House will come to order.
Members,
today's prayer will be given by Representative Curtis Travis.
Made with bow heads.
Oh heavenly Father,
we come this morning in your
precious son Jesus' name.
Oh,
Father,
coming in before your throne of grace right now.
Come in as fathers men and women,
Father,
who,
who you have designated at this time to
to do a leadership role
in the state of Alabama.
Father,
we come recognizing it's not about us,
but it's all about you for who and you we have our being.
Father,
we come and we.
I ask that you continue to remind us that this day that
they have been presented before us,
we would never have another opportunity to review this day again.
So Father,
we ask that Lord as we go about this
day of work
doing laws and
passing bills.
Father,
let us not forget your commandment to love one another,
to be,
to be reminded us that we are servants
to serve your people
and to serve you.
Lord,
be with us in our relations.
Be with us,
oh Fathers,
that our thoughts,
and be with us,
Father,
as we go forward
doing your will today.
We thank you for your loving kindness that you have blessed us to see this day.
Now keep us until,
oh Father,
until we have that often journey to meet you face to face
in your precious son Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Members today's Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Kathleen Stern.
She is the intern for the House and the
students at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
-- I pledge allegiance to the -- flag of the United States.
OK.
Clerk call roll.
Mr.
Speaker,
almond
baker bedsola shear.
Bolton,
Boyd Bracy,
Briar Brown Butler,
Carnes Chesnut Clark Klaus Collins,
Calvin Crawford,
Daniels,
Datcher,
Drummond,
Dubose,
Easterbrook,
Ellis,
England,
Ensler,
Estes.
Faulkner Fiddler Fincher Fort Garrett Gidley Govan Gibbons,
Gray Hall Hammett Harbison,
Harrison,
Hassel Hendricks,
Hill,
Hulk Jones,
Hollis Halsey,
Hurst,
Ingram,
Jackson Jones.
Ge Kirkland Lamb Lands,
Lawrence Lee Lipscomb Lomax Lover and Marcus
McCambell McClay Mooney M M M P
Morris Oliver Paramore Pascal Pettus Pringle,
Rafferty Ream.
Reynolds,
Rigsby,
Robbins,
Robertson,
Ross Sellers,
Ses Shaver,
Shaw,
Shed Cheree,
Simpson,
Smith,
Sorrell,
Stadhagen,
Sandridge, arnes,
Stringer,
Stubbs,
Tilman,
Travis,
Treadtleway,
Underwood,
Wadsworth,
Warren,
Whitt,
Wharton,
Wilcox,
Wood D Wood R.
Woods,
Yarborough.
61 members advanced to roll.
Quorum as press of the House of Radio Transact Business.
She recognizes the General Lee,
Chairman Lover.
Well,
I mean,
hang on.
Maybe you say my name.
Mr.
Speaker,
I request that leaves of absence be granted for absent members.
-- No -- charge.
Any objections here and hearing none,
absent members are excused.
The chair recognizes the gentleman from Lee.
Mr.
Speaker,
I have a report.
House of Representatives,
your standing Committee on rules begs leave to report
that it has carefully examined the Journal of the House for the 4th legislative day.
And finds the same to be correct,
signed Representative Joe Lovern,
chairman.
Mr.
Speaker,
I move that the reading of the journal
at length for the 4th legislative day be dispensed with.
And Jackson's.
He know Jackson's reading of the journalists dispensed with.
The chair recognized as gentleman from Mobile,
Speaker Pro Tem,
for the purpose of making announcements.
Is it me?
Alright ladies and gentlemen.
The ICAP prayer rally will be on the front steps at 11 a.m. in case of rain,
the rally will take place in the RSA Plaza's 6th floor.
The League of Municipalities legislative reception is
from 5 to 6:30 at the Renaissance.
The reception honor in Senator Jabo Wagner's 51 years of
service will be at 5 o'clock at RSA Plaza.
The welcome back reception
tonight hosted by Speaker Ledbetter and myself will be from 6
to 8 at the RSA Activity Center on Dexter Avenue.
And please don't forget the ICAP breakfast tomorrow
morning at 7:30 a.m. at RSA Plaza.
Margie,
Today it's my honor and privilege to announce that it's Matt Simpson's birthday,
so we need a
We need an ethically correct Happy birthday song.
On 3123.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Matt.
Happy birthday to you.
All those in favor of Matt's birthday,
say aye,
no.
You got our announcement when we're coming back.
Well,
I,
I'm gonna go ahead and say I moved that when we adjourn
today we'll leave the journal open that we reconvene on Thursday,
February 13th at 10 a.m.
I'll make the additional when we close.
Thursday at 10 a.m.
All those in favor say aye.
And he opposed
We'll have the motion prevails.
Clerk now received reports standing committees for throughout the day.
The House now position to introduce bills and resolutions.
The chair recognizes the gentle from Lee,
Chairman Lover.
Thank you Mr.
Speaker.
I have a resolution,
-- say -- the resolution.
House Resolution number 52 by the House Rules Committee.
The Special Order calendar.
Chairman Lovern,
you're recognized.
Move for adoption.
She recognizes the gentleman from Mobile,
Representative Bracy.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
With the gentleman,
you.
Yes,
sir.
I always wanted to kinda get a little clarity on kinda how things are gonna go today.
So if you can just
kind of help me out.
I know we've had different types of 10 minute calendars in the past and
Uh,
I know this would be,
I guess our first special order calendar,
um,
for this session,
right?
because we've been working kinda off the regular order.
Wasn't really sure seemed like we was kinda going out of order on the regular order,
so I wasn't quite sure how we were doing that and I was just.
Hoping that we could help with some explanation for that.
Happy to,
uh,
we're excited to move to a special order.
We're finally getting bills moving through committee at a point
to where we can move off the regular order and start
moving to the special order calendar
with this calendar today,
since we're doing a 3 day week,
we have committees meeting all day today
and so our time is restricted.
And so we are,
we,
we need to move through some legislation so that we can be
done in time for our committees to meet to move through.
We've got meetings throughout the day.
Um,
first bill on the calendar,
for instance,
is one that we debated and,
and dealt with last year.
-- So I thought -- we dealt with that
well that concept of that bill,
there may be some variations that that we've all seen through committee.
And um and so
mainly just the time restraint that we've dealt with to move through the
day with everyone's meetings we need to be done in a timely manner.
So whenever we start,
we're just gonna spend a specific amount of time talking,
having points with it,
and then move to a vote of the body.
