Bill Poole

William Stitt Poole, III, known as Bill Poole (born 1975), is a lawyer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who since 2010 has represented District 63 in the Alabama House of Representatives. A Republican, his district is entirely in Tuscaloosa County in the west central portion of the state. 

Poole was reared in rural Dayton in Marengo County in western Alabama, where his parents in 1978 purchased the William Cade Thompson House, renamed as the William Poole House, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Poole, II, was formerly the city attorney in Demopolis, Alabama. Poole obtained his undergraduate education in English and business management at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. In 2004, he obtained his Juris Doctor from the university law school. While engaged in the private practice of law, he has also been the city attorney for Brookwood, a town in Tuscaloosa County. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa. He and his wife, the former Niccole Allen, have three children.^[1][2] Mrs. Poole was formerly on the staff of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, a Democrat-turned-Republican.^[3]

In 2010, Representative Robert Bentley did not seek reelection but instead ran successfully for governor of Alabama, a post he filled from 2011 until his resignation as a result of a sex scandal in 2017. Poole entered the state House race and defeated intra-party rival John Fisher in the June 1 primary, 3,485 (62.7 percent) to 2,073 (37.3 percent). He then defeated the Democrat Susan Pace Hamill in the November 2 general election, 9,937 (63.8 percent) to 5,631 (36.2 percent). In 2014, Poole ran unopposed for his second term in the state House in both his primary and the general election.^[2]

Early in 2017, Bentley considered appointing Poole to fill on an interim basis the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, who instead became Attorney General of the United States in the Donald Trump administration. Bentley instead named Luther Strange, who had been the state attorney general since Bentley assumed the governorship.^[4] Strange in turn was defeated by the conservative Roy Moore of Etowah County in a Republian runoff special election. Moore then narrowly lost the election to the liberal Democrat Doug Jones. a former U.S. Attorney.

Poole chairs two House committees: Ways and Means Education and Tuscaloosa County Legislation.^[1]

In 2013, Representative Poole voted to establish health care standards for abortion facilities in Alabama. In 2014, he voted to prohibit abortion after the detection of the heartbeat of the unborn child. He voted to permit display of the Ten Commandments on public property, a measure which passed the House, 77–19. He supported drug testing for certain recipients of the public welfare system. In 2015, Poole voted to authorize executions by electrocution, a measure which passed the House, 76–26. He supported the bill to permit the home schooled to participate in public school athletic events, a measure approved by the full House, 52–43. He supported the increase in the  cigarette tax, which passed the House, 52–46. In 2016, Poole co-sponsored legislation to forbid the sale of fetal tissue or to permit its use in research, and he opposed dilation abortions in Alabama. He did not vote on the bill increasing funding for new prison facilities, a measure which passed the House, 52–33. In 2017, he supported allowing midwives to practice in his state, a measure which won House approval, 84–11. He supported reducing the time for appeals from inmates on death row. He voted to prohibit alteration or removal of historic monuments, which passed the House, 72–29. He voted to prohibit judicial override of sentencing guidelines, a measure which passed the House, 78–19.^[5]