After two years of fighting it out in the state legislature, State Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) saw her "What is a Woman Act" finally become law early in the 2025 session. However, other parental rights bills she was involved with that she thought would be a much easier sell got diluted or outright rejected thanks to the efforts of associations and lobbying groups.
DuBose joined "1819 News: The Podcast" last week, where she recounted the struggle to get the Act passed and how lobbyists influenced her other bills during her third session.
"I had no idea when I got to Montgomery in this role how powerful lobbyists were. I didn't really even understand what they did. And I didn't realize that everybody has a lobbyist," DuBose said. "It's amazing to me. You know, locksmiths have a lobbyist. Everybody has a lobbyist. And now I can see why because they are so effective and they're just very good at their job."
She said she initially thought her bill to allow students to receive off-campus religious instruction, known as religious release, would sail through the legislature as a "no-brainer" after she conducted a survey to gauge public interest.
"This concept has been around for decades. And in some parts of the country, it's very popular and there are thousands of students that have been participating in religious release for decades," she said. "And all that is, is it allows students to go to an off-campus religious class. No state funds are used."
However, it became "much more difficult" than she thought when it went before the House Education Committee.
"The reason that is, is, surprisingly, it was our school board associations and our superintendent associations that came out against this," she said.
DuBose pointed out that membership in those associations is paid using tax dollars, and that not all members were against her bill.
"What they [the associations] do is they decide what school board members should think. They call on them, like they send these SOS texts out and say, 'Stop this bill now.' It's almost like it kind of scares the school board members and the superintendents into following what they're doing, because they think there's some big emergency going on," DuBose said. "I don't think religious release is a big emergency. And it was just misconstrued to be something so dangerous that it scared board members and it scared superintendents… It's a scare tactic, it's fear-mongering, and that's what people that are against religious freedom have been doing for centuries. And I hate to see that happening in Alabama. I don't think our school boards really stand for that at all."
DuBose's religious release bill (HB342) was voted down in committee.
Another bill she supported to raise the age of medical consent from 14 years old received final passage after another lobbying group forced a compromise.
"Our bill started at 18," she outlined. "We thought all, honest — common sense. Again, you can't get your ears pierced. You can't get a tattoo. You can't go on a field trip without parental consent. You know, you can't vote. There's a list of dozens of things you cannot do as a minor. But yet, making your own medical decisions?"
She said a Senate amendment raised the age of consent to 16 rather than the original goal of 18.
"I think a lot of them that voted for 16 were perfectly fine with 18, but it was just sort of a compromise," DuBose explained.
DuBose said certain mental health professionals and the Medical Association of the State of Alabama opposed the bill and influenced its final outcome. She plans to try again soon to raise the age to 18.
"I think this might be one of the most significant pieces of legislation that we passed this year. I wish it were better than it is," she said.
DuBose said these bills show how persuasive these associations, lobbyists and similar groups can be, even if they are not always clear on the facts.
"They're very talented, and I'm just being honest about this, they're good at their job. They are very persuasive, and lawmakers, you know, fall for it," she said. "...I appreciate a lobbyist that educates me. And then I'm going to take that and I'm going to make my own decision. But you have to be able to have the time and the backbone, honestly, to just do all that."
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