Right to contraception bill advances in House committee
A bill that would enshrine the right of Alabamians to have access to contraception received a favorable report in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Sponsored by House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, the bill was filed shortly after the February Alabama Supreme Court ruling that granted frozen embryos similar legal protections to that of children, and was sparked by fears of further restrictions on reproductive rights.
“Under existing law, there is no explicit recognition of the right to distribute and use contraceptives,” Daniels said to committee members when introducing the bill.
“This bill would recognize that individuals have the right to engage in contraception, and the health care providers have the right to both dispense contraceptive devices and provide information about their use.”
The bill would also provide enforcement mechanisms to ensure the right of Alabamians to have access to contraception, which include the ability for the state attorney general, health care providers and individuals to bring a civil suit against any policy, law or rule that may prohibit or interfere with the distribution and use of contraceptives.
Reps. Jerry Starnes, R-Prattville, and Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, both introduced amendments that would clarify that the bill only applied to contraception drugs, devices or methods that prevented pregnancy. It won’t apply to drugs designed to terminate pregnancies.
Daniels was amenable to both amendments, which both passed unanimously, as did the bill itself.
Committee approves bill to allow games between AHSAA and independent schools
The House Education Policy Committee approved Wednesday House Bill 91, sponsored by Rep. Troy Stubbs, R-Wetumpka, to allow games between schools in the Alabama High School Athletic Association and the Alabama Independent School Association.
Currently, crossplay between associations is not allowed, spreading out competition across the state. The bill is primarily to address middle school travel time for competition, but would allow high schools to play these games as well.
“There are certainly opportunities for more competition for these children in closer proximity to one another,” Stubbs told the committee. “So that middle schools aren’t having to travel one and a half or two hours for a 45-minute volleyball match.”
The games would be considered exhibitions, they would not count toward playoff seeding.
Stubbs said the AHSAA is opposed to the legislation.
The AHSAA Central Board of Control on Wednesday opposed approving the AISA’s request to become an associate member of the National Federation of High School Associations, a spokesman for the association told ADN.
In a board meeting Wednesday, the AHSAA sided against the merger and Stubbs.
The bill now goes to the House. Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, is sponsoring the Senate version of the legislation. It is still pending in committee.
House committee changes ‘Workforce Pathway’ to high school diploma
The House’s Education Policy Committee also approved but substantially changed one of the seven priority workforce and economic development bills proposed by Gov. Kay Ivey and legislative leadership last week.
Originally, House Bill 373 by Rep. Kelvin Lawrence, D-Hayneville, would allow high school students who planned to immediately join the workforce rather than going to college to take two fewer math and sciences courses. It was called the “Workforce Pathway” to a state diploma.
A substitute would allow a committee in the Alabama State Department of Education to create high school diploma prerequisites for those on the Workforce Pathway.
“We want to make sure that all students have opportunities,” Lawrence said. “These pathways will create consistent and rigorous expectations for all students that are trying to graduate from high school.”
In the substitute bill, the designated committee would create the prerequisites with the goal to ensure that students are equipped with the skills to excel at a four-year institution, regardless of their choice of pathway.
“I was very concerned if you were going to have the same diploma, and then you’re going to have weaker qualifications to get to it then it really wasn’t the same,” said committee chairwoman Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, on the importance of the substitute bill.
The bill now differs from the version the Senate approved on Tuesday.