As the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) heads into 2007, it will continue to work with the Alabama Legislature and in schools while facing a change in leadership, said Dan Ireland, ALCAP executive director.
Ireland, who will retire in 2008, is seeking a co-director to work alongside him in the coming year, he said during his Nov. 15 report at the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting at Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover.
Because of the added strain this new position will place on ALCAP’s finances, “I would like to urge every one of you to go back and talk to churches about supporting ALCAP,” Ireland said.
And while the leadership is changing, ALCAP’s mission will remain the same, he said.
According to the Book of Reports, during the 2006 regular session of the Legislature, ALCAP monitored 82 bills.
The bills included the Brody Act, which defined the word “person” to include an unborn child, making it a crime to commit assault or homicide against an unborn child.
Ireland also oversaw a bill that would outlaw all video gambling machines in the state.
Although the bill never made it out of committee during this year’s session, ALCAP plans to work for its passage in 2007, he said.
Also in 2007, the Legislature will consider a bill that would raise the alcohol level in beer from 6 percent to 14 percent, Ireland said, noting ALCAP will fight it.
He will also continue working with local areas facing wet/dry and Sunday alcohol sales votes.
In June, ALCAP promoted passage of the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment, defining marriage as one man to one woman.
ALCAP is also continuing to reach the state’s young people, Ireland reported.
According to the Book of Reports, 39 ALCAP speakers promoted abstinence and a healthy, drug-free lifestyle to 122,006 public and private school students during the 2005–2006 school year.
They also spoke in 39 detention centers, eight boot camps and 28 alternative programs.
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