OK,
so
as far as like the 10 minute calendars,
how does that work?
Like I know in the past.
Maybe not in
more recent sessions,
but we've had 10 minute calendars that,
you know,
when you go through the process if the bill doesn't pass in the 10 minutes,
they just kinda put it and then it just kind of go back into a
into the pick list.
And it's able to come back up so it's not that the bill actually dies,
it's just kind of like it's just kind of delayed until the next opportunity
for a bill to be voted on.
Is that this type of calendar or what is this is like the
-- cloture type of special order calendar -- that's very similar with the 10 minutes.
The only difference is at the end of the 10 minutes,
the speaker will call for a vote up or down on the on the legislation.
So,
so,
so
with the legislation.
Have an opportunity to be debated.
-- Any of these 4 -- bills in this 10 minutes can be debated.
So it's very,
very limited
debate.
Well,
it's 10 minutes on today's debate,
yes,
OK,
so.
I guess I'm thinking that,
you know,
bills.
All bills,
I think deserve,
you know,
merit and deserve to be looked at because one of the things,
one of these particular bills,
you know,
I,
the,
the bill grew a lot.
From the original bill,
which I think would lead to
more discussion and conversation,
given the opportunity to say,
hey,
you know,
what are the changes,
what happened?
Because if it was
as simple as
I guess a just a definition,
it could be a one pager,
you know,
so it's,
it's kinda like so.
We should have an opportunity to have,
you know,
true open discussion about it.
I think that's what the citizens would want
and then
have an up or down vote.
Not saying that it should go on forever,
right?
You know,
we don't wanna be here
in this committee and be here all day having a conversation,
but I do think that.
10 minutes on any legislation is a lot,
especially something that could possibly be controversial because,
you know,
we have like the,
the 10 minute calendar a lot of times on noncontroversial bills.
Sometimes it's on bills that we know
um we need to allow the member the opportunity to get the bill passed the House.
They may not have time in the Senate,
but it helps the members to be able to go home and say,
look,
I did this,
I got my bills passed.
Create that type of thing and then also like the consent
type of calendar where
Pretty much everybody agree that these are are bills that,
you know,
probably
didn't have to withstand a lot of debate.
People are kinda on the same page on it.
The committee has vetted it.
The consent chair has looked at it,
you've looked at it,
leadership and say,
OK,
these are good to go,
but on a more
controversial type,
it's kinda like it just seemed like it was,
what,
what.
One for more conversation and not
just a 10 minute up or down.
I,
you know what I mean?
It just doesn't seem like it would be,
especially at this stage,
like it seemed like at this stage of session
that we should be able to.
Debate,
debate bills.
I mean,
debate bills on their merits and let them stand
on what they are and up and down,
especially when they go changing,
you know,
cause
The bill changed a lot.
And
it wasn't,
it didn't reduce,
it,
it grew.
So it may not have been simple,
simple changes,
so.
Or,
or is this like a pad like is this something that we're gonna
just be doing this year because this is kind of new this early in the session to me.
Well,
it's,
it's new to us to do 23 day weeks in a row.
That's not what we normally do,
but just to expedite the
the moving along of the session.
23 day weeks
puts us in a little bit of a time restraint like I was talking earlier,
um,
this,
this subject matter,
maybe not this specific legislation,
but this subject matter as we discussed a lot last year,
a lot of uh discussions leading into the session about this legislation
and.
Um,
you know,
with our office we try to find ways to
keep
everything moving on time to make sure everyone's
legislation that's important to them moves along.
I haven't had people in my office truly wanting to have more questions or have more
um thoughts on this legislation,
so
but I guess I would think that the questions and the the thoughts on the legislation.
Shouldn't come to your office.
They should
this would be the place for it,
you know,
the opportunity for that would be because I,
I know I,
I don't think you would want 104 members
on every bill coming to you saying,
hey,
especially if it's not a bill that you're sponsoring to be like,
you know,
hey.
You know,
I,
I wanna discuss this legislation.
It seemed like they should be talking to the
sponsor of the bill or either have an opportunity
to speak on the legislation out here.
I,
I guess I'm just thinking about the fairness of the process.
Um,
I,
I probably won't be speaking on the bill because if I do the 10 minutes will be up,
you know,
uh,
but
if I wanted to,
I think I should be afforded
the opportunity,
you know,
and it,
it just seemed like this early in the session.
You are very efficient.
Like,
you know,
this is efficient to like it's,
it's,
it's gone.
The train is gone,
it's moving
and if you didn't set your alarm this morning to get here for 8 o'clock,
you're probably gonna miss the train by the time we vote.
And
so it is efficient,
but I don't know if efficient is always the way when it comes down to this because.
The difference in this legislation,
this is final passage.
This legislation could be signed as early as when.
Well,
it could,
it could go to the governor immediately.
Yeah,
it could be signed as early as
today,
right?
So it's not like,
you know,
we're,
we're rushing through something
that's gonna be
heavily debated because you know sometimes that happens,
say,
OK,
they'll fix it in the Senate or they'll catch it
in the Senate and they do the same thing,
but we're talking about.
Final final passage of legislation that will
probably be signed by the governor today
that
basically if,
if a person didn't talk on the calendar
today,
they won't even have an opportunity to address it at all and
10 minutes just,
it's,
it's life changing stuff.
It's,
it's a real
big
deal.
It's,
it's a very controversial topic
and just 10 minutes just to me it just doesn't give it justice.
It doesn't give it,
you know,
what it,
what it deserves and actually for none of these,
you know,
none of these bills.
It it seems like at this point of the session,
we shouldn't quite be here.
Well,
I can assure you much respect for the gentleman as you know that and uh
this is a rarity just because of the timelines we're under and
and
we always want debate and I,
I think it's important the entire legislative process,
the communication between.
The chairman of committees,
the communication between our office,
communication speaker
each step's very important
and,
and to,
you know,
the debate starts way before session starts and it keeps going on past the session,
but,
uh.
Today this is a rarity just follows the timeline and,
and something I I expect we we won't see that often.
OK,
one last question is is this something that's gonna
-- happen often throughout the -- gentleman's time has expired.
She recognizes the gentle from Maringo or McCambell.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker,
for the recognition.
Will a gentleman yield.
Yes,
sir.
You know,
you and I were in a meeting this morning.
And
In that meeting I made some comments
regarding.
How we should be looking at and treating
each other,
how we should,
should deal
with our fellow man.
