Ladies and gentlemen, the hour is six o'clock. Thank you for joining us this evening uh th here for the Madison County Legislative Forum. Uh the purpose of this forum as many of you know is to provide an opportunity for you uh to voice your concerns to us uh the your legislative delegation representing uh you in Montgomery. I did wanna very briefly
say that uh we're not joined tonight by uh a few of our members uh Senator Sam Gavan, Senator Wes Kitchens and Representative Richie Wharton were away on official business. Uh we start our legislative session next week uh January the thirteenth. So this is a very timely timely meeting. Uh we'll go through uh invocation posting of the colours and then brief introductions and then we'll set some ground rules and uh get started with this discussion. But with that I would like to um to welcome Reverend Dr. Mike Alver, senior pastor of Trinity Baptist
to deliver our invocation.
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We are also aware of the work you call us to do to make our community and state even better.
Tonight, during this listening session, I pray for clarity of communication and for understanding. Bless those who share the needs, concerns and observations they have with our legislative delegation.
And thank you for these leaders who have chosen to enter public service. Bless them as they listen, hear, and consider what might help them to be even more effective in serving our community and the greater good.
Grant them wisdom for discerning the best paths forward among the often difficult options they will face. Help them to continue to build on the strong foundations of our past while looking to the opportunities of the future.
Guide them to consensus and unity among themselves and among our citizens so that we may be strong and one. Give them wisdom, courage, and compassion. Now Lord bless this time. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Thank you pastor. Thank you for what you do for our community as well. Uh now we have a special treat. I think as some of you know it is America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday this year. Uh to commemorate that we have a special opportunity to have the posting of the colours from the Tennessee Valley chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution uh presented by Joe Barker who's the Alabama uh commander as well as Randall Jennings the Alabama deputy commander and members Lawrence Hillis, Mark Hubs, Cade
and Scott Owen. If you all stand with me for the posting of the colours.
on.
Affordably to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
So, uh on we are on.
Outwards face.
Front part.
Front and up.
Close position face.
Close the colours.
Right.
Bring it on.
So that it's on.
Left face.
Where Alan's front part.
Front and front.
Right.
Let's give them a round of applause.
may be seated. I know with the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country I know uh Senator Arthur Orr is working on making sure we have a a really good celebration here in the state of Alabama, so we're very excited. Um so very very quickly briefly we're gonna work through introductions of uh of your legislators that are here tonight and uh with that I'll start and ask you to just uh introduce yourself and the areas that you represent and your correspondent body and we'll start down here on the far left.
Well, good evening. Thank you for coming out today. I'm Steve Livingston, Senate District eight, which is a decab Jackson in the eastern northeastern corner of Madison County.
Good evening, Anthony Daniels, House District fifty three, uh that covers uh southwest Huntsville down to Martin Road south, north to Oakwood Avenue, northwest uh to uh s two fifty five in Monro over in Rovio. Thank you.
Senator Tom Butler uh representing Huntsville, Madison uh rural areas of Monrovia, Harvest and Tony and uh glad for you all to be here today. I also include East Limestone uh in Limestone County.
Maryland lands, Alabama House District ten, District ten includes uh about twenty percent of the city of Madison, all the area around the airport, the city of Tryanna, Redstone Arsenal, uh southwest Huntsville and south Huntsville, but west of the Parkway. Uh wonderful to have so many of you here tonight. Thank you for being with us.
Good afternoon Rex, Reynolds, House District twenty one, uh portions of Huntsville, Meridional, Hazel Green and New Market. And appreciate having everyone here. Chief Walker, good to see you. I see you over there.
Uh good evening uh Philip Rigsby, House District twenty five. Um just so glad to see you guys came out tonight. Um look forward to hear what you have to say. I represent Huntsville, Madison City, Madison County up into the Monrovia area and then I have a little bit of East Limestone as well.
Yeah, James Lomax represents southeast area of Huntsville, Hampton Cove, Green Mountain, Montesano Mountain, uh Jones Valley, and it's a it's a pleasure to have this event tonight.
Good evening everyone, my name is Laura Hall, I represent House District nineteen which includes some harvest, Meridianville, Moorth, Mill Road, east of the Parkway, we'll find Alabama A_ and M_ also within my district. Thank you for being here.
Hi, I'm Andy Witt, um House District six, that is Monrovia harvest, northwest Madison County, and then I run over into Limestone County and like the others, thank you for coming and taking time out uh to spend your afternoon with us, so thank you.
Good uh evening, I'm Arthur Orr and uh from uh over south of the river in Decatur, my area for uh Senate District three is the southwest portion of Madison County, generally the airport, triana, the bit uh west of Zirt Road that's uh Huntsville and Madison mixed in there, and then spilling over into Limestone County, southeast Limestone County, and then uh all of Morgan County.
two uh quick plugs as James Lomax our moderator tonight mentioned uh our uh two fiftieth celebration is coming, a little uh under six months now away and uh we're looking forward to that. I would encourage you to go to the website it's america two fifty A_L_ dot org, you can Google it and it'll pop up, but a lot'll be going on in the next uh six months. The second plug is I wanted
um say that this is the last forum for the dean, one of the deans, we've got two of our delegations, Senator Tom Butler, who already introduced himself, but uh Senator Butler is retiring from the legislature, will not be standing for re-election, and he has represented Madison County tirelessly for decades and appreciate his service uh to our state and certainly to our area. So Tom, thank you for being here and thank you for
your service.
