Paul Demarco: Alabama lawmakers want to join Governor, Attorney General in addressing Joe Biden vaccine mandates
This week the Alabama Legislature is set to focus on the main agenda of the special session – reapportionment of Congessional, Legislative, and state school board seats. There is always conflict about how the seats are drawn and that will take up a lot of debate this week as lawmakers determine the final boundaries for the district lines. However, there have been half a dozen bills filed regarding challenging President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates as well. Even after Governor Kay Ivey issued an executive order addressing mandates and the Attorney General filed a lawsuit over the mandates, state representatives and senators want to take their shot at the issue. The question is will there actually be a bill passed and signed into law prohibiting vaccine mandates by the Alabama Legislature during or after this special session. Many Alabamians want their state legislators to push back now against any federal overreach by the Biden Administration. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court will make the final decision as to the extent of Biden‘s authority to impose these federal mandates. In the meantime, you will see Alabama leaders work to do their part to fight these mandates. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives.
Steve Flowers: Jim Preuitt
Jim Preuitt, a legendary House member, State Senator, and Probate Judge of Talladega County passed away in September at age 86. Jim was one of my best legislative buddies. We came to the legislature together in 1982 and became fast friends. We became seat mates in the House, and we were inseparable during our entire first four-year term (1982 -1986). Our friendship was forged by our relationship with Gov. George Wallace. The legendary governor was in his last term. Wallace let it be known that Jim and I were his favorite first-year legislators. Jim was a successful car dealer in Talladega and had been a big supporter of Wallace in all of his previous campaigns for governor. I first met Wallace when I was a young teenage Page in the legislature. Ironically, 20 years later, I was Wallace’s representative because I had his home county of Barbour in my district, which placed me in a select category with Wallace, similar to Jim. Wallace let it be known that Jim Preuitt and I were going to receive deferential treatment. The governor controlled the legislature and even chose the speaker, as well as deciding who served on which committees. Prior to the 1983 organizational session, rumors swirled around Capitol Hill that Wallace had two favorite freshmen legislators. When the committee assignments were released, the rumors were founded. Jim and I were the only freshmen assigned to the powerful Rules Committee. When the House seating arrangements were revealed, we were seated beside each other in prime spots on the floor. We bonded. Jim and I became allies of Alabama Farmers Federation (Alfa). We would go to supper every night with Milton Parsons, the veteran chief lobbyist for Alfa. We would usually dine at the politically famous Elite Restaurant. Jim smoked a pipe. I love the smell of quality tobacco pipe smoke. He would smoke it all day at his desk then also at the Elite. He was a quiet, dignified, gentleman, who chose his words carefully. He exuded quality and class. Even though he had humble roots, he had the demeanor of someone born into royalty. Jim Preuitt was born in July 1935 near Moulton in Lawrence County. He was the oldest of seven sons. His father was a sharecropper. Jim was determined to have a better life. Like Bear Bryant, the son of a sharecropper in Moro Bottom Fordyce, Arkansas, would say when asked why he worked so hard to succeed, “I did not want to spend my life plowing someone else’s land behind an old mule.” As a teenager, Jim met the love of his life, Rona Jane Millsap, on a school bus. They were married soon thereafter. She was truly his love and his best friend. Jim and Rona had been married 66 years when he passed away in September. He was successful as a businessman and politician. However, his greatest and most satisfying aspect of his life was as a family man. He had two beautiful daughters, Lynne Stanford and Leigh Leak. Jim adored his grandchildren. In 1968, at the age of 33, Jim acquired his first car dealership. The dealership was in Talladega. Jim packed up Rona and his two young daughters and moved to Talladega where he lived the rest of his 50 years on earth. He was one of the most successful businessmen in Talladega County. If we were in Session in October, I would look over at Jim and kiddingly say to him, “Well, the Special Education Fund is okay now, you have paid your Income and Property taxes.” Jim served only that one term in the House (1982-1986). He was then elected to the State Senate in 1986 and quickly became a leader in the upper chamber. After eight years in the Senate, he left to run successfully for Probate Judge in 1992. He served his entire 6-year term in this mundane, mostly administrative post then returned to the Senate in 1998, where he became an even more powerful Senator. Jim was a force in the Senate. He chaired the Senate Rules Committee. If Jim gave you his word, you could take it to the bank. His word was his bond. Jim served 30 years in the legislature. As I am writing this in my office, I am looking at a picture of Jim and me standing together, arms embraced in the halls of the legislature taken a few years ago. It is front and center on a wall of pictures of past and present Alabama political legends. I will miss my old friend. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Shipt announces alcohol delivery in Alabama
Shipt, the Birmingham-based grocery delivery service, announced that it will now start same-day delivery of beer and wine from Target, marking the beginning of alcohol delivery in the state. “We’re thrilled to bring alcohol delivery to Shipt’s home state just in time for the holiday season,” said Rina Hurst, chief business officer for Shipt in a press release. “We’ve heard consistently from customers across Alabama how much they value getting groceries and household essentials they need delivered by Shipt, but that they’d like the option of having alcohol along with the rest of their order. Now whether they’re planning virtual holiday festivities or getting back to in-person gatherings, Shipt can help customers make the most of their time this season with same-day delivery of the adult beverage products they know and love. ” Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new law allowing the home delivery of beer, wine, and spirits. The law went into effect Oct. 1. Retail stores, manufacturers, and third-party businesses that want to deliver certain amounts of alcohol can fill out a $100 application fee and a $250 license fee. ABC spokesman Daniel Dye told Alabama Daily News that other companies approved to deliver alcohol in the state include Dippi, Pick Up My Things, and Deerfoot Spirits. According to the Shipt website, customers must be at least 21 years old to order or accept alcohol deliveries and will be required to present identification upon delivery. Additionally, Shipt workers who deliver alcohol will be required to complete a certification program that will train workers on identifying underage customers and fake or altered identification. Shipt workers who deliver orders containing alcohol will complete a certification program that covers topics like identifying underage individuals, intoxicated persons, and fake or altered identification.
