Talladega – Four State Senators and Representatives whose districts include Talladega County, gathered at the Ritz Theater in Talladega this past week for a Town Hall focused on the recently completed legislative session. Representative Barbara Boyd was invited, but did not respond.
The event was co-sponsored by the three Chambers of Commerce in Talladega County. Each speaker was allowed a brief period to discuss their “take” on the legislative session. We will post a series of stories focusing on each individually.
State Representative Ben Robbins:
Representative Ben Robbins was legislatively active, leading the entire House in the number of bills filed, “Being informed and involved is important. We out-performed our neighbors in the region. It helps that, bidget-wise, having savings in place.”
Robbins said that one of his main focuses was addressing the addictive harm that can come from the mix of social media and children, “We need to get kids outside more with activities funded through social media regulation. We need a focus on technology and how it interacts with children in mind. Technology is coming quickly, and we need to be in front of it.”
Concerning help for development, specifically technology, Robbins said, “We need a formula for abatements, to have a better handle on the balance of good from development and the specific good and realistic employment goals for our economy and our communities. It has to make sense.”
During the “Question & Answer” portion of the event, Robbins answered the question on data center development by opening with a question, “What is data itself? It is information, your information, my information, our information. And a starting place is getting a data privacy bill passed, stronger protection in place for our personal data.”
On rural hospitals, Robbins spoke about the Rural Health Care Innitiative, “It’s about using those available grant funds wisely to protect operation, and even enhance important services, as CVMC has done, addressing mental healthcare needs with adequate facilities.”
Robbins’ answer to the Flock camera issue focused on what regulation can be passed, “We have to acknowledge that we do not have the concensus we need on the subject, not enough to pass regulatory legislation and put it in place. The time for that is now, the time before we are back in session. What can we pass? That’s a matter of consensus, hopefully before the next session, on a lot of important issues.”
Up next will be Representative Steve Hurst.
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