One thing that I will point out to Arthur's uh comments, I'm a man that listens to his wife.
Well, I'll follow that one. Um I'm Parker Moore. I have the honor and privilege of representing Alabama House District four uh which comprises Morgan uh county, Limestone county, and then I come over and spill into to Madison county and represent uh thirty to forty something percent of the city of Madison over to Hughes road on up to about Mill road. And it is good to see the the turnout here tonight. So thank you all for turning
Well thank you very much. I I do wanna very quickly uh mention a couple people that that helped make this happen and that's the the staff at the Madison County delegation office uh Hannah and Gail uh, if you could raise your hand there. Yep Um. they helped make this happen and and and I would say um if you don't have an opportunity to to express uh tonight wh what's on your marine um feel free to reach out and you can contact any of us or you can contact our office there at the Madison County delegation
at any time. It is there to serve the public. Uh and I'd also uh be remiss if I didn't uh recognise our federal partners uh Brian Nager uh from Senator Tuberville's office, thank you for being here tonight as well and all those involved in in government at every level. Um so really quickly some ground rules for this evening uh, please silence your cell phones uh, we want this to be productive as possible. Please limit your input to state, county, local issues, so no federal issues. Um we we really can't help with those matters. We want this to be an opportunity to
things that we can actually impact. So um so that everyone has an opportunity to speak on things important to them, please if an issue has already been addressed, if you've already heard about it, uh then then please don't speak on that issue um until others have had the opportunity to speak on different issues. We wanna hear as many issues as possible. Um when you're called upon to speak, um please go to the microphones that are uh that's here in the centre of the room, easy to access, and uh we'll be listing off a few names in advance,
so that you are already in on deck so to say so everyone has their limit of three minutes and so we have the opportunity to reach everyone we will we will be enforcing that three minute policy. My my colleague here representative Rigsby is gonna be keeping time uh and he's very good at it. Um the legislators up here may comment on these issues if if so choose um but we will not be polled on any issues and we do not have to respond. Tonight is just really an opportunity for you the general public to have your voice
be heard and we will be concluding promptly tonight at seven o'clock um so that we may get to some other obligations as well with this session starting up uh this next week a week from today. So um with that said I'll introduce the uh the first three speakers tonight if you could go ahead and be making your way to the microphones but we will begin tonight with Erica Foster uh discussing S_B_ three, Roger Ellis discussing early voting and Amy Fajimi talking the Choose Act.
And at this time Erica you are recognised.
Thank you very much Um. so my name is Erica Foster I, am pursuing my educa my certif certification in sexuality education with Sexual Health Alliance.
Are we failing to harness sex education in the Deep South as a real tool for change? Medical researchers at Tulane concluded with that cl question in a study published this past August reviewing what we teach students about sex education. The findings were predictably disappointing. We were the only state in the Deep South to see a reduction in S_T_I_ and pregnancy risk education. With the passage of S_B_ three, we will cement our seat in last place, making sure our students receive no information that will help them
informed choices about their health. When we measure the success of abstinence education in Alabama, we point to the number of students who commit to abstinence until until marriage and pat ourselves on the back when all the children sign a piece of paper saying they really definitely for sure won't do anything. We promise. When we look at actual public health outcomes, the A_T_P_H_ shows that S_T_A_ S_T_I_ rates have been increasing every year, especially in people fifteen to twenty
four years of age. Across most of North Alabama, rates of teen pregnancy are either staying stagnant or going up. In response we have S_V_ three, which reinforces the terrible standards we have in some places and makes them even worse in others. The bill even states outri outright in lines one ten to one sixteen that data from accurate medical information can only be used if it promotes their version of sexual re risk avoidance, which they divine as
until marriage. What does Real Risk Avoidance look like for teens in sexual health? According to the national sex ed standards published by the Sexuality Education Information Council of the United States, students should be able to name and label the internal and external organs of the human reproductive system, know about general variations in bodies. They should be able to name and contrast multiple types of contraception, and know how to talk about them with their peers and their trusted adults. Instead of just telling teens how to not be pregnant
they need to know how interpersonal violence looks and sounds. They need to know about safe boundaries and relationships, how to say no, and how to avoid peer pressure from their friends and romantic partners.
Research shows parents prefer and students benefit more from comprehensive sex education, the kind that S_B_ three specifically prohibits. Adolescents who receive comprehensive sex ed delay sexual activity longer than adolescents who received abstinence-focused education. And when they do choose to be sexually active, they make better choices that help them avoid risks and have healthier interpersonal relationships. S_B_ three would prevent educators from giving the knowledge to our students that would actually
help them unlock a safer healthier life. Thank you very much. Thank you, uh Roger Ellis to speak about early voting.
