Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter believes state lawmakers were able to accomplish some excellent things for Alabamians during the 2024 legislative session. On Thursday, he spoke more in depth about bills expected to be revisited in the next.
Ledbetter says among those that will remain a priority next year is reforming the state ethics law. This year, State Rep. Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) introduced legislation that would’ve replaced the current Alabama ethics code guiding state legislators with one that establishes higher penalties for violations.
HB227 passed the House by a vote of 79-9, but the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee ran out of time to bring it up on the final day of the 2024 legislative session.
The Speaker discussed the issue during a recent interview on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
“The ethics law, I think it kind of buried its head once Matt Simpson started working on it and you had the talk show that had one of ethics commissioners on there who violated the ethics law and wound up resigning over it,” Ledbetter explained. “I think it kind of buried its head where nobody had a clear idea. And I know there was a lot of pushback sometimes about it.”
RELATED: State Rep. Matt Simpson defends ethics reform push
Ledbetter was referring to Alabama political figure Stan McDonald, who resigned from the Alabama Ethics Commission after he revealed he donated to several Republican campaigns during his time serving as one of the three commissioners.
The Speaker said the goal will be to add further clarification on the effects of the bill before it can pass the Legislature.
“I think the idea was to try and make it so people would understand it,” he said. “It affects over 300,000 Alabamians and if we don’t understand it clearly in the legislative body, how does the firefighter or the teacher understand this?”
Ledbetter praised Simpson’s effort on the bill, saying it sets the table for conversations in future sessions.
“He did a really good job,” he argued. “I think it just ran out of time. I know Senator Givhan had taken it to the Senate and looked at it real close and I applaud him for his effort, but at the end of the day he just wasn’t able to pass it, and I understand that.”
Despite the setbacks, he still believes it will have a decent chance of becoming law in the future.
“I think it really gained momentum close to the end of the session,” he said. “And so we’ll see how that goes. I applaud him for the job he did.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
