Unfortunately, The SHOR Act did not make it across the finish line this year, but we want you to know that we accomplished a lot with your help. We have great momentum to build upon over the next year and we will try again to protect every Alabamian’s right to know whether the fish they are catching are safe to eat or not!
The Alabama Rivers Alliance, Conservation Alabama, Coosa Riverkeeper, Mobile Baykeeper, and many other partners worked strategically and collaboratively for the past year to introduce and pass a proactive environmental bill. We were able to get a bipartisan bill introduced that passed the House AND the Senate unanimously. It even passed in *three* committees. But politics is messy, so in spite of all of that amazing progress, it still didn’t make it all the way into a law.
It is tempting to want to get cynical and want to know why this happened, but the best thing we can do now is to keep our heads high and immediately begin building on what we learned so we can come back even stronger next year!
We will not give up! We will continue working with our partners during the “off season” and will continue conversations with our elected officials. We plan to get the bill introduced again next year and we will need all your help again! We are planning meetings in communities across the state to continue building these relationships and educating our elected officials about their waterways and about important bills – like this one – that we need in Alabama. We hope you will join us when we come to your community! In the meantime, please continue talking to your networks and your legislators about this bill.
We wholeheartedly thank each of you for taking the time to call, write and text your House Rep and Senator over the past few months. We also want to thank Senator Linda Coleman-Madison and Representative Craig Lipscomb for sponsoring this bill in their respective chambers and the many other legislators who supported this bill, like Senator Andrew Jones. Please thank them if they are in your district!
Stay tuned to our emails over the next few weeks to learn more about ARA’s plans for the next five years (and beyond). We can’t wait to share some exciting things with you soon! As always, you can keep up with us and our work as we #DefendRivers on social media and on our website.
Thank you again for all your hard work and for taking action every time we asked (we know it was a lot!). We are ready for the fight again next year!
