Today is the 12th day of the 2019 legislative season and the session is in full swing. Last week, HB314, passed the House health committee with a favorable report and it now heads to the House floor for debate. The ACLU of Alabama has been out front in opposition to this bill and in last Wednesday’s public hearing Executive Director, Randall Marshall, testified in opposition to HB314 and stated that Alabamians are paying a significant price (millions!) for the state to defend unconstitutional legislation like this bill.
Now is the time to fight back:
- Contact your House representative and Senate Judiciary Committee to ask them to vote “NO” on HB314, which would interfere in a woman’s personal, private medical decisions.
- Host a postcard writing party! Get together with friends and family and write your senator and representative to let them know you oppose HB314. Post pictures from your party and use #noban4alabama.
- Keep this issue elevated. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and share our post and graphics so we can spread the word about this critical upcoming vote in the House.
Other Updates:
- SB98, a bill to revise the penalty for low-level marijuana possession to be a citation only offense, passed the Senate Judiciary committee. This is a significant step forward as we continue efforts to reclassify offenses and lower admissions to Alabama’s already overcrowded prisons.
- The Senate Judiciary committee also passed SB13 which would allow law enforcement to issue a summons in lieu of arrest.
- The Senate passed SB140 which updates Alabama’s current requirements for teaching sex ed to students, including taking out the provision that requires schools to teach that homosexuality "is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state." (It's not.) It will also update some seriously outdated language in the bill, such as confusing HIV and AIDS and referring to sexually transmitted diseases versus sexually transmitted infections. The bill now heads to the Education Policy committee in the House.
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