With just days until the beginning of the 2022 legislative session, Senate President Pro-Tem Greg Reed (R-Jasper) vows his membership will have an opportunity to offer bills that did not have a chance to be considered because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reed made that pledge on Friday’s broadcast of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.” He explained to host Todd Stacy to expect those bills to cover many issues, including the Second Amendment and economic development.

“I tell you something, Todd, that I want to be very sensitive to — certainly, as the president of the Senate, I want to be a servant to my members,” he said. “As you recall, the second year of this quadrennium, which is the year many times you wind up with members being able to offer things that are very important in their districts back home — we didn’t have a second session. We were here very briefly to deal with the budgets because of the virus. Then we were gone. I want to make sure that those members. If they’ve offered legislation, they want to offer legislation again this year on issues that are important to their communities, that they have an opportunity for that to be done and be debated.”

“I think that’s important for the membership,” Reed continued. “I think they are appreciative of that kind of attitude, and I want to make sure that we’re able to do that. In that, you’re going to see Second Amendment issues. You’re going to see issues that are associated with job creation. There are going to be criminal justice-related themes. There are going to be all kinds of topics that I think are going to be coming that are very important to our members, and I want us to have enough time to be able to listen to those, debate those, evaluate those appropriately.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.