Monday, May 05, 2008

HB196 in the senate this week!

Friends of Free The Hops,

HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote in the Senate this week, most likely on Tuesday May 6th. Now is the time to call your state senator and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass! Because the Gourmet Beer Bill has already passed the State House of Representatives, this is the final step before sending this bill to the Governor. It's very close, so please contact your senator to express your support.

Please visit this website and enter your ZIP code to find out who your State Senator is. Then please call them about HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, unless your senator is Lowell Barron. As he is the head of the rules committee that decides which bills come up for a vote on the floor, and his secretary will be receiving hundreds of phone calls, you will get a better result if you call Senator Barron's business office instead of his Montgomery number.

When this bill was debated in the House, many legislators spoke of the dozens of phone calls they received from their constituents. Your phone calls and emails really do make a difference and is one of the primary reasons we passed in the House. Let's do this again!

When you call your senator's office, you'll likely speak to a secretary who will only be interested in knowing the bill number and your position. Here's an example of what to say if you're not sure:

"My name is (your name) and I'm calling to let Senator (senator name) know that I support HB196, The Gourmet Beer Bill. I would like him/her to vote Yes on this bill. Thank you for your time. Have a pleasant day."

That's it. The secretary may ask for your address to ensure you are a constituent.

Especially if you have made previous attempts at phone calls or emails and have not gotten a response, we are now at the point where it is imperative that you speak with your senator's office. We need you to confirm that you can count on their Yes vote on HB196 this week. You can be sure our neo-Prohibitionist opponents will be making lots of phone calls. Calls from our supporters need to overwhelm the Senators and drown out the opposition's calls.

posted by Stuart Carter at 11:16 AM permanent link

7 Comments:

Unknown said...: Shouldn't it be SB116 we're calling about? I thought HB196 was for the house and SB116 is for the senate.; May 07, 2008 9:28 AM
Anonymous said...: SB116 is identical to HB196. But one of them has to make it through both houses of the legislature. You only introduce two bills to maximize your chances; you don't send both to the Governor. HB196 has already passed its house of origin, so now we need to get it through the Senate in order to send it to the Governor.; May 07, 2008 10:28 AM
Unknown said...: Oh, I see.

Not only am I here for the hope that Alabama gets real beer, but I'm getting me an edumacation about political processes too. :D; May 07, 2008 11:11 AM
Anonymous said...: How soon should we know something?; May 07, 2008 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...: We won't know for certain whether we are on the special order calendar until it is adopted after they convene tomorrow. Even if they have a proposed calendar right now or early tomorrow morning, it could change just minutes before being adopted.

Just listen to the internet audio feed to hear it all go down live!; May 07, 2008 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: I have been listening to the senate audio today for about an hour and a half and still can't figure out what bill they are talking about. The more I listen, the less hope I have for our bill.... Has anyone heard anything different??; May 08, 2008 2:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I received a reply from Trip Pittman (Dist. 35) confirming that he supports the Gourmet Beer Bill. Just throwing that out there.; May 08, 2008 2:27 PM