6/1/2009 - June 2009 SLI Newsletter

June 2009

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The Legislature finished its work a little early this year. It may have been a better year in some ways and a number of necessary laws got passed.

Gambling legislation was once again a major effort as it has been for the last several years. The most outrageous bill was the “Sweet Home Alabama” bill which would have legalized the illegal electronic bingo slot machine type gambling going on around the state at this time, and which is the subject of the Governor’s continuing task force. There was another bill for Greenetrack, which was fairly innocuous, but would have, nonetheless, served to possibly expand gambling. Neither bill passed.

The pro-life bills SLI had written, viz., Healthcare Rights of Conscience Act and the Umbilical Cord Blood Use Act, made little progress. The former never made it out of committee, while the latter made it out of committee, but could not get on the House calendar. There was still opposition by the Hospital Association to the Healthcare Rights of Conscience Act, but both of these bills suffered the unfortunate obstacle of Democrat/Republican infighting. The Democrat controlled House held up a great many Republican bills, including these two.

The bill to recognize sexual orientation as the basis for a hate crime did not pass. It came closer than ever before. Legislators seem to be ignorant of the ramifications of this. If you would like more information on this, let us know.

Except as reported in this month’s Educational Update, we believe the Legislature was fairly productive. We believe this is due to the fact that the session was not held up for days on end debating gambling bills (about one-third of the senate session last year). In spite of the continuing barrage of TV and mail commercials, the Sweet Home Alabama bill did not reach the floor of the House or Senate. Both adjourned mid-afternoon of the last day (they usually go to midnight with unfinished business). Amazing!

May we remind our supporters that the summer months are our lowest ones for financial support? As this occurs, we have just spent a significant amount of resources and time in the legislative session. We have an extreme need for financial contributions. We do feel the presence of your support through your prayer and comments. We are very grateful for that. Please continue to support us in every way.

Yours very truly,

A. Eric Johnston

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