Difference between revisions of "K. L. Brown"

Revision as of 12:56, November 5, 2017

Koven L. Brown (born June 27, 1951) is a mortician from Jacksonville, Alabama, who is a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives for District 40, which is based entirely in Calhoun County in the northeastern portion of his state.^[2]

Brown attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Alabama, and Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville. He graduated in 1971 from the Kentucky School of Mortuary Science in Louisville, Kentucky. He served in the Alabama Army National Guard. He is the owner and president of K. L. Brown Memory Chapel and K. L. Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Center.  He is affiliated with Rotary International in Anniston in Calhoun County. He holds membership in the First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville and the Gideons International. He is a member and former president of the Jacksonville Exchange Club. Brown is also active in the United Way and United Cerebral Palsy. He and his wife, the former Amanda Mitchell, have a daughter, Emily; a second daughter, Allison Faye Brown, is deceased.^[3] 

Brown was first elected to the House early in 2010 to succeed the Democrat Lea Fite, a supermarket owner who died in office in October 2009. To succeed Fite, he defeated the Democrat Ricky Whaley, 8,587 votes (62.5 percent) to 5,148 (37.5 percent). In 2014, Brown handily defeated the Democrat Ted Copland, 7,452 (71 percent) to 3,035 (28.9 percent), to retain his House position.^[3]

Brown is the chairman of the House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee and a member of the (1) Agriculture and (2) Forestry and Economic Development and Tourism committees.^[2]

In 2013, Representative Brown voted to establish requirements for medical care at abortuaries in Alabama. The next year he voted to prohibit abortion after the detection of the heartbeat of the unborn child. In 2014, Brown voted for the display of the Ten Commandments on state property, a measure which passed, 77-19. He voted to require drug testing for certain recipients of the public welfare program. He sponsored legislation to require animal shelters to compile monthly reports, but the bill failed, 28-67. In 2015, he backed legislation affirming the use of electrocution in executions. He voted to establish public charter schools in Alabama, a measure which passed the House, 58-41. He voted to permit the home schooled to participate in public school athletic events, a measured approved by the full House, 52-43. He voted to increase the  cigarette tax, which passed the House, 52-46.^[4] 

In 2016, Brown supported legislation to forbid the sale of fetal tissue or to permit its use in research, and he opposed dilation abortions in Alabama. He voted for additional funding for new prison facilities, a measure which passed the House, 52-33. In 2017, he voted to authorize midwives to practice in his state, a measure which won House approval, 84-11. He voted to reduce the time for appeals from inmates on death row. He voted to prohibit alteration or removal of historic monuments, which passed 72-29. Rich voted to prohibit judicial override of sentencing guidelines, which passed the House, 78-19.^[4]

References