From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was day 18 of the Alabama legislature's 2025 regular session.

That leaves 12 legislative days remaining between now and May 19th.

Before we get to the news, I wanted to let you know what's coming up later in the program.

Yesterday, we reported on legislation allowing the Alabama Farmer Federation to offer its members health care plans.

I'll be discussing that issue in depth with both a supporte and opponent of the bill later in the show to offer each perspective.

So you'll want to stick around for that.

It was General Fund Da in the House of Representatives.

Representative Rex Reynolds chairs the General Fund Budget committee that crafted this year's budget, after Governor Kay Ivey submitted her proposal.

In the beginning of the session.

In all, the budget totals $3.7 billion that will go towards funding non education state agencies.

As usual, the largest shares of the general fund go toward Medicai and the state's prison system.

While it is a record amount Reynolds warned his colleagues that leaner times could be ahead for the state.

The $3 billion.,366 million general fund budget.

I think today's budget is a reflection of a strong Alabama economy.

And as you heard me applaud, my members today.

We did not, spend all th recognizable revenue last year.

Which made it gave us a very stron start to the 2025 budget cycle.

And this year we have even used less of that, a very small percentage of available revenue, because interest rates have not dropped at the rate we thought they would.

Governor's office remove all the one time appropriations, which is smart because some of those one time appropriations are just that.

It would not be reoccurring in the general fund budget.

So they stripped those out as members, came to me and asked me to reinstate those.

We did not reinstate them, some at their funded level from last year because we're trying to reduce revenue, use and those items were left out.

So, you know, certainly once I had committed, to go into print on the budget and didn't want to step back on that.

And so, I joined up my colleagues on the Democratic side.

We walked up to the Senate, had that conversation, and we had some assurance that they would, put those back in the budget and I would protect those line items when they come back.

The budget and its companion bills now go to the Senate.

The House also took u legislation that would prohibit the use of cell phones in K through 12 classrooms.

House Bill 166 is sponsored by State Representative Lee Hulsey, who argued tha getting rid of the distraction of phones will improve student learning and behavior.

Because at the end of the day, we have two responsibilities for our kiddos in schools, and one of those things is educating them and the other one is providing for their well-being.

And I think that this is going to do both.

It's going to have them focused on what's going on in that classroom, working on developing those critical social skills, and then continuing to learn how to have great, great debate in their classrooms, just like we did on the floor today.

But all in all, I think this is going to be a game changer.

And I'm really excited to see how this plays out in our kids lives, in our and our classrooms.

There are three exceptions allowed in this bill.

One, as you just mentioned, is the IEP five and four.

So if your plan accounts for that due to medical purposes, you will obviously be allowed to continue to keep your phone with you and use that.

The other two, one will be that you can continue to use them under the direction of a teacher if it's being used for educational purposes.

Some of our teachers use specific apps in their classroom, that are great tools for them, and we wanted to make sure that they could continue to do that.

And then the last one is if there's just any situation that is going to be a threat to the life or safety of one of our students or the staff member inside that building, that they would be able to call during those emergencies for help.

That bill passed 79 t 15 and now goes to the Senate, on to the Senate, where lawmakers took up legislation aimed at streamlinin the process for parents seeking religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements.

Senate Bill 85 from Senator Arthur, or would allow parent to submit a written declaration directly to schools eliminating the need to obtain exemption form from county health departments.

Democratic lawmakers oppose the bill, expressing concerns about potential impacts on public health.

An amendment was added requiring that if a child receives a religious exemption, parents must provide a healt form confirming that the child has not had any communicabl diseases in the past 12 months.

We didn't expand the law.

All we did was streamline the process, and we took it out of the process, having to go to the health department to get a piece of paper that they have to give you anyway.

It's not a discretionary function.

It is a mandatory function that they have to give yo the religious exemption paper.

So why are we doing that?

Let's just, let parents affirm that they have a religious exemptio as they go to the schools and, put that in writing for the schools and admit the child.

You know, you have to have an immunization form when he is first involved.

So are we doing away with that or kids not going to be required?

Parents are not going to be required to have that form.

It was always a blue form as I remember.

I don't think that's where I'm at for the immunization when we're now.

I'm so I don't think so.

All we're doing is you're taking out the middle step, which they're going to get the they're going to get the piece of paper anyway.

Now they may be browbeat.

They may not I don't know, it's kind of a hassl to go to the health department, get the little form and come back.

We're just taking out that middle step.

The bill passed 2 to 5 and now goes to the House.

That was the only bill the Senate took up today, partly because of a mini filibuster on the part of state Senator Roger Smitherman.

He was unhappy about two things the lack of Democratic bills on the agenda and cuts to the Magic City Classic and other items in the House passed general fund budget.

