Alabama Statehouse- Today was a wonderful experience for me. For the first time this year I really enjoyed being at the statehouse. Normally, I love to be at the statehouse, knee-deep in political intrigue, but this year, that really has not been the case. It is a terrible thing when you do not enjoy doing what you love.
I do have a couple of pieces of information from the statehouse for you.
First, we are now being fed conflicting information on HB-315, the Alabama Medical Exemption Act. For the past few weeks, we have been told that the Health Committee Staff was compiling the results. Today, Rep. Ron Johnson, Chairman of the House Healthcare Professionals and Procedures Sub-Committee, told Representative Patricia Todd that the Medical Association of Alabama is compiling the results.
Regardless of who is compiling the results, the fact that we have heard nothing leads me to believe that the results of the survey are in our favor. If the results were not in our favor, I believe that Jim McClendon would be rubbing our faces in it. I may be wrong, but that is the impression that I get.
Second, I talked to Micky Hammon, Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, who told me that HB-550, The Alabama Cannabis and Hemp Reform Act of 2013, would receive a hearing “Over his dead body.” To this I replied, “So, a bill that would produce enough revenue to cover two-thirds of the state’s general fund budget isn’t worthy of discussion in committee?” Representative Hammon did not answer the question, instead, he said, “You know this bill will never pass in Alabama.” To which I replied, “Yes, it will, we may just have to get rid of you first.”
If you support HB-550, I urge you to join Alabama Safe Access Project (ASAP) and contact Speaker Hubbard and Chairman Micky Hammon and let them know that any bill with the potential to raise $1 billion in tax revenue deserves to be discussed in committee.
