AL YMCA Youth in Government

SENATE

Senate Debate Quickly Gets Serious

By NICOLE GEIER, Tomorrow-TODAY Co-Editor

Friday, three bills reminded delegates that the Senate is known for its serious debate. Legal Advisor Daniel Connors of Enterprise, Senate Bill #007, proposed a “Stimulus Bill” stating that Alabama would receive $3 billion from the stimulus package. Delegates were split in deliberation causing a standing vote, but in the end the bill failed. Gregory Williams of Elmore-Stanhope, Senate Bill #011, proposed the idea of  no sales tax on groceries. The bill states that groceries taxes will be reduced over a period of months and finally be removed on January 1, 2010. Delegates passed the bill with the intentions of it helping the people of Alabama. Sen. Xandra Fuller of Huntsville, Senate Bill #004, authored a bill proposing that every school should educate both sides of the Creation/Evolution issue. Some delegates said both sides of story should be told so students can form their own opinion. Other delegates felt that it is not a classroom matter. The Senate defeated the bill.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Representatives Get Back to Basics

By ASHLEY JOHNSON, Tomorrow TODAY Staff Writer

Representatives Austin Haisten, Kyle Zimmerman, and John Stathopolous from the Prattville delegation defended their bill, “Project Lights Out,“ in the House with anticipation for passage. Their bill would shut down all power supplies on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday of every month with the exception of hospitals, traffic lights, firehouses, police stations and jails. Several debaters such as Rep. Will Clayton of Birmingham/Oak Mountain were somewhat skeptical about this bill. To clear the air he made an amendment along with the statement, “This bill has good intentions but we need to focus on the basics.”

Even though this amendment changed some minds, it didn’t change the mind of Rep. Joseph Dumas of Birmingham/Minor, who said, “I really still notice some flaws …”

The authors of the bill early in debating stated “we are NOT procrastinators.” This may have been true, but the chamber had a different opinion. At 3:15 p.m. Friday, this bill failed.

First Year Delegate Colette Robicheaux debates.

The First Year chamber was filled with much anticipation and debate on Saturday morning. Especially on First Year Bill # 33 written by Floor Leader Tyler Brady of the Anniston delegation. Her bill, entitled Americans Exposed to Culture Act, stated that children and teen-agers should learn about the culture of their choice for one to two hours a week in a school year. This legislation would be regulated by the Alabama Board of Education.

At first, the bill wasn’t going too well, especially with Delegates Wilson Hallford of Montgomery and Kayleigh Cantrell of Huntsville who took a stand and completely shut down the chamber with their debate. Luckily, Delegate Katherine Kratsch of Huntsville made an amendment that made this cultural learning experience optional. After the amendment was approved, the bill passed.

Each bill was voted either favorable or unfavorable. The committee gave a favorable report to a bill to privatize public schools by Sen. Taylor Ivins of Edgewood and a constitutional amendment to create a state lottery for education in Alabama by Sen. Evan Broder of Montgomery. An $8,500 voucher would be given to each child per family to attend the public school of their choice under Ivins’ bill. Broder’s amendment would allow a state lottery system to be set up to raise money for education.

A bill by Sen. Anethea Tolliver of Birmingham that would drop state sales tax on groceries and medicine was defeated. The author said she proposed the bill because people who don’t have a lot of money are not able to get all of their proteins and when they are sick they cannot get any medicine because it is too expensive. Instead of taxing groceries or medicine, she said the government should raise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, which would also limit the use of those habit-forming products.