It's Day 30 of the 30-day Alabama Legislative Session. So hold on to something.

Meanwhile, we have a Goat Hill roundup of measures getting late pushes.

Thanks for reading,

Ike Morgan

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Legislative roundup

Today is expected to be the final working day of this year's Alabama Legislative Session.

State Senate Pro Tem Garlan Gudger on Capitol Journal used that word "spicy" again to describe how things might go today. Watch that bill that would lead to closed primary elections and our having to declare our affiliation or lack of as part of our voter registration.

But on Wednesday more lawmaking took place. Let's do a Goat Hill Lightning Round:

A proposed constitutional amendment to require public schools to begin each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and allow student-led prayers won final approval and will be on the ballot in November for voters to decide on. The Senate passed that unanimously. The House had removed a provision for noncompliant schools to lose funding, and bill sponsor state Rep. Reed Ingram, a Matthews Republican, emphasized that students can opt out of any prayer as well as the Pledge.
A bill on its way to Gov. Kay Ivey's desk would allow workers a deduction of up to $1,000 for overtime pay they receive this year and next, so you can include it when you file taxes beginning next year. The bill will also suspend the state sales tax on food items from May 1 through June 30. Currently, the state is still charging 2% on groceries. This doesn't necessarily affect the rest of your total sales taxes from cities and counties unless those municipalities choose to also participate.
A bill updating Alabama's sex-education policy received final approval by the Legislature. It would require public schools to exclusively teach "sexual risk avoidance" and to encourage abstinence over any sexual activity. It prohibits sex-ed programs from providing information about how to acquire an abortion, demonstrating how to use contraceptives and using images that are sexually explicit. And it would allow parents or guardians to opt students out of sex-ed curricula.
The House gave final approval to a bill that would establish a scholarship program for families of law-enforcement officers. That now goes to the governor.
Also receiving final approval was a bill establishing standards of care for dogs confined outdoors and allows for the removal of dogs and even misdemeanor criminal charges for violators. It requires that dogs have access to adequate food, water and shelter, and it puts restrictions on how dogs can be tethered.
A bill that already passed the Senate to take candy and soda* off the list of foods eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits was amended in the House of Representatives to add energy drinks to that banned list. It returns to the Senate for final approval.

*Note: I realize I wrote "soda" to reflect the language of the bill, assuming everyone understands that word means "Coke" of all the various flavors, brands, makes and models.

Regarding energy drinks: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, caffeine and other stimulant levels in energy drinks have no place children's or adolescents' diets.

Also, according to the CDC, some of the dangers of energy-drink consumption, as learned through ER visits by 12-17-year-olds, include dehydration, insomnia, anxiety and heart issues.

More state politics here

Quoting

“Along the way, we consumed more than 6 million meals and, by my estimate, more than 950,000 gallons of coffee, 2 million energy drinks and a lot of nicotine. But I’m not saying that we have a problem.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, while speaking about combat operations in Iran.

Alabama's Bay of Pigs sacrifice

The Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham plans to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 21, reports AL.com's Alaina Bookman.

It's become an annual event for the museum and the 117th Air Refueling Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard to host an event honoring four Alabamians who died during that April 1961 CIA-backed attempted move by Cuban exiles against Fidel Castro's revolutionary government in Cuba.

This year the museum has planned a graveside military tribute, a keynote speech and an A-26 flyover.

Alabama guard airmen Leo Baker, Wade Gray, Pete Ray and Riley Shamburger were killed during that mission when their planes were shot down.

Born on This Date

In 1854, composer Seaborn McDaniel Denson of Cleburne County.

In 1942, former Congressman Earl Hilliard of Birmingham.

In 1971, former NFL guard Anthony Redmon of Brewton.

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