From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was the 25th day of the Alabama Legislature's regular session.

Let's get right to it.

A potentially contentious debate over the future of the Birmingham Waterworks Board was averted today in the Alabama Senate.

Senate Bill 330 from State Senator Dan Roberts originally aime to reduce the board from 9 to 5 members, diminishing the City of Birmingham influence.

However, following negotiations, the bill was amended to establish a seven member board still redistributing appointment powers among regional and state officials.

That compromise led to unanimous passage on the floor.

This is good for Birmingham.

This is good for Jefferson County.

This is good for Walker, blunt Shelby in Saint Clair counties.

And that's what the object of this bill was to bring in.

Outstandin board members were after a board whose goal is to work together to provide true, true loyalty to the customer base, not to anyone else.

Their fiduciary duty will be to the customers of the Birmingham Waterworks.

And that's what we were after.

We're after bringing in people, engineers, finance people, general business people who understand how to work together as a board to direct the general manager, how to run a water system.

I believe Representative Jim Carnes will carry it in the House, and we have some assurance that it will get treated and prioritized in the House, and we're certainly hoping that happens.

As he mentioned that Bill now goes to the House.

It was a fas moving day on the Senate floor as lawmakers swiftly moved through a series of bills with little debate.

Among the measures approved, Senate Bill 304 from Senator Arthur, or which creates a new fund to support large scale inter energy infrastructure.

Senate Bill 248 from Senator Josh Carney, which would reform th Administrative Procedures Act.

Senate Bill 315 from Senato Bobby Singleton, which expands how the state's Economic development Fund can be used.

And Senate Bill 253 which establishes career based diploma tracks and boost technical education access.

All four bills are now headed to the House for further consideration.

The Alabama Senate General Fund Committee passed its version of the 2026 budget this morning.

That plan is expected to head to the full Senate floor for debate and a vote on Tuesday.

Senator Gregg Albritton who chairs the committee, says while no agencies are seeing cuts this year, the state must brace for tighter budgets ahead, largely due to recent tax reduction that have lowered state revenue.

There's no cuts, no reductions.

I sure that that way from last year everybody's getting more money this year than they had last year.

All right.

We just apportioned it a little differently.

We're in 26 fiscal year 27.

We anticipate less revenue in general fund and in, the ETF.

And the reason for tha is because we've done tax cuts, not a slowing of the economy but a reduction in the revenue that we're taking from people.

And so we've got to make the government fit into that.

The difficulty comes in as everybody's accustomed to having a very, very fat wallet.

Someone else is what.

And that's what's going away.

And we've got to adjust to that.

We've got to get our minds adjusted.

We've got to get our budgets adjusted and our wallets adjusted so that we don't overspend.

The last thing we should do and is, is to make the error of spending more than we have.

The House took up the Education Trust Fund budget today on the floor, after some explanation from House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett and some debate.

The $12 billion spending package passed unanimously.

It will have to go back to the Senate because of some changes made in the House.

I think the House members realize how transformative this budget really is.

We had, the Raise act, whic was incorporated as part of it.

We drew down for the first time money from our Education Opportunity Reserve Fund, which is the money we've set aside for transformative education opportunities.

Prior to the meeting of the presentation today, I've met with both caucuses.

They were pretty informed abou the complexities of the budget because we had some things that were looked unusual.

We had the student part of the workforce, so there were a lot of things in the budget that moved from commerce to workforce department.

So he's had a lot of negatives and some offsetting pluses.

You had these transfers from these other funds.

We had the new Raise act.

We had, the Choose act of additional funding for the Jus ac because we have, have had such, enormous, response to the application process.

So there were a lot of moving pieces here.

We set up the new, committee, career tech program, $100 million grant program for regional career tech centers.

We had, pap increases that we needed to cover that was important to our, education employees.

We passed legislation for worker's compensation and for parental leave.

We had to account for that in the budget.

So we had a lot of things in the budget.

But the good news was we had, adequate reserves.

We had, you know, limited our budget growth every year for the past several years.

And, and the members understand that.

They understood that.

And they were very supportive of these new changes.

Last night was the battle of the Tom Bigby softball gam matching lawmakers from Alabama against their counterparts from Mississippi.

The charity event raised money for the Children's of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham.

Last year, Alabama won the game.

But this year, Mississippi came to Montgomery and got its revenge.

Here's some of the footage from the game.

We appreciate Rod Richardso going and shooting some of this.

You can see this was a high scoring game.

There's a shell nut.

I do not know the names of the Mississippi lawmakers.

Forgive me.

But a lot of offense a lot of offense in this game.

Alabama's obviously in gray.

They're Mississippi and Blue.

