ALERT
IMMEDIATE
ACTION NEEDED
ON
HB325
HB251 AND HB325, INITIATIVE AND
REFERENDUM CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILLS
HB251 was introduced on January
10, 2006, by Representative Blaine Galliher, had its first reading, and was
assigned to the Constitution and Elections [C&E] Committee. Presently there
are no co-sponsors of the bill.
HB325 was introduced by Representative Mike Ball on January 12, 2006, had its
first reading, and was assigned to the C&E Committee. Presently, the bill is
co-sponsored by Representatives: Galliher, Hill, Hinshaw, Ward, McLaughlin,
Schmitz, Garner, Brewbaker, Grimes, Mitchell, Clause, Gaston and Beason.
HB325 is the same bill that was passed unanimously by the C&E Committee as
HB276 in the 2005 regular session, but too late in the session for it to reach
the floor for open debate.
While I personally would favor certain aspects of Galliher’s bill over that of
Ball, I realize that those differences would likely make Galliher’s bill much
more difficult to be enacted, and I believe Galliher would agree with me. Note
that he is a co-sponsor of Ball’s bill.
The 17 members [2 more than in 2005] of the Constitution and Elections Committee
are: Randy
Hinshaw, Chair, Jeff
McLaughlin, Vice Chair, Blaine
Galliher, Ranking Minority Member, Greg
Albritton, George
Bandy, Randy
Davis, Paul
DeMarco, Joe
Faust, Micky
Hammon, Steve
Hurst, Bryant
Melton, Joseph
Mitchell, Mary
Moore, Neal
Morrison, Sue
Schmitz, Tommy
Sherer, Elwyn
Thomas, Flynn Mozingo, Analyst, Mary Jane Trussell, Clerk.
Representatives DeMarco, Morrison, and Sherer were not on the committee in 2005,
and thus did not vote on Ball’s bill last year when it was unanimously approved,
so their position on HB325 is not yet known. One of these members replaced
Representative Ken Guin who chaired the committee last year, but moved to the
Rules Committee earlier this year.
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FROM VOTERS
Constituents of the members [listed above]
of the Constitution and Elections Committee should presently do two things if
they want to help Alabama become the 25th state to have an Initiative
and Referendum process for voters to use, if necessary, to bring about needed
reforms in their state government in order to make it one of, by, and for the
people.
[1] Contact your representative now.
If he or she was on the committee in 2005,
thank them for their vote in favor of HB276 last year, and ask them, since they
voted for it last year, to expedite approval of this year’s HB325 so that it
can get out of committee as soon as possible and go to the floor for open debate
and approval there.
If your representative is one of the three
new members, ask them to vote for HB325 and help expedite it to further action
as soon as possible.
[2] Contact everyone you can, now, and ask
them to become involved in publicly supporting HB325 by every conceivable means,
such as asking all of their friends and acquaintances to join with you in
supporting the bill by contacting others in the same way. Ask them contact their
representatives, newspapers, talk radio programs, etc. and help create a public
debate of the issue, and a demand from the grassroots for our legislature to
give us all the opportunity this year to vote on a referendum on approving a
constitutional amendment to bring Initiative and Referendum to Alabama.
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