This Information Pertains To The 2024 Alabama Legislative Session
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WEEK 3 (Feb.20-22)
GAMBLING
B151/HB152 Passed the House last week and are waiting to be heard in committee. Your senator needs and wants to hear from you. Many legislators are too busy to read emails and often times their voicemail boxes are full. The benefit of using our Smartlink button below is that you can send a message (pre-written or personalized) directly to him/her and to ensure they got the message we follow up in person. We are able to show how many of their constituents asked them to vote “No”. This helps keep them accountable to you!
As it stands now, there are not enough votes to pass the House’s gambling bill (HB152) which would allow:
- 10 Class III Vegas Style Casinos across the state
- online sports betting
- state lottery
Because there is not enough support to pass these bills, it appears the Senate is working on a substitute bill. This will most likely be a “lottery-only” bill. The Constitutional prohibition against games of chance would have to be removed, thus paving the way for any form of gambling by majority vote of the legislature.
EFA continues to oppose a lottery for these reasons:
- Gambling and lotteries prey upon the poor and most vulnerable.
- Duke University study found that the poorest third of households buy more than half of all lottery tickets.
- Buffalo University Survey showed the lowest fifth on the socioeconomic scale had the “highest rate of lottery gambling” (61 percent).
- Lottery sales increase poverty rates. Studies conducted across multiple states showed that the majority of scratch-off tickets are purchased by those with below-average incomes; those who often struggle to buy basic necessities.
- Local lottery ticket sales rise with poverty. Researchers call this “desperation hypothesis”: States are making their most hopeless citizens addicted to gambling to pay for government services.
- The lottery can be termed a regressive tax because the state takes a greater percentage of income from those with lower incomes.
BILL DEFINING “MALE" & "FEMALE”
HB111 (Rep. DuBose) and SB92 (Sen. Weaver)
Alabama law does not define the words, “male”, “female”, “man”, “woman”, “boy”, “girl”, “mother”, “father”. For purposes of state law, HB11 and SB92 clearly define these sex-based words based on biology. We support these bills. Both have passed through committees in their respective chambers and are ready to be debated in the House and Senate.
WHAT THE BILL DOES:
- Defines sex-based terms already used in Alabama code
- Declares Alabama’s interest in protecting certain single-sex spaces
- Ensures the accuracy of public data collection (including vital statistics)
WHAT THE BILL DOES NOT DO:
- It does not create any new rights for anyone.
- It does not take away anyone’s legal rights.
- It does not put any new data collection requirements on any government body.
BILLS PROTECTING CHILDREN & ADULTS
HB168 (Rep. Woods) It passed the House 101-0. We support this bill. See 1 pager here. It accomplishes the following.
- Updates language used to describe child pornography, now called Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
- It would treat child sexual material created by Artificial Intelligence (images that a reasonable person would conclude is an actual individual under 18 years engaged in sexually explicit conduct.)
- Raises the age of children protected from under age 17 to under age 18.
HB164 (Rep. Robbins) We support this bill that would require commercial distributors of sexual material harmful to minors to utilize age-verification software or programs to ensure their published material is not distributed to minors and would provide penalties for a violation. It passed out of committee and is ready for debate on the House floor.
HB161 (Rep. Moore) This bill is basically the adult version of Hb168. It would be a crime to create AI porn depicting an actual individual without their consent. It passed the house 97-0 and is headed to the Senate.
EDUCATION ISSUES
HB129 (Rep. Garrett) CHOOSE ACT- (Educational Savings Accounts). This bill was introduced on Feb 7th. However, less than 24 hours before the public hearing on Feb 21 a substitute bill was circulated. Unfortunately, language used to close a “loophole” inadvertently made homeschoolers ineligible. This is being rectified. The other negative change was requiring schools to report test scores to the Department of Revenue rather than parents only. Two positive changes were made. Military families are now allowed to apply during the first 2 years of the program and student applicants must be lawfully present in the U.S.
SB129 (Sen. Barfoot) This bill bans DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs from certain entities including state agencies and public universities. Read 1 pager here. It passed the full Senate on party lines (27-6) and is headed to the House.
NO LAB-GROWN MEAT IN AL
SB23 (Sen. Williams) We support this no-brainer bill that would prohibit the creation, distribution and sale of food products made from cultured animal cells i.e. lab-grown meat in Alabama. It passed the Senate 32-0.
We are YOUR Voice at the State House
While you are working hard to provide for and care for your families, we are working for YOU!
This week, Eagle Forum staff and volunteers advocated for your values. We baked, packaged and gave out cookies to our House Heroes who voted “NO” on both gambling bills. Becky Gerritson, Executive Director, testified at public hearings for SB129 (Banning DEI) and SB92 (Defining Male/Female.) Lori Herring testified in favor of SB10; a bill to provide for the appointment of county and municipal library boards; and to make technical revisions to update the existing code language.
