A legislature visit
During the Tharptown senior government class’s attendance at the second special session of the legislature last week in Montgomery, the students ran into Gov. Robert Bentley, who paused for a special photo opportunity.
The Tharptown senior government class attended the second special session of the legislature last week in Montgomery.
“The students had a great experience of witness debate on the budget issues facing our state,” said Bart Moss, senior government and economics teacher at Tharptown. “They heard debate on the cigarette tax, auto tag tax and the debate on the systemic changes some feel need to be made to the state budget to make the budgeting process more efficient.”
The students started their day in the office of John Merrill, Alabama’s Secretary of State. Merrill spoke to the students about the various duties of his office and the importance of registering to vote and participating in the political process.
“September is Voter Registration Month in Alabama,” said Merrill. “We want to see as many people register as possible especially these young people, many of whom will be able to vote for the first time in the March 1 primary or the November General Election.”
After leaving Merrill’s office, the students sat in the gallery of the House of Representatives and listened to debate on the cigarette tax. The students were recognized by Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard.
Rep. Ken Johnson, who represents the east end of Franklin County, and Sen. Larry Stutts spoke to the students in a committee room while the students ate pizza courtesy of Stutts. They spoke to the students about the different debates going on in their respective chambers.
“It was fun learning about how our government works and seeing it in action,” said Tharptown senior Brittney Garner. “I will get to vote in the next election for president and other offices, and I am really looking forward to it.”
After lunch, the students sat in the Senate gallery and heard debate on the automobile tag tax deferment by Sen. Tripp Pittman.
Before boarding the bus to head back to Tharptown, the students got a surprise visit by Gov. Robert Bentley. Bentley was walking across the street from the legislature to the capitol and stopped and spoke to the students and got his picture made with them.
“This was a great learning experience for the students,” said Moss. “It’s good to get out of the textbook and classroom and get out into the real world and see their government work in real time. They enjoyed the debate and meeting the different elected officials. Hopefully it was something that will inspire them to participate in the political process by paying attention to the issues, voting, and, maybe, some will run for office one day.”
