A House committee Wednesday approved a bill making Juneteenth an Alabama state holiday after the sponsor removed a provision that would have required state employees to choose between that holiday or a Confederate one.
HB 165, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, originally put Juneteenth on the state holiday list but did not require offices to shut down.
Instead, state employees would choose to take the holiday celebrating the end of slavery or Jefferson Davis’ Birthday, a state holiday marked on the first Monday in June to honor the president of the Confederacy, a white supremacist government…