SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A bill to overhaul the Alabama Department of Archives and History board was delayed Wednesday after Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, led a filibuster in protest of a House amendment that stripped the Senate’s power to confirm board appointments.
Smitherman, who had previously agreed to accept the bill “while holding his nose,” said the removal of the Senate confirmation clause crossed a line. “I was willing to go along,” he said, “but not if they take away our oversight role.”
Democratic Sens. Robert Stewart of Selma and Merika Coleman of Pleasant Grove joined the filibuster. After three hours of delay, Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine—who sponsored the bill—agreed to send it to a conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions.
Elliott originally introduced the bill after the Archives hosted a lecture in June 2023 titled “Invisible No More: Alabama’s LGBTQ History,” part of its long-running Food for Thought series. Elliott and other lawmakers objected to the program and urged Director Steve Murray to cancel it. Murray declined, defending the lecture as aligned with the agency’s legal mandate to educate the public about Alabama history—including its LGBTQ communities.
The House amendment that sparked the latest conflict removed a provision requiring Senate confirmation of board members, which the Senate had previously approved. Under the current law, board members appoint their own successors. SB5 proposes a new 16-member board structure, including eight appointees by the governor, four by the House Speaker, and four by the Senate President Pro Tem. Two appointments—one each by the Speaker and Pro Tem—would come from nominees submitted by legislative minority leaders. Members would serve staggered six-year terms.
Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, added to the delays, pledging to speak at length on every bill due to the House stalling one of his local proposals. With only one day remaining in the legislative session, dozens of local and high-profile bills—including measures on classroom cell phone use and scholarships for children of law enforcement officers—remain in limbo.
Sen. Coleman stressed that Archives and History must remain inclusive: “For some people to feel some people’s history is not worthy of being taught or heard, that’s unfortunate,” she said.