1. Trump impeached in partisan vote

• President Donald Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached Wednesday night, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed two articles of charges against him in mostly party-line votes.
• The first charge was that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. It passed 230-197-1, with all but two Democrats voting YES, all Republicans voting NO, one Independent voting YES, and Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii voting “Present.”
• The second charge was that Trump obstructed Congress in its investigation. That article passed 229-198-1, with all but three Democrats voting YES, all Republicans voting NO, and Gabbard voting “Present.”
• Democrats led Wednesday night’s voting, framed in what many said was their duty to protect the Constitution and uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood by their party’s leader, calling the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham,” and sometimes all three.
• The trial is expected to begin in January in the Senate, where a vote of two-thirds is necessary for conviction. While Democrats had the majority in the House to impeach Trump, Republicans control the Senate and few if any are expected to diverge from plans to acquit the president ahead of early state election-year primary voting.
• Interestingly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she may not transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate until certain terms of the trial are met. One former adviser to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described that as politically “holding a grenade with the pin pulled.” On the other hand, drawing out the process could potentially make it more politically painful for Trump as more people would pay attention, Democrats argue.
• Speaking of McConnell, he is scheduled to speak on the Senate floor at 8:30 a.m. (now) about impeachment and the process moving forward.
• Read the full story, including a live feed of McConnell’s speech HERE.
• Alabama’s delegation was split down party lines, and most members were outspoken about their feelings on the matter. See their responses compiled by ADN’s Caroline Beck HERE.
• Also see the story WSFA’s Lydia Nussbaum put together on the delegation’s impeachment speeches HERE.

 

2. Court rules against Obamacare provisions

• A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down “Obamacare’s” requirement that Americans carry health insurance but sidestepped a ruling on the law’s overall constitutionality. The decision means the law remains in effect for now.
• The 2-1 ruling handed down by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans means the ultimate fate of the rest of the Affordable Care Act – including such provisions as protections for those with pre-existing conditions, Medicaid expansion and the ability for children under the age of 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance – remains unclear.
• The panel agreed with Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s 2018 finding that the law’s insurance requirement, the so-called “individual mandate,” was rendered unconstitutional when Congress, in 2017, reduced a tax on people without insurance to zero.
• The court reached no decision on the big issue — how much of the Affordable Care Act must fall along with the insurance mandate.
• “It may still be that none of the ACA is severable from the individual mandate, even after this inquiry is concluded. It may be that all of the ACA is severable from the individual mandate. It may also be that some of the ACA is severable from the individual mandate, and some is not,” Judge Jennifer Elrod wrote.
• The decision sends the case back to a judge who already ruled once to throw out the entire ACA but with some guidance. O’Connor has to be more specific about which parts of the law can’t be separated from the mandate, and also must take into account Congress’ decision to leave the rest of the law essentially unchanged when it reduced the penalty for not having insurance to zero, Elrod wrote.
• Read more HERE.

 

 

3. BCA’s Britt talks priorities & pitfalls for 2020

• Six weeks before the 2020 legislative session begins, Business Council of Alabama President and CEO Katie Boyd Britt on Wednesday laid out an agenda focused on building on the state’s economic success and avoiding potential pitfalls that could cost taxpayers.
• BCA is one of Alabama’s most influential political organizations, pooling resources from the state’s business community to support its endorsed candidates for office and lobby the Alabama Legislature for business-friendly policies.
• Britt was the featured speaker at the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce’s “Eggs and Issues” breakfast event, which attracted a sold-out crowd of about 400 business and community leaders. After a year at the helm of BCA, which she described as a kind of “state chamber of commerce,” Britt said she is optimistic about Alabama’s future, but ready to get to work when the Legislature convenes.
• “Alabamians have always had a can-do attitude, and that’s what makes our state so attractive to industries locating here,” Britt said. “We’ve established Alabama as one of the top five business climates in the country – but we can’t stop there.”
• Among the priorities: reauthorizing incentives laws that state and local economic developers use to recruit industry.
• Among the pitfalls: avoiding an undercount in the 2020 Census and failing to act on prison reform.
• Read the full story HERE.

 

4. Alabama, other states challenge amendment ratification push

• Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the addition of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Alabama’s attorney general announced Wednesday.
• The lawsuit filed in federal court in Alabama comes in response to a renewed push to get the required 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban discrimination on the basis of sex. The lawsuit notes that Congress set a 1982 deadline to get the required 38 states to agree and seeks to prevent David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, from accepting a new ratification from a state.
• “The people had seven years to consider the ERA, and they rejected it. To sneak it into the Constitution through this illegal process would undermine the very basis for our constitutional order,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
• Marshall said Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota are committed to equality but contended the “ERA would not promote true equality, but rather a far-left agenda.” He argued the amendment could be used to strike down abortion restrictions or require boys and girls to compete against each other in sports.
• Read the full story from Kim Chandler HERE.

