MONTGOMERY — Leadership on both sides of the political aisle gave contradictory accounts of Thursday's legislative proceedings after lawmakers tackled this session's most controversial calendar.
Thursday's House Special Order Calendar was stacked with bills destined to bring the ire and condemnation of Democratic lawmakers. It included bills that changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, allowed law enforcement to aid in immigration enforcement, permitted school chaplains, mandated the display of the Ten Commandments in schools, banned libraries from presenting or sponsoring drag performances, and banned classroom discussions of gender and sexuality.
During the debate on the bills, House Democrats spent ample time bashing the calendar and individual bills.
After Democrats railed for over an hour on the second bill on the Calendar, House Bill 247 (HB247) by State Rep. David Standridge (R-Hayden), which would officially rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle) moved for the previous question.
See: House clotures debate, passes bill renaming Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
While not technically referred to as cloture in the House of Representatives, House Rule 25 allows members to vote on a motion to reconsider the previous question. If a three-fifths majority vote adopts the previous question, all debate and discussion on the bill is limited to 10 total minutes before a final vote. The Senate does use the term cloture, and the result is ultimately the same in both houses.
Any member can submit a written motion calling for the previous question.
Debate continued for the remainder of the day, with Democrats continuing to protest each bill.
Related: Thou shalt rage: House Dems protest bill mandating 10 Commandments display in schools
After the House adjourned, members of the House Democratic Caucus met to criticize the calendar and the bills it contained.
During the press conference, multiple Democratic State Representatives claimed to have been clotured three times during the day. This claim sparked confusion among reporters, who all recalled the previous question being called only once on HB247.
Additionally, State Rep. Marilyn Lands (D-Huntsville) accused House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) of "ignoring lights."
House rules allow for limited debate. House members are permitted to press a button at their seat, which turns on a light to alert the speaker that they intend to speak, either for an allotted amount of time for debate, a point of personal privilege or a point of order.
Ledbetter spoke to the media directly after Democratic Caucus members, vociferously denying allegations of multiple clotures and ignoring lights.
"We just clotured one time," Ledbetter said. "And it was on the Gulf of America; that's it."
He continued, "I'm the only one that sees lights, and I didn't see any being ignored. There wasn't any lights ignored. They had a lot of time. Most of the time that we spent today on the floor was debate with them, and that's rightfully so. They got the right to do that. We didn't ignore lights."
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