Good evening. My name is Roger Ellis, and I'm the chairman of voter service of the League of Women Voters of the Tennessee Valley. It's an honor to speak with you today, and I'm here to talk to you about s having early voting in the state of Alabama. Alabama is only one out of three states that doesn't have early voting. The benefits of early voting are numerous. One, working families can vote when it's convenient for them. The extra days and hours, if it's a weekend, working families can schedule a time to go vote.
In the par non-partisan solution, it affects both parties. This issue will affect both the Democrat and Republican parties in a positive way. It will increase voter turnout. This will increase because of extra days and times. In November twenty twenty four presidential election, Alabama had a fifty eight point five voter turnout. That was a low since nineteen eighty eight. Voters can solve a problem before the elections. They say they have no transportation to the polls.
They can find someone to take them, and then they can vote.
And it's very beneficial to elderly and disabled voters who all have time to vote. The elderly will have time to cast their ballots before the elections. Our neighbour to the north, Tennessee, has early voting. The voting period is between twenty days and b before the election, and it ends five days before the election. This also includes a weekend. During our voting events, I've talked to people from Tennessee and they love early voting. In summary, early voting can be beneficial
Alabama. It would increase voter turnout, work and families would b have time to vote, it benefits both parties, and would help the elderly. Thank you, and please vote yes when this bill comes up. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Uh next to be Amy Fahimi and then followed by Amy will be Austin Jones speaking I_H_B_ twenty.
Hello, I'm Amy Fahimi. The Choose Act should be repealed because it is blatantly unconstitutional. There is nothing wrong with having private religious schools if they are paid for privately. The Choose Act violates article fourteen section two sixty three of the Alabama constitution which states no money raised for the support of the public schools shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian or denominate denominational school.
The choose act term educational savings accounts is inaccurate because funding is still flowing from the state to the private school directly through the class wallet state website. The parents' choice is a formality in the chain of custody, not a true break in the flow of state funds to the private school. Parents are not allowed to pay the school directly and then be reimbursed. It is not a savings account, but our legislators wanted to skirt the strict constitutional prohibition listed
That's why they called it an E_S_A_ program rather than a school voucher program. How can Alabama lawmakers justify funding private education when we are failing at adequately funding public schools? The Education Law Center's twenty twenty three report assigned an F_ to Alabama for its per pupil funding in relationship to the national average. The E_L_C_ also gave Alabama an F_ for the lack of equitable funding distribution, particularly in high poverty
areas compared to low poverty areas. The Choose Act is also geographically inaccessible to very many students in rural Alabama counties. Several Alabama rural counties have zero private schools, including Claiborne, Kusa, Franklin, Geneva, Green, Lamar, and Washington counties. Functionally, these rural students still have no choice between public and private school. They don't want the educational trust fund that should fund their public schools drained for
schools they don't have access to. Rural schools that have only one private school are almost exclus exclusively religious. The o only religious school list is Bullet, Chilton, Conoco, Covington, Crenshaw, Henry, Lawrence, Lowndes, Marion, Monroe, Perry, Randolph, and Sumner. Only two rural counties that have only one private school were non-faith based schools, Butler and Pickens. Uh statewide, seventy four percent of private schools are religiously
affiliated. Eighty one percent of private schools are in urban or suburban areas, so those students disproportionately have much better access to Choose Act funds. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the evidence shows that vouchers harm student achievement and expose state budgets to large future obligations that are hard to forecast even while they divert spending away from public ed education. Many other states are embroiled in contentious constitutional legal
Amy, that's your three minutes. Thank you for your comments.
Let's r repeal the choose act.
Next up is Austin Jones followed, by Stacey Williams to discuss A_E_D_s and turny-gasking on H_B_ forty six.
Hey y'all, I'm Austin Jones. I'm a twenty one year Army vet with four deployments between Iraq and Afghanistan and a member of the North Alabama Democratic Socialists of America. And everything I learned about socialism I learned from the Constitution and the Army. Just so y'all know, the military runs on socialism. And I'd like to b remind everyone of today of this audacious and traitorous attack on the Constitution five years ago. I'm here today to speak on H_B_ twenty Didn't. see a title for
but let's just call it the we wanna gas and murder more people bill. You know, the Romans, what they used to do, the mayor or governor when someone was sentenced to death would go out in the public square and strangle them with their own hands. How about we amend this bill to have the governor strangle folks to death on P_B_S_. Any takers? Or maybe do rock paper scissors for the honor? No? Okay. How about you vote down this
bill and abolish the death penalty. Did you know that it is more expensive to put someone to death than it is to keep them in prison for life? Aren't y'all physical conservatives or is the cruelty the point? How many times has an innocent person been murdered by the state? One thing I wa was told about being a man growing up was that we were supposed to protect life. Is this a manly thing to do? I wonder what would
Jesus think about this. Can you all see Jesus cheering us on from heaven? Did he say go forth and murder, or did he say love thy neighbor? There is no reason to rush someone to God's judgment. Judge not, at least ye be judged. And where does this expansion of the death penalty end? 'Cause I would bet a dollar that some folks out there would be happy if they could kill someone for dead or being poor or being homeless, all of which I've been.
hell, I'm still pouring in debt. When has a rich man ever suffered the cruel and unusual and unconstitutional death penalty? How many poor folks in this state have died because we don't have healthcare expanded? Did y you kill those people? 'Cause that bill says knowingly creates a great risk of death to multiple persons. And a reminder, anything and everything good in this country and the world is because of we
the people. Weekends, schools, libraries, voting, is because of us in spite of the rich. We've had to fight for all of it, and when the people unite and fight, we win every time. All the power to all the people, we the people break our chains together. Free Palestine, hands off Venezuela. And oh yeah. Aren't y'all the pro-life party?