Just looking a lot lik the Mississippi Braves actually.

Lieutenant governor Will Ainsworth getting a base hit on that also pitching.

And watch this collision.

Ouch.

This was a physical game, actually.

Sadly.

Senator Josh Connolly, broke his hip, and we, we really hope he is recovering well from surgery.

We're thinking about you, Senator Farley.

Greg Lipscomb always a baseball enthusiast.

I think you get out there.

And if you weren't playing in the game, you could hang out in the dugout.

They're at Riverwalk Stadium, downtown Montgomery.

I believe that was Brock Colvin.

It was for.

But will he succeed on the sacrifice fly?

Yes.

Representative Philip Rigsby there playing first.

It's fun night.

A lot of staff and lobbyists and everybody hanging out watching the game.

A warm night, but not too warm.

And, really appreciate the, legislature making us a part of it.

16 to 11.

The final score ther of the battle of the Tombigbee.

After the break, we'll come back with tonight's guests.

Stay with us.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online at Video adaptive.org.

Capital Journal episodes are also available on AP TV's free mobile app.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journals Facebook page, and you can listen to past episodes of Capital Journal.

When you're driving or on the go with Capital Journal podcast.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative David Faulkner from Birmingham.

Representative thanks for coming on the show.

I appreciate you having me down.

Well, I've wanted to have you on because you were carrying one of the most hig profile bills of this session.

The Alpha Health Plan letters, the Farm Bureau, health plans, legislation.

Really big topic.

Been through a couple of public hearings now that you've you know, led and had to carry.

Can you walk us through kind of where this bill came from and explain what it does?

Sure.

So farmers, small business owners and farmers in this state have have been having a real tough time economicall over the last number of years.

And health care cost is one of their biggest cost and issues for them.

So many times their health care costs are 2020 $500 a month.

You know, almost twice their mortgage payment.

So it's a big expense for them.

And they're looking for a better way and a better alternative.

I'd like to say that you know, ALFA came up with the idea, but they didn't, and I didn't come up with the idea or.

Senator.

Tennessee has been doing has a farm Bureau healt plan and has had one since 1947.

And 1010 states, including Tennessee, have already passed legislation allowing their Farm Bureau to have a health plan.

So the idea it's a tried and proven idea, in other states.

And so we would be the 11th state if we once we enact it.

But the reason for it that you've asked is because of the rising cost of health care costs for our farmers.

And so this is a health health plan option for, alphas members for the Farmers Federation members.

Right.

So the way I heard you kind of talking in committee, that if I own a farm then that's my small business.

So I'm not a part of a larger company.

It's offering, you know, that can pull those costs and kind of bring down the cost for for my individual plan.

so many of them do not qualify for the subsidies.

Right.

So they're in that we call that health care coverage gap where they're they make too much to get the subsidies.

The, you know, the ACA subsidies that you get in regular insurance.

And but so it but still such a huge burden on them.

Let me as the one thing that keeps coming up, as the committees have dealt with this bill is, consumer protections, right?

Regulate.

Critiques from Blue Cross and others saying, well, hey, they don't have to play by th same rules as regular insurance.

And so I know that an amendment got added.

Y'all were able to get that off, but why not include protections for the consumer closer to what regular insurance offers?

Well, I think we have, yes, there was an amendment that got on there that I don't think, you know, at the end, after people fully understood it, it really didn't make a lot of sense to have it on there.

And that's why we took it off.

It was it was too vague and to me, didn't make sense.

The protections, consumer protections are in this bill.

And in fact, I will tell you after studying this for months, looking at the other states that have this, we this bill, this Alpha Health pla bill is the most comprehensive and the most most oversight of any plan in the country.

Farm Bureau health plan, by far.

So, there's a lot of oversight.

To me, it's the same consumer protection and oversight that you hav for a normal insurance company.

So it does have that in there.

It does have the Department of Insurance, even though the Department of Insurance in Alabama does not regulate self-funded plans.

This does allow the Department of Insurance to get complaints, to receive them, to review them, okay.

To comment on the and sets up a designated person within Alpha Health, to work with the department.

Okay.

On any complaints?

So passed overwhelmingly in the House.

It's through committee in the Senate.

You think floor next week.

I do, I thin it'll be on the floor next week.

It you know, it's it's come out.

It's, you know, after there was a lot of debates and we put a lot of amendments on in the House.

You know, you saw was a 98, 98 yes votes out of 103 representatives.

And really not a single no vote.

There was one no vote on the on the floor of the House, but it was the the representative made a mistake.

So you had 98 yes votes and, out of 103 and in the Senate it's passed through committee.

Without a saying, I don't think.

Well, there were a couple of no votes.

