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(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

A Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for legalizing marijuana is challenging an Alabama law that requires those who lobby the Legislature to travel to the state for in-person training on the ethics law.

Maggie Ellinger-Locke, legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, sued the Ethics Commission and other state officials in federal court in Montgomery on Wednesday.

Ellinger-Locke claims that Alabama's law requiring lobbyists to attend in-person training places an unconstitutional burden on freedom of speech and on the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The law is Alabama Code 36-25-4.2(a)(3). Intentional violation is a felony.

Earlier this year, Ellinger-Locke requested an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission on whether it was possible to meet the training requirement without making the trip to Alabama, such as with online training.

In June, the commission unanimously adopted an opinion saying that the in-person training was required.

Ellinger-Locke's lawsuit notes that Alabama allows county commissioners, city council members, mayors and public employees to receive ethics training online.

Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton said the ethics law mandates that training for those officials be available online, but has no such provision for lobbyists.

Albritton said on Wednesday that the commission had not been served with the lawsuit.

"I find it hard to believe, however, that anyone would challenge a requirement that special interests who are paid a lot of money to advocate for the passage or defeat of legislation before state government must go through a one-hour class on how to do their job without committing a crime or how to keep their actions from getting others in trouble," Albritton said in an email.

"If we're served, then a court will have to resolve that issue I guess; but the Code requires that all lobbyists must attend training so that's what we require, as well."

Albritton said he has done some one-on-one training for lobbyists to help them meet the requirement.

The law requires that the commission hold the training at least four times a year.

Lobbyists must attend a session within 90 days of registering to lobby. A lobbyist who fails to do so cannot lobby the Legislature, executive branch, judicial branch, public officials or public employees, according to the law.

Attendance is required only once, unless the law changes.

Ellinger-Locke said she is assigned to work on marijuana policy in 11 states and that Alabama is the only one that requires in-person ethics training for lobbyists.

She said some other states require ethics training courses, but they are all available online or through some other means.

"In Alabama, I was astonished to find that the state wanted me to physically travel to Montgomery to attend this one-hour ethics training course," Ellinger-Locke said.

Because of the requirement, Ellinger-Locke said the Marijuana Policy Project has not done any lobbying of Alabama officials.

In the last three years, Alabama has passed Carly's Law and Leni's Law, which effectively allowed limited use of marijuana-derived cannabidiol for medical uses.

Ellinger-Locke said she would be interested in talking to Alabama legislators about expanding on those laws or setting up a medical marijuana program in the state.

She said she would like to communicate with Alabama officials by phone and email. Given the legislative climate in Alabama on marijuana laws, she estimates she would spend two to 15 hours a year communicating with state officials.

The Institute for Justice is representing Ellinger-Locke and the Marijuana Policy Project in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.