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Save Alabama Public Television Postcarding Party, 9/13

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Join HIVE Alabama and MAD? Make a Difference Sunday, Sept. 13, at Cahaba Brewing Co. in Birmingham, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., for 1) a strategic post-card party and 2) an empowering GOTV event.

ELMO IS NOT THE ENEMY: SAVE ALABAMA PUBLIC TELEVISION

First, we are hosting “Elmo is not the enemy,” a postcarding party to save Alabama Public Television (APT) as we know it. Can’t make it? Drop by to pick up postcards, or email/message us to arrange pickup. Just sign them, add your town, zip code, address and mail them by Sept. 21 (3 per person, only takes 5 minutes!) We will have instructions. Pick up extras for friends & have another party. NOTE: This may be our last chance to keep Alabama politicians from moving to separate from the Public Broadcasting Service and effectively killing APT – the first educational television channel in the nation!

PLUS, HOW YOU CAN BOOST GOTV IN ALABAMA IN 2026

Can one person boost turn out in the 2026 election? Yes! And that person can be you. At this same session, we will hear from a local voter group, We HEART the VOTE!, that is helping other voters learn to boost turnout for the 2026 Midterm elections Nov. 3. Its mission is two-fold: Show voters how to 1) register eligible new voters or re-register voters who may have moved (only takes 5 minutes with a QR code card and an AL driver’s license) AND 2) check their voter status to make sure that they are active (takes even less time, about 3 minutes) and re-register, if necessary.

Why is it critical for all of us to reframe the process of “register to vote” as “register/checkstatus/re-register”, and share this information with friends, neighbors and family members?

Many voters do not know that Alabama regularly labels registered voters “inactive” if they have not voted in the last two elections (four years), if the state thinks they have moved, or, for some reason, it suddenly sees them as disqualified. Purging is part of routine maintenance, but it has been abused. In 2024, Alabama was found to have violated federal law by purging alleged noncitizens, including 2,000 eligible U.S. citizen voters. In today’s political environment, all voters must be pro-active on all fronts of voting rights!

2025 AL Legislative Wrap-Up

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Congratulations! We made it through the 2025 Alabama legislative session. Here is a list of some of the bills HIVE Alabama and MAD? Make A Difference followed. To check a bill’s language or status, go to the state’s Alison website. Special thanks to MAD?’s Jennifer Greer for putting this amazing list together for us!

Thank ALL of you for calling, postcarding, and going to Montgomery to lobby for positive change. We helped pass at least eight good bills. We also stopped numerous bad bills. Our voices were heard!

Super thanks to the leading advocacy groups who participated in our annual Zoom Legislative Review this week (here is a link to the recording if you missed it):

GOOD BILLS: PASSED

  • PASSED: HB26 Ban Possession of a Pistol with Alterations like Glock Switches
  • PASSED: HB89/SB102 Support AL Maternal Health Care Act to Improve Access to Pregnancy Medicaid
  • PASSED: HB 104/SB46  Give Mobile Enforcement thru ADEM for Scrap Tire Environmental Quality Act
  • PASSED: HB152/SB159 Exempt Sales Taxes on Diapers, Baby Supplies, Maternity/Hygiene Products
  • PASSED: HB386 Reduce State Tax on Groceries from 3% to 2% 
  • PASSED: HB 43 Allow Split Sentencing for 30-year Sentence (equal to 20 Year Sentence)
  • PASSED SB119 Prohibit Firearms for Multiple Felonies/Protective Orders for Domestic Violence
  • PASSED: SB199 Enact Alabama Pubic Employee Paid Parental Leave Act of 2025

