Pregnancy Decision Health Centers and Pregnancy Solutions & Services, Inc., all of which promote pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling as part of their services. On the website for Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, 'considering an abortion' is a page, but does not provide any information about the procedures, instead encouraging the scheduling of an appointment and an ultrasound as 'the clearest way to determine how far along you are, which will play an important role in your abortion options.' Elizabeth's New Life Center Inc. touts 'life-affirming services.' Pregnancy Solutions, Inc., states 'you could choose abortion,' and encourages 'speaking with a medical professional about abortion facts, options and procedures' to 'prepare you for a life-long decision you can live with.' O'Brien didn't give names of specific centers she praised during her committee testimony, but said the centers' general philosophy is 'they take every dollar they possibly get and move it right to the pregnant gals.' 'It's an excellent example of monies being spent for the purpose instead of getting stuck in all kinds of administrative costs,' she said. Pregnancy Decision Health Centers was one of the facilities mentioned in a 2023 report commissioned by the city of Columbus and done by Abortion Forward (formerly Pro-Choice Ohio) to analyze centers in the area. In the report, researchers who visited and called centers for information, said Pregnancy Decision Health Centers and others 'frequently have no medical personnel on staff and provide very limited medically-adjacent services such as over-the-counter urine pregnancy tests.' The 2023 report's analysis of the budgets submitted to the state from some of the facilities showed the decision health centers 'allocated only 5.65% of their budget to participant support and education' from December 2021 to June 2022, and from July 2022 to June 2023, only 3.1% went to those particular areas. More than half of the budget went to salary, benefits and staff travel, the report said. TANF funding is also distributed to some centers through the Ohio Parenting and Pregnancy Program, and through a 'choose life' license plate. In the 2024-2025 state budget, the Ohio Parenting and Pregnancy Program received $13 million over the two years to 'promote childbirth, parenting and alternatives to abortion.' Entities are eligible for funding through the program if they are private, not-for-profit facilities with the 'primary purpose' to 'promote childbirth, rather than abortion, through counseling and other services, including parenting and adoption support.' The program also says facilities cannot be 'involved in or association with any abortion activities, including providing abortion counseling or referrals to abortion clinics, performing abortion-related medical procedures or engaging in pro-abortion advertising,' according to the final 2024-2025 budget document. The newest executive proposal from Gov. Mike DeWine continues the TANF funding for the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and the Fatherhood Commission. The proposal shows TANF estimates of $16.6 million over the next two years for the office of faith-based initiatives and the commission. That proposal, along with the rest of his budget recommendations, are still under consideration by the Ohio legislature. State Sen. Dr. Beth Liston, D-Dublin, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, mentioned the TANF funds when questioning how the tax credit bill would help the state battle low rankings in child wellbeing. She said the $10 million cost to the state should come with assurances that donations are going to centers with the ability to enact change in maternal mortality rates or child outcomes, for example. 'If we're looking at an additional $10 million expenditure, I certainly would want to make sure there were guardrails in place, such that people were receiving it towards an improved outcome for pregnant women and babies,' Liston said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What bail reform could look like in Texas
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — During his State of the State address, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared bail reform an emergency item, allowing the legislature to prioritize it immediately. On Feb. 3, Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, filed a bail reform package with five proposed bills, including two proposed Constitutional amendments. Here's what the future of bail reform could look like in Texas. According to Huffman's statement of intent, Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) is primarily intended to close loopholes left open by the last major piece of bail reform, 2021's Senate Bill 6. First, the bill takes away the power for unelected criminal law hearing officers to set bail for defendants who were on parole, defendants who have two or more felony convictions, defendants charged with violent felonies and defendants charged with any felony if they have an immigration hold. Instead, elected presiding judges would have the sole authority to determine what bail, if any, should be set. The bill also takes aim at personal bonds, a system where the court waives the majority of the posted bail if the defendant agrees to certain conditions, including showing up at all required court dates. Under SB 9, those accused of unlawful possession of a firearm, violation of a family violence protective order, terroristic threat or murder as a result of manufacturing or delivery of fentanyl would no longer be eligible for personal bonds. Also a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval, Senate Joint Resolution 1 (SJR 1) simply states that an undocumented resident ('illegal alien' in the bill's text) accused of a felony would not be allowed bail once a judge determined there was enough probable cause to continue their case. Senate Joint Resolution 5 (SJR 5) would allow judges or magistrates to deny bail to defendants accused of first-degree felony sexual offenses, defendants accused of violent offenses or defendants accused of continuous human trafficking. Judges would have to consider the defendant's likelihood to appear for their court dates and the safety of the public in their decision. SJR 5 would require a constitutional amendment, meaning the voters would get final approval in November if the legislature approves the bill. Another simple change, Senate Bill 1047 (SB 1047) would give judges more information when looking at a Public Safety Report System (PSRS) report. Created in 2022 to help aid the courts in bail decisions for any charge carrying a class B misdemeanor or higher, PSRS reports currently show a defendant's criminal history and alerts the court if the defendant is ineligible for a personal bond. SB 1047 would add any protective orders against the defendant, their parole/probation status and any outstanding warrants they have to the report. Senate Bill 40 (SB 40) prevents local municipalities from giving money to nonprofits that accept and use public donations to pay for defendant bail bonds. SB 40 would give taxpayers the right to request injunctive relief from the courts to prevent their municipality from continuing to give money to those nonprofits and to be reimbursed for legal fees incurred during the relief process. All five of these proposals will be discussed at the Senate Criminal Justice hearing Wednesday at 8 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
