Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter intends to make State Rep. Mike Shaw (R-Hoover) chairman of a House committee on information technology next quadrennium, provided voters in House District 47 return him to Montgomery on November 3.
“Mike’s done a great job. He’s been a tremendous member,” Ledbetter said in an interview with Yellowhammer News. “To be honest with you, of course I keep all the appointments, the committees and chairmen close to the last. But my goal was to put Mike into chair of an IT committee.”
Shaw spent his career in technology and cybersecurity before serving on the Hoover City Council.
He was elected as the Republican nominee for the Vestavia Hills and Hoover-area seat in 2022 following the death of State Rep. David Wheeler and won the general election with roughly 64% of the vote.
He faces Democrat Jim Toomey, a retired insurance company chief information officer, next month.
Ledbetter said Shaw has already been the House’s point man on artificial intelligence and technology questions for the past two sessions.
“We’ve got to look at technology with AI coming on board as strong as it already has, and actually the last couple of years when we had those issues come up.
Mike has been the one that’s kind of steered the ship, because he could be in Cupertino if he wanted to be,” Ledbetter said.
“He’s got so much ability when it comes to technology and IT and AI. We’ve got to have somebody like that in the body that has got the ability to understand it and navigate through the waters to make sure that we do the right thing.”
Ledbetter pointed to Shaw’s work on legislation aimed at children’s online safety.
“He’s done a really good job and tried to protect our kids from what is on the internet, and he’s worked with members to try to get that cleaned up, and we have,” Ledbetter said. “There’s just been a lot of stuff that he’s been right in the middle of, and he’s done a great job. A great member, somebody that we’re fortunate to have in the Alabama House.”
Committee chairmanships are assigned by the Speaker at the organizational session following the election, and Ledbetter said Shaw’s race is one of four the House Republican caucus is focused on in the final weeks of the campaign.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