You know,
did I not make those comments this morning?
Some of the things that I said,
would it not help you think about?
Somebody
else and their feelings and how they are dealing with some certain things.
Did I not make those comments?
I don't know that we were in the same place this morning.
I was at breakfast Cross.
I was also I made those comments.
Well,
I missed your comments.
You missed my comments.
OK.
I had to come over here to get the help get the train rolling.
So,
OK,
so maybe,
maybe you missed those comments,
but I do make great comments that I did make those comments
and
I'm not down here to debate the merits of of not a single bill
on this calendar.
But I am standing here
to
help this body understand,
help our leadership understand
that each and every one of us
were elected to represent
at least 48,000 people
in our district
and that 48,000 people are made up of a whole lot of different type of people.
So
we are
to at least.
Be able to make arguments on these bills,
you know.
It's a,
it's a 10 minute calendar.
Now I've been here a few years now
and
I'm just starting to see these closer
10 minute calendars because that's what this is
and so it's without having
to actually
go through the full motion,
but I'm one of those that believe if you're going to closure me,
at least give me the opportunity to make the case
for the people that I represent.
Now,
you know.
When you look at my vote on this,
on,
on some of these bills,
they may not
um
Agree with the tenor
of some of these bills,
but
they are going to be a vote
that either represents my personal feelings regard them and
you know,
I'll stand up to my constituents with my personal feelings,
but I have an obligation
to be able to represent.
The different interests of the people
in the district that I serve,
as well as the people of the state of Alabama.
So
I,
my former colleague that was up here.
He asked the question,
is this
the way we will be conducting business this this year?
That's the,
the thing that I want to know because if it is,
then,
you know,
I've got to decide how am I going to address that because it's not being fair
to all the people.
It's not being fair
to everyone.
How do you get,
how do you get people on a closer 10 minute motion?
How do you get a bill on that?
Do I,
do I need to uh bring you a list of bills
that I'd like to have on a 10 minute closure bill,
or a closure uh
calendar and you.
Would put those bills on a 10 minute closure calendar.
Well,
you know,
the same process prevails with we've done in previous years.
You would do the form that your bills out of committee and,
and that you're ready for it to move forward.
We do that because I don't want to move a bill
forward that you're not ready for it to move forward.
So we have that process in place and then from that.
We generate a pick list of bills that the rules committee will
choose from that are are in line with the legislation that,
uh,
we feel the body wants to move forward with
and if there's any special requests you can make that on
that same form so certainly we welcome any bill from you and
certainly make that request through our office be happy
to happy to entertain any any suggestion you have
and.
What
makes a bill qualify then for a 10 minute closure calendar?
Because I,
I understand with the consent calendar
we have specific things that all of us would have to adhere to
in order to be able to get it on that calendar,
but I want to know
what specifically
can I be looking at as I try to come up with bills to put on a 10 minute closure calendar.
What,
what,
what?
What kind of bills do I need to have?
Well,
for instance,
today is just a timeline of schedule.
It's a very important.
Somebody behind me,
uh,
vocalist said I needed to have a good one.
But you,
you know,
and a good,
a good bill
and you know,
thing I've always understood.
The term good can be subjective.
You understand?
I do.
So now how do I get a
Bill,
-- on a 10 minute closure -- calendar,
well,
you can,
like I said earlier,
you can make that request to office when you fill that
form out or you're welcome to come meet with me directly and
a lot of variables come into play as far as our,
our schedule,
the legislative process,
and
as we move through and,
and we'll be setting
priorities based on several factors.
So certainly
welcome anybody in this body is welcome to make those requests.
OK,
and.
And indeed.
You don't make the final decision,
though,
do you?
-- Don't make the final decision on -- about whether or
not we get a 10 minute closure calendar.
Well,
there's much discretion to every chairman,
but the ultimate,
uh,
decisions that are made go to the discretion of the speaker
in discretion,
but there's discretion and empowerment and entrustment
is through the chairman of the bond,
the leadership,
and then each member in here to be able to work through that process.
Just gave you the the process through my office.
Each chairman will have
their own discretion for their own process for their committee,
but that's how we work in the rules committee.
OK.
And,
and I'm not,
I'm,
I'm
literally speaking about,
uh,
a 10 minute closure calendar.
That's,
that's what I'm actually
speaking about.
It's.
It's disheartening and uh you know,
uh,
this early in the session
that we feel we need to closure,
you know,
not give the ability
to literally flush out and debate.
That's what we ought to do
down here because
everybody don't,
you know,
as a body we are to collectively
come up with what with the good things
for this state,
but
When you exclude part of the body.
From having a,
a say because that's basically what this is doing.
It's excluding a portion of the body
from
from articulating
the things that
Would be,
you know,
maybe
some concerns in their district.
You know,
now,
like I say,
uh,
some of my votes.
Probably or
More in line with,
with,
with
a lot of stuff that you believe in.
Some of them are going to be against things that you believe in.
That's just the process,
but at least you and I should have the opportunity
to debate it,
flush it all out,
and then cast the vote.
Once we've done all of that,
then we can walk out of here,
you know,
and say we did the best that we can
for the people that we serve.
Well,
I may have,
I may have won around and you may have won around.
It doesn't really matter as long as both of us have the opportunity
to be in the fight.
But when you,
when you decide that
I don't even deserve to stand on the
battlefield and fight for my folks.
Then I think that's where I have the problem,
and I hope you understand that
it's not a problem with the bills,
it's a problem with this process,
and I have a serious
problem and concern
with it.
Thank you now.
Thank you.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Did you recognize a lady from Madison Represent hall.
Oh
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker,
with the gentleman yield?
Yes ma'am.
So generally,
My experience has been with a 10 minute calendar.
So last week,
Um,
I felt like we didn't do very much of anything.
We had 3 days and we did 3 days,
and this week we come
and we start today
by having a 10 minute count.
Now generally a 10 minute calendar,
when you vote on that you can vote in the way I,
I agree with the gentleman that was just before me
this base is a culture of whether or not you.
You know,
have any opposition or whatever,
you don't get to do that.
Is that,
am I understanding this process correctly in terms of the 10 minute calendar?
There will be 10 minutes up to 10 minutes of discussion and debate,
but then that will move to a vote on the motions.
But you previously,
how has,
how is this different from previously to a 10 minute calendar has been presented.
Good question.
We've done 10 minute calendars in the past where,
where it's very similar to a consent calendar,
where people are
bills that
feel like we can move through the process quickly and,
and.