That's true on the in the committee, but I think you feel good.

I feel really good.

I think it'll be on the floor next week in the Senate, and I think it'll pass with overwhelming support.

While I've got you your other big high profile bill this session is Lulu's Law.

It has to do with and we saw her on the floor.

That was a real special moment.

But I wanted to ask you about because it has to do with shark attacks.

How does one go about setting up an alert system for, I think about shark attacks is just man, that's just a, act of God almost just a random.

How does one go about setting up an alert system to actually keep people safe at the beach?

Sure.

The department.

I want to than the Department of Conservation.

They wrote the bill for me.

And they also wrote the amendment to the bill.

And so it will use the Amber alert system that we're we call it an Amber alert system.

I'm not sure the technical word for it, but the software goes up.

Yeah, your phone blows up.

They can geofence that an and limit the area that it goes to is small as they want to, as large as they want.

So they will be able to geofence this for areas specifically on the coast that professionals, in their opinion, feel is necessary.

If there's been a shark attack.

As you know, Lulu, was on my acolyte team at church.

Her dad was my co-leader, and so I knew what a special girl she was.

But through this, it just it I was already concerned with people that we weren't doing enough.

Tired of people saying it's their habitat.

No, it's man's habitat.

Lulu was in three feet of water and we asked.

We draw people to our beautiful beaches in Alabama, just like Florida does.

And an attack had occurred.

A severe shark attack occurred 60 to 90 minutes before Lulu was attacked.

And the and a friend that was also in the water with her.

Had they know and this system been in place, who knows to look, we're never going to be able to guarantee everybody's safety, right?

That's not going to happen.

We know that.

But why can't we use our brains and the technology we have today, to be able to warn people?

Wouldn't you want to know if it was your child?

Absolutely.

You know and we all have our cell phones at the beach you know, we're all going to be.

Yes.

That's right.

And one goes off and you better believe everybody' going to get out of the water.

Well, or they're going to be paying a lot of attention.

They're going to be paying, you know, really watching out for a shark in that area.

Because if it happened that day, who knows?

I mean, it could happen again.

And, you know, my hope is, is and this bill has had overwhelming support, not a single no vote.

And Lulu, if if I had Lulu on every bill, I'd all my bills would pass.

And she' such an inspiration to us all.

It really is remarkable to think of all that she's been through.

And she is, I think Senato Britt used the word resilient, but, I mean, I just, it's really remarkable.

And I'm.

I'm glad that you all hav allowed her to tell her story.

And, I guess that's going to get her across the finish line pretty soon.

To you, I hope so.

It's is it came out of committee, yesterday in the Senate.

So it's ready for the Senate floor as well, just like the House for health plan bill.

And I do expect it to pass.

Lulu Lulu's, you know, she's got so many followers because she's such an inspiration.

And I'm so glad that we're doing something that we're we're not just saying, oh, well, we just can't.

We're.

No, we.

And I hope one day that the professionals, the emergency professionals will come back and say, hey, thank you for this toolbox, this tool in the toolbox, we have to warn people of a shark attack, but I hope we will see technology that will allow emergency professionals down the beach and experts to be able to use it to prevent the first attack.

Wouldn't that be great?

We the technologies are amazin that are coming out with drones and the ability, the things that they can monitor, different technologies that could maybe sonar waves that could prevent, you know, so as technology grows, I hope this will even be amplified again.

I hope the professionals will come back and say, hey, thanks for this tool.

But let's add to it.

Absolutely.

We're out of time, but we will be following both of these bills and I hope to have you back.

Thanks, Todd.

We'll be right back.

Since 1997, Alabam Public Television has provided programs, services, and resources to childcare professionals, teachers and parents.

Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Dane Howard, the Alabama hospital Association.

Dane thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for asking me to be here.

Well, you have you very involved in legislation that is moving i the legislature has to do with tax credit for rural hospitals in Alabama.

Passed the House already looking at its prospects in the Senate.

Talk about where this bill came from.

Right.

Well, but just to re, define it as a tax credit for the hospitals.

It is a rural hospital investment program.

The tax credit actually goes to individuals, corporations, businesses who want to make a contribution to a hospital or rural hospital.

They get the credit.

Okay.

Let's clarify.

Yes, absolutely.

The the impetu where this came from is modeled after a progra in Georgia called Georgia Heart.

And in our bill that has passed the House 103 to nothing, is, modeled directl after the Georgia Heart program.

And in a nutshell, it does allow for individua pools, corporations, foundations to make a contribution to a rural hospital.

We'll talk abou how how you identify them later.

And for that contribution, they get a tax credit.

Alabama.

Income tax might not necessarily mean a federal tax credit, but it does for the Alabama income tax credit.

