wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
I called his secretary just now and kind of shamed him, "he promised us a 'silver-bullet' and we're wondering where it is?"
Alabama vote.
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I called his secretary just now and kind of shamed him, "he promised us a 'silver-bullet' and we're wondering where it is?"
WarEagleBrewer
Well-Known Member
I assume most of you are watching/listening to the feed....I'm a reserve duputy in the county I live in....the old girl that Holley was talking about got picked up by ABC on something else and they hooked her up on a century old technicality because she worked at two different places that served alcohol.....it was pretty funny at the time as well....
CGVT
Senior Member
Didn't make that one either
WarEagleBrewer
Well-Known Member
Well....guess we could call the governor's office and request it be put in his special session agenda....
CGVT
Senior Member
Special session tomorrow afternoon.
CGVT
Senior Member
Is that how that works?
WarEagleBrewer
Well-Known Member
Well....I left a message for all the good it will do...
WarEagleBrewer
Well-Known Member
From my understanding....if the governor puts the bill on the agenda...it must only pass with a simple majority....if it is NOT on the agenda, it can be voted on, but must pass with a (2/3 i think) larger proportion...
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
I emailed Waggoner and Holtzclaw and shamed them, "we put our faith in you to get this up for vote and you let us down"... I rarely sign correspondence with my title of Reverend, but thought it would add extra sting...
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
So, wait, the Gov. can still make it happen? I guess more email is in order
Very,very disappointed in our Senate for not getting HB354 , the Homebrew bill on the calendar. I know there were more important bill's out there , but I don't think this bill would have taken up much time at all for a vote. This year's bill is more restrictive than last years , which passed the Senate , but was voted down in the house. I plan on sending more emails and making a few more phone call's in the morning to let them know there are unhappy constituents out here that feel they have been let down.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
df, is Holtzclaw your senator? If so, rip him a good one. I shamed him, but since I don't speak to him with my vote it only goes so far. He shouldn't have made a promise he couldn't deliver. You know, if it had made it up for vote and we got shot down, that would have been different, this is a horse of a different color.
Shadrack McGill is actually my Senator , but I will still send Holtzclaw another email.
Wonder how much money ALCAP pumped in to get people dragging their feet...
CGVT
Senior Member
I'd be interested in seeing what other bills did not make it to vote.
With the Senate wasting so much of the session on philibusters and playing BS politics, they were really under the gun to get anything passed last night. I would not be surprised if there was enough opposition to the bill that Waggoner was concerned that it would spend too much time in "debate" and would have held up the rest of the bills that they knew would pass, so he didn't want to take the chance to put it on the SOC.
I also think that there isn't near the support for this type of bill than we like to think. As I said earlier, in Alabama there is no such thing as a polititian being too conservative. I don't think it is important enough for most of the guys to expend much if any political capital on. It really benefits very a very small percentage of Alabama citizens and supporting this bill puts a member clearly in the sites of ALCAP which is not a good place to be in this state.
With the Senate wasting so much of the session on philibusters and playing BS politics, they were really under the gun to get anything passed last night. I would not be surprised if there was enough opposition to the bill that Waggoner was concerned that it would spend too much time in "debate" and would have held up the rest of the bills that they knew would pass, so he didn't want to take the chance to put it on the SOC.
I also think that there isn't near the support for this type of bill than we like to think. As I said earlier, in Alabama there is no such thing as a polititian being too conservative. I don't think it is important enough for most of the guys to expend much if any political capital on. It really benefits very a very small percentage of Alabama citizens and supporting this bill puts a member clearly in the sites of ALCAP which is not a good place to be in this state.
Uh - not actually. You are correct it was voted down in the House, but that was where the Bill originated. It did not pass the Senate.
It has passed the Senate previously, yes. But not last year.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Well, I agree to a point. Both Waggoner and Bill "Silver bullet" Holtzclaw have some answering to do. They made promises they didn't keep and they should be shamed for it. As I put it to both of them, "we put our faith in you and you let us down"
Smitherman, on the other hand, is responsible for the majority of delays, keeping quite a few bills from getting up for vote-He needs reaming of the highest order. In his case, I didn't mention our bill, just referred to "many bills which did not get up for vote" because of his "disgraceful" behavior.
