Alabama Senate Passes Healthcare opt-out bill
By David White -- The Birmingham News
April 01, 2010, 6:16PM
MONTGOMERY -- The state Senate after six hours of debate today voted 23-8 for a bill aimed at letting Alabamians opt out of the federal health care law Congress passed last month, which would extend insurance coverage to millions of people.
Senate Bill 233 by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, would let Alabama voters decide July 31 whether to rewrite the state constitution to say that ''a law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system."
Beason's bill now faces debate in the House of Representatives.
Senate opponents said the bill was a waste of time, since by long legal precedent, state constitutions or other state laws cannot overrule, or trump, [Constitutionally correct] federal laws such as the health care law. But Beason said his bill or a similar bill from another state could serve as a vehicle for a court challenge claiming the health care law violated the U.S. constitution's 10th amendment, which says powers not given to the United States or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or to the people. ''I believe forcing someone into a federal health care system and forcing them to pay for that health care system is unconstitutional," Beason said.
SENATE ROLL CALL The Alabama Senate, on a 23-8 vote, approved a bill to let Alabamians opt out of the federal health care plan. Voting yes were 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Voting no were 0 Republicans and 8 Democrats. DEMOCRATS VOTING NO-(we should remember these) Coleman, L. (Birmingham); Dunn, P. (Bessemer); Figures, V. (Mobile); Penn, M. (Union Springs); Ross, Q. (Montgomery); Sanders, H. (Selma); Singleton, B. (Greensboro); Smitherman, R. (Birmingham).
<many of these Patriots were From The Common Sense Campaign in Mobile and Spanish Fort>
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