House Dems, led by Juandalynn Givan, bristle at Democrat-sponsored… – 1819 News
MONTGOMERY — Thursday, on the floor of the Alabama State House, State Rep. Patrick Sellers (D-Pleasant Grove) stood firm in support of his legislation to protect children from the harmful effects of secondhand marijuana smoke even as members of his own party spoke against it. The bill passed the House with 77 in favor, two against and 18 abstentions.
House Bill 72 (HB72) classifies smoking or vaping marijuana in a vehicle with a child present as suspected abuse or neglect and would require mandatory reporters of child abuse to notify authorities if a child smells of marijuana.
"Under existing law, smoking tobacco products with a child in the car is a criminal offense. Also, under existing law, smoking marijuana of any kind is prohibited under any circumstances. But this bill would provide an additional criminal penalty of a class A misdemeanor for smoking marijuana in a motor vehicle when a child is present in the motor vehicle, whether the motor vehicle is in motion or at rest, and whether the windows are open or closed," Sellers explained.
"This bill would require mandatory reporters to report to the state department of human resources or another duly constituted authority when children smells of marijuana smoke and will require such reports to be treated and investigated as any other reports of suspended suspected child abuse or neglect," he added before explaining that both offenses could lead to take an in-person or virtual education course developed by the Alabama Department of Public Health about the dangers of drug and marijuana use around children.
State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road) was the first speaker on the bill.
"Let me tell you, it's a great bill. Thank you for bringing it. I know a lot of hard work went into this, and it's much needed," Ingram said.
"Representative Sellers, you and I have talked about this type of thing quite a bit. And you know what? We're with you 110%. This is something that'll be meaningful for our families and our children. I'm totally in support of you," State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) said.
State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham) was the first in a line of Democrats to speak in opposition to the bill, momentarily uncharacteristically speechless.
"I don't know a Democrat that has ever bought a bill that would criminalize marijuana in this building, and especially that's such a sensitive subject because so many people of color get stopped, and because of the criminalization of marijuana. So it does give me consternation because that's just something that Democrats never have done."
"Listen, I'm not for smoking in front of a child. I'm not saying that. I mean, I deal with people who smoke marijuana every day. I have clients. I don't smoke anything," she added.
Givan then went on to speak to her concerns about "unintended consequences" of the bill.
State Rep. TaShina Morris (D-Montgomery) also spoke out against the bill, noting that it applies to children up to age 19, which is the legal age of adulthood in Alabama.
"One of the inspirations for this is my conversations with quite a few educators that brought the concern to me about not only just elementary schools children that come to school, and they reek of marijuana. They see the results of that on the child for half a day," Sellers explained.
"And so, you know, sometimes people say the unintended consequences, but I think the unintended consequences is the children, and the results of but I think the unintended consequences is the children and the results of secondhand smoke, marijuana smoke and its effect on children brain development risk, impaired brain development, problems with attention, memory," he added.
Sellers was then asked for clarification if he was speaking to cigarette smoke or marijuana, and he confirmed marijuana before continuing to list the harms, such as "lung ,breathing problems."
Following his response, Morris replied, "It is so easy. All you have to do is just stand next to somebody who was smoking and now you walk off and you smell like marijuana."
"Hypothetically because we we're talking about young, young kids, especially inside our neighborhoods, inside our communities, where a lot of our kids walk to school," she continued.
"So if my 8-year-old is walking to school and stops at his friend's house, and they're all walking together. The other eight-year-old comes outside; he smells like marijuana. They are walking together. Now my child has a marijuana smell because it's easy to contact. Now I get a misdemeanor for that?"
"So, who's your 8-year-old walking with that's smoking marijuana?" Sellers asked.
The bill would require an investigation into the smell, not an automatic misdemeanor conviction.
State Rep. Rolanda Hollis (D-Jefferson) gave a similar, equally confusing example.
"You know, I'm going say an older brother, older sister was out smoking and they come home, and they take their clothes off and they lay, maybe lay their clothes on the younger brother, a sister, you know, some that stuff so loud sometimes it can rub on your clothes. So which means that the parent is innocent, that baby is innocent, but then that baby go to school," Hollis explained.
"Then what happens?" she asked.
"I didn't even know my oldest child smoke you know, so I had no idea how my baby get the smoke on his or her jacket, so I got to go to a class on something that I didn't even know," she said.
"You don't. You don't know if somebody was smoking in your house. You can smell it. It's loud," Sellers replied before the two had a back and forth on whether parents know if their kids living in their houses smoke marijuana.
Givan came back up a second time in opposition prior to the final vote.
"I think that we can get so excessively entangled because there are so many things in our homes that we do as parents or guardians that have more of a detrimental effect on our kids' learning abilities than just some darn simple someone smoking on some marijuana. Because if you're going to smoke, you're going to smoke. You got friends that smoke. You have family members that smoke. I don't smoke, and nobody comes to my house that smokes," she explained.
"And the worst part about it, what I'm seeing is everybody who has come up in support of this bill is a Republican," Givan said.
Givan ended by saying, "This bill hurts my core, and I think I've been here 16 years, and I've never gotten up here and ever said anything hurts me in Montgomery ever."
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