I think we see eye to eye on this. I didn't say don't let them know how you feel, I said keep it cordial.
An eloquently worded you suck is fine. What we don't need are a few folks running off at the mouth spewing cuss words and such. I'm not saying anyone would do that... just a polite reminder.
An eloquently worded you suck is fine. What we don't need are a few folks running off at the mouth spewing cuss words and such. I'm not saying anyone would do that... just a polite reminder.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Right, I see your point... I'm a little muddled from sleep deprivation after listening to those bozos until the end, then, as a result, not sleeping!
For mine it's simple. I sent money to Dixon but then he retired. I will be sending campaign contributions to McCutcheon and I'd encourage anyone to do the same. I'm willing to be a bit forgiving to my personal rep as he's new and doesn't have much pull but whether I will contribute to his campaign this time around remains to be seen. Either way I suspect that if campaign contributions came in en mass to supporters of the bill with accollades for supporting it we'll continue to make headway. As it stands because of failure to fix this mess... It amuses me greatly that nearly every household in the state of Alabama are Felons and will continue to be so because of both idiots and a laughable work ethic from our politicians.
DocBrown
Well-Known Member
From the various messages relayed from Mac and company, my guess is that Mac had the (more restrictive) bill we'd worked out all ready to go but could never get ABC to formally respond. Since they kept dragging their feet, and session days were passing one by one, he finally just dropped in the bill from the previous year to force their hand.
The bill didn't even get a committee hearing in the House until around the middle of the session, which resulted in us not getting into the Senate until the last few days of the session. My take on this year is that a lot of the blame rests with ABC dragging their feet. Since we have a reasonable bill, it should be pre-filed for next year, preferably in both the house and senate at the same time.
The bill didn't even get a committee hearing in the House until around the middle of the session, which resulted in us not getting into the Senate until the last few days of the session. My take on this year is that a lot of the blame rests with ABC dragging their feet. Since we have a reasonable bill, it should be pre-filed for next year, preferably in both the house and senate at the same time.
homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
As a lifelong fan of both the Auburn Tigers and the Chicago Cubs, "wait 'till next year" is singularly unsatisfying for me.
aubiecat
Well-Known Member
That is the best strategy, since we got the bugs worked out of the bill, now we can get started early. Putting a in both the house and the senate is absolutely the way to go. That is an effective way to make sure your are heard in the legislature.
I wonder if Holtzclaw is the guy we want in the senate though?
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Yeah, he has some ... no, no... A LOT of explaining to do. I can check with my Senator, Tammy Irons, grill her and see if she has what it takes. She says she has always supported the bill, her record seems pro beer with the exception of a NO on the recent container size bill. I know she is popular locally and seems to have worked hard. Worth considering at least
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Yeah, wait until next year makes me physically ill... It's been 35 years since Carter signed the national law, that's more than long enough.
homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
Yeah, wait until next year makes me physically ill... It's been 35 years since Carter signed the national law, that's more than long enough.
This +1000.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Talked to.Holtzclaw's secretary earlier. I think they know they dropped the ball, but won't man up to really admit it.
It is not impossible for it to come up in special session, but that is a most remote possibility. The best hope there is to pester Govern. Bentley to have it on calendar.... remind him we have been waiting 35 years...
It is not impossible for it to come up in special session, but that is a most remote possibility. The best hope there is to pester Govern. Bentley to have it on calendar.... remind him we have been waiting 35 years...
I sent out several emails ,expressing my disappointment , but in a positive way , hoping that we can come back next year stronger , and with more support. I think it would help if we became a stronger movement next year with maybe some regional meetings to gain support from all the homebrewers in the state. I know on the alahombrewing.org website , it says AHA estimates 5000 homebrewers live in Alabama, out of the 750,000 homebrewers in the entire United States.
