Nearing the end of the 2024 legislative session, bills to protect the privacy of gun owners, grade public schools fairly, and ensure transparency in higher education funding see final passage.
Words by Matt Woods | Image courtesy of Matt Woods
We are getting to the closing days of the 2024 legislative session. The budgets are almost fully developed and ready to be voted on. There will be a lot of media coverage on the higher-profile topics that have yet to be decided, so I’d like to focus on a few other topics that I think are relevant, though they do not get as much attention.
One theme that has developed in this session is protecting our kids. As a parent, I see that our youth face a series of challenges that my generation did not have to worry about when I was their age. Whether it is the effects of social media that we are just beginning to understand, the creation of AI-generated pornography that can victimize anyone, or a host of woke cultural perspectives being pushed on them, our youth are exposed to a wide range of challenges.
While the dangers of drugs have been well-known for a long time, the lethality of illegal drugs has increased exponentially in the last decade. One of the main threats is fentanyl, much of which originates in China or comes across the southern border. Data from the Center for Disease Control reports fentanyl overdose poisoning is the number one cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45 years old, surpassing suicide and vehicle crashes. Fentanyl is odorless and tasteless; an amount as small as a grain of salt can be deadly.
This week, the legislature approved a bill that requires public schools across the state to teach students about the dangers of fentanyl and drug poisoning in grades six through twelve. Our hope is that education and honest communication can help reduce the number of deaths related to fentanyl. This week’s bill was in addition to a law we passed previously that allows drug dealers to be charged with manslaughter if the narcotic they sold contained fentanyl and resulted in a death.
Following up on a couple of pieces of legislation I’ve been working on, my bills to disclose foreign funding in higher education and grade our public schools more fairly on the state report card system both passed and will become law.
HB330 requires institutions of higher education to disclose funding from foreign countries of concern to the Alabama Legislature. If countries such as China, Russia, Iran, or others who are not allies of the United States want to invest in our state colleges and universities, we have an obligation to know how much is being funded and for what purpose. This is a matter of state and national security. With all the anti-Semitic activity taking place on college campuses across the nation, we need foreign funding accountability. I want to thank my colleagues in the House and Senate for supporting my bill.
HB331 will temporarily exclude the achievement scores of nonpublic transfer students from being factored into their new school’s A-F state report card that is assigned to all public schools. When a student transfers to a new school and is already behind academically, it’s unfair to punish the new school when they have no control over the student’s previous situation. While I certainly want our schools to be accountable to the students they serve, I also want them to be graded fairly and accurately as it relates to the state report card. The state report card is an important tool for parents and communities to understand the quality of the education that their children are receiving. This bill will help ensure that schools are graded on the educational success they produce, not that of a student’s previous educational environment. Public schools have a responsibility to educate all students regardless of their ability. This bill allows the public school three years to help students catch up to grade-level proficiency before factoring their achievement tests into the A-F state report card.
I want to highlight one bill related to Second Amendment rights. Last Tuesday, the Alabama House awarded final passage on a bill that prohibits credit card companies from tracking gun purchases and collecting data on Alabamians who buy firearms using debit or credit cards.
The right to own firearms is enshrined in our nation’s constitution, and gun owners should be allowed to purchase a weapon without worrying about a private company tracking their actions and collecting data without their permission. The bill would prevent financial institutions or card companies from easily tracing firearm transactions or the individuals who purchase them. If Governor Ivey signs it into law, Alabama will become the 12th state in the country to block the tracing of firearm transactions.
As I mentioned at the beginning, by the time you read this, the legislative session will likely have ended. I’ll be back next week with a recap of what I’m sure will be an eventful final week.
Representative Matt Woods represents Alabama State House District 13, which covers parts of Walker County. You can contact him at matt.woods@alhouse.gov.
