MONTGOMERY —The House Education Policy Committee debated an amendment to HB 43 on Wednesday, offered by State Rep. Marcus Paramore (R-Troy), that would remove the word Bible and void a permission slip proposal found in the original legislation.
Despite being adopted, the amendment faced strong opposition, particularly from House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville).
"This is purely political," Daniels argued. "To do a constitutional amendment, you're trying to appeal to a certain base of people. But those people are sick and tired because they're hurting right now, and that's what you're going to see in November. There's no way this is helping these kids. We put God in a lot of people's lives like that. Does that mean that their character changes? Absolutely not."
"I see people who carry around a Bible every day and wear a cross around their neck, the biggest hypocrites and devils I've ever seen," concluded Daniels.
State Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), a supporter of the amendment and chairwoman of the committee, said she had been in contact with members, including the minority leader, to address any concerns before Wednesday's meeting. Collins also said Daniels had expressed a favorable opinion of the measure last week in private.
"I will say, I tried all last week. I can't even imagine how many people I sat down with," Collins stated. "I answered every phone call. I believe that I got every email. I responded to all of the changes I have in here, or not. I have made substantial changes to the bill that's in the sub right now, and we will post that so it's public."
"I want everyone to have it, but I'm open to suggestions of what needs to be done to make it work and be implemented correctly and fairly and not just vote no," added Collins.
Eagle Forum of Alabama Executive Director Becky Gerritson spoke to 1819 News following the meeting.
"I'm dumbfounded. This would go to the vote of the people," Gerritson explained. "What was interesting to me today was, they had two amendments combined into one. One was going to rip out the word Bible, which some people had a problem with, and the other was to get rid of the permission slip proposal, because I think there was some consternation about that with the education folks. So, I thought everybody was going to be okay with all of this."
According to Gerritson, Daniels argued the amendment was about "scoring political points."
"I don't know what happened with Minority Leader Daniels, but he got a burr under his saddle, and basically said the bill was just about scoring political points, and it wasn't going to help bring up test scores, and it wasn't going to do anything for the students," continued Gerritson. "And that he was sick of bills like this, and then it just kind of fell apart after that."
"This bill was filed a long time ago, and the fact that we're halfway through the session, and it's just now getting in committee, makes you wonder if this was a deliberate way to stop it," added Gerritson.
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