We move through and if there's uh
certain issues that come about,
you know,
we work through that process with it.
The only difference is because we're on a timeline today
because we got all the other meetings of the
day that we'll move forward with that vote so
that everyone could get back to the legislative parts
of the rest of their day as well.
So I know a lot of committees are meeting at 9:30.
And um and some meetings uh throughout the day that people
will be in line for so we're in a time constraint
today.
-- We -- weren't in a time constraint last week.
Well,
and as you're well aware,
the,
the legislative process with,
with our first two days,
we had,
uh,
bills have to be filed and then they
can get their second reading committees could meet.
And then
bills have to roll out of committee before they'd be considered by the body
and,
and we just,
we only had limited committee action last week.
We've got a lot of committees meeting today moving
legislation that's important to everybody in this body.
And so we'll move through that
and then tomorrow we'll be able to have a,
uh,
I would say a more robust and more numbers calendars if,
if we can and
Take the bills that roll out of committee today and then the same for
for Tuesday.
So,
uh,
as the 3 day weeks are are good to get us moving,
but they're difficult from a rules perspective because
there's not a lot of bills to move forward
and so
as committees meet and they're doing their legislation and rolling out,
there'll be a lot more legislation to choose from.
-- And so tomorrow we'll -- stop right there.
Did you say that there's not a lot of bills to move out with all of the bills?
There's a number of bills that were pre-filed,
so we have plenty of bills and but
to limit us,
as has been stated before,
to a 10 minute calendar,
and I know,
I mean,
anybody that's been serving here would realize
that this is by design.
Because you think
that you don't want
the members that may be in opposition
to a particular bill not to have that opportunity
and I think what you're and
and so
that creates a feeling
of.
You're not concerned
about the minority.
Basically,
that's the way it comes across.
Now it may not be your intent,
but that's how it comes across.
OK,
we know we're gonna have some people raising questions.
We know we're going to.
Have these issues in terms of why we are dealing with
Senate bill number 79.
But even that bill,
whatever it is,
whatever the vote is going to be,
why put it on a 10 minute calendar?
The other two.
Uh,
Medicaid agency
and it's based on a recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force.
Well,
I look just look that up because I've never heard of this task force,
but we have that bill on here.
Then you have one of the state Board of Pharmacy employees
from discipline pharmacists from
recommending off-label medical treatments.
So,
but the main one.
That probably is going to get the most attention is Senate Bill 79.
And I'm saying when we have voted,
had a 10 minute calendar.
Before you had a process by which if you spent more than that time,
that bill went back on the calendar.
And I,
so when it came before your committee last night or whenever you voted,
was there an opportunity for your members to determine
whether or not did you come with the recommendation
that these bills be placed on a 10 minute calendar?
-- Was there a vote -- that was my recommendation and
the committee had opportunity to vote on that process
and what and your committee voted
and your vote,
the members that serve on your committee voted.
For this bill to be the bill that would be on the 10 minute calendar today.
There was no opposition.
There was opposition,
but the vote carried in the committee,
and like I was telling gentlemen earlier,
this is a rarity based on the timeline with all the legislative process that we're.
Dealing with today
and this is not a calendar setup that you'll typically see from from us.
That is certainly true.
I hope not.
Well,
I
I enjoy I enjoy talking with you,
Ms.
Hall,
but we don't have to talk up here every week.
So I try to make sure we're moved through the process
and this will be a rarity.
Uh,
as far as the timeline that we were put into to,
to,
to get through the legislative day,
so.
It it is,
it is very interesting to me and as I said that I thought about last week
and I said,
well,
you know,
I have remembered us coming in when we were having a 3 day week
we would come in,
have a committee meeting
the next day,
Wednesday we would have had a bill before us.
And it just felt like we were,
we,
from my perspective,
you know,
I'm saying from my perspective
that last week.
When you're talking about committees need to meet,
that didn't happen
in many cases and some weren't able to
-- and -- what do you mean they weren't able to?
Well,
they didn't have enough.
A lot of bills were filed on the first day,
a lot of bills filed on the 2nd day,
and we're upwards of 500 bills total now.
So it takes a review process that
each chairman is looking at the agenda for
a potential agenda for their committee.
Some
interests uh whether it be people of the
state or other members have questions about legislation,
as you know
better than I do,
the real body of this work is done and in committee
work to try to make sure we're through this process so.
Each chairman,
which is very capable to try to work and determine
what legislation's ready to move forward,
which ones need a little more work,
which questions need to be answered.
So a lot of that process
started last week
and then we'll move forward and continue and continue as we
get more and more bills that come available that are ready for
for a vote of the entire body.
I certainly would hope that as we move through this session.
That the bills that you feel that are important,
excuse me,
to this administration
and to this leadership
that you would not find it is important to put it on a 10 minute calendar.
I,
you know,
whether I agree with it or not,
I certainly think we ought to have the opportunity
to have the discussion.
You,
I mean,
because you have the,
you have the majority.
You have culture,
you have all of those things,
but I,
it,
it is a,
a um.
It is not a good feeling
to feel that you start the first day
that we start and you start with a 10 minute calendar
and then you start with
you what you think
is probably the most controversial of them
at the top of that calendar and then
you're gonna give only 10 minutes for discussion.
I just hope that we would find ourselves
being,
and I won't say thoughtful
because that is certainly
not the approach it seems to be,
but be mindful of the fact
that it's OK for us to disagree.
I,
I'm,
I'm certainly one of those.
We can disagree without being disagreeable.
And when we do that,
we can still give everybody the opportunity to have their input or have their say
about what is going on
as we move forward.
I regret that we find ourselves at this particular point
or I find myself feeling
some kind of way about where we are at this particular point
because I think that
it is,
it would be more
sensible to me.
In terms of having and especially if you say
that you had some opposition
but
they were not um
um
that opposition
was not in the majority thank you.
The latest time has expired.
She recognized as a lady for Macon Representative Warren.
Thank you Mr.
Speaker,
my dear Chairman,
I must apologize
for missing the meeting on yesterday,
but I,
I had no idea that we were gonna have a 10 minute calendar today.
As a matter of fact,
last night at dinner,
somebody started discussing it.
I said,
no,
I said we got
one bill I know that's gonna be in there
that's gonna need some full discussion,
and this is not saying that
it's a bad bill.
It's just saying that
there are some.
Things that are not clear,
and we had this bill in our health meeting on Tuesday,
which was yesterday.
