From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today is the 26th day of the Alabama Legislature's 2025 regular session, leaving us with just four more meeting days remaining.

That means crunch time for lawmakers.

And they showed it today.

In fact, lawmakers are still in session as we speak.

As delay tactics from Democrats have slowed business to a crawl in the Senate.

And that's where we'll start, where lawmakers today were tasked with giving final approval to the Education Trust Fund budget.

The record plan includes 9.9 billion in base spending and a total of more than 12 billion when you include supplemental spending bills.

The Senate today agreed to changes made in the House and Senate, the Education Trust Fund budget to Governor Kay Ivey for her signature.

The budget include funding tied to the Raise act, a new student based fund, a funding formula and directing money where it's most needed.

Senate Education Budge Chairman Arthur Or says the plan also includes key suppor for educators across the state.

I would say this on the student base, funding formula.

We also put some accountability measures in that raise act to make sure that if we give you additional resources, that we get the results that we need for our children in the in the classroom.

The workers comp, which they have not had.

And so if an educator o somebody in the in the cafeteria were hurt on the job and were out from work, they're not getting paid, there's no benefit to them other than the health insurance that they have.

So that's something that we were able to do.

And then we did school lunches, and then we did our maternity leave for mothers that have children and funded that.

So there's a lot of good things in this budge to help support the educators.

The, the it's kind of inside baseball that the help we put that's the public educatio employees health insurance plan.

We did, substantial funding there because health care costs have increased.

The Senate als took up the general fund budget, passing at least part of i as of showtime, Senate General Fund Committee Chairman Greg Albritton told lawmakers that while the new fiscal year budget is record setting, it does come with tighte constraints than in years past.

Keep in min that when the governor sent her her budget over, she sent us over, one that had all of the line items that had been previously i from the legislature, removed.

And so there was a lot of, efforts to try to find a balance, between what we could stick in and put into to the bills.

And there you will find in many of you will discover that in many cases, you've had a reductio in what your request had been.

Now every one of us have had that, I can tell you that, the heat I've taken on my local folks, because we have not been able to do everything that we thought we could or should.

So we are in a dichotomy here where we have the largest budget that we've ever had, and yet we've got the tightest constraints and controls, that we've had in recent memory.

Again, debate is ongoin right now on the Senate floor.

So we will update you tomorrow on final passage of the general fund.

There were no major delays in the House today, just a long list of bills to work through.

As time winds down on this session, one of the more controversial bills was House Bill 298 from State Representative Brock Colvin.

It would provide that for hig school athletics classifications like 18283A students designated as English language learners wouldn't count as population towards that classification unless they actually participate in sports.

Colvin agrees that, or Colvin argues, that schools in high immigrant areas are penalized with higher classifications.

Even though few PLL students play sports.

All of our school districts.

They get a very large influx of English language learners.

Puts a strain on the school system.

One thing I think that's been overlooked is the effect it has had on high school athletics.

What you'll see is a lot of these kids will migrat all to the same school system.

Could be thousands even, such as Crossville or Albertville.

And adjust these schools classification, for instance, from 5 to 7.

It makes them very noncompetitive.

So the original version of my bill just takes a very similar formula to the academic side that passed in 22.

To exempt these kids for the first five years, unless they play a sport from the ATM count.

What's the position of the Alabama High School Athletic Association?

They are against the bill.

They're against it.

They are.

Okay.

Now, what about the, The principals?

It's my understanding that th principals took a vote on this.

Not that I know, all the other groups like AA superintendents, etc., are, neutral.

As far as I know.

No one else has contacted me.

That bill passed and now goes to the Senate, a bill aimed at restricting drag performances in public spaces has cleared a key hurdle in the Senate.

House Bill 67, sponsored by State Representative Scott Stafford Hagan of Hartzell and carried by Senator April Weaver in the Senate would prohibit public libraries from hosting drag performances when minors are present unless a parent gives permission.

The measur passed out of the Senate, County and Municipal Government Committee today, but not before some changes.

Committee chairman Senator Chris Elliott offered an amendment to limit the bill's scope, removing languag that could have impacted schools and could have impacted school theater productions during a public hearing.

Supporter said the bill protects children, but opponents argued that it's vague and could lead to discrimination.

Am I currently in drag?

I'm guessing that every single committee member here would answer no.

But under the definition in H 67, you can easily make a case that I am in fact performing in drag right now.

I am a transgender man and under new law S 79 courtesy of Senator Weaver.

I've been legally redefined as a woman, and I would like to know what clothing can I legally wea to the Opelika Public Library?

