[Above from left to right: Speaker's Commission members Cliff Sims, Rep. Kurt Wallace, Rep. Ed Henry, Lynn Robinson & Rep. Micky Hammon listen as grassroots activists give their input.]
We had our first public meeting last night for the Speaker’s Commission on Alabama Values & States’ Rights. Representative Ed Henry organized the event in Decatur with about 20 grassroots conservative activists and it was pretty impressive to hear the thoughts and ideas that folks brought to the table.
The Commission is planning to hold a few more meetings around the state, compile the input, and present some recommendations to Speaker Hubbard and the House Republican Caucus as they formulate their legislative agenda for the 2013 session. I believe the agenda will ultimately be made stronger by the feedback the Commission is getting directly from the people. This is exactly how a representative Republic should operate and I’m excited to be a part of it.
Here’s a rundown of some of the issues the activists wanted to discuss:
The Fair Tax
Common Core Standards
Pushing back against the overreaching U.S. Department of Education
Budget reform
Capping Medicaid spending
The Healthcare Compact and a similar structure for education reform
Ending the “Forever Wild” program
Expanding the Castle Doctrine
Making Alabama a “shall issue” state
…and more.
We spent about Two hours interacting and bouncing ideas around the room and I’m expecting several of the issues listed above to make it into our final recommendations to the Caucus. I’m also looking forward to getting more good ideas from fellow conservatives as we gather feedback from around the state.
If you have an idea you’d like to submit, the Commission has just launched a website that allows you to send your ideas directly to us online so you can participate even if the Commission doesn’t make it to your city: ALValuesAndRights.com.
There was a lot of pro-life legislation on the table but nothing passed except the Op-out of Obama Care Abortion Mandate – only because we stormed the state house in the final hours of the session. Expectations are high this year from a lot of people, organizations, and churches…
Where is reforming the constitution of Alabama? Many of the problems we face in this state originate from our terrible constitution.
Great job, folks!
That is a lot of white men in one room together.
and that’s a lot of racism in one sentence.
Ooo! Well done!
Can the Fair Tax be implemented on the state level without being implemented at the federal level?
Yes! It would use the Federal FairTax as a model and would REPLACE the individual and corporate income taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes and the present sales tax. The rate would be about the same as the present sales tax because everyone spending money in Alabama would pay the tax instead of just people who pay income taxes. It would include a prebate based on the poverty level for a given household and would also end the requirement to submit income tax forms.
Just curious but did you all pass a resolution that the committee’s official uniform is a blue button-down shirt?
I thought the exact same thing…Somehow Micky didn’t get the memo.
I agree with most of the ideas except ending “Forever Wild”. This is one of the best programs the state has to offer. You are taking a small percentage (10%)of interest earned off of investments from oil/natural gas, an Alabama natural resource, and using that money to protect other Alabama natural resources for use by all of Alabama’s citizens. There is no legitimate argument against Forever Wild, hence the ‘Black Helicopter’ theory of it being a U.N. land grab. Take the long view Alabama and continue to protect our natural lands.
Yea, I don’t really have a beef with Forever Wild.
What about that we just need the money? The maintainenance of FW’s current land assets will be safe, even if the FW renewal doesn’t pass.