Sand Mountain, The Reporter | Marshall County Delegation Addresses Immigration, Jobs, Abortion

Marshall County delegation addresses immigration, jobs, abortion
By Malarie Haven | Sand Mountain, The Reporter | July 20, 2011

Marshall County legislators addressed several issues and concerns stemming from the 2011 legislative session at a legislative breakfast on Tuesday morning.

The breakfast took place in the cafeteria at Snead State Community College and was sponsored by the college and the Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce.

Illegal immigration

Rep. Kerry Rich (R-Albertville) kicked off the presentation with discussions on the hot topic of the tough new illegal immigration law that is slated to take effect in September. Rich refuted claims and concerns that have been expressed by various citizens, religious agencies and other organizations across the state. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center are also currently contesting the law in court, but Rich said he is willing to fight for it.

“I believe practically all of this, if not all of it, will be upheld by the court,” Rich said. “The ACLU is the same group of people that will go into court and will file a suit to see that a person can put out the smuttiest, nastiest, slimiest porn that you can imagine, and at the same time, will go into court and fight a person’s right to say a prayer before a high school football game or fight to prevent a young lady from referencing Jesus in her valedictorian speech during a high school ceremony. To me that just doesn’t add up. You have to know who your opposition is.”

Handshake with Alabama

Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Red Hill) continued by pointing out the legislators’ success in completing the “Handshake with Alabama,” which was five promises made by legislators during 2010 campaign races that were fulfilled during the session. The promises included creating jobs and economic opportunities, controlling wasteful spending, fighting corruption in Montgomery, working to end illegal immigration and combating President Barack Obama’s healthcare bill.

Bills legislators claim fulfill the handshake include the Alabama Taxpayers and Citizen Protection Act, the Responsible Budgeting and Spending Act, the Rolling Reserve Budget Act, the Public Officials Transparency Act, the No Mandatory Healthcare Constitutional Amendment, the Healthcare Tax Incentives for Small Businesses and their Employees Act, the Alabama Ethics Commission Protection Act, and the Right to Work Constitutional Amendment.

“These are the bills we’ve promised you,” Scofield said. “These are the bills we’ve heard more about, laws people wanted to see across the board in Alabama. We’ve delivered on that. We wanted people to know that this is a new day in Alabama and that politicians are actually keeping their promises.”

Job creation and economic growth

Rep. Wes Long (R-Guntersville) gave a summary of work legislators are doing toward job creation, noting that the keys are the Right to Work Act, and the Full Employment Act.

“We all know that government can’t create jobs,” he said. “Entrepreneurs create jobs and small businesses create jobs.”

Long said jobs will increase in an environment that is conducive to small business and manufacturing, and many of the bills passed in the session, such as the Right to Work Act, the Full Employment Act and an Alabama incentives package, will help create such an environment.

“We’re for the working man and the entrepreneur, and that’s what kind of policies we bring to the table at Alabama,” he said. “These are the key to creating an environment where a small businessman wants to take risks, hire somebody and move forward.”

Education and the constitution

He then addressed bills and citizen concerns in the education sector, particularly the repealing of the Deferred Retirement Option Program and the Students First Tenure Reform Act.

“We didn’t take tenure away from teachers,” he said. “We just shortened the appeal process and made it to where you don’t get paid as long as the appeal runs. You only get paid up to 75 days.”

Long shared opinions on the constitutional convention, saying he and the other Marshall County delegates believe in article-by-article revisions. He pointed out some positive parts of the current constitution, such as the balanced budget amendment.

“I would say Alabama is in the top 10 of the best states right now, as far as we’ve got a savings account,” he said. “Who’s ever heard of that in California? That’s because of our constitution. Those are things that are important. So as we go through it, we’ll look at each thing.”

Abortion

Rich took on the subject of abortion, pointing out the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act he sponsored during the session. The law determines that an abortion cannot be performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

“When you’re talking about abortion, you’re talking about ripping a child out of it’s mother’s womb limb by limb or sucking its brains out of its head,” he said. “That’s what you’re talking about.”

When asked during a question and answer period about eliminating abortions completely, Rich said many legislators have been afraid to push abortion bills because they may be contested in court.

“I’m tired of backing down,” he said. “I’m tired of not pushing some of these things because somebody’s going to challenge you in court.”

Scofield agreed saying the delegation is “going to keep it coming” and has already pre-filed abortion bills for the 2012 session.

“I believe that every life is sacred,” he said. “That’s one thing that was ground in me in church, and it’s one thing I’ll die with. I think it’s a travesty that’s befallen the United States of America.”

Tort reform, reapportionment and tornado relief

Long later summarized the six bills dealing with tort reform that passed the legislature, and Scofield commented on the recent reapportionment of state and board of education districts, saying Marshall County “seemed to be the battle ground of the whole thing.”

“We all three stuck together and I’m very proud that all of Marshall County was kept whole and we are still in Congressman Robert Aderholt’s district,” he said.

He also brought up the devastation of the tornadoes that ripped through the state on April 27 and the legislation that was pushed through the session to help Alabama citizens recover. In particular, he noted the School Calendar Adjustment Act.

“One thing we heard a lot of was concerned parents, educators and superintendents about the long school days,” he said. “We took those concerns back with us to Montgomery and came up with the School Calendar Adjustment Act.”

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