Alright folks, lock and load. All hands on deck. Get on your mark. And any other overused phrase that comes to mind.
The Senate Rules committee has informed us they intend to get a vote on The Gourmet Beer Bill this week. The exact timing is still a little up in the air because the general fund budget passed by the House last week didn’t get transmitted to the Senate on Thursday as it was supposed to have been. That has caused a bit of a procedural headache and thrown the previous plan the Senate leadership had for this week for a loop. So they’re still fine tuning what bills they are going to bring up and in what order.
But barring disaster, they are determined to give us our shot this week. “Disaster” could be something like a surprise filibuster, such as the one we saw a few weeks ago when a few Senators filibustered in protest of how the special order calendars are handled. There are never any guarantees in politics.
But we are as sure as one can be that this is the week. So 1) Call your Senator again, even if you already have, and urge him or her to vote yes on HB373. It will definitely be our House bill coming for a vote, which means this is the last step before we go to the Governor’s desk. And 2) Hope and/or pray that everything goes as the Rules Committee plans, i.e. that no Senator has been seething with anger the past few days waiting to spring another surprise filibuster over some personal grievance.
FYI, if all goes well this week, then expect to see beer over 6% ABV at the Magic City Brewfest.
43 Comments
Done
Done. I know people that live in District 7 (no senator at this time). What can they do?
Pray…
Well, they might be interested in contacting Senators Arthur Orr and Tom Butler, who represent nearby areas and are leaning against us. I do recommend full disclosure that you don’t live in their district, but I also realize that it’s frustrating to not be represented.
Senator Dixon responded pledging his support.
Done.
I called Senator Mitchem’s office (and spoke to Rose) urging support of HB373. She said that she has already received several calls in support of our bill.
Emailed Sen. Orr!
Took me less than 1 minute to leave a message with my senator’s Montgomery assistant
Done.
Just Sen. Bishop’s assistant know.
Just *let*
So when this thing passes how long will it take before the high gravity beer starts showing up in stores?
No promises, but i’m pretty certain you’ll see a few things turn up the day after it becomes law, and it will just take off from there. I’d expect over 100 new beers within 2 months.
Just called Sen. Waggoner’s office to ask for continued support and to keep senate moving. His assistant sounded like she had heard that a few times…
Linda Coleman supports the bill, so there’s that.
I just emailed and called Senator Erwin’s office expressing my support for a vote on HB373 and to see it passed. Hopefully he has heard from alot of FTH voters in his district and will represent his constituients well.
Matt, I honestly would not hold your breath waiting for this to happen…
Don’t worry… I am not holding my breath, but I did ask him to vote for it. I stated my desire to see it have a vote and passed. I dont care if he votes for it or not… BTW, approxmiately how many FTH members do we have in his district? Am I the only one?
We have a lot of members and supporters in his district.
excuse me… I did NOT ask him to vote for it.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are being shut down. This guy is prepared to speak “all afternoon.
E-mailed Sen Waggoner…Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Oh Great Filibuster time on the SB version of FTH. Singleton did a great job trying to prevent it.
Who is this guy that seems so “convicted” and high and mighty?
Hank Erwin
Who IS this guy? What a self righteous moron.
it’s Hank Erwin
WE’RE UP
Amendment should be okay.
Will the house have to reapprove with the amendment?
Which senator is this that is causing the problems?
ERWIN! My Senator. Ugh.
When does he come up for reelection? This guy has no clue . . .
He is leaving the Senate to run for Lt. Governor in 2010. He can’t keep his Senate seat to do so.
Will our bill come up for a vote soon? It is listing Motions and Amendments on the Legislative Calendar right now. I did not think they would vote til it reached Bills on Third Reading. Are we in the middle of a filibuster right now?
Our bill is being held at the call of the chair while they discuss other matters. That means Senator Singleton can bring the bill back up at any time.
Erwin is meanwhile filibustering a similar wine bill.
where are y’all hearing what’s happening?
You can listen to the senate live here:
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/audio/senateaudio.html
And now they’re adjourned.
Are they adjourned for the day?
So… could somebody please summarize what happened today and what it means for the bill? I tried to make sense of the comments here but I don’t have enough context to know what it all really means.
So should we all email Erwin asking for a vote or what?