Coming off the heels of a COVID ‘pandemic’ AND an election year, we knew that the 2023 legislative session was bound to be a circus act like no other. The Alabama legislature did not disappoint in this regard.

We know that you, our HFA members, care deeply about health freedom issues and wanted to see the Alabama Health Freedom Act and other important legislation enacted to secure our freedoms for future generations. We have grown to an insurmountable army that will NOT back down from the bad actors who wish to take your freedoms from you in exchange for money, power, and position.

Alabama is known to be one of the most politically corrupt states year after year. When you have groups like the Business Council of Alabama, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, and Big Pharma padding the pockets of legislators, campaign contributions can transform how a legislator votes on issues or how well they listen to their constituency.

Those “bad actors” in the legislature went above and beyond to try to stop us from not only participating in the legislative process and keeping our supporters updated but even went so far as to threaten us with criminal charges and jail time for simply being freedom loving, politically active citizens! Don’t worry….we’re definitely going to fill you in on that very soon but, for now, let’s dive into our legislative wrap up!

💥HB 324 - The Alabama Health Freedom Act - Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R)
HFA kicked off the legislative session by continuing the push for passage of the Alabama Health Freedom Act. Rep. Ernie Yarbrough sponsored the AHFA and did a great job of rallying support for the bill. Unfortunately, Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter aided in the failure of this important anti-discrimination and pro-health freedom bill by assigning the bill to Tyrant Paul Lee’s committee (chairman of the Health Committee). Rep. Paul Lee is bought and paid for by big pharma and has no interest in preventing discrimination based on vaccine status. It is not far-fetched to assume that Speaker Ledbetter shares this sentiment with Rep. Lee since he made no attempts to push for passage of any true health freedom legislation despite having the power to do so.

💥HB4 - Rep. Prince Chestnut (D) - Prevent Mandatory Microchipping
Rep. Prince Chestnut brought this necessary bill that prevents anyone from being required or forced to be microchipped as a condition of employment or as an inmate. Health Freedom Alabama supported this bill and, after the events of the last 3 years, can see the need and importance of such legislation. The bill eventually passed through the House and Senate and became law. It is important to note that this bill was passed unanimously and yet Governor Ivey did NOT sign this legislation into law. Instead, she allowed the bill to become law by default.

💥SB53
Senator Butler-(R) Dist. 2 (from Harvest to Madison) filed SB53 sought to allow the Department of Defense to ignore our Alabama law banning vaccine passports. Since our state law stops them from doing this outside of their federal installations, Sen. Butler decided to become a pawn in the Biden game by filing SB53 which would obliterate our state ban on vaccine passports. We quickly put out a call to action to warn all of you of this disastrous bill and within 24 hours of the call to action, Senator Butler withdrew the bill. YOU made this happen and together we clapped back at the powerhouse Department of Defense! #WeDareDefendOurRights

💥HB101
Rep. Ginny Shaver filed HB101 with the intent to streamline the adoption process. No doubt, this was and is an important piece of legislation for the precious children awaiting a loving family through foster care and adoption. Rep. Yarbrough raised the red flag that there are loving and capable families in this state who desire to foster Alabama's children in need and to adopt but are DENIED the ability to foster or adopt based on their vaccination status. Rep. Yarbrough stood as a voice for not only health freedom but as a voice to advocate for MORE families in Alabama to be able to serve and love on these kiddos.

Rep. Yarbrough proposed an amendment simply stated, "No rule or regulation of any state department shall prevent an adoption or deny foster certification, licensure, or placement based on the vaccination status of any individual." Rep. Ginny Shaver made a motion to table the amendment (this means she made a motion to kill the amendment). Rep. Yarbrough attempted to defeat the motion to table but was shut down by Speaker Ledbetter.

The House then voted on Rep. Shaver's motion to table. The majority of the house members voted to kill the amendment and it did not pass. The majority of the House members (and Speaker Ledbetter) did not see value in removing vaccine status discrimination policies that actually limit the number of families willing and able to adopt or foster to do so.

HFA asked our members to step up and speak out to remove these barriers to getting kids into loving homes and YOU DID JUST THAT....AND MORE! Once the bill made its way up to the senate floor, the senate unanimously passed an amendment that requires DHR to adopt rules to accept vaccine related exemptions from foster/adoptive families. The bill was eventually signed into law soon after.

💥HB186 - Rep. Chip Brown (R) - Parent’s Rights in Masking in Schools
Rep. Chip Brown filed HB186 with the intent to return the rights to parents to decide whether or not their child would wear a mask while at school or on school property. HFA was in attendance at the House Health Committee meeting and testified in support of this bill. HB186 passed out of committee but never received a final vote on the floor of the House. Unfortunately, House leadership (Rep. Joe Lovvorn and Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter) did nothing to support this important legislation.

💥HB187 – Rep. Chip Brown (R) - the intent of HB187 was to “require consent of a parent or a legal guardian for any minor to receive a vaccination.” This bill PASSED out of the House Health Committee but never received a final vote on the floor of the House. Again, House leadership (Lovvorn and Ledbetter) could have taken a stand for the children and pushed for passage of this important bill but, instead, they chose to sit in silence.

🎬THAT’S A WRAP FOR 2023 BUT IT’S NOT SIGNED, SEALED, OR DELIVERED.

We have unfinished business in the Alabama legislature. Freedom and liberty remains at stake. COVID is gone but the threat to our health freedoms is not. The Alabama legislature has continued to leave us vulnerable to another episode of “Pandemic 2020”. Without a law on the books that prevents vaccine status discrimination on ALL FRONTS, future generations are susceptible to a replay of our nightmares. We cannot leave this fight for them. The time for preventative legislation is NOW.

💪Keep standing in the gap with us and we will continue to fight with you! Stay tuned for more on how leadership in Montgomery is trying to criminalize and jail HFA leaders (moms with 8 children between us) for simply keeping you empowered with the truth. #StandForFreedom #StandWithHFA #Onward

Another way that we interact with our members and Alabama constituents is through our mail program. Mailers were sent to two districts recently.

House Rep & Health Committee Chairman Paul Lee (R - Dothan) and another Health Committee member, House Rep. Rhett Marques (R- Enterprise) have both maintained that they believe employers should be able to force mandates on their employees. Maybe it’s because they keep getting campaign contributions from Big Pharma.

This attitude is contrary to freedom & liberty and we thought it was important for their constituents to know what their Reps were up to. No one should be forced to “show their papers” to be able to provide for their family. The constituents of House Districts 86 & 91 were informed and asked to take action to contact their representative.