Conventional wisdom is that average citizens can’t make an impact on the legislative process. Well-financed lobbying efforts trump grassroots activism every time, they say, because it’s all about influence peddling and campaign contributions.
Fortunately for Alabama, the four examples below — all of which are from the 2014 legislative session — prove the conventional wisdom wrong.
— Carly’s Law —
Carly Chandler is a 3-year-old from Birmingham who suffers from an extremely rare neurological disorder called CDKL5 that causes her to have daily seizures. Individuals with CDKL5 often do not see the frequency of their seizures decrease with traditional medical treatments. However, a significant percentage of CDKL5 patients who take marijuana-derived cannabidiol, also known as CBD, experience drastic improvement. CBD comes in oil form and has none of the intoxicating effects of marijuana that might make legalization susceptible to abuse. Unfortunately, CBD was illegal in the state of Alabama. And even the hint of marijuana legalization would make most Alabama legislators run for the hills.
Carly’s parents, along with the parents of other children suffering from neurological and epileptic disorders, formed an effective advocacy team lobbying for a bill, aptly named “Carly’s Law,” that would legalize the treatment. Carly’s father, Dustin, sent an email to members of the Alabama House and Senate, quickly bringing the issue to the forefront.
Here’s an excerpt from the email:
Since we don’t know how long she will be with us, my wife Amy and I said we were going to give Carly the best quality of life we could possibly give her no matter what. Giving Carly the best quality of life is what led me to this journey.
Carly has tried over 8 Anti-Epileptic Drugs or AED’s and none of them have stopped her seizures. All the AED’s that she has been given have had bad side effects with some of them possibly being fatal.
As we looked for answers we heard about a specific strain of Marijuana that was high in CBD and low in THC called Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte’s Web comes in an oil form and is given orally. Since there are no psychoactive properties there is no way to get “stoned” by taking it. It has shown to be 80-85% effective in children in not only stopping seizures, but also improving cognitive abilities… But, as you know, it is illegal in the state of Alabama.
With that, legislators from both parties engaged, propelling the bill to unanimous passage and on to the governor’s desk to become law. They even went a step further and appropriated $1 million to fund research at UAB studying the success of the treatment. And it all started with one 3-year-old’s parents, armed with little more than a telephone, email account and Facebook page.
— Common Core —
No issue has divided Republicans in the legislature quite like Common Core. While business groups with well-financed lobbying efforts support the standards, a coalition of grassroots conservative groups have made the repeal of Common Core their top issue for the last two years.
There was a time when a Common Core repeal bill would not have had any hope of even being discussed in a legislative committee, much less reaching the floor of the House or Senate for a vote. But two years of constant pressure from activists finally compelled Republicans to try to reach some sort of compromise.
The compromise bill, SB443, was not the full repeal that many grassroots activists had pushed for, but it would keep Common Core from expanding into new subjects and give local school boards the power to opt out all together. 12 senators co-sponsored the bill. The Business Council of Alabama and the state’s education establishment continued to fight it, but momentum seemed to be on the bill’s side.
Although the effort ultimately fell just short, the fact that it became one of the central issues of the 2014 legislative session is a testament to the persistence of a relatively small group of citizen activists.
RELATED: Common Core compromise is dead, so what went wrong?
— Religious schools bill —
I received a Facebook message from a conservative activist named Stephanie Smith on March 5 expressing concerns about a bill, the Educational Opportunities Act (SB420), that she believed would require church schools to register with the state. Under current law, the only requirement is that parents have to provide a “church school enrollment form” to their local school district office to show that their child is attending a church school.
Smith believed the bill had been “meant for good” and was probably a response to what she described as a “power grab” by the State Board of Education. However, she said the bill stated that a church school could not “operate within this state unless the school has first identified with the department (of education).”
The bill wasn’t on my radar at the time, but next thing I know, Smith even had national media outlets writing about it.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in The Daily Caller that mentioned Smith by name:
In Alabama, church schools — because of religious freedom concerns — are exempted from most government regulations that other schools in the state face.
But new legislation being debated in the state House and Senate in Montgomery would have the effect of more government control of church-based K-12 education.
The goal of the Educational Opportunities Act, according to bill text in the House and Senate, is to “clarify the autonomy of nonpublic schools, including church, parochial, and private schools offering instruction in grades K-12.”
But it would require these schools to register with the state and provide a directory of all students, among other new regulations.
The new changes have sparked protests. One vocal critic in Alabama, Stephanie Smith, told The Daily Caller that the legislation would have the effect of restricting “the religious freedom of tens of thousands of families.”
Smith drove down to Montgomery several times to meet with legislators personally. In a matter of about 10 days, the bill was dead.
— Wind Farms —
A wind energy company called Pioneer Green recently announced plans to build eight wind turbines in Cherokee County, Ala. at a new facility called the Shinbone Wind Energy Center. But Pioneer Green was met fierce resistance from local citizens who said they were just another taxpayer-subsidized green energy company that wouldn’t be able to deliver on big promises of jobs and increased local tax revenue.
RELATED: Are your tax dollars going to help fund a wind farm in Alabama?
Two citizen groups filed lawsuits to block the construction, at least until Alabama could implement some sort of basic regulatory structure protecting citizens. But one little girl really took it to the next level.
It only took 6-year-old Lillian “Lilli” Coker a few days to get over 1,400 signatures on a petition urging the Alabama legislature to “Say ‘no’ to wind turbines.” Lilli then presented her petition to Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey and members of the legislature.
RELATED: Is this kindergartener Alabama’s most effective political activist?
State Sen. Phil Williams sponsored a bill to provide basic protections to citizens in areas where wind farms were being proposed. Wind energy companies responded by hiring lobbyists to try to kill the bill.
But Lilli’s grassroots effort proved to be too much to overcome. The bill passed.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