What articles of clothing constitute drag on my body?

A dress is aligned with my gender at birth, but I doubt any of you would be very comfortable if I was standing here in a dress.

I was transgender, I lived 12 years that way.

I cut off from my male anatomy.

I had to be in and out.

I can't grow beard anymore.

And I'm saying this to tell you drag Queen Story Hour.

Whether it's in school, which I think you should put it back in or library is very dangerous.

And I want to point out that there are gay affirming organizations.

Gays against groomers are duty and others that you can go on to have articles if you're wanted afterwards that say that drag shows are grooming children to be transgender.

They that Bill now heads to the full Senate.

Turning to political news tonight, as speculation is growing about US Senator Tommy Tuberville as potential plans to run for governor, so have questions about his being able to meet the residency requirements.

Alabama's constitution requires that those who serve as governor must be, quote resident citizens of the state at least seven years next before the date of their election in, quote, but recen reporting from Maricel and Alex Angle of Alabama Daily News may have pu some of those questions to rest.

According to records obtained by Aiden Tuberville and his wife Suzanne, have claimed a homestead exemption in Lee County since 2018.

Plenty to meet that seven year requirement.

The reason that has been in doubt is Tuberville has had multiple Florid beach properties over the years, and one of them poste a homestead exemption in 2023.

But according to Mary Sale reporting, that was the product of a previous owner.

Alex Angle, caught up with Tuberville outside the Senate chamber yesterday, where he said he's 100% confident he meets the requirements and wouldn't be considering a run for governor if that wasn't the case.

And how's this to round out a crazy day in Alabama politics today?

State troopers reported a kangaroo.

Yes, a kangaroo got loose on interstate 60 or Interstate 85, rather.

Here's video shared by James Spann on Instagram.

Troopers said the kangaroo was spotted hobbling along the side o the interstate in Macon County.

The incident shut down traffic in both directions as drivers were clearly flabbergasted.

We had to bleep the audio on this one.

Not to worry, though, the Kangaroos owner, Patrick Starr, told authorities the animal is back home safe after being treated at the Auburn Universit School of Veterinary Medicine.

And get this the Kangaroos name Sheila.

Or maybe more appropriate in the Australian Shayla.

We keep it hopping here on Capitol Journal.

We'll be right back with tonight's guest.

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

App tv.org.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Lance LaFleur director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Lance thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Well, you have this title fo only a couple more days, right?

You are.

That's correct.

We actually reported last week on the show.

You're retiring as a director after 15 years on the job to have that right?

That's exactly right.

Well, that's quite a tenure for anybody.

I think we mentioned that it was the longest serving aide and director here in Alabama, but the also the longest serving of your colleagues around the country is similar roles.

Is that right?

That's where I understand.

Well, how's that?

Has it been what's what's it lik looking back on your 15 years?

Did you ever expect when you came became a team director?

I guess that was back in the Riley administration.

Did you ever expect to stay around for 15 years?

Well I made a semi commitment to the governor to stay at least ten years and, figured that 15 years would meet that commitment.

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure it helps to have a lot of experience and everything in in your role because.

And you've got no shortage of that because I'm going to go over some of the challenges that you've faced throughout your tenure.

And I guess at the top of the list has to be the oil spill, right?

Deepwater horizon, disaster out at sea, subsequent oil spill.

Our shores, our estuaries are deeply impacted by that.

You were a dam director at the time.

You're charged with, you know, protecting Alabama's environment.

Take us back to the oil spill.

And what a challenge that was for you and your agency.

Well I was down in Mobil at the time, and I got a call and said, you were supposed to start on June the 1st, but you're starting on May the 1st.

And, welcome to a dam.

We will have your, employees there with you.

I didn't realize it was at the very beginning.

It was the very first day on the job.

And, we are the lead agenc in a an emergency such as that.

So there were 12 state agencies working the emergency, and we were the lead.

And I didn't know the names of my, employees, but, I had just a tremendous, tremendous amount of help.

And everything that we did from all the other agencies, conservation, Chris Blankenship, held my hand through a lot of that.

We had, an interesting thing that your viewers might be interested in.

State employees at 8 a.m. worked 30 work year equivalents.

That's more than 60,000 hours of overtime with zero compensation.

Really?

On a volunteer basis during the oil spill.

During the oil spill?

We had people that were working hundred hour weeks for their 40 hour week pay, and I just can't speak highly enough of them.

It was, a real learning experience.

Glad I went through it.

Or, like, college went through.

