7. Biden supports making Washington, D.C. a state

• President Joe Biden’s White House has come out in support of making Washington, D.C. the 51st state and said that Congress needs to pass legislation to make the area a state for “long overdue full representation.”
• The U.S. House of Representatives has started a set of votes to decide if the bill for D.C. statehood will be approved, and the White House OMB added, “This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our nation was founded.”

6. Alabama’s Democrats and Republicans know Amtrak’s return to Mobile makes no sense

• There’s a bipartisan effort within the U.S. House of Representatives to prevent Amtrak from moving forward with the Gulf Coast Passenger Rail project in response to Amtrak’s resistance to an impact study.
• Now, a letter has been sent to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board by U.S. Representatives Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville), Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham), Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) and Barry Moore (R-Enterprise). The letter asks that an impact and feasibility study be completed before Amtrak is allowed to move forward.

5. College athletes bill signed by Ivey

• In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey has signed legislation that would allow college athletes to be paid for the use of their name, likeness and image.
• The law won’t go into effect until the NCAA decides to allow college athletes to be paid, which is expected to be coming soon. Florida has also adopted a similar law.

4. “Period poverty”

• The bill that would require free female hygiene products be made available in public school bathrooms has made it through the Alabama House Ways and Means Committee.
• The bill was introduced by State Representative Rolanda Hollis (D-Birmingham); if passed by the legislature, the products would have to be provided by the 2022-2023 school year. Local boards of education would be responsible for producing the products.

3. Brooks continues to run up the score in the Senate race

• The obvious frontrunner in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), is driving home the point that former President Donald Trump supports his campaign and is heading to South Florida for a fundraiser.
• The event at Mar-a-Lago comes after Trump endorsed Brooks in early April and after multiple cable news appearances by President Trump where the former president touted Brooks’ campaign. He also predicted a Mo Brooks victory.

2. Birmingham to pardon 15,000 people

• About 15,000 people with misdemeanor marijuana charges are set to be pardoned by the City of Birmingham, as was announced by Mayor Randall Woodfin.
• The charges range from 1990-2020, but these pardons won’t impact any open cases. These pardons were able to happen through the city’s Pardons for Progress program.

1. Chauvin convicted on all charges

• Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted on all three counts he was charged with: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
• Some of the responses to this development have been confusing. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) thanked Floyd for “sacrificing” his life while Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin reacted to the news by saying the “verdict is accountability, but it is not full justice.” Woodfin tried to explain, “Full justice would be George Floyd here for this turning point in equal justice.”