Republicans have vowe to restore those funding cuts, but Smitherman still took the opportunity to slow down the Senate.

Now, all of a sudden, we then know it and it's a third of the agenda is not ours.

We had zero bills on here.

You know, I mean, used to be I saw my name at the end, but I was a call sign.

I'm not the sponsor.

Main sponsor to be.

So with that and I've talked about that this is a problem.

But I do the full straight day and it was not addressed.

So we can't be passing bills if we are not going to have an opportunity to have our bills presented to the full Senate.

The second thin is that the budget in the House, oh, it may have had more in it, but it had six things cut from Jefferson County zeroed out.

And yet you had other thing from other counties increased.

So that's no justification.

And, you know, I let you all make the determination or what I'm saying.

Today, mark the 200th anniversary of the visit of Marquis de Lafayette to Montgomery.

Lafayette, of course, was the French general who served under George Washington and was a hero of the Revolutionary War.

Later in life, he was among the most famous men on earth, traveling the world to advocate for fundamental ideals like freedom of speech and religious tolerance.

Today, Governor Kay Ivey, Supreme Court Justice Will Sellars, and other state leaders marked the occasion with a special ceremon that included some re-enactments of Lafayette's famous Montgomery speech.

With America's 50th birthday on the horizon.

President James Monroe sought to reunite our new country and restore patriotism.

He invited his old friend and fellow Revolutionary War comrade, the famous General Marquis de Lafayette, to visit the United States.

The marquis eagerly accepted the triumphal return of this great hero of the American Revolution, was met with universal enthusiasm and renewed patriotic fervor across our hamlet of our growing nation.

General Lafayette's arrival in Alabama was a turning point for Alabamians the monarchy.

Lafayette's presence placed us on the back on the map, elevating our status as an equal among our fellow states in the process of growing a freedom loving nation.

I am sincerely affected by the honors conferre upon me by the American people.

The kindness with which they have received my conduct has magnified my merit.

I have seen here the best proofs of a great, prosperous and happy people, and the rapid advancement of the polite and useful arts, and then the stability of your free institutions.

After the event inside the Capitol, a wreath laying ceremony took place at Lafayette's commemorative marker there on the Capitol grounds.

Those involved in planning the event, including Justice Sellars, said it's important to remember such important figures in American history and to make sure younger generations understand the remarkabl founding of the United States.

There will be a lot t commemorate over the next year.

In just two weeks, we will mark 250 years since Paul Revere's famous ride to alert the Massachusetts countryside that the British were coming.

And next year, of course, will be the 250th anniversary of the signing o the Declaration of Independence.

Look forward to that.

Also wonde how Lafayette would feel about the way we pronounce Lafayette.

The town of North Alabama.

When we come back, I'll sit down with Presto Roberts of the Alabama Farmers Federation to talk about their Farm Bureau health care legislation, and after that, Jane Adam of the American Cancer Society joins me for the opposition's perspective.

Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Preston Roberts of the Alabama Farmers Federation.

Preston thanks for coming on Capitol Journal.

Hey, thanks for having me, Todd.

That a busy week for you?

Very busy.

Had a lot of farmers in the state House today.

Good to see, boots and blue jeans.

That's right.

And in a very crowded hallway.

That was kind of a mess.

Well, they're her because you've got legislation on this Farm Bureau health plans that y'all introduced.

It's a big hearing in the house this week.

A lot of people interested in this.

Can you kind of start from the beginning?

Why this bill?

Why you've brought this bill and what it does?

Sure.

The Alabama Farmers Federation is a membership organization that has been i this state for over 100 years.

And really, the way our organization operates is that we listen to the needs of our members our policy as an organization, really the directio and the things that we work on as a governmental affairs staf comes directly from our members that farm and, and all 67 counties.

And so, this issue came directly from our members.

We have members that fall into a category of Alabamians that aren't too much and a lot of cases for, for federal subsidized plans.

And they're small business owners.

They don't have an employe who is subsidizing their plan.

So we are hearing from many of our members that we're paying upwards of $2,500 a month.

In some cases for, for health care coverage.

And that leads to really, really difficult decision for a family farming operation.

Many of them forced to send a spouse off the farm or leave the farm altogethe themselves, or to go uninsured, which is not a good optio in a profession that is as risky as agriculture is.

And so what we are doing is following a model that has been adopted in ten other states, that allows the Farm Bureau, in those cases, to offer a health benefit plan to their members.

That's roughly 30 to 60% cheaper than what what our members can find on a commercial health insurance market.

Now, in committee yesterday, I know that there were, there was an amended version of the bill presented as opposed to what was originally presented in the Senate.

What did these changes?

What were the changes made to the bill and why?

So over the last probably four weeks since the beginning of the legislative session, we have been working with, leadership and both bodies and, trying to listen to concerns of members because this is the second year that we have brought this legislation.