Stacy Williams.
Good evening. My name is Stacey Williams. This is my husband Michael Williams. On April twenty third twenty twenty four we were informed by our son's school that there was a medical emergency with him and we needed to get to the hospital. Unfortunately by the time we got to the hospital our thirteen thirteen year old son Morgan Williams had passed away. After his passing we wanted answers to many questions that we had so we met with the school principal
and the assistant superintendent of Madison City Schools. We asked questions like how many A_E_D_s were on school property, where were they located. The main reason for those questions was because we found out that an A_E_D_ was not applied to our son until the fire department arrived at the school. Although the principal stated the school had three on property, we also learned that their A_E_D_ was not used because the teacher and the coaches at P_E_ did not know whether A_E_D_s were located. In fact,
our son collapsed on the football field near the field house where an A_E_D_ was located. When asked why didn't they get the A_E_D_ from the field house the principal just replied that the person did not know there was a A_E_D_ inside the field house so instead that person ran into the school which was locked because of the emergency response um bu button that they used and by the time he returned the fire department was on the scene and they used their A_E_D_ on our son.
Statistics state that A_E_D_s are most effective if they are used within the first three to five minutes of a cardiac emergency. In partnership with Huntsville Hospital Foundation and the American Heart Association we raised over nineteen thousand dollars to fund strategic placement of A_E_D_s in Madison County.
We'll stand in here tonight to ensure compliance with the new legislative acts being implemented. We request that training is expanded to include all personnel on school property working with children and we would like for you all to monitor the implementation of the new cardiac emergency response plan and review of the plan requirements. I did not see the requirements for strategically placing A_E_D_s throughout the school property to make it accessible to the SERP team members.
Therefore I would like to request an amendment to the John Wesley Foster Act to include strategic placement of A_E_D_s and if possible I would like to request that amendment be named after our son, Morgan Williams.
And we've given you all a handout to provide additional information.
Thank you ma'am. Uh Tierney Gasket speaking on H_P_ forty six.
Hello, my name is Tierney and I'd like to call for you to endorse the following bill. H_B_ forty six is a critical bill for women's health and safety, giving pregnant individuals the ability to terminate a pregnancy to protect their health is essential. Choosing an abortion is never an easy decision, but it is sometimes a necessary one in order to protect the life of the mother. Chronic illness ectopic pregnancies and hormonal issues are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
reasons an abortion may be needed. In addition to this, allowing victims of rape and incest to receive an abortion if they choose to in order to preserve the health of the victim is the minimum we can do in response to such a tragic and horrific act. If you think this issue isn't prevalent anymore, ask your mother, your sister, your daughter. I have yet to meet a single woman who has never experienced at a minimum sexual harassment. From two thousand ten to twenty
twenty, the U_S_ had over one point three million reported incidents of rape according to the F_B_I_.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, quote, eighty one percent of women and forty three percent of men reported some form of sexual harassment and or assault in their lifetime, end quote. A study published by the National Institute of Health said that, quote, less than five percent of sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement, end quote.
The lack of support for victims of sexual assault and rape leads to d leads many to not report at all and suffer the consequences of someone else's actions for the rest of their lives. By setting a standard that violating a person's autonomy is not acceptable in this society, we will help victims feel safer to report such crimes. I and many others in our community implore you to vote yes on this bill to improve many lives in this state. So often our representatives claim to be trying to
protect our women and sh the lives of our children, but failing to hold accountable those who violate the very lives you claim to protect is hypocritical at best and in a mission of guilt at worst.
Failure to pass this bill into law will force voters to reconsider who you actually represent with the power we allow you to have, because it's not all men, but it is all women. Thank you.
Thank you. Next up is Dana Holyfield. Is Dana Holyfield uh Dana Holyfield. Speaking on health care.
Yes.