I don't want to go back.

We'l talk about that challenging and, working with other agencies.

But also there wa the federal government, right.

They had a response.

You had BP, they had sort o their own lane and everything.

And I just remember going back to those days, it was almost like spinning plates.

There's different agencies, different, you know, whether it's federal, state, private, doing different things.

How much of a challenge is that make going?

All you want to do is do your job well.

The federal oversight authority was the Coast Guard.

And, they they, they are the ultimate federal, responsible, for the response to the oil spill.

But each state has a response obligation also.

And that was that was wher we fill in the state obligation.

We had, everybody from the forestry, Commission to, the Adam, Alabama Department of Environmental, excuse me conservation, natural resources.

I remember a decade being involved, a DAC, you name it.

The agencies came down and, keeping them all coordinated.

EMA was was just, indispensable.

They helped us, do things that I, I wasn't aware of that we even needed to do.

The.

Excellent, excellent.

Cooperation among all state agencies and the federal agencies were good, too.

Sometimes they didn't, allocate the resources exactly the way we would have wished, but, they were good to work with.

I seem to remember the case of the stolen boom, but that's that's, that's for another day.

Well, you know, it's interesting because you now you've got that new coastal facility, down on the coas is actually named in your honor.

The governor was down there naming it in your honor.

Well, well-deserved congratulations on that.

Thank you.

Talk about the vision behin this coastal facility for a dam and and what what its role is going to be.

Well, we have the responsibility of not only our regular industrial type of oversight, but also the coastal program, which is a program that, is unique to the coastal area.

Obviously, the, the physical resources that we had down there, we had two facilities that were in deplorable condition.

We had to take the front off of, one of them because we thought it would fall on people.

That was a danger of that.

Two separate locations, tremendous obligations and very, very poor facilities.

We worked with a number of people.

As you recall, the Restore act allocated a certain amount to the state, for, the settlement with BP and a portion of that went to the coastal area and a portion cam to the remainder of the state.

The portio that went to the coastal area.

We are a state agency, and there was a potential for them to say, let the state fund that.

The local coastal area understood the importance of, the wor that's being done down there to protect the coastal area.

And they, provided, the suppor to get the Restore act funding.

The mayors down there, the county commission members, the governor's office.

Joe Bonner was, with th governor's office at that time.

Just instrumental in getting those funds pulled together that made all of this possible.

When you talk about programs, conservation programs down there, what do you mean, what are what are some of the programs that are are intende to preserve and tame and protect that that really delicate and pristine environment?

Well, we obviously, write permits for what people can discharge.

According to the assimilated capacity of the waters that are down there.

But we also deal with, filling in, wetlands, making sure that, any wetland work that's done around the coast meets the requirements of the coastal program.

We do sampling, regularly to determine water quality and to, use that in, developing the permits for, wastewater treatment plants.

They have discharges of treated wastewater, to the various water bodies down there.

And we need to make sure that those are, done in a way that's protective of human health and the environment.

Switching gears, I wanted to talk to you about a more recent, big endeavor.

And that was dealing with Arpa and all of the, you know, the legislature giving all this money.

It wasn't just all, but there were a couple of different kind of funding streams that came through, but the legislature made a choice.

It's to say, okay, we're going to use part of this because you got here, you got to spend this money, right?

It's one time money on water and sewer infrastructure, especially in places that it had been lacking.

And I remember some of your testimony before the Arpa committees and before the legislature.

You're talking about like, man, this stuff has needed to be done 30 years ago and you'r finally getting the resources.

But every other state was too.

And so how to how to go about triaging an so talking about the challenge that was to say, hey, okay, we finally have the money to do some of this stuff, but it's also almost a race to try to get it achieved.

Oh, absolutely.

I have to tip my hat to the governor.

She was a driving force in this.

The legislature picked up the the gantlet on that and were, very, very, helpful.

The state got like, $2.1 billion and a grand total of $615 million of that came for Arpa, the American Rescue Plan Act, came to, us for the express purpose of upgrading wate and sewer systems in the state.

Who had you've heard of crumbling infrastructure?

Water and sewer systems are the poster child for crumbling infrastructure.

A lot of money was put into water and sewer back in the 70s, when we had the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and not many investments had been made to keep those up to date.

And not just here in Alabama, but throughout the nation.

They've had other prioritie and out of sight, out of mind.

But, it was a critical, critical situation.

The $615 million of Arpa funds was combined with funds that came directly to us through the bipartisan infrastructure law.

And we have a regular program that we've been doing for the last 30 years or so, the state Revolving Fund program.

