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Rep. Keahey seeks tougher penalty for those who sell alcohol to minors
What's helped him is letting the leadership "know you're willing to work hard, show up and participate." He also has forged partnerships with other representatives such as fellow freshmen lawmakers A.J. McCampbell of Marengo County and Chad Fincher of Mobile. "We communicate and work together," he said. "…We lean on each other a lot." Keahey regrets that there is not much communication between house members and state senate members. He has a good relationship with State Senator Pat Lindsey of Butler. "There's a misconception by some young house members and senate members that once you get a bill passed through your chamber, the job's done." As soon as it passes the House, you've got to work with whoever is handling the bill in the Senate. Keahey represents the 65th District, which includes Choctaw, Clarke and Washington Counties. Committee assignments He is a member of the Contract Oversight Committee. "Every state contract, that is not competitively bid, comes through that (oversight) committee," he said. "We review pages and pages and pages on no-bid contracts the first week of each month." He has served three months on the committee and currently serves as chairman. Keahey said he has learned more about state government from that committee than anywhere else. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee and Agriculture and Forestry Committee. The representative also attends meetings of committees, including budget meetings. "Those on that committee have got to know what your needs are and how legitimate they are - if you expect to get any help out of the budget." A learning process Working in the Legislature "is a learning process," he said. "It takes a lot of hard work. You have to put a lot of time in." Keahey said the best part of his campaign for the legislature was talking to area citizens. People in Clarke County are excited about the potential for economic development. "It's fixing to grow whether we want it to or not. People want some of these small rural towns to stay the way they are, but those people are fixing to be disappointed. We're fixing to grow and improve." Some people are concerned about population growth in the county and how that will affect the condition of roads and bridges. "The engineers in these three counties are doing a great job," he said. However, with better funding, "we could do so much more." This part of the state has not always gotten the funding help it needed, Keahey said. With the ThyssenKrupp steel plant and other development expected, "It's only going to make our needs more legitimate to where the state is going to realize we need more help than we've been getting." Bill offers tougher penalities Calls from constituents prompted Keahey to sponsor a bill for the new session that would suspend the driver's license of those giving or selling alcohol to people under 21- years-old. He got the idea from a North Carolina legislator when Keahey attended a recent Emerging Leaders conference in Little Rock, Ark. "A minor who is convicted of 'minor in possession' loses their driver's license - which is a big deal to them," he said, "but an adult can just pay a fine and never go to court. I don't know if that is much of a deterrent to them. "…Losing the privilege to drive a vehicle in today's time - I don't know of much more of a deterrent that would be reasonable." Adults who supply alcohol to a minor in Alabama can already be sentenced to up to six months in jail and fined up to $1,000. Keahey said he gets a lot of phone calls about the issue of adults providing alcohol to minors in homes and at camphouses. "A lot of kids don't have the capabilities of making decisions that an adult does sober - much less when they are influenced by alcohol." Peer pressure can be tough enough. You don't need adults, particularly adults they look up to, making alcohol readily available. Keahey said the bill would give adults more incentive not to provide alcohol. Taxes may be issue As Keahey prepares to return to the Legislature in February, state politicians are already positioning themselves about a possible lack of tax revenue to fund needed programs. "Me, or you, or nobody else wants to pay any taxes. 'Tax' is about as bad a three-letter word as there could be.
"…But, we've got to come up with a way to generate some more revenue when things are not as good as we hope they are."
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