Thank you so much for having me here and thank you for being here. I thank everybody for being here. This is how democracy works. Um I wanna first um let you know that we are a military family. We moved here in twenty twenty one um and I started a a journey trying to get public records and it's been very educational. We need law enforcement for Alabama's open records. It l rest on me as a citizen to put money forth and take uh an
to civil court to get that information. That should not be the case. There should be oversight, there should be accountability, and it should not just be left on the ho shoulders of a citizen to enforce our open record laws. Um the public uh for example I've been trying to get information about Huntsville Hospital. The public should know how much a public owned hospital C_E_O_ is making for an F_ in patient safety and two out of five stars for C_M_S_ hospital quality of care. We should know if
is being rewarded for volume over quality of outcomes. Uh we also need transparency for all thirty one of our health care authorities in this state because there is no accountability to the ethics commission. Uh Alabama needs to repeal the certificate of need laws that have been used to create these monopolies and limited competition, reduced access to care and is leading to higher costs and decreased quality of outcomes.
listen to the health care workers on the front lines, seventy three percent of health of workplace violence is targeted at health care workers. Uh we are currently losing uh a third to a half of our nurses. We don't have a shortage of nurses, they're just leaving. Uh there is no better advocate for a positive outcome than a seasoned nurse at the bedside. We need to retain our nurses. Uh please consider helping to expand the
of our state's advanced practice nurses. Other states have done it. Virginia is a great place where I helped to get that passed. Um they can help in our rural communities. They can be that primary care that we need. Nurses consistently we rank uh at America's highest of trusted professions, but yet in the state of Alabama of all the thirty one health care authorities, I do not know of a single nurse on any of those boards. Please ask us to the table. Please
help us to get to the table so that we can help improve these outcomes for our state. Um I am always willing to talk, I am always willing to help, and I have other healthcare professionals. We all want to help. Please listen to us, please help us with the resources that we need and as again thank you for everything that you do.
Thank you Miss Holyfield. Uh up next is Dr. Marissa Allison speaking on H_B_ seventy six uh followed by Dr. for Christopher Lioli on H_B_ eighty one.
Good evening. My name is Marissa Allison. I reside in Huntsville and Senate district seven and house district twenty one. Um I've come tonight to speak in support of H_B_ seventy six which will abolish the death penalty in our state and H_B_ seventy which would retroactively overturn capital cases of anyone on death row who was sentenced by judicial override. The state of Alabama has pioneered the most recent torturous method of execution using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia kills by replacing
breathable air with pure nitrogen, starving the brain and body of oxygen. This method is said to be humane, the state claims it is so, yet the American Veterinary Medical Association discourages the use of it for euthanasia because it's distressing. Alabama has now executed eight people in the past two years using this method. Kenneth Smith, Alan Miller, Kerry Del Grayson, Demetrius Frazier, Gregory Hunt,
Jeffrey West and Anthony Boyd. Anthony Boyd, his death, which was supposed to take four minutes, took nearly forty.
his last words were, I didn't kill anybody. I didn't participate in killing anybody. There is no justice in this state. It's all political. It's revenge motivated. It's not about closure because closure comes from within, not with an execution. There will be no justice in this state until we can change this system. I want all my people to keep fighting, and that's why I'm here tonight. We must begin by acknowledging the harsh and deniable undeniable truth. The
death penalty disproportionately impacts the most marginalized amongst us.
Black folks are two point five times more likely to be sentenced to death than white people in the United States and this is not a coincidence, it's a direct result of a system that's been shaped by centuries of racial bias. Forty one percent of people on death row are black, even though black folks make up only thirty percent thirteen percent of the U_S_ population.
This is a direct reflection of the systemic racism that permeates every corner of our criminal justice system, from police stops to court rooms to the moment of sentencing. Additionally over eighty percent of people on death row cannot even afford their own defense and are forced to rely on underfunded and overworked public defenders. All of this is not a theoretical problem, we have seen irreversible consequences of this justice play out in the real world.
Over a hundred and seventy individuals on death row in the U_S_ have been exonerated since nineteen seventy three, each one a tragic example of how our system has failed. As Angela Da Davis says, the death penalty is a symptom of a society that is not willing to dr address the roots of its violence. The question we must ask ourself is what are we really trying to accomplish with the death penalty? Thank you. Thank you for your comments.
Doctor for Chris Rioli.
And on deck will be Maggie Minsk talking on H_B_ twenty three.
Good evening. My name is Christopher Lioi, I'm a member of the Democratic Socialists of America of North Alabama. I'm here tonight to speak against H_B_ eighty one, which would require all official documents produced by the state of Alabama to use the name Judea and Samaria instead of West Bank when referring to the occupied Palestinian territories, which is in fact what they are.
In the grand scheme of things, this is a superficial issue. This is a matter of words and not actions. But because it impinges on a very big important issue, namely the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, I am therefore compelled to testify against it. This bill claims Judea and Samaria are the historically, biblically, and legally accurate names for the region. The biblically accurate names they may be, though I don't see what relevance that has in a secular republic such as ours.
Neither are they the legal names for the region except as per Israeli law, a law written by the very people subjecting the Palestinians to theft, rape, and murder.
I hope I don't have to explain to the representatives that law is not binding on America.
It says the area was liberated by Israel from Jordan during the nineteen sixty seven six day war. This is also a lie. It was annexed from Jordan during which process as many as three hundred thousand Palestinians were forced from their home. In a matter of days most of them never allowed to return and who remain in exile. It says the use of West Bank is a deliberate attempt to erase the Jewish identity of Judea and Samaria and to obscure the deep historical religious and legal connections of the Jewish people to the land.
