The Moment of Truth
Be sure you've seen our News page for the latest. We are on the brink of seeing one of our companion bills clear its house of origin. This Tuesday, HB195 will go before the entire House of Representatives, and barring a giant disaster (Alabama politics offers no guarantees), it will be voted on. Either they will pass it, or they won't. If they pass it, it will then be sent to the Senate to be approved by the same committee that has already approved SB211 (which is identical to HB195), and then it's on to the Senate floor for a vote, which is the final step before it goes to Governor Riley for his signature.
So, success on Tuesday does not guarantee ultimate passage of our bill. It could still get bogged down in the deadlock of Senate polititcs, where hardly anything of substance has been accomplished this year. But failure on Tuesday would bode very, very poorly for our chances this year. SB211 would still be alive and if it were to pass the Senate, it could end up in front of the House for a vote. But since SB211 is identical to HB195, it seems highly improbable they would pass the former after voting No on the latter.
So this is it folks. Failure is not an option. We in FTH--together with our lobbyist--have done a tremendous amount of education among members of the legislature. Hopefully they have all now heard of Free The Hops, and they understand that our purpose is to bring higher quality beer to this state, not destroy AL's youth. But they absolutely must hear from their constituents. No voice speaks louder than one that can help keep them in office... or kick them out.
So as I've already said in the newsletter, make sure you contact your Representative sometime before Tues morning when the session convenes. A phone call is best. If you get voice mail, leave a message. Heap an email in there too if you can. There is an anti-alcohol voice out there that will be talking to the Reps. They will hear accusations that our bill will be detrimental to high school kids. They need to hear more voices speaking the facts, based on the data that proves no link between the availability of higher alcohol beer and underage drinking.
Watch out, House of Representatives.
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