All told, during that period between 2022 and 2024.

About $1.7 billion of funding, is available.

We have, committed all of the funding that is available to us at this time, which is about 1.4 billion.

All of that has been committed and we are now under a deadline to have the money expended.

The Arpa portion of it expanded by year end 2026.

We're on a good glide path to get that done in spite of, supply chain issues that hav come up and things such as that.

But it's been just a tremendous, program to implement.

We sent out a request for projects, and unlike some other states, we, ranked our projects from most needy to those who are not as needy and group one through five.

And we've been able to fund one and two.

We had about $3.5 billion worth of requests for what will ultimately be about $1.7 billion.

So there's a great need that still exists there.

Yeah, I remember that because you got some pushback from some of the lawmakers that maybe, they have need just like everybody else.

But there was you were, you know kind of basing it on that need.

And an economic need is part of that, too.

And that's another part of your job.

You had to take criticism from, whether it's the legislature or those from critics in the public forum.

I'm thinking of, you know, landfill fires and coal ash and things like that.

I mean, sometimes you've had to take your share of criticism and is that been difficult?

And how do you respond when folks are, you know, coming at you in your job?

Well, my strongest characteristic is having a thick hide.

I'm also, I can also rely on the caliber of people that we have.

They know their jobs.

They do their jobs exceptionally well.

We have experienced people are with have five divisions, and the youngest, the least amount of experience had a dam was is 30 years.

They have been with the department.

They know the environmental, regulatory business.

And I can rely on them when we get criticism.

And, you know, it's it's what happens.

I have some friends that are in elected office.

I say, what's the ratio of compliments to criticism?

And it's about the same as mine.

Okay.

99 to 199 being the criticism.

Sure.

But, I understand people, do get frustrated when things go wrong.

We regulat 35,000 facilities in the state and they're run by human beings.

And when you have human beings involved, you have human, the opportunity for human error.

And, those do happen.

And we, we, jump on them quickly.

We help them, come back into compliance.

That's the main objective, is to have them in compliance with the requirements.

We're almost out of time, but I have to ask.

We don't know who your successor is going to be.

I guess that's a decision for the board and commission.

Everything.

But what would your advice be to someone who's going to come in, you know, after someone 1 year tenure, big shoes to fill?

What would your advice be for how to be successful at director?

And maybe more broadl to the legislature in the state about how we should view environmental management?

Well, if I were recommending something to my successor, it will be to, get to know the people of the organization and their areas of expertise.

Don't come in the first day and upset, the apple cart.

Take time to learn what's going on in there and then make whatever changes you feel are necessary.

The the legislature, they're interested in a number of things, but, business in the state of Alabama is important to them.

Jobs that come from, industry in the state and we do not view the, the, people that we regulate as an adversary.

They are not an adversary any more than the person obeying the speed limit.

Going down the interstate is a adversary of the state trooper.

He's there to protect them.

Nobody likes to get a ticket.

Sam with the environmental program.

Nobody likes to get a ticket, but we try to give them every opportunity to meet the requirements of the environment, and that benefits the state.

It benefits the state.

Industry ranks, the state of Alabama in the environmental area, in the top five in the, in a nationwide survey of, various regulatory elements in the state.

Speed of permitting.

We are number one in the nation.

Number one, we we issue the same air permi that you can get in California.

It'll take you six years in California, and it'll take you 108 days in Alabama.

That's a competitive advantage for the state.

The, Clean Air Act.

It's the same Clean Air act that we implement, but we do it on a basis that, it helps the state to do that.

As far as environmental, regulatory, the environment, regulatory environment in the state, the international surveys, they rank us number two or number three.

State of Alabama is ranked number six in the nation for best places to do business.

And we contribute to that.

And it's it's, it's done intentionally, but it's also done to protect the environment and human health.

Well said.

Well, look, congratulations on a 15 year career as a as a director of a Dam.

Congratulations on your retirement.

I guess you've earne your chance to put your feet up.

Well, I'm not exactly putting my feet up yet, but, something tells me that's absolutely true.

But, Lance thanks again.

Congratulations.

And, thanks for all your help over the years.

Well, it's been a pleasure being with you.

And and, I tip my hat to the governor's office.

To the legislature, to industry.

We have had, a good run, a very good run.

And, we respect them, and I think they respect the work we do here.

Here.

Thanks again.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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

App tv.org.

That's our show for tonight.

We'll be back tomorrow night with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature here on aptX for our Copper Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey, and we'll see you next time.