Paul Lee

Paul Wesley Lee (born 1960) is a salesman from Dothan, Alabama, who since 2010 has represented District 86 in the Alabama House of Representatives. A Republican, his district is based entirely in Houston County in the southeastern corner of the state adjacent to the Florida Panhandle line. 

Lee attended the Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia. He sells advertising for WDHN-TV in Dothan, the ABC affiliate in southeastern Alabama. He has been the executive director of the nonprofit Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center, Inc., and was employed by Sony Magnetic Products, Inc. From 2005 to 2010, he was a member of the Dothan City Commission. He was formerly a member of the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority and the Wiregrass United Way. He is a member of Rotary International and the Logos Baptist Church in Dothan. He and his wife, Ellen, have a daughter, Elizabeth.^[1][2] 

In 2010, Lee replaced Representative Benjamin Lewis as the Republican nominee for the District 86 House seat after  Lewis was named to a district judgeship. Lee defeated the Democrat Merritt Carothers in the November 2 general election, 9,159 (58 percent) to 6,623 (42 percent). In 2014, Lee ran unopposed in both his primary and the general election.^[2]

Lee is a member of the House Health, Rules, and Ways and Means General Fund committees.^[1]

In 2013, Representative Lee voted to establish health care standards for abortion facilities in Alabama. In 2014, he co-sponsored the bill 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, Lee sponsored 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 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, Lee 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 voted for an increase in funding for new prison facilities, a measure which passed the House, 52-33. In 2017, he opposed allowing midwives to practice in his state, a measure which still 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.^[3]

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