Whatever connection they may have to the land, which certainly exists, it cannot exceed the actual physical connection of the Arab Palestinian population which constitute eighty percent or so of the population and have done so for more than a thousand years.
Again, this is mostly symbolic, I recognise. But the real issue underlying it is this. For the last two years, the world has watched the live-streamed mass murder of the Palestinian people. Settler violence, that is violence done by illegal settlers in the West Bank has increased exponentially. Just today, in Beersite University in Ramallah, the I_D_F_ attacked students with live ammunition and tear gas. Every step of the way they have been funded and supported by the United States, every step of the way they have quoted the Bible justify what
they have done. This complicity must end. If you want to heap yet another atrocity upon the already long and shameful catalogue of things the state of Alabama has put its name to, our name to, under the guise of biblical faith, from slavery to segregation to opposition to civil rights, then vote for H_B_ eighty one. But if you want to begin to acknowledge the wrongs that we've done, and that we are already condemned to be judged for by God or history or both, then vote against it.
Maggie Minsk.
Good evening. My name is Maggie Minsk, and I'm a mom, a former public school teacher, a licensed mental health counselor, and I'm here to talk about House Bill twenty three or uh what I decided to call the classroom censorship bill. This bill would prohibit classroom instruction or discussion about gender identity or sexual orientation from pre-K through twelfth grade, so seniors in high school. It would prevent teachers uh and staff from using students' preferred
and band the display of the L_G_B_T_Q_ plus supportive symbols. With all that is going on in our area, our state, and our country right now, is this what we're gonna choose to focus on? Really? This bill is creating a problem where there isn't one, rather than working to fix or address an actual problem facing our students and teachers and staff. This bill is also unworkable and unenforceable. How would a school monitor every
between teacher and student, or even between students. How would administrators enforce rules about pronouns in hundreds of classrooms without creating fear, confusion, and drawing attention to the very thing they're wanting to hide, the fact that some students are different or unique.
And what happens when a student expresses themselves to friends at school or in private, House Bill twenty three doesn't answer these questions because it can't. This bill doesn't protect students, it endangers alr endangers already marginalised teens and youth who are struggling and just trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in.
This bill doesn't improve learning especially when it's working to stop instruction and discussion about something that's very much already a topic of discussion for students and in our local and national news. This bill doesn't make schools safer. Instead vulnerable children are hurt, often irrevocably, so that a handful of adults don't have to be uncomfortable. The suicide rates among our children are climbing. Our schools continue to fail our children
Academically, we consistently rank in the low forties out of fifty states, many students falling behind in reading, math, and science, while teachers and counselors are stretched thin.
Voucher programs like the Choose Act may provide options for some wealthier families, but they do not address the day-to-day needs of students in our classrooms.
There are far better uses of our school's resources, and there is real legislative work that could actually improve education here in Alabama. One example is H_B_ fourteen, sponsored by Representative Marilyn Lands, which allows citizens to initiate laws or constitutional amendments through petitions and referendums empowering, Alabamians. I had urged this delegation to consider bills like the classroom censorship bill and t say no to it. Um it's impractical, unenforceable, and a harmful. And
focus on things that support our students and our teachers and our staff. Thank you for your comments.
Thank you Uh. Dr. Edison, I know we've heard about the A_E_D_ bill. We're gonna shift that to the end here if we have time. Um but we're gonna pick up with Nick Frievel talking about public transportation.
Hello, I am Nick Frievel. I live in Huntsville and I am running for Huntsville City Council in district four. One of my campaign goals is to improve Huntsville transit. It's time for Madison County to do what most other counties do that host the s uh state's largest city and help fund public transit across the county.
Public transit gives mobility to those who are unable to drive, whether due to age, medical condition, or financial situation. Public transit creates more connections between places, boosting economic activity.
Madison County should join Huntsville in funding a bus rapid transit system along highway seventy two in other parts of the county. I suggest paying for this uh transit system through land value tax. Taxing non-residential land by just one percent will be enough to create a high speed and modern bus system across Madison County. Madison County is growing rapidly and it's time to expand public transit to match this growth. Thank you.
Thanks sir. Uh next up is Abe L_C_D_, speaking on judicial compliance, and then on deck is Alison Montgomery speaking on S_B_ seventy nine.
Good evening. My name is Abel Saeed. I look around this room and I see hard-working legislators, legislators who have sacrificed years to write the laws of the state But. tonight I'm here to tell you a hard truth. Your work is being ignored. Every single statue to your right is being undermined by judiciary that treats your laws as optional suggestions. The code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules. So my message is simple tonight. I'm urging you to take your power back by demanding demanding strict judicial
and mandatory judicial compliance with the law. As a process engineer and from my personal experience fighting for my children and my property in the courtrooms of Alabama these past twenty four months and counting, here's how you are losing your power. It is a it is a fundamental truth of human nature throughout history and all over the world. Power without accountability, raise abuse. We have judges in Alabama who sit on the bench for decades. They're un unopposed, they face no term limits, and crucially they face zero audits.
Over time a dangerous psychology sets in. They stop seeing themselves as public servants, applying our laws, and start seeing themselves as kings and queens of their own courtrooms.