And I think that
I had,
you know,
the,
the definitions that they have are good,
but there's still some things that I think a full discussion
needs to be held with this body
for some clarity
and one of them,
and I think anybody who was in the health committee yesterday
we had a person to testify.
And the person got up and testified and everything went well
until the person told us
that she was born a female.
This person
look more masculine than any man in this room,
OK?
And what she was saying,
she said,
OK,
you want me to declare myself.
A female,
but if I walked into a woman's restroom,
they'd be putting me out.
So
that was in itself needs some in-depth discussions as to how
people of that.
Uh,
uh,
portrait
can be going into a ladies' restroom
because we say she's a female,
so I think that,
you know,
I,
whatever reason we had a 10 minute calendar,
I think on this bill
we need to seriously probably make some amendments,
put some more definitions in here
and have a full discussion
because I'm being honest with you,
uh,
Representative Lovin.
If I walked in the ladies' bathroom
and saw that person in there,
I'd go back and think I'm in the wrong place.
But this is what we're saying here in this bill
that whatever
your natural birth is,
that's who you are
and like I say,
whatever she did and whoever did it
did an exceptional
job.
I,
I know Chairman Lee can testify he was as shocked as I was
when we learned that that was a woman.
So I think that,
you know,
it it's what for whatever reason we needed this 10 minute calendar.
I think this body
deserves a full discussion.
On this because I,
I,
I got a copy and tried to read the entire bill again this morning
and there's nothing in here about restrooms.
I think this is an issue that needs to be inclusive
in this bill.
Now I think um Representative Dubos uh she's gonna carry it in here,
but I,
I just think that you know it's,
it's,
it's too much uncertainty here.
We're dealing with some things that we are not professional with.
And we're making it law
and to make an issue like this law with so many uncertainties here,
we're gonna cause more problems
than we're trying to correct
in this situation.
So I,
I,
you know,
again,
to,
to.
Not delay anything,
but this was this bill became serious to me
in committee on yesterday,
and I think
we have learned so over the years I say
I and we've been dealing with these sexual changes and all that I have learned
so much
that I did not know
even existed.
In this world.
But they're,
I mean it's,
it's,
it's where they are.
So yes,
we,
I have no problem defining what a female is or defining what a male is,
but when you have a person
who has changed their gender
in such a way
that nobody would even think that they are their original
birth sex,
we need to have full discussion.
We need to have,
I,
I know we need some amendments in this bill.
And I don't see us having that opportunity
to have that full discussion on a 10 minute calendar.
So I just,
I just ask that you
please,
uh,
reconsider this particular bill
so that we can make it a good bill
because I mean when we start,
parents start complaining
about a boy was in my daughter's bathroom,
what can we say?
We told them you're female,
you got to go to that bathroom.
So again I think that
there's a need to have some serious discussion on and
like I and and to be honest with you,
Joe,
I'm not filibuster.
I'm here because it became a concern of mine on yesterday.
That's why I couldn't believe that we had put this bill on a 10 minute calendar
because there there there are a lot of
unanswered.
Situations that we're gonna encounter
once this bill is passed and it's gonna make us,
I,
I hate to say it,
but it's gonna make us look a little irresponsible.
It's gonna make us look
not thorough enough as to what we're doing when we put these bills together.
Whatever the the original objective is,
I think it's good if you just wanted to find,
but I,
I think.
Is already defined in nature what a male and a female is
is how one wants to identify themselves is what the problem is
and in doing that I think that um
many of them have been successful,
but we are not addressing all the issues
that we need to address in this bill to get it said
thank you.
Thank you,
ma'am.
Sure,
thanks to the lady.
She recognized the lady from Mobile,
Representative Drummond.
I,
I was,
-- I -- was trying to.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker,
with a noted yield in my red.
That that
that's fighting colors,
aren't they?
I,
I too want to join my colleagues.
I wanna,
I wanna talk about transparency.
Do you think a 10 minute calendar is fair to the public
for which we represent?
I mean,
because when I looked at this,
I,
I just kept saying why are we doing this when we're first beginning we,
we,
we're coming out of the shoot
and is a 10 minute calendar fair to the folks that we represent?
Well.
You,
you know how the legislative process works.
We,
this was an issue that was discussed a lot last year.
Uh,
it's been discussed a lot nationally,
and then
a lot of discussion leading into session again this year,
and then
It went through the process in the Senate chamber
and then came through the committee process here and,
and,
and now to here and like I spoke to your colleagues earlier
today is uh a unique situation with the timeline of
the legislative process with other happenings in the day.
Well,
you know,
I,
I was watching at 4 o'clock this morning.
I get up at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Uh,
-- prayer time and all that -- 3 o'clock.
No,
I didn't.
I was up at 3 o'clock and that's my meditation time
and I was watching the news and I saw Elon Musk and the president on there
and they were talking about
how we have created so much bureaucracy
of our rules and regulation that the average person
who we represent
cannot get full grade.
Grasp of what we're doing in government
is that is this 10 minute calendar not evidence of that
because I'm,
I,
you know,
many of our members,
uh,
in this chamber,
they may feel one way or the other they may be for what's on the calendar,
uh,
but 10 minutes to be able to debate something that is so important
to so many folks that we represent
and and like must said.
That's bureaucracy at its greatest level.
We're just taking it in an accelerated time right now,
and I just wonder why,
because it's an important issue that we need to deliberately look at.
Yeah.
Is it
one of the specific bills on here or one
in particular?
Just,
just everything that we do represents
people
and see,
I sometimes think that we get so caught up in in
parties that we forget about the folks who sent us here.
I'm one of these folks.
I look at things in the people realm.
And a 10 minute calendar won't give you the transparency
for the people to deliberately see
that we as public servants
are looking at these things very deliberately
and very carefully because they affect lives,
you know,
somebody's life is on this piece of paper of the action that we will take,
and it certainly takes longer than 10 minutes.
Well,
and like I told your colleagues earlier,
uh,
the.
This type of calendar will be a rarity where we're put into
a little bit of a time crunch due to other factors.
Any process that we go through with any legislation,
uh,
debate is certainly
always ongoing,
and
I,
I'm very.
In tune with things that we're doing and I've tried
to do that ever since I came here 8 years ago
and
even with the debate in here,
rarely have I ever been convinced to change my
vote on a legislation where all the preparation leading into
our discussion like we're having right now I'm not saying that's not important,
but as far as the work behind the legislation.