The Georgia progra has a 100 million cap on their.

That allows up to $100 million to be contributed to a rural hospital in Georgia, and that individual could get a tax credit.

No, not 100 million.

We don't have individuals giving a 100 million.

Our bill, the bill that's being proposed, and thanks to the leadership of representative, Terry Collins and Senator April Weaver, has a $20 million cap for the first year, which moves to 25 million for the second yea and 30 million the third year.

And then it will sunset unless the legislature renews it.

And that's done on all types of bills like this, to see if it worked, to see if it had an impact, and if we had the ability to maintain that or increase it moving forward.

Now, to be eligibl to receive the donations, it's not just because you're a rural hospital that you're automatically eligible to be eligible.

Like Georgia's program, our law would also include the requirement that a hospital to be termed qualified to receive a contribution would have to submit a five year plan, show and financial viability, and some thoughts about how they would use the funds if they were to receive them.

That's very important because you don't want to.

Contributors may not feel as comfortable making a contribution to a hospita that might be looking at closing a month or two from now.

So there has to be evidence and proof that not only are there financially viable, but the things that they're going to use the money for once it's contributed would be along the lines of helping to further health care access and the provision of health care, such as repairing equipment, upgrading equipment, putting a new roof on your facility.

So it is not for CE or administrative compensation, but other things that would help enhance the operations.

And I like to use the wor investment that's in the bill.

Right.

And it's allowing community members.

We know the financial struggles are facing a lot of our rural hospitals.

And so if I'm an individual or a company and I care about, look, we really need this hospital to stay open and thrive.

It is allows for that investment as a kind of the idea.

Exactly.

As a matter of fact, this is the third year that a piece of legislatio has been introduced in Alabama, and it's changed a little bit this year.

Exactly.

For the reason that you just mentioned, we had businesses such as utility companies, banks, other industries that would not have been eligible for this credit because the way it was originally drafted was only for income tax, not for the excise or the utility taxes.

And so we added additiona language to allow for a broader range of contributors this time, because we heard from them, hey we're contributing in Georgia.

We would like to contribute here in our own home state.

So the overwhelming support from business leaders, from businesses, from community members, from churches, from people who practice in these hospitals is just been fabulous.

You mentioned, your bill sponsor, Representative Terry Collins as a good bill sponsor to have.

She knows how to get things done.

So what what are its prospects in the Senate first has to go to committee.

Yes.

So we passed the House, lik I said earlier, 103 to nothing.

That's pretty strong.

It is now waiting to be put on agenda for the Educatio Budget Committee in the Senate.

And we are very hopeful that Senator or will put that on the agenda next week.

We have, from our hospital who have been here in Montgomery and visiting with their Senat members for the last two weeks.

I feel like we have overwhelming support from Senate members to get this passed.

And the governor signature, which will allow it to it's going to take a minute to get it put into place.

It would be effective in the next tax year.

Okay.

So but right now it's just a matter of getting it on an agenda for the Ways and Means Education Committee to consider it.

And I feel like that we, the prospects are great if we can get it on the calendar.

I hear you.

Well I've got you a little time left talking about the Medicaid expansion issue, but really, it's different than that because you all put together this kind of hybrid model, partly based off of what Arkansas did, but it's unique to Alabama.

All health was sort of the title.

Where is that now?

I know there were seem to be some momentum building.

You had the speaker talking about it.

Things have seemed to kind of change.

And as part of that, this new Congress and uncertainty with what they're going to do with Medicaid.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

And I believe that, you gave me the opportunity once before to be here with you to discuss all health, which we felt like was a very fiscally responsible and possible plan.

But you just nailed it.

Right now, there's so much uncertainty, not just in the health care funding, but in so many funding things coming in from Congress as they're looking at the budget reconciliation.

What changes might be made.

It was only prudent an responsible for us just to pause where conversations are right now, until we know more about what's coming out of Washington to se if they're thinking in the plan that was pulled together, we need to pivot or dramatically change or abandon.

But it did not make a lot of sense to continue wit as much uncertainty and knowing that so many conversations will be held by Congress.

Our guess is, and it is just a guess right now, there will probably be late summer or maybe early fall before we really even know what things may look like.

Yeah, y'all aren't the only ones waiting on to see what Congress is going to do, and we will continue that conversation.

When we have you back, we're out of time.

Thanks again for coming on.

Watch these bills.

Thank you very much.

We'll be right back.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online any time at Alabama Public Television's website.

aptv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journal's Facebook page.

That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

Be sure to join us tomorrow night at 730 for Capital Journal's Week in Review.

That's right here on Alabama Public Television for our Capital Journal team, I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.