And because judges have absolute immunity and answer to no one, they get away with it.
We have created a system where a single human being has total authority over our children, our property, our fr our freedoms and our liberties, with virtually no checks or balances. The appeal court affirms ninety percent of cases because they assume the judge was honest, competent and the law was followed.
The judiciary inquiry commission dismisses ninety nine percent of complaints in complete secrecy. If police dismiss ninety nine percent of nine one one calls, we would have a revolution. But in our courts, it's just another Tuesday.
Public court records are extremely typical difficult to get access to. The science is public court, but in reality it's a private club. If you're not part of the inner circle of lawyers and judges, the door is complicated to open.
So how do you take back your power? How do you take back our power? Audits. Compliance audits. Support Senator Orr's corruption bill, but expand it to add a man a mandate for judicial compliance audits. Don't just write the laws. Measure its effectiveness. If a judge refuses to follow the code we wrote, there is not discretion. That is corruption and abuse of authority. Reclaim our authority. Make our laws matter again. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Allison Montgomery speaking on S_P_ seventy nine.
Hi, I'm Alison Montgomery, House District twenty five and Senate District two.
The subsidies for the affordable care act have expired and Alabama has still chosen to not expand Medicaid. Because of this, tens of thousands of Alabamians are going to lose their health care coverage. It will also compound the ongoing financial struggles at health care facilities in poorer areas. Many of these facilities won't be able to remain operational because they just don't have the resources. I know the people this affects. I know people without sufficient income to cover their medical bills and no job prospects. It feels like y'all don't
know these people or don't care about them. Y'all hold the reins. Y'all could do something. Y'all have the opportunity every year to actually make a real difference in folks' lives and to help the people of this state survive and thrive. Yet somehow every year the legislature finds some new way to squander its time.
Y'all need to cut it out with this culture war nonsense and figure out how to fix this mess. You passed a bill last session that defined man and woman and it didn't do anything for anyone.
The session before that you passed a bill that banned D_E_I_ on college campuses and that didn't fix anything either. It's almost as if trans people and D_E_I_ aren't causing these debilitating issues.
We need funding for our schools, and we could cover some of that with a lottery. But how long have you all been trying to get a gambling bill through? Ten years? Do you know how many people cross state lines for that every year? We could have been capturing that for Alabama, for our children's education, for the well-being of our poor and our elderly. We can't afford to waste our time chasing shadows and creating boogeymen to stir up fear. We're all Alabamians and we've got to work together. People's livelihoods are in the balance and it's the duty of those
in power to step up and do what's best for the people who depend on them. That's what we have a government for. For the past three years, I've knelt in church and prayed that y'all would get your act together, that you would stop targeting people like me and instead try to serve all of God's creation. My way of serving is to come remind you of these facts Greed. is our true enemy, along with similar evils that exist within us all. We must fight these things not just in others, but in
as we work towards making our shared future better for everyone. Thanks.
Thank you. Uh the couple here that do not have uh subjects, so we're gonna move that to the end. You will have an opportunity if we have time. Um but with that, Elvin Jenkins speaking about the wastewater plant.
Elvin will be followed by Liz Laney speaking on public radio.
Good evening The. secret is out. Huntsville, Madison ca uh Madison County is a great place to live. And we are not naive enough to think that that growth will n is is is not not inevitable, I'm sorry. But
we want to make sure that that growth is done responsibly.
And allowing wastewater facilities in residential areas is not responsible. We hope that we can do what you can to make sure that this does not happen. Um it is important I. uh it pales in comparison to some of the things that we've heard I've listened to tonight. But it's just as important. Please do what you can to stop this type of growth uh that is very irresponsible. Thank you.
Thank you sir. Uh Liz Laney.
Liz Laney will be followed by William Stafford talking about clean rivers.
Hi, and thank you to all of you who have responded to my concerns about W_L_R_H_, our public radio station. When I moved here in nineteen ninety four, I didn't know anyone. It was the smallest city I'd ever lived in. I thought I had landed in the media desert. When I turned on W_L_R_H_ to hear my old familiar N_P_R_ programmes, I felt more connected, and I also heard new, hunts for voices. I heard
about community events. I heard interviews with volunteers in the arts and announcements about local events that I could get involved in and I did. Now, thirty years later, I'm proud to say many of the voices on W_L_R_H_ belong to my friends, the announcers, the morning blend host, microwave Dave, and many of the volunteers who read P_S_A_s. I've even spent days answering phones during pledge drives. Up until
September I could count on hearing national and international programming that I loved. A unilateral unilateral decision by the station's owner, Alabama Public T_V_ changed all that. It happened with no input from the local staff or from listeners who could have stepped in to save N_P_R_. I attended a recent A_P_T_ commission meeting and I realised nobody on that board even listens to
L_R_H_. How can that possibly yield a good plan for the future?
People moving to Huntsville from Colorado, Washington, and around the world expect the amenities of a big city.