Is usually done in my mind before we get in here and
with everything that we have with our committee commitments that we have today,
I know a lot of members have
bills that are in committee leading in today.
We were in a time constraint so we could move through this legislation
and
move on about the legislation of the day.
And and,
and sir,
I respect the process,
but I want you to think about it in this realm.
The what's what what what what we are convening on this morning,
it took many of us this morning to get up.
It took me 10 minutes just to put my makeup on.
It took me 10 minutes
to put on my red suit.
If I decided to go walking this morning,
I would walk.
It take me at least 20 minutes to a half an hour.
That's what I try to do.
And I'm not affecting anybody's life with the action and what I'm,
I'm trying to tell you
is that the items that's on our calendar today,
no matter what the process is,
don't you think that those individuals.
Who will be affected
deserve more than 10 minutes
to decide something that is going to change the direction of how
they live in the great state of Alabama.
Well,
and
I'd respectively disagree.
It's,
it's 10 minutes
today,
but
we're looking at 2 years of a discussion.
And 2 years of discussion of discussion on this type of matter,
so.
I think the discussion's been ongoing.
The legislative process has been ongoing,
and then
what
sums up today is just the 10 minutes.
And and tell me how much of that process,
and I'll use your two years,
how much of that process
has the John Kay public
been involved in?
Because again today I'm only talking I'm not talking about 2 years
you gave me 10 minutes that's the process
10 minutes
that we are to make a decision.
That
will affect somebody's life.
And I'm,
I'm not standing here saying I disagree with anything on here.
You'll find that many of us probably agree,
but the process of 10 minute calendar when we first began,
I'm one of those folks that when you walk into a room,
my mother raised me,
she said,
Barbara,
the first impression means everything.
So when I walked into the room and well actually last night
when I saw my email and it said 10 minute calendar,
it said to me,
Barbara.
You need to be ready
to be more
defensive on everything,
and I don't wanna be like that.
Because we are affecting people's life.
I think we need deliberate debate.
I think we need deliberate discussion.
We're in an environment where we compromise like Representative Warren.
I wasn't in her health committee yesterday.
But she came to me and was sitting there telling me about
what happened in that committee
and I'm sitting there looking at her and she says I'm serious.
She says the person looked like Joe Lovell down there and he looked like
Kelvin Lawrence with hair around his face and I'm just sitting there listening.
It took longer for her to tell me about the health committee.
Than it is for us to be able to debate this calendar.
I just don't,
you know,
I just don't think that that's fair
for an item that is going to affect so many Alabamians.
It's going to affect the tenure of Alabama
and it's going to send,
as I said before,
mama said,
your first impression is your best.
I don't think I think it will
affect badly Alabama's first impression outside of Alabama
and and I just think the process doesn't lend itself to transparency
and that is what we're supposed to be about we're supposed to be transparent.
And we're supposed to be
representing
people,
not a process,
but people,
and,
and I,
I respect you.
I really do,
but I just don't think that this sends a good message
for this session
that we would start
with a 10 minute calendar.
Do you think that it's going to be so
debatable that
we shouldn't give it our all due diligence?
Well,
I.
And and return much respect for you as you're well aware.
As we look at this and we looked at the time restraints on today,
one,
like I said earlier,
this is gonna be a rarity that we would be in this type of calendar,
but
also as well
with the bill you're talking about,
if you didn't know how you were gonna vote on it when you walked in the door today,
then,
then I'm concerned what type of
work you're doing away from here.
So I felt like these were issues people knew where they stood.
And could make that decision and
-- and any comments needed to be made could be made and then we -- before
my time runs out when I told you I woke up at 3 o'clock,
I not only meditate and pray to the God of I read my bills.
It recognizes a lady in Madison Reo Las.
OK.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Does the gentleman yield?
Yes ma'am.
Thank you so much,
um.
I guess I'm just confused
um
because this is the first time um
I've had the 10 minute rule be a thing down here
and I've listened carefully to all of the questions and answers,
but I still don't feel like I can explain
to my constituents why we
invoked the 10 minute rule for this morning and why we're
having um 3 day weeks
so early in the session.
Well,
certainly a good question.
We are.
We,
like I stated to your colleagues earlier,
we're moving through the process.
We're getting more and more bills filed.
We're up to close to 500 bills now between the two bodies,
and I anticipate several more coming,
and
we have moved through these weeks.
Today is a very heavy committee load,
which is the main workhorse of this body is through our committee work that we do.
And
we identified some bills that had cleared the the committee process
and,
and some one of these bills had commit uh cleared it
through the
other chamber through the committee process and through a vote
of their chamber and it came through committee process down here
and
to be able to move through and then
move through to the other business of the state
we only had a certain amount of time today to get through this process so.
Um,
I feel this is some issues that people know where they're gonna vote on
and which position they have.
Uh,
I feel like there's not a lot of debate that would sway a vote in this chamber,
so we know where we are,
but,
uh,
as far as the process,
there's been a long process to get to this point.
It's just today due to the process of
the other committees that we have meeting today,
we had a narrow timeline to meet
and get to a vote to move forward with the people's business.
And I understand that.
What I don't understand is
why we
opened the calendar
on a Wednesday
when if we stuck to two day weeks we would have a lot more time to attend to these bills.
So I don't,
it feels rushed to me like we're rushing through this.
Well,
there's
there,
I guess the,
the real rush is not there,
it's like a
um.
It's been a long marathon race.
We're just getting
moving on process to the finish line
and
the race is still the same distance.
It's just we're
running a little faster on that last leg,
so
we are.
Rolling right back in next week to 2 day weeks.
We've got some time to serve our constituents coming up in March,
so we'll spend some time back in our districts
and then.
I think we can all agree efficiency and how we do things is important
and so the people allow us 30 legislative days to be here and we,
whether it takes us all the way to mid-May to do it
or we wrap up earlier,
it is still the same process
and
if the earlier we can get out of here,
it's,
it's saves the taxpayers' money.
It makes us where we can get back to
our districts and serving locally and addressing issues locally.
That may need to be addressed.
So there's a lot of factors that lead into us
doing 3 day weeks to get the process going and as you're well aware,
it a 3 day week there's not many things you can do because it takes a full 5 day
to pass a bill through both chambers.
So just getting that process,
getting those days cleared away for bills can get their 1st,
2nd,
3rd reading
and moving along is important.
And then this year we just happen to do 2 weeks
in a row moving that process a little bit faster.