We need support from every homebrewer if we're ever going to get this bill passed.
http://www.alahomebrewing.org/
We need support from every homebrewer if we're ever going to get this bill passed.
http://www.alahomebrewing.org/
aubiecat
Well-Known Member
I agree, we have to mobilize the troops this coming year. We need to make all homebrewers in Alabama aware of the movement and what it means to them. I think this years work actually sets next year up pretty well.
Orthobrewsky
Senior Member
I may just live in a high homebrewer density area, but it seems like there has to be a lot more than 5000. However, I think only a small percentage know it's illegal.
As has been pointed out, there is just little in the way of self serving motivations for politicians to pass this. Unfortunately, such motivations are the primary movers of politicians. However, they don't mind occasionally doing something that appeals to their sense of what just makes sense, if they have time (and sense). So, there is the potential to get this through both houses if we can just get it moving early enough. What FTH did with their 2 bills moving in opposite directions was obviously a good plan and, still, they almost ran out of time. But they succeeded.
CGVT
Senior Member
This is the first time that I have payed any attention to the state legislature and as I see it, one of the problems is that there are very few legislators that are as strongly for the bill as there are strongly opposed. Guys such as Wallace and Laird really feel that they are doing God's work when they oppose any alcohol related bill. I think even those that support the bill (other than Mac) don't feel strongly enough about it to back it seriously. It is just not a wise political move in this state. The "it's bad for chirren" argument, although BS, is just too strong.
Add that to the strength of the Bible thumping prohibitionist lobby and it is going to be a tough row to hoe to get any homebrew bill passed.
Add that to the strength of the Bible thumping prohibitionist lobby and it is going to be a tough row to hoe to get any homebrew bill passed.
Orthobrewsky
Senior Member
This is the kind of thing which has occurred to me. Most people, if asked, would say it should be legal, but who would have strong feelings in favor of our bill? Home brewers would, but it's hard to imagine many others. There aren't many prohibitionist religious fanatics, but there may be more of those than there are home brewers. Also, since it is legal to be a prohibitionist religious fanatic, they can more easily organize and publicly advocate for their cause.
Still, since it has made it through both houses in different years, it does seem possible to get it through both in one year. Since the governor signed the bottle bill, rather than washing his hands of it by letting it pass without his signature, I think the odds are better than even that he'd sign our bill as well. It probably would have passed the senate if it had arrived there with a few weeks to spare. The problem with coming late is, like you say, it's just not at all a priority for these people. They'll pass it on a lazy afternoon when there's not much going on, but not in the last few days of the session.
Maybe we should find out how Utah did it where Mormons don't even approve of carbonated beverages.
CGVT
Senior Member
Ha! Good thought.
The cynic in me thinks that there will always be a reason for it to get held up or not make it to the floor. The optimist agrees that it was a timing issue this year.
People who think we are backward should go there for a while.
CGVT
Senior Member
We are pretty backward...
aubiecat
Well-Known Member
We are pretty backward...
No "WE" aren't. It only takes one turd to contaminate a swimming pool.
CGVT
Senior Member
Easy there big fella.
I'm just joking, but every now and then something happens to make me think that I'm really living in that underground society in A Boy and his Dog...
I'm just joking, but every now and then something happens to make me think that I'm really living in that underground society in A Boy and his Dog...
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
We are pretty backward...
Tell that to NASA... or maybe the pioneering cardiologists and oncologists at UAB... Not trying to be a jerk, you know I'm not... we're on the same team! But just because there's an issue or four that we fall behind on, doesn't mean we're backwards. Let me tell you, I lived in Oregon for a good while and there was some CRAAZZZY backwards stuff going on there.... and they are supposed to be one of the progressive states! Racism? Was FAR, FAR worse where I grew up in Michigan than I have ever seen here... It's just that the backwardsness that is right in your face tends to rankle you more. Believe me, there are idiots and red-necks EVERYWHERE and they are all the same!