Our Mayor and Chamber of Commerce promised these people that we were no backwater. We are one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and one of the most educated. We deserve to have professional national content on a local public radio station. News is happening here and we need professional reporting that can be broadcast locally nationally and internationally. This community can
a public station. I believe Huntsville will enthusiastically do that. But only if there is known leadership making decisions in the interests of listeners. In other words decisions that are not being made by partisan politicians in Montgomery. I'm not talking about y'all, I'm talking about those commissioners. So I ask you to help find a solution. Maybe it's transferring W_L_R_H_
licensed to Tuscaloosa. We need to restore N_P_R_ but, we also want to keep a Huntsville personality and a local staff and reporting. We need a mix of national and local news
Thank you for your comments. Um so there there are six individuals that want to speak about the Clean Rivers bill um, Jeff Williams, Cameron Craig, Meredith Fields, uh Melissa Stafford, William Stafford. If one of you could decide who wants to speak and we'll we'll go with that.
Good evening delegation members. Uh it's great to be with you and an honour tonight. Uh my name is Jeff Williams. I live in Berryhill Estates uh which has been my home for the past twenty three years. I am here to ask for your support of our Clean Rivers Bill which will protect citizens and natural resources like the Flint River in the unincorporated areas of Madison County from being impacted by new private wastewater treatment
plants. The issue at hand is that a planned private wastewater treatment plant that will discharge directly into the Flint River and will be built on land adjacent to Berryhill Estates, which is on septic tanks and will not be served by this plant. The Clean Rivers Bill will establish reasonable setback distances for private wastewater treatment plants, not mu not municipal private, to prevent them from being constructed next to existing
neighborhoods and from discharging directly into waterways like the Flint. As many of you know, the Flint River is a beautiful recreational resource used by people from across the region, as well as local outfitters for kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and fishing. If the plant is allowed to discharge directly into the Flint, the river, its fish, and other wildlife will be severely impacted. To get an idea of the pollution a plant can cause to a stream or river,
look at the Briar Fork in Meridianville, which we're showing you pictures of tonight. There are areas where the sludge build-up is three feet deep and the surface is covered in biomass choking out all fish and other wildlife. As mentioned, the plant will be placed on property adjacent to Berry Hill Estates, significantly impacting our home values and quality of life, forcing us to smell and hear the plant forever more.
Imagine a plant being built like this in your backyard The. location will also impact the Riverton, South Point Ridge, and Edenshire subdivisions, as well as the outdoor classroom recently constructed by Riverton Elementary on the Flint, and several churches that use the Flint for baptisms. A draft permit for the private plant is currently under review by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. There is no zoning in the unincorporated areas of Madison County, so
Once ADAM approves the permit, there will be no legal construct to prevent the plant from being built as planned. This is why our team of concerned citizens authored the Clean Rivers Bill, which has gone through revisions with members of this delegation, as well as the Madison County engineer, and was submitted to the county commission for approval on November twenty second. I would like to thank Representative Reynolds and Senator Livingston for their guidance and support of our bill and for answering our
are many questions about the process before we move back. Thank you. Next up is Pam Caruso. Go ahead.
Mr. Williams at you, three minutes. Thank you for your comments. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman Reynolds. Uh next up is Pam Caruso speaking on S_B_ twenty one.
Thank you for this opportunity tonight. I appreciate the timing to allow for Madison County's county citizens to address issues, especially before the l upcoming legislation session.
The Alabama state commission constitution, even after its changes in twenty twenty two, still isn't where it needs to be. While efforts successfully removed racist language and reorganized the document, the constitution still has way over five hundred amendments and limits local government authority.
So why with all the issues the constitution needs to address, home rule, tax reform, do we see senate bill twenty one, a bill to fundamentally undermine equal rights and democratic principles by imposing new c citizen tests for public office that goes beyond our current law and the U_S_ constitution.
Right now to hold most elected or appointed offices, a candidate must be a U_S_ citizen and meet residency requirements, regardless of where they were born or here or became a citizen later. S_B_ twenty one seems to change that by requiring that many of our state's top officials, including the governor judges, legislators and even local sheriffs be natural born citizens.
Naturalized citizens, people who chose to become Americans and contribute to our communities, would be barred from leadership roles that affect every Alabamaan. They would in essence be a new class of citizens, one who can work, pay taxes, vote, sit on city councils or school boards, but cannot hold certain higher public offices. They would be discriminated against simply for how they became U_S_ citizens.
This gil bill goes beyond the U_S_ constitution which, only requires the president and vice president to be natural born citizens. There is no historical or l legal justification. Rhetoric against foreign influence or immigrants does not justify discriminating against naturalized citizens. This bill would p potentially violate equal protection principles and will probably cost Alabamians with a lengthy and costly litigation.
I urge you to constrain yourself from jumping on the rhetoric against naturalized citizens. And if you want to amend the Alabama constitution, then please focus on the myriad issues that need to be fixed, such as home rule, to allow local governments to solve their own problems as needed. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you, Miss Caruso. That concludes our uh public comment time. Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Thank you for your interest in the upcoming legislative session Uh. feel free to utilize our Madison County delegation office or contact any of your representatives or senators. Thank you for being here and God bless.