Well,
I do understand about efficiency,
but it still seems there's a balance there between the efficiency
and being able to represent our constituents and be able to speak on their behalf
so I still feel like
we may be shortchanging the folks that were elected to serve,
but I thank you for your response.
Thank you,
ma'am.
To recognize the lady from Mobile,
Representative Clark.
Morning.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Mr.
Chairman,
ma'am.
Good morning.
You know,
I was um
Really a bit undecided about how I was gonna vote on a certain bill
this morning and I
was looking forward to the debate as,
as our colleague Representative Warren said.
There seems to still be a need for some work
that might have been done in the form of amendments
this morning,
but
I don't know that time is gonna
allow for that,
and that was a part of my opposition
um in rules on yesterday,
and,
and you were kind
to understand my point of view and my perspective,
um,
when I voted against the special order calendar.
I,
I knew that there would be some opposition.
And the expectation would be that that I would have opposed,
you know,
a 10 minute calendar,
especially with such a controversial bill
on it.
Well,
like your colleague said earlier,
we can certainly disagree without being disagreeable,
and I respect you for you and I do that pretty well,
don't we?
Yes ma'am,
and I appreciate that.
I,
um.
I understood your position
as as you understood mine.
Is there any chance?
That
We can
take
This very controversial bill off the calendar this morning and
put it on an upcoming calendar.
I think this rules meet
later today
we're gonna meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. We meet tomorrow.
We don't meet again today and we don't meet today.
We met yesterday
upon adjournment.
Yes ma'am,
and then our next meeting will be when,
uh,
tomorrow at 9 a.m. OK,
OK.
And so
could we take this bill off the calendar today and put it back on?
For a later date,
I really feel that we've been through the process with
this bill that we're we're at a time where,
uh,
most things that need to be said have been said through the process
and that we're,
we're as a body or collectively should be ready to vote up or down on the legislation.
Your colleague earlier made some great points about
other following issues and there's definitely.
With any legislation,
other related issues,
and we can take up
other
bills that address those specific matters
where
I think.
From my viewpoint,
this legislation that that she's concerned about
really dies down to the bare bones basics
of an issue,
and then we can build back up where we see any
specific issues related to the definitions of this legislation,
so.
So that that's,
I,
I think we need to stay the course.
This type of calendar will be a rarity,
and you,
you're very seasoned on the rules committee as well.
You know this is not usually the case of a,
of a calendar where we'd have to expedite the vote.
It's just due to our,
our timeline of the day,
due to,
uh,
other matters that are important to the people of the state.
We've got to move forward and.
And I think we just,
in my opinion,
we stayed the course for the day and move
forward with our calendar as approved by the committee.
What's the urgency?
What,
what's the urgency?
Why,
what would it hurt?
To carry this bill over
and to
debate it next week
or even tomorrow.
Thank you.
Well,
this,
like I stated earlier,
this is uh not a,
a new discussion.
It's a discussion that's been ongoing and it's been through the process of,
and in this case on the bill that you're
being specific about has been through the Senate process,
been through committee,
been through the vote of their chamber
down here it's been through the committee process and moved forward to.
Um,
to,
to vote today,
and
I think that people have
come together and,
and went through the issue as,
as,
as fine tooth just as anyone would expect them to
and,
and got us to a point where I think it's time we move on an up and down vote on the issue
and then like I stated,
this is a
down to
basics of uh this debate.
And anything that evolves from
that debate will may lead just like in any legislation to other issues.
And so there may be follow up bills
that
that you may see or or some colleague may see
that may need to address related back to this issue.
That's how we can fix this or this is how we fix that.
And,
and,
you know,
we.
I often say we meet every year so we can fix what we broke last year so we,
I,
I think I really Mr.
Chairman would have benefited from being in health
committee meeting on yesterday and had I known
we weren't gonna have this debate in the chamber this morning,
I would have
missed another committee meeting to be there for a discussion this important,
um,
so I,
I,
I have to tell you I feel deprived,
um,
I,
I had not made up my mind and was looking
forward to the debate on this bill this morning.
Well,
well,
I certainly don't ever want you to feel in that that manner,
and
this type of calendar is a rarity.
It's just where we are in the legislative process.
You're right,
we normally,
we normally have 10 minute calendars much later
in the session,
but,
but there's no rule that says we can't have one early on,
huh?
Well,
we,
we hope to move forward the legislative process as much fairness as
possible with as much efficiency of the process as well and.
And I certainly appreciate all your work to do that with even when you
oppose the the matter from where we feel it needs to move forward,
but,
um,
but I,
I,
I think this,
this type of calendar is a rarity as you're well aware of and we,
we just have got
a lot of the people's business to move forward to
and it's time to make a decision in my opinion
on
-- issues such as this and then -- when time has expired.
Thank you Mr.
Chair.
What for the body and now is adoption of the calendar.
All those in favor say aye.
In opposed it has been adopted.
Clerk call first bill on calendar on page 3 of the calendar.
Senate bill number 79
by Senator Weaver relating to sex-based terminology.
Representative Bose you're recognized.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
I'm here today
to present SB 79.
The what is a woman bill which passed by Senator Weaver out of the Senate last week.
This bill defines and codifies the definitions
of sex-based words already in state code
words such as man,
woman,
male,
female,
boy,
girl,
mother,
father,
and sex.
We have had 6 public hearings on this bill,
and this bill has passed twice
out of this body.
We do need to pass this law for clarity,
certainty,
and uniformity
in the courts and in the laws of Alabama.
We have used the word woman 149 times
in our Alabama laws.
When these words were passed,
it was assumed
that these words were tied to biology.
This bill clarifies the original meaning of sex-based terms in our statutes.
It ensures that laws passed by the legislature are applied as
this body intended and not twisted by judges or bureaucrats.
In Alabama,
we have common sense.
We know what a woman is.
We know that God created us,
man or woman,
that our sex is fixed and determined at birth.
With that,
Mr.
Speaker,
I move for the BIR and I'm happy to answer any additional questions.
She recognized the general from Jefferson,
Representative Rafferty.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for the recognition,
Mr.
Speaker.
Um,
does the,
the gentle lady yield?
Yes,
I will.
OK,
so,
uh,
we've discussed this bill
quite a bit yesterday in health committee.
We had a good,
um,
a good,
good talk,
good discussion about it.