 

5. API: Medical marijuana a ‘trojan horse’

• As noted in this week’s edition of Inside Alabama Politics, the Alabama Marijuana Medical Marijuana Study Commission is voting this week by email on whether or not to send recommended legislation to the Legislature.
• AL.com’s Mike Cason has a story today on what that draft legislation might look like, which you can read HERE.
• While likely to clear the commission, there is opposition to the push to legalize medical marijuana.
• One of the leading opponents, the Alabama Policy Institute, contributes an op-ed in today’s Daily News explaining its problems with the bill.
• Here’s an excerpt from the piece by former State Sen. Phil Williams, Director of Policy and Strategy for API.

• Read Williams full op-ed HERE.

 

This just in…

• As reported yesterday, the combined $1.4 trillion appropriations packages passed the House and are now on their way to Senate passage.
• Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby has been sharing on Twitter certain aspects of the bills that have benefits for Alabama.
• Alabama Daily News has just learned of one provision that could have a profound impact on the state.
• Tucked inside the Energy and Water Development portion of the bill is a new regional dredge program for the Central Gulf Coast. In all, the Army Corps of Engineers is receiving $651.5 million more funding in this year’s budget with a mandate to use revenues to “advance American competitiveness and export capabilities.”
• That means Alabama could very well be on its way to finally completing the deepening and widening of the Port of Mobile – a project long championed by Shelby as a uniquely powerful economic catalyst for the state.
• It’s not a direct funding allocation like the good ol’ days of earmarks. The Corps will be responsible for allocating the funds and contracting the dredging plans. But, Mobile is well-positioned eligible for the program.
• There will be more about this going forward, but remember where you heard it first!

 

News Briefs

Bryan Taylor exits Supreme Court race

• As we had speculated in this week’s Inside Alabama Politics, former State Sen. Bryan Taylor has decided to exit the race for Supreme Court.
• Taylor surprised the political chattering class by qualifying at the last minute for the the Supreme Court Place 2 GOP primary, later explaining that it was a “technical filing” and a “placeholder” just in case he actually decides to run.
• In a statement to Alabama Daily News, Taylor said he has decided not to run after thinking and praying about it with his family. Taylor’s wife, Jessica, is seeking the GOP nomination for Congress in Alabama’s 2nd District.
• Read more HERE.

Montgomery repeals local law to jail panhandlers

• MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s capital city on Tuesday repealed a local law that would have jailed panhandlers.
• The Montgomery City Council unanimously voted to repeal the unenforced ordinance that had drawn heavy criticism from homeless advocates, clergy and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, the city’s newly elected mayor, supported the repeal.
• Eric Tars, legal director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, said the organization is happy city leaders decided to repeal the “patently unconstitutional” ordinance.
• “Housing not handcuffs, is the way to end homelessness, rather than just push it out of public sight,” Tars said in a statement.
• The city council approved the ordinance in July, but it was never enforced.
• The measure would have required panhandlers to be jailed for two days for the first offense, unless the sentence was suspended by a judge. The jail time would have increased with each violation.
• Read the full story from the Advertiser’s Sara MacNeil HERE.

Bond revoked for teen charged in death of Auburn announcer

• OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — A teenager charged in a car crash that killed an Auburn University radio announcer and his wife earlier this year went to jail Wednesday after a judge revoked his bond.
• Lee County District Judge Russell Bush ordered the arrest of 16-year-old Johnston Edward Taylor during a hearing, and deputies took him straight to jail, news outlets reported.
• Tommy Spina, a lawyer representing Taylor, called the decision fair.
• Taylor was free on $50,000 bond while charged with two counts of reckless manslaughter in the death of Auburn broadcaster Rod Bramblett and his wife Paula in May. Authorities allege Taylor was driving about 90 mph (145 kph) in a 55 mph (90 kph) zone when he rear-ended the Bramblett s’ vehicle in Auburn.
• Prosecutors asked the judge to revoke the bond because Taylor received at least three tickets in November for speeding and reckless driving. In one instance, authorities found marijuana residue in his car, prosecutors said in court documents.
• Read more HERE.

Alabama man gets life for fatally shooting, beating mom

• CENTRE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing his 68-year-old mother.
• Larry Bodily, 51, was sentenced Wednesday, news outlets report. He was convicted last month of the murder of Karen Willmon, who was reported missing on Valentine’s Day in 2017.
• Her body was found days later in the Centre home she shared with Bodily. She had been shot, beaten, wrapped in black plastic and tucked between a pile of wood and a garage wall. She died from the gunshot wounds and blunt force head trauma.
• Bodily was in custody on an unrelated charge when the body was found and additional charges were filed. He’s been in custody ever since.
• The motive still is unclear. He initially also was charged with stealing his mom’s guitar and credit card. Those charges were later dropped.

 

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