A recent attempt by state Sen. Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) to punish cities that remove Confederate monuments has been blocked again, at least for now.

State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) told Allen he didn't have the votes to advance the bill out of committee and tabled it.

Unless Mr. Allen can rework the bill to sway the votes of his colleagues, the bill is likely to be blocked again.

The bill is not much different from the latest version, in which Mr. Allen slipped language into the bill exempting Huntsville from removing the Saturn 1B rocket. Essentially, counties and local governments that remove historic monuments that are more than 40 years old until they are repaired will be fined $5,000 per day.

Under current law, a city or county government can apply for a waiver to avoid fines, which will be reviewed by the Alabama Historic Preservation Commission. As written today, if the committee meets within 90 days and does not decide on a waiver, the waiver will be automatically granted. Mr. Allen's bill would change this and would instead result in an automatic veto.

Sen. Linda Coleman Madison, D-Birmingham, questioned the amendment.

“If this committee's only purpose is to maintain the status quo, why are we meeting?” Coleman-Madison asked.

Coleman-Madison said she is not opposed to displaying Confederate monuments in theory, but accused the state of “not telling the whole truth about history.”

“Even after the (Confederate) nation lost the war with the United States, we still want to support and reflect all of that,” Coleman-Madison said.

“We will glorify something disgraceful,” added Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery.

The bill received glowing reviews from critics during public hearings.

Camille Bennett, founder of Project Say Something, spoke about her organization's fight to have monuments removed or relocated in Lauderdale County, noting their racist roots.

“When this Confederate monument was erected in 1903, Prosecutor Moody referred to black people as 'mongrels,'” Bennett said. She said that during her discussions with Allen, he argued that the monument to Martin Luther King Jr. would also be protected, but Bennett said that was a false equivalency.

Sonny Kirkpatrick of the Alabama County Commissioners Association and Beth Lyons, president of the City of Mobile, both told the committee that the county and city oppose the bill.

“Cities didn't like this bill passing in 2017, but it still has onerous provisions in place,” Lyons said.

Brassfield said decisions “should be made at the local level” and also called on Allen to remove the $5,000 per day fine from the bill entirely. He also humorously suggested that Congress should automatically repeal any bill that doesn't come to a vote within a certain number of days.

David Gespas of the American Bar Association called the bill “constitutionally questionable” and posted that states would spend more money defending the bill than they would in fines for violations.