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LWVAL issues action alert for Gulf restoration


On Dec. 10, 2011, the League of Women Voters of Alabama issued an action alert to  encourage all congressional Senators to support legislation that would fund full restoration of the Gulf of Mexico. Senator Richard Shelby and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama both support Senate Bill 1400, known as the Restore Act, that would do much to accomplish this. LWVAL President Kathryn Byrd wrote a letter thanking them for their support and asked them to encourage their non-Gulf State counterparts to support the bill. Dr. Byrd stated,

"Our goal is that [the Restore Act] and its House companion would dedicate the Clean Water Act fines from the Gulf oil spill towards a full restoration of the Gulf of Mexico.   The impacted communities and ecosystems of the Gulf could potentially see as much as $20 billion toward the restoration.  The wording of the bill would result in the moneys being directed directly toward restoration and not into the general fund."

LWVAL is also working with other Gulf States leagues (Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) and with the LWVUS Advocacy Committee to advocate for passage of the Restore Act.

Please read the LWVAL action alert and take action today! Thank you!


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LWVAL and LWVGB Co-sponsor SOS - Sustain Our State - Rally in Birmingham
August 16, 2011


On August 16, 2011, citizens called on elected officials to support healthy, clean water and air and real public transit. Many nonprofit organizations, including the LWVAL and LWVGB, joined together to bring the Sustain Our State (SOS) 1-2-3 GO! Rally to Linn Park in downtown Birmingham, AL. The event was held to inform and rally citizens to call for actionable, implementable (1) water, (2) energy and (3) transit policies and to make plans now to assure this sustainable future. Clean air and water and transit impact public health and jobs as well as the environment. The most heavily impacted are the poorest and the youngest in our communities - those who are our future. They are the most exposed to unhealthy air and water and least able get to education, jobs, health care and daily needs. Allied supporters were called to address environmental and intergenerational justice.

Citizens were informed about the issues and called on to take action by:

  • Making signs with SOS/1-2-3 GO messages to carry and decorate a DART trolley on public display.
  • Signing the League of Women Voters Clean Air Promise (see below)
  • Contacting their elected state and federal officials to call for legislation and public policies that will assure a sustainable future for our state
Attendees heard short explanations and signed messages to be sent to Alabama Governor and legislative leadership. The following addressed the rally to share our hopeful vision for a sustainable, accessible future for all our children:
  • Michael Churchman, Executive Director, Alabama Environmental Council;
  • Cindy Lowry, Executive Director, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Executive Director;
  • Esmeralda Brown, United Methodist Women;
  • Scott Douglas, Executive Director, Greater Birmingham Ministries;
  • Rev. Anthony Johnson, Community Relations Director, Birmingham Metro Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;
  • Joyce Lanning, Environmental Chair, League of Women Voters of Alabama (LWVAL) and of Greater Birmingham (LWVGB); and
  • Peter Behrman, Executive Director, Birmingham-Jefferson Public Transit Authority


stacks_image_5-cleanairpromise

I promise to protect America's children and families from dangerous air pollution.

Because toxics and pollutants such as mercury, smog, carbon, and soot, cause thousands of hospital visits, asthma attacks, and even deaths.

I will support clean air policies and other protections that scientists and public health experts have recommended to the EPA to safeguard our air quality.

See www.peoplenotpolluters.org.


The 1-2-3-GO action plans include:
  • Alabama Water Agenda
  • Clean Air/State Energy Plan
  • Mobility – Real Public Transit


This event was made possible with support from our allies at: Alabama Environmental Council (AEC); Alabama Rivers Alliance (ARA); GASP; Coalition of Alabama Students for the Environment (CASE); and the League of Women Voters of Alabama and of Greater Birmingham. We’ve timed this event to support the recent re-release of the Alabama Water Agenda, the League of Women Voters of the United States Clean Air Promise Campaign, and the hearings over curtailment of bus routes in Birmingham due to funding shortfalls, as well as the United Methodist Women (The UMW's National Social Justice Training Seminar was held in Birmingham on August 13-17, 2011 at the Civic Center Sheraton.)

To find out more and get Involved in future action to Sustain Our State,
contact Joyce Lanning 205 870-0808 or joyce.lanning@gmail.com.


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The 2011 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature adjourned June 9, 2011, SINE DIE.

Final update of the LWVAL Legislative Report was posted following the adjournment of the 2011 legislative session. All action alerts are, of course, cancelled.


2011 Legislative Session

The 2011 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature convened at Noon, on Tuesday, March 1 and adjourned SINE DIE on Thursday, June 9. During the session, LWVAL kept citizens informed about the Alabama Legislature's activities regarding issues of importance to the League through its LWVAL Legislative Report. For each bill, the LWVAL Legislative Report included bill sponsors, bill summary, complete bill text, current status of the legislation, LWVAL's position on the legislation, and LWVAL's action. See the 2011 LWVAL Legislative Priorities list for the issues on which the LWVAL Action Team was focused during the 2011 session.

