By Rep. Danny Garrett
Commentary
MONTGOMERY — We have now concluded the second week of the 2020 legislative session. Bills are beginning to be reported out of Committees and are now in position for debate on the House floor. An important bill passed by the House this week would classify the intentional killing of a police officer as a hate crime. In the past 13 months, seven law enforcement officers across Alabama were killed by violent offenders while in the line of duty. Read more here. The House also passed a bill limiting the abilities of cities and municipalities to pass occupational taxes.
In a recent op-ed, al.com columnist Kyle Whitmire made light of the passage by the Alabama Senate of a resolution proposed by State Senator Dan Roberts declaring pornography a health crisis. The unanimous, bipartisan Senate resolution—which was crafted based upon much research and multiple studies — is an attempt to raise awareness about a problem that is worsening each day in our communities. After reading Whitmire’s op-ed, I thought this subject deserved a more serious conversation. You can read my full response op-ed here. Thankfully, I was not alone. On Wednesday, I spoke with the Matt and Aunie Show on Talk 99.5 in Birmingham about the resolution and my op-ed. Our conversation begins at the 24:40 mark (here). I also spoke on the Jeff Poor Radio Show in Huntsville about the issue.
Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth’s 21st Century Workforce Commission’s report and recommendations were released on Monday. As a member of the Commission, I worked for a year with eight other legislators studying ways to improve our state’s workforce training and development efforts and to maximize the use of our tax dollars. We made several specific recommendations for how Alabama could reduce duplications and better spend tax dollars to improve our workforce development system. It is my hope that the Commission’s recommendations will be implemented by the legislature and other state agencies. The full report can be read here.
Finally, Senator Dan Roberts and I were guests on Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal program on Friday night and we discussed a number of topics. You can watch it here.
It is an honor to serve House District 44. Please feel free to contact me at dannygarrett44@gmail.com or call me at 205-410-4637 if there is anything you wish to discuss.