TUSCUMBIA—The Colbert County Republican Club's December meeting featured State Reps. Kerry "Bubba" Underwood (R-Tuscumbia) and Ben Harrison (R-Elkmont), who discussed the proposed 2025 legislative agenda on their February return to Montgomery.
State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) also participated with the scheduled panel.
Alabama House Republican Caucus Legislative Agenda and Statement of Principles by Trent Baker on Scribd
Underwood led off the discussion and teased the proposed agenda compiled by the Republican House Caucus. Underwood saw the session as a unique opportunity to further Alabama values outside the state.
"I believe that the values of Alabama should be the values of the entire country. This is, you know, a beautiful state, a beautiful place to live," Underwood began. "I believe it's time for us to take our values and our significant things and tell the rest of the country this is what matters here and this is how we can save the world."
Underwood also predicted that the political alignment at the federal, state, and local levels was especially fortuitous.
"We are vertically aligned," he added. "By that, I mean the local people elected, the state people elected, our federal delegation, and our president are all lined up in a way that I've never seen before. And so, it's a good opportunity for us to have a chance to have some significance in the nation as well as in our state."
One of the Alabama values outlined in the agenda is supporting and embracing active military and veterans. Underwood announced that the Shoals would once again have another Veterans Affairs Office in Colbert County.
"Some of you been around enough to know that we used to have a Veterans Service office here in this county. We deserve one because of the number of veterans who served and live here," he said. "Budgetary restraints years ago necessitated to close and consolidate that with Lauderdale County, and we are very close to having one open again here in this county."
These plans were delayed in September due to Gov. Kay Ivey's firing of Veteran Affairs commissioner Ken Davis, but Underwood assured that they were still on track.
"I have got confirmation from both the governor's office and our Committee on Veterans Affairs, that it's still on tap, we still got the funds allocated, it's just a matter of getting through a couple of things before we can reopen," Underwood said. "So, within a matter of months, we'll have a Veterans Service Office open again in this county."
In terms of 2025 legislation, Underwood mentioned his "Voluntary Fire Departments Act" had passed the House last year but had been tied up by the debates over the gambling and lottery package.
"There were several different avenues of arguments on the gambling bill, so, there were several pieces of legislation that the House was able to pass that didn't get through the Senate, and several pieces of legislation the Senate passed that didn't get through to the House," he said.
Underwood said he expected his bill to pass the House and Senate.
While the gambling and lottery package cleared the House, it fell short by one vote in the Senate. Harrison explained why he was a "No" vote on that initiative, first citing "common sense."
"First of all, I want to mention something that we've addressed and took up a whole lot of time last session, and that was on gambling. Hopefully, I think the speaker's, [Nathaniel Ledbetter] on the record as saying he doesn't have the stomach to tackle that again, and I hope that's correct," Harrison said.
"Here was the big issue with me," he explained. "More than half the revenue of gambling comes from addicts, right? OK, and so here we are. Article 1, Section 35 says that the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen's enjoyment of life and property. When government assumes other functions, it's usurpation and oppression."
Harrison rounded out his rebuttal by highlighting the legislature's commitment to public safety, which a gambling culture could significantly strain.
"And here, the main words in there is 'to protect,' OK? And when you're putting something in front of people, you're increasing that in front of them, you're not really protecting," he said. "And the libertarian issue there was the most, our biggest argument on the other side of that issue. We tell people what they can and can't do with their money all the time, some of it not appropriate, but we don't allow some things. And it's a vice, and it's addictive, and in my opinion, we don't need it."
Underwood and Stutts affirmed they were also "No" votes on the gambling and lottery package and would remain opposed to it should it come up again in the 2025 session.
"So, if you want somebody to vote for gambling, you're going to have to find somebody other than me," Harrison concluded to a round of applause.
Harrison also mentioned legislation he planned to introduce in 2025, one which surrounds protecting children from internet pornography. His goal is to require internet service providers (ISPs) to engineer a filter that blocks pornographic videos and images at the base level of service—a filter from which individual adult users could easily opt out.
"I think the base level, the default level of internet service should be filtered. We ought to have a clean internet of pornography," Harrison alleged. "But if you want to, if you want to opt out of the filter, hey, you can do it. But this gives parents the ability to protect their homes. I think we owe them that."
Illegal immigration was at the top of several club members' minds, and questions were posed throughout the hour. The legislators all affirmed that with President-elect Donald Trump's agenda of mass detention and mass deportation, Alabama would first support the president's efforts before initiating any action on the state level.
"I think the consensus there is we'll wait to see what Trump does," Harrison said. "But if he doesn't address immigration issues at state level we'll take up that issue."
Harrison alluded to Rep. Ernie Yarbrough's (R-Trinity) introduction of HB7, which would empower state and local law enforcement agencies to detain illegal immigrants until the federal government could deport them.
Other members broached the issue of what would be done with illegal migrants who currently resided in the state, the Alabama companies that make the deliberate choice to hire illegal migrants at lower wages over Alabama citizens, and the local and state agencies who are incentivized to look the other way.
Stutts concluded the discussion and saw the solution to the illegal issue as "getting control of the borders." Stutts alleged that many of the millions here in the state of Alabama are not necessarily looking for a better life and have no desire to learn Alabama's values or assimilate.
"[They] don't want to have anything to do with our culture and our social mores, and that's all got to be fixed," Stutts said. "You got to stop, you know? If you find yourself in a hole to stop digging. So, the first thing to do is stop letting them in and then start filtering them out."
Stutts ended with some encouragement.
"But the question we've all got to ask is, you know, are you willing to stay the course to see these things change? If he [Trump] institutes some tariffs, there may be some transient price increases," Stutts warned. "The issues that are going to be faced, we've got to have the fortitude to say this isn't right. This is what we're going to do."
"The fact is: right is right and wrong is wrong haven't changed. And we've got to have the fortitude to say, this is not right. What we've been doing is not right, and we're going to stand up for what is right," he added.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
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