Alabama police chief dies of COVID-19, regretted vaccine choice
A small-town Alabama police chief who died of COVID-19 loved the community he served and regretted his decision against getting vaccinated, his widow said. Buddy Crabtree, a 10-year veteran of the Ider Police Department in northeastern Alabama, died Saturday of the illness caused by the new coronavirus, news outlets reported. He was often seen inside schools in the town of about 650 people. “He loved his job and Ider,” widow Kristie Crabtree told WAAY-TV. “He loved the community of Ider, his officers, the school kids.” Crabtree’s battle with Covid-19 was a surprise to many since he seemed healthy and kept busy. Crabtree said her husband went to Highlands Medical Center in Scottsboro on Oct. 9 and was flown to Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 10 days later. She said her husband said he would’ve got a vaccine, which health officials say prevents nearly all serious cases of COVID-19 and deaths if he knew how hard he would have to fight to live. “He actually said, ‘If I get better, I’ll take all three, I don’t ever want to go through this again,’” she said. Crabtree’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Republicans advance bill for claiming vaccine exemptions
Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation aimed at protecting employees who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by setting out an easy process to claim a religious or medical exemption. The legislation comes as Republican leaders in many states have expressed opposition to the federal vaccine mandate, calling it an infringement on personal decisions. But opposed lawmakers said Republicans were authorizing people to “lie” to avoid getting vaccinated and thereby risk the lives of others. The Alabama Senate voted 26-5 for the bill by Republican Sen. Chris Elliott of Fairhope would mandate businesses requiring COVID-19 vaccinations to distribute a form where employees could claim a religious or medical exemption by checking a box. An employee submitting the form could not be fired over not getting the vaccination unless the business appealed and got permission from the Alabama Department of Labor. State senators also voted 26-4 for a separate bill that gives the state attorney general authority to enforce an existing state law that prohibits businesses from refusing service to unvaccinated customers. It also requires parental consent for a child to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Both bills now move to the Alabama House of Representatives. Elliott said the federal government already allows exemptions for religious and medical reasons, and they are trying to “make it as easy as possible on the employee to claim those exemptions so that they can keep their job.” “I’ve got constituents in my district that are losing their jobs right now at various different employers that have a vaccine mandate right now. I think we need to do everything we can to protect those jobs and protect those folks that are just trying to provide for their family,” Elliott said. Democratic Sen. Bobby Singleton of Greensboro said Republicans were giving people the ability to “tell a big lie” to avoid getting vaccinated. He said the Labor Department would have limited or no ability to investigate the sincerity of the employee’s claim of a religious or medical reason for declining the vaccine. “We as a Legislature are about to manufacture an excuse for people not to take the vaccine,” Singleton said, predicting that “everybody will claim some sort of illness” or religious reason. Democratic Sen. Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile said Republicans supporting the bill were putting the lives of others at risk and interfering with the ability of a business to make decisions about its workplace. “All of the thousands and thousands and thousands of people who have died of COVID since early 2020, and you have the audacity to introduce a bill like this to sanction the death of so many others,” Figures said. Alabama has seen at least 15,629 COVID-19 related deaths and has the second-highest per capita death rate from COVID-19 among states, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University One of the state’s largest business groups opposed the bill, saying it interferes with private business decisions and puts federal contractors in a difficult situation that could cost jobs. “This legislation would prevent Alabama employers from making personnel decisions and place that authority in the hands of state government,” the Business Council of Alabama said in a statement. The group said court action was the best way to challenge the mandate. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed said lawmakers are trying to do what they can, within their authority, to address the federal vaccine mandate. “The Biden administration’s vaccine mandates are a reckless federal government overreach that infringe on Alabamians’ liberty and freedom of personal choice and could cause significant economic harm to Alabama and Americans across the country,” Reed said in a statement. Republican-led states have turned to a mix of lawsuits, executive orders, and legislation to try to resist President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Nineteen states, including Alabama, have filed lawsuits against Biden’s requirement that all employees of federal contractors be vaccinated against the coronavirus by Dec. 8, arguing that the mandate violates federal procurement law and is an overreach of federal power. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
