Alabama National Committeeman - Paul Reynolds

Paul Reynolds grew up on a peanut farm in Butler County, Alabama. Paul, along with his wife, Joan (a native of Vicksburg, MS), began working in the Republican Party on behalf of Barry Goldwater in 1964 while in college at the University of Southern Mississippi. His first Alabama political activity was for Jim Martin for Governor and Bill Dickenson for US Congress (Alabama 2nd Congressional District) while in graduate school at the University of Alabama. Since that time, he has continued to work on behalf of the conservative agenda, the Republican Party and many of its candidates for local, state and federal offices - including his service as Area Coordinator and representative for both of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaigns and state co-chair for the Huckabee presidential effort.

Paul has been a member of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee for 34 years. He is a former Butler County Chairman and Chairman of the Second Congressional District while also serving as a member of the State Steering Committee. He currently represents the state of Alabama on the Republican National Committee with the title of National Committeeman.

Paul also has a long record of fundraising for the Republican Party. He has raised money for candidates at the local level all the way to the top.

Paul is a business owner in the field of broadcast engineering and radio station operation. He and Joan have three sons - who all work in the family business - and five grandchildren. Locally the Reynolds family own and operate "97.7 - The Peach."

Paul is an ordained deacon and lay speaker for various south Alabama Baptist associations. He has established a track record of championing constitutionally conservative causes even when they are not officially sanctioned by the state or national Republican Party.

Alabama State Senate Majority Leader - Jabo Waggoner

Senator Waggoner, born in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 8, 1937, is serving his sixth term in the Senate after serving from 1966-1983 in the House of Representatives. Senator Waggoner, President, Birmingham Business Consultants, LLC, received his B.A. degree from Birmingham Southern College and his J.D. degree from Birmingham School of Law. He and his wife Marilyn are the parents of four children: Scott (deceased), Mark, Lyn Waggoner Kilpatrick, and Jay.

Senator Waggoner is a Republican and a member of the Homewood Church of Christ. He serves on the following boards: Board of Directors of Birmingham Business Alliance; Faulkner University Board of Trustees; Member of Birmingham, Hoover, Shelby County, Vestavia Hills Chambers of Commerce; Member Vestavia Hills Civitan Club; Inducted into the Birmingham Southern College Sports Hall of Fame, 2007; Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau; Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; and Pinnacle Bank. He served as head coach of the Birmingham Touchdown Club and was president of the Birmingham Tip-Off Club. 

Senator Waggoner was elected Senate Minority Leader in the 2002-2006 quadrennium, and re-elected on January 16, 2007.

Senator Waggoner was elected Senate Majority Leader on December 8, 2010. 

Senator Waggoner has the longest record of service, of any legislator from Jefferson County, in Alabama history.

Through week three of the 2012 Legislative Session, the Alabama House and Senate remains focused on their much-touted Jobs Agenda and other pro-business legislation.   With jobs, the economy and cutting wasteful spending at the forefront of everyone's minds, leadership is not wasting any opportunities to identify ways to address these important issues.

 

The "Reg-Flex" Bill, one of the centerpieces of the Republican Jobs Agenda, which passed the House earlier in the Legislative Session is now being debated in the Senate.  It received a favorable report from the Business and Labor Committee and is now set to move to the full Senate.  This bill would require all state agencies to first conduct an impact analysis on how new rules and regulations affect businesses and would give the Legislature the authority to stop the implementation of the rule or regulation if it is deemed to overly and unnecessarily intrusive.

 

An effort to extend the amount of time a qualifying industry can take advantage of tax credits is currently underway.  Passing the legislation would mean qualifying companies that spend or invest at least $100 million and create at least 100 jobs would have up to an additional four years to take the credits. 

 

Comprehensive unemployment compensation reform is also building momentum. A bill that would set up a three-year disqualification of unemployment compensation benefits if fraudulent activity is discovered has passed the House and is currently before the Senate Business and Labor Committee.

 

Another bill related to unemployment compensation received a favorable report from the Senate Job Creation and Economic Development Committee. It would establish a one-week waiting period for those seeking unemployment compensation benefits, which would take place during the first compensable week of benefits.  This is a change from the current law that which requires the one-week waiting after the 13th week of benefits. 

 

Additional legislation passed by the House or Senate last week included public safety and law enforcement measures such as a ban on texting and driving (passed the House), a crackdown on synthetic drugs, as well as consideration of prison reform legislation. 

State Senator Cam Ward

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that as a child you are woken in the morning after sleeping for only a few hours. Exhaustion. You get out of bed, but have no idea where you are going that day. Anxiety. Someone helps you get dressed, but the tag in the back of your shirt feels like a pin pricking your skin over and over. Discomfort. You sit at the table for breakfast, but can't eat because your feet don't reach the ground and you begin to feel dizzy. Confusion. You ride in the car without knowing where you are going. Distress. You sit in the grocery cart as told, but the florescent lights overhead cause your head to begin throbbing. Pain. Now imagine that all of this takes place and you have no way to tell anyone that you are experiencing exhaustion, anxiety, discomfort, confusion, distress, and now intense pain and this was only the first hour of your day. How would you "communicate" your desperate need to get out of that grocery store before your head explodes? It sounds like a nightmare for many of us but it is a living reality for many children.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often living with these and other all-consuming challenges as they simply navigate through the chaos of an hour or a day. They often can't communicate their desperate needs and this creates an unrealistic expectation from many, including the person in a grocery store passing the child with ASD screaming and kicking in a cart while his mother tries desperately to ignore the obvious display of contempt. Many remain unaware that screaming and other socially unacceptable behavior that is witnessed in such a situation is not willful misbehavior. In fact, the child is likely in distress or pain and simply does not know how to communicate or respond appropriately to his overwhelming and confusing world.

ASD is a complex neurological disorder now present in 1 in every 100 children and 1 in every 70 boys in the United States. These children may have keen interests and skills in certain areas but also have significant difficulty communicating and understanding the social rules of our world. In addition, sights, sounds, and touch can be so overwhelming that they have to scream, literally or otherwise, to get our attention and to get the very basic of needs met.

Have you heard the screams, literal or otherwise, loud or quiet? They cannot be ignored when in such great numbers. Are their screams to know or be known, to understand or be understood, to challenge or be challenged, or any or all of the above? The Alabama Interagency Autism Coordinating Council, created by Act#2009-295 the Riley Ward Alabama Autism Support Act of 2009, is working to meet the urgent need for a statewide comprehensive system of care for individuals with ASD and their families. This Council is a collaborative effort of parents, professional, elected officials and those who are on the autism spectrum. As we work toward that end these children are, in fact, our teachers, teaching us patience, compassion, sensitivity, and unconditional love-the most vital lessons of the human condition.