Urgent: Time Running Out on Alabama Parental Rights Bill

Alabama’s fundamental parental rights bill, House Bill 6, is running out of time and we need your help immediately.

H.B. 6, championed by Rep. Kenneth Paschal, received bipartisan support in the House, where it passed by a vote of 87-8 (plus 7 not voting and 3 abstained) on May 24, and again in the Senate, where it passed unanimously on May 31. Now it needs only the signature of Governor Kay Ivey to become law.

After months of debates and amendments in the legislature, this should be the easy part. Instead, we are hours away from the governor’s “pocket veto,” which will go into effect if the bill is not signed this week. (The “pocket veto” means that any bill not signed by this Friday is essentially vetoed, even without a specific veto action.)

This excellent bill, which establishes that parental rights are fundamental and that they may not be burdened by the state except under strict judicial scrutiny, deserves a better destiny than the pocket veto. It deserves to be signed into Alabama law!

And that’s where you come in.

Please take a moment right now, before you close this email, to call the governor’s office and urge her to sign H.B. 6 relating to fundamental parental rights.

You will need to call her office at (334) 242-7100 and leave a message asking her to stand with Alabama’s families by signing H.B. 6 into law immediately.

Your message should be in your own words, clearly mention H.B. 6, and express appreciation for her commitment to doing what is right for Alabama’s families. You might say something like the following:

Thank you for working to do what is right for Alabama’s families. Right now, would you please stand with us by signing H.B. 6 into law immediately? This bill will preserve and protect the proper level of respect for parental rights in our state. Thank you.

Once you have called, please forward this email to any friends and family you have in Alabama and encourage them to make a call, as well.

Together we can protect children by empowering parents through this excellent addition to Alabama’s laws.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey

Executive Director