Um
And you know one of the things that we've seen proposed in other states
when similar legislations kind of come up has been particularly like in Utah
we've seen that there's been
relating to these,
uh,
to allow public entities to establish certain single sex spaces or environments.
uh,
we've seen compulsory,
you know,
kind of really kind of invasive
things that would put
um.
People in a
precarious situation
where they uh
might be subjected to compulsory genital inspections and that
kind of thing in order to use those spaces.
So I wanna make sure that we're protecting
um our folks from that and I'm gonna introduce
an amendment that is germane to this bill,
um,
and here's a clean copy of it.
So I'd like to introduce that amendment,
Mr.
Clark,
see the amendment.
Amendment to Senate Bill number 79 by Representative Rafferty.
Hey,
wait,
wait just a minute.
I've been informed we have got to adopt the BA BIR before we do this.
So you don't go ahead and do that.
Is everybody OK with adopting the BR so he can offer his amendment.
OK.
Question for the body is adoption of the BR
clerk on lock and she the members will vote.
Clerk Lo She court vote 76 Is 18 nays BR has been adopted.
Representative Rafter,
you can go forward now.
I'm sorry.
So what this amendment does is it replaces lines 1,
23 on page 5 with the following.
Um,
nothing in this section shall be interpreted as permitting or authorizing
compulsory general inspections or the
use of surveillance camera monitoring device
in or immediately outside of a single sex space or environment,
including but not limited to a toilet,
bath,
shower facility,
locker room,
etc.
So.
Um,
I would think that it's really important that we protect privacy
and safety here for all of our citizens in Alabama.
So I'd like,
uh,
the body to consider,
um,
adopting this amendment onto the bill.
Representative Bo,
you've heard the amendment.
What's your suggestion?
I would like to lay it on the table.
I do not consider that a friendly.
OK,
the sponsor would like to lay it on the table.
Clerk unlock machine,
if you're for laying it on the table,
your vote will be aye.
If you're opposed to laying it on the table,
your vote will be no.
Clerk unlock machine and the members will vote.
The
OK
Clerk of lock machine record of those 74 ayes,
24 nays.
The amendment has been laid upon the table.
Uh,
thank you for the recognition,
Mr.
Speaker.
Thank you,
gentlemen.
Chair recognizes the lady from Madison,
Representative Hall.
Thank you Mr.
Speaker,
with the lay.
The the um the um
the amendment that was brought forth had some information relative to
how you would determine uh the possibilities
of a process that may be used for determining
the sex of an individual.
So if,
if we,
uh,
what is that,
what did you envision that process would look like
other than the physical appearance of that individual?
I don't envision any process of of what you're talking about
as it relates to.
This bill is simply a definitions bill.
That's all there is to it.
There's no
process involved.
So I,
and,
and the reason my question comes up is because there have
been,
uh,
I've been told
that even in places such as restroom cameras and etc.
that's what the the amendment was trying to do
was to make sure that
an individual
or cameras.
In dress rooms those types of things are being provided
to determine the sex of an individual in terms of their that's totally outside the
scope of this bill and not anything that I'm trying to do with this bill.
So there is the process
by which you've come up with this definition does what?
It defines male,
female,
man,
woman,
boy,
girl,
mother,
father by the biological definitions for the purposes of clarity in the courts
and transparency in our laws.
There are some families,
two females who may be
parents of children and 1 may be the mother.
So how do we deal with that process?
How does that that that that doesn't affect that
if they're two females and they're two mothers,
that's.
OK,
there's no problem that's the same as with two males,
yeah,
those are both two physically male men
that happen to also be fathers.
And so I think you will find that the individuals that have spoken this
morning are not necessarily in opposition to what a male and a female is.
That is not the opposition.
It is a process by which we've used to get to this point,
I understand,
yes,
and,
and in doing so
that we have not had the opportunity,
not and I don't know,
I don't think it would have taken any more time than it's been taken
that we've taken at this particular point I understand.
It's just the fact that
that was the need or it was felt that that was a need
OK we're going to limit
the uh conversations on it so thank you thank you.
Cheer,
thanks,
lady.
Cher is a gentleman from Clark,
Jackson.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Thanks.
Good morning.
You know,
I look up and I see all this beauty of
This play
of God that we come in here and
And do all the
confusion that God is not of.
The economy and craftedness.
Of what is taking place here this morning
is not of God.
So either we need to
Take our sign down or carry out the mission
that
we are called to do.
When I walked in this morning,
I
was listening to the debate about a 10 minute count on.
On what sex is all about,
what,
what sex is God?
You don't ask the question.
And we're discussing.
Male or female,
I'm asking you,
what does God say?
And so
We have been infuriated by
man's ideologies.
Until
we even believe everything that we hear from them.
I asked the question,
what color is God?
So we,
we,
we read what man has
put in our mind
because that's his idea,
that's what he wants to believe and accept.
But the concept of what is real.
Do you know him?
And so if we know him,
then we ought to respond to our knowledge of him.
That means that we,
we embrace each other as family.
Now,
I had said this morning I got here late because there was a
big backup out there on on on 65 coming in this morning,
85 at least.
And I got here a little late,
but I said,
why are we meeting at 8 o'clock in the morning?
For a 10 minute calendar that I didn't know about until I
heard the debate coming up.
It's the cotton and craftiness of what Satan does.
He tried to be,
he,
he used the cleverness of,
of trying to,
to be a surprise to what he does,
but
the Lord let me know that this is not of God.
This is not God's work.
It's how we
portray ourselves as doing.
Christian nationalism,
you know,
do you believe in the church and state separation?
Do I believe in the separation of church and state.
I don't believe that's in our Constitution.
I ask you all that.
I,
do you believe me?
That's part of the Constitution.
I believe that
we are a country founded on freedom of religion,
not freedom from religion.
Freedom if I choose not to,
I got that freedom.
Not to
And so you can't force your beliefs on me.
And this is what,
this is not government.
This is,
this is religion here.
And a gentleman's time has expired.
Thank you.
Question for the body now is this passage of SB 79.
Clerk will unlock the machine and the members will vote.
Clerk lock machine recorded those 77 Is 12 nays SP 79 has passed.
Thank you,
Chair.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Thank you,
bye.
Chair recognized the gentleman from Mobile Pringle.
Thank you,
Mr.
Speaker.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I move the House stand in recess for committees to meet and leave
the journal open until such time as the clerk has competed as paperwork,
at which point we will stand in adjournment until Thursday,
February 14th at 10 a.m. All in favor say aye opposed.
We are adjourned.