This fall, the Lede is reaching out to your elected representatives and asking what they’re anticipating for the 2024 session and what they’re doing to stay in touch with constituents until then.

District 44 Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, recently answered some questions about what’s on his mind for the upcoming session.

Was there anything in this year’s legislative session that was surprising to you?

You know, I was pleasantly surprised that our session was collaborative and constructive and productive despite so much of the political polarization that’s occurring in other states and really at the federal level. We only had really one sustained filibuster in the house in the entire session. And only one time a cloture vote in the House, the whole session. So that was quite remarkable I thought.

In addition to the national political climate, there was concern about how the House might function. We had a new speaker, a new rules chair [for the House of Representatives Committee on Rules], a new majority leader, a new clerk, and 25% of our membership was new. No one would have been surprised if there had been a few hiccups along the way. But the session was really very productive, which I think is a testimony to the great work of the speaker and the leadership team. So that was a pleasant surprise to me.