Please contact your AL House Representative before Thurs., May 7. Ask him/her to SUPPORT the SB67 House substitute bill to improve the criminal justice system in Alabama!

Dear League Members and Friends,

This is a CALL TO ACTION to ask for your help in passing the SB67 House substitute bill. Please call your reprentative before Thursday, May 7 and ask him/her to support the SB67 House substitute bill. Our Alabama criminal justice system is in crisis  due to prison overcrowding, underfunding, unjust sentencing, and other issues. State legislators should recognize that current laws will not solve the problems and that those laws helped to create the problems. Although this bill does not do all that is necessary to make the Alabama criminal justice system what it should be, it would bring about improvements. See some support points below. You can get contact information for your representative here. Please be sure to tell the representative that you are a constituent.

The original criminal justice bill SB67, sponsored by Sen. Cam Ward, passed the Senate on April 7. The House Judiciary committee passed a substitute bill favorably out of committee on April 30. The bill is expected to be modified this week (with some amendments) and come to the House floor for a vote on May 7.

Support Points -- Here are some points that you might stress when asking your representative to support the SB67 House substitute bill. This bill would:

• Bring about changes made by state government itself rather than through federal court intervention. This approach will not only garner greater support but better fit the needs of the state. It will keep the people of Alabama in charge.  
• Create a new class for felony offenses that takes certain drug cases and low level theft cases out of the habitual offender act and thus make sentencing more just.
• Implement changes in the criminal justice system that would imrpove reentry, reduce recidivism, and ultimately result in greater public safety. Among these are:
  
• Addition of requirement for a mandatory period of treatment and supervision post-release for parolees and probationers and specify practices and procedures for that.
• Addition of more support for and make improvements in community corrections programs that support and council parolees and probationers.
• Revision of driver license suspension provisions for some drug offenders thus making it easier for some parolees and probationers to hold a job, get to testing, etc.
  

Read more about SB67 and this substitute in the LWVAL Legislative Report to follow their progress through the AL Legislature.

Thank you for taking action!

  — LWVAL Action Team