Earlier the Alabama Legislature met in Organizational Session (January 11 - 18, 2011). In that session, the legislature organized each house through election of officers, adopted the Rules of each house as well as Joint Rules of the two houses, established standing committees in each house and named the membership of each, and elected members to certain Joint Committees of the two houses. As stipulated by law, no legislation was passed in the Organizational Session"


LWVAL took action to bring about ethics and campaign finance reform.

On December 8, 2010, then Governor Bob Riley called for a Special Session of the Alabama Legislature to convene to consider ethics and campaign reform legislation. The League of Women Voters of Alabama advocated during the Special Legislative Session urging our legislators to support strong ethics reform and open government. Co-Presidents Dr. Kathryn Byrd and Dr. Charlotte Ward wrote this letter to the 140 state legislators to urge their active support for reform. At the opening of the Special Session called to address this issue, Nancy Ekberg, representing the co-presidents, presented the points of the letter directly to the legislators in public testimony at the Old State House Chambers. The League also sent this letter-to-the-editor supporting reform to several major newspapers in the state. The League urged all citizens who believe that Alabama should have stronger, more effective ethics laws and open government to contact their state senator and representative and make their voice heard.

By the close of the Special Session on December 16, the legislature had passed seven reform bills. As reported by the Associated Press, the bills included "measures to ban the transfer of money between political action committees, limit how much lobbyists can spend on entertaining public officials, give subpoena power to the State Ethics Commission and ban legislators from having a second state job after November 2014." Read this story in The Birmingham News and more news about the Special Session on al.com.


LWVAL strongly supports effective ethics reform and open government.

The League of Women Voters of Alabama has long supported the need for strong ethics legislation and open government. This continues to be a top-level advocacy priority for the LWVAL. See the complete list of 2011 LWVAL legislative priorities.


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"Open Secret" A filmed re-enactment of the Alabama 1901 Constitutional Convention
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, with the support of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, Greater Birmingham Ministries and the American Association of University Women of Alabama, has taken the official transcript of the 1901 Alabama Constitutional Convention and created a re-enactment, using actors in period costume, speaking the words of the 1901 delegates. We filmed the half-hour re-enactment and named it "Open Secret" after some of the words used during that Convention. A woman, although not a delegate, and not allowed to vote in 1901, appealed to the men to allow women to vote. They turned her down. They also disenfranchised poor whites and Blacks in that memorable document.  Their words will surprise you.  The screenings of this re-enactment are being presented throughout Alabama beginning this month.  All screenings are free and include a panel of guests to debate whether or not the Constitution should be changed, and the best way to do it.  The audience is invited to participate in the discussion. Following are the screenings so far.  More are anticipated.  If you would like to attend a screening or to schedule a screening in your area, go to www.constitutionalreform.org  or e-mail melanie@constitutionalreform.org.

Sites and dates of previous screenings:
All screenings were open and free to the public.

Tuesday, February 23rd, at 6:30 p.m.,  Department of Archives and History, 624 Washington St. in Montgomery.*

Friday, February 26th at 6:30 p.m., Historic Carver Theatre, 4th Ave. North and 17th Street in Birmingham.*

Wednesday, March 24th at 11:30 a.m., Birmingham League of Women Voters Meeting, Alabama Power Electra Room, 600 North 18th Street in Birmingham (Reservation not required.)

Thursday, March 25th at 7:00 p.m., Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, 1507 Dauphin Street in
Mobile. Hosted by LWV of Mobile. A panel discussion followed the viewing. Senator Vivian Figures and Mayor Sam Jones were invited to participate.

Tuesday, March 30th at noon at the State Capitol Auditorium, 600 Dexter Avenue in Montgomery

* The premiere sessions in February had a screening of "Open Secret" followed by a panel discussion. Panel Participants:

  • Merika Coleman, Alabama State Representative (D) for District 57 (Jefferson)
  • Paul DeMarco, Alabama State Representative (R) for District 46 (Jefferson)
  • Moderated by Dr. Carol Ann Vaughn Cross, Core Curriculum Fellow, Samford University


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Alabama's air and water needs federal protection

An Opinion Editorial from the League of Women Voters of Alabama, March 14, 2011. Written by Dr. Joyce Lanning, LWVAL Natural Resources Director, and Dr. Charlotte Ward, LWVAL Co-President.

Among the programs and services currently threatened by the Congressional budget cutters are the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act. Here in Alabama, a Public Service Commissioner has quoted information from polluting industries that seem to overstate the cost of addressing the harm caused by carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. In sum, laws, regulations and agencies designed to protect us and our environment for the long run are under attack by shortsighted forces looking only at this year’s bottom line. ... Read the complete editorial.


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