Week 5 of the 2018 Alabama Legislative Session was busy due to our annual ALCAP Board meeting on Tuesday, February 6, 2018. Attendance was good, but the flu and other serious reasons kept a number of board members away.
On Wednesday, February 8, I attended several committee meetings involving bills that ALCAP is tracking. The House Health Committee passed out of committee HB52, sponsored by Rep. Kerry Rich. This bill requires abortion clinics to refund a woman’s money if she decides at the last minute not to abort her baby.
The Senate Fiscal Responsibility & Economic Development Committee met to discuss SB230, sponsored by Sen. Steve Livingston, and SB243, sponsored by Sen. Bill Holtzclaw. Public hearings were called for both bills. SB230 would allow alcohol to be sold at a specific resort area in Jackson County (a “dry” county where alcohol sales are prohibited) and SB243 would allow alcohol to be sold and delivered to a person’s door without having to go to the store to purchase it (applying to people within “dry” counties and municipalities, as well “wet” counties and municipalities). I spoke at the public hearing for SB230, but also shared my concerns about SB243 during my allotted time. After passing SB230 out of committee and sending it to the Senate floor for a vote later, the chairman announced that SB243 would be carried over, discussed and voted on at a later meeting.
Sunday alcohol sales bills are numerous. So far the following bills and cities or counties calling for Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages include:
HB77 – Childersburg
HB98 & SB124 – Fort Payne
HB208 – Ozark
HB210 – Dale County
HB267 – Mobile County
HB288 – Cherokee
HB395 – Troy
SB240 – Louisville
SB241 – Clio
SB244 – Bridgeport
SB279 – Union Springs
If you live in one of these cities or counties, please contact your House member and Senator in order to let them know of your opposition. Also, contact your county commissioner or city council representative and mayor to let them know of your opposition.
SB298, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, would privatize the Alcohol Beverage Control stores. In states where this has happened, the consumption of liquor has increased dramatically and the revenues to the state have declined. ALCAP opposes privatization of the ABC stores because we do not want consumption rates to increase in our great state.
There are too many bills for me to report on each one. ALCAP is currently monitoring 96 bills and new bills are introduced each day while the Legislature is in session. If you would like to read through all the bills yourself, click here and follow the prompts.
Thank you for your prayer and financial support as we continue to minister at the Alabama State House and speak out on the issues confronting our state with a biblical perspective.