Sen. Roberts and Rep. Shaw update Mid-Alabama Republicans on legislative sessions

May 10, 2025 – VESTAVIA HILLS, AL – Republican grassroots activists were updated on the 2025 Alabama regular legislative session by State Senator Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook) and State Representative Mike Shaw (R-Hoover).

One of the key pieces of legislation passed in this session was the replacement of the Birmingham Waterworks Board with a new regional board that will be more representative than the old board.

That legislation was sponsored by Sen. Roberts and Representative Jim Carns (R-Vestavia Hills).

"Rep Carns is a hero," Roberts said of Carns, who has been fighting for accountability from the waterworks board for over a decade. "It took a lot of work to get it done." "We tried this in 2023, and we tried it two times before that."

Roberts said that former Moody Mayor and current Leeds Waterworks director Bill Morris has been appointed to the new board and that the new board will meet within the week.

"It is a seven-member board," said Roberts. "We have 770,000," waterworks customers. "Birmingham has 192,000 people. That's 25%. I am a numbers guy and the numbers," show that the old Board did not represent most of the customers.

After Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed the bill (SB330) into law the old Board met and signed papers to sell the assets of the waterworks to the City of Birmingham for one dollar.

"The moment the governor signed the bill that board was defunct," Roberts said. "You can't buy what can't be sold."

"We anticipate a meeting of the Board next week," said Roberts – who said he would say more except that the Alabama Gazette was present in the room.

"This is going to be a smooth process," Roberts continued. "Agendas will come up. I anticipate a rocky road ahead."

Roberts said that he hopes that the recomposed regional waterworks board will, "At the end of the day, take politics out of it as much as you can."

"They are no longer a board period," Roberts said of the former board. "We have had three former Birmingham Waterworks Board members go to jail," for corruption.

"Fifty percent of what they produce (the water) is not billed for," said Roberts. "That is crazy. Other systems like that have been taken over. A normal system replaces its pipes every 100 years. We are working on a 300-year schedule. The Board was paying $30,000 a month for lobbyists – some of them not even licensed to be in Montgomery. They were spending $50,000 a month for marketing in what (Attorney General) Steve Marshall calls a monopoly."

"I would ask that you pray for this new board as it meets."

Rep. Shaw said that the, "Cell phone ban (in public schools) is kind of controversial."

"Three of my bills got through the House, but two ran into trouble in the Senate," Shaw said.

Shaw said that his bill to update the state office of information technology (OIT) did pass.

The blockchain that Shaw was sponsoring got tied up in the Senate.

"We have one day left," said Roberts. "We have a conundrum with Greene County."

Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and his allies in the Senate Minority Caucus tied up the later days of the session because the House would not pass his bill to make historical horse racing machines at the aging Greenetrack facility legal as games of skill rather than illegal games of chance like slot machines or electronic bingo.

"His gambling bill effects more than Greene County," said Roberts.

Roberts said that over the years gambling proponents have cluttered up the state constitution with 18 local county amendments, including one in Jefferson County.

"We as a community voted for that to open, so Ms. Thompson can get that done (the Birmingham Racecourse which opened initially as a horse track).

"It is causing major friction," Roberts said of Singleton's filibustering.

Shaw said that crime is out of control in, "Controlled be radical Democrat cities. This is a problem around the state/"

Roberts said that the Legislature, "Raised the age of medical consent from 14 to 16 years of age."

"The smart phone filter bills passed with a lot of push back," Roberts said.

Roberts said that the Legislature also passed a bill to regulate vapes and legislation to regulate psychoactive cannabinoids derived from hemp.

"They are selling synthetic THC," Roberts said.

Roberts said that some stores are selling 250 milligram THC gummies.

"10 MGs is equal to a shot of burton," said Roberts. "It is everywhere."

"You can stop in that same store and get a 250 mg slushie," Roberts claimed. "All of this comes out of the 2018 Farm Bill. They are extracting THC from hemp. It is enough to pay any one of us out for two or three days."

Roberts said that calls to poison control have spiked as children have eaten these THC packed products.

Roberts said that the bill (HB445) banned synthetic THC altogether.

"We raised the age from 19 to 21," said Roberts. "There are fines for the first and second offenses. It goes up to felony offenses after that."

Roberts said that the ABC Board will collect a "Ten percent sales tax" on psychoactive cannabis sales to pay for the cost of enforcement.

Roberts said that the Legislature passed "Record budgets."

They also passed reform of how the Legislature funds education with extra dollars going to schools for poverty, gifted, special needs, and English learner students.

"That could be one of the major transformational things for our educational system," said Roberts. "180 million was invested in the CHOOSE Act."

"We cut another penny off of the sales tax on groceries and excluded the sales tax on diapers," added Roberts. "It has been a very productive session."

Wednesday was the last day of the 2025 Legislative session.

The Mid-Alabama Republican Club (MARC) meets on the second Saturday of each month at the Vestavia Public Library. Janey Whitney is the President of the MARC.