GOOD BILLS: FAILED

  • FAILED HB59/HB71 End 1-Day-Only Voting with Early In-Person Voting (from 4-11 days)
  • FAILED HB77 Allow Voters w/Disabilities a Designee to Deliver Absentee Ballot/Application 
  • FAILED HB97 Don’t Throw Out Ballots! Allow Absentee Voters to Fix Errors
  • FAILED HB103 Penalize Parent/Guardian of Child who Brings Unsecured Firearm to School 
  • FAILED HB541 Expand AL Safe Drinking Water Act to allow ADEM to Investigate for PFAS
  • FAILED SB7 Pass the Alabama Voting Rights Act & Allow All Eligible Citizens to Vote
  • FAILED SB11 Fund Alabama Public Transportation for Just $5 a Year on Car Tag
  • FAILED SB19 Affirm Right to Engage in, Dispense, & Provide Information on Contraception
  • FAILED SB 22 Take Back Tax Incentives from Violators of Child Labor/Trafficking Laws 
  • FAILED SB156 Vote YES to Give Non-Violent Offenders with Life Sentences a Second Chance

BAD BILLS: PASSED

  • PASSED HB107/SB79 “What is A Woman?”/Binary Gender Declaration 
  • PASSED HB477 Permit ALFA to Sell Members Unregulated, Non ACA Health “Plans”   
  • PASSED SB53 Criminalize Helping Immigrants Who May Simply Be Undocumented 
  • PASSED SB101 Take Away Right to Access Counseling from School Students <16
  • PASSED SB63 Require Law Enforcement to Fingerprint/DNA Test the Undocumented  
  • PASSED SB 330 State Restructure Birmingham Water Works Board Reducing Local Control

BAD BILLS: FAILED

  • FAILED HB4 Jail librarians For Doing their Jobs at Community-Led Libraries
  • FAILED HB 67 Don’t Allow “Drag” Shows in Schools/Libraries or Allow Minors to Share Some Facilities  
  • FAILED HB 178 / SB166 Display Ten Commandments K-12 and Higher Ed
  • FAILED HB179 Hire Government “Chaplains” in K-12 Public Schools with Minors of Multiple Faiths 
  • FAILED HB231 Require Daily “Judeo-Christian” Prayer in K-12 Public Schools
  • FAILED HB244 Expand “Don’t Say Gay” in Alabama from K-5 to K-12 Public Schools
  • FAILED HB479 Sanction State’s Withdrawal from ERIC Database & New Board for Purging Voter Rolls
  • FAILED SB3 Give Local Control of Municipal Police to Politicians in Montgomery 
  • FAILED SB6 Politicize Local Library Boards or Restrict Community Free Speech 
  • FAILED SB55 Invalidate Out-of-state Driver’s Licenses without Proof of Legal Residence 
  • FAILED SB77 Tax International Wire Transfers to Fund Immigrant Arrests

Where do we go from here? IVF and Reproductive Healthcare Panel

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Join HIVE and our friends at MAD? Make a Difference on Friday, April 12, 2024 at 12 p.m. for a Zoom panel on IVF and reproductive healthcare in Alabama and beyond. We will talk with state leaders about the medical/legal impacts of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that shut down IVF services here and could negatively affect more pregnancy/emergency care & contraception.

Please register for the Zoom here.

We will hear from:

1) Tracey Burkett, a young IVF user and legal advocate for victims of domestic violence, who sees a recent Alabama court ruling as attack on women’s health, especially for Black women;

2) Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham), a state lawmaker who fears a recent state court ruling could restrict future access to IVF, contraception, and emergency pregnancy care;

3) Alison Mollman, legal director, ACLU of Alabama, who discusses the need to repeal the state’s 2018 personhood amendment and the resilience of Alabamians facing restrictions;

4) Courtney Andrews, ACLU’s Alabama reproductive rights policy strategist, will talk about legislative advocacy and polling data on this issue;

5) Tabitha Isner, vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, who says healthcare should not be a partisan issue, but the “war on reproductive freedom” is coming from one party: Republicans.

6) Elizabeth Anderson, Democratic nominee for Alabama’s 6th Congressional District, who will talk about the need for federal legislation to protect reproductive freedom.