And so, we spent a lot of time listening, trying to evaluate some of the concerns and the, the amended House version that we heard in committee yesterday is really a a culmination of a lot of negotiations.

And so the primary concern is that these plans, operate very simila to a self-funded employer plan.

Self-funde employer plans are not regulated by the Department of Insurance.

And so we were asking the legislature to treat us very similar to those self-funded plans.

What the amended version did was give some oversight to the Department of Insurance and creates a lot of communication between the Farm Bureau or the Alabama Farmers Federation, in this case.

And the Department of Insurance requires us to submit an actuarial report to the Department of Insurance annually.

And also, allows us, the flexibility to still provide an affordable plan in addition to those things.

It provided a 1.3% tax, on on the program, similar to what other, insurance products offer.

So all in all, the amended version represent a lot of negotiations and seeks to address a lot of those concerns by members.

I see, there are yo still have critics of the bill?

They were heard in committee yesterday.

Blue Cros Cancer Society folks like that.

And what they're saying is, look, you know, there's not enough consumer protection, right?

It's not like health insuranc in terms of all the regulations that come with that preexisting conditions covering no guarantee coverage of preexisting conditions, guaranteed coverage, period.

You know, when you sign all that.

How do you respond to some of these criticisms from these groups that say, you know, there's not enough protections for those who you intend to cover?

Sure.

Well, as I said before, we're a 103 year old organization that has a reputation, that we have built over that time of serving our community, serving the state of Alabama.

And we would not jeopardize that reputation if we did not believ that we could offer our members a very, a very affordable product that is quality, that covers al the things that are necessary.

And so from a protection side just the fact of our structure as an organization that we are a member run the president of the Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance are elected by our members every two years, as are our board of directors.

And so there's an oversight and a governance there that we have an incentive to treat our members well.

There are members we exist to serve them.

And so we are going to make sure that we're giving them a quality product, because I can assure you, if we do not, not only will we lose them as a customer but we'll lose them as a member.

And we're not going to do that.

Well, said Will Hurd.

But, you know, you heard that in committee yesterday.

Lawmakers a little nervou about that saying, you know, I'm not going to go on blind faith.

So let me just ask you, as this bill goes forward and look, I think you've got a lot of momentum behind it.

That's what I'm hearing at least.

Do you see additional amendment on things like that, on people trying to add additional protections and everything to put it in black and white, as the chairman said?

We're certainly open to to hearing all the concerns of lawmakers and looking at that.

We have tried to be extremely transparent throughout this process.

We have tried to have conversations with each and every lawmaker to make sure that we are hearing their concerns and addressing those, and so certainly would be open to hearing those concerns.

Now, whether we anticipate more changes coming, this is the legislative process.

And so, certainly we anticipate, you know, there to be more conversations down the road.

So, so, but certainly feel feel good about where we are right now.

I wanted to ask you briefly, while we're having a little bit of time, we don't have Mitt Walker sitting here, so we don't have our federal, hat on at the moment, but there's a lot going on, not just in Alabama, but nationally affecting farming, thinking about fuel prices, the commodity prices, inflation that really does affect your membership.

So I'm curious, what are you hearing from your membership from farmers across the state, as it's a lot of uncertainty economically.

And it's time for a new farm bill, too.

Sure.

Yeah.

Farmers are experiencing a farm economy like they haven't seen since the 1980s.

And, for those that understand agriculture, the 1980s was just a terrible time in the farm economy.

And so what we're hearin from our members is that it is it is being compared to those times, over the last, two years, we've seen a net decline in farm income of over $1 billion.

Farm, expenses have increased about the same level.

And so it's a really tough time for farmers and commodity prices are depressed.

But there's some optimism out there, too, that, trade policies will continue to get better and that, American grown products, wil become more valuable over time.

Tough times.

But guess that's kind of the point behind your legislation, right?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

At a time, president, I really appreciate you coming on the show, and we'l follow this issue going forward.

Hey, thanks for having me, dad.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Jane Addams of the American Cance Society cancer action Network.

Jane welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Good to see you, Todd.

I know that your organizatio is in the state House this week opposing legislation, this time opposing the Alpha Farm Bureau health plans.

What?

Me through your.

It was in committee this week.

Everybody's kind of paying attention to this.

Walk me through your organization's opposition to this bill.

Well, at the American Cance Society, cancer Action Network, we're concerned about cancer patients, survivors and their families.

And that means we want cancer patients.

People who might later on contract cancer, get cancer to have access to quality, affordable, good health insurance.

We understand that tens o thousands of farmers in Alabama are struggling to afford their health insurance, but we want to make sure that what they're offered is a good health plan that will cover preexisting conditions.

We'll cover essential health benefits like preventative cancer screenings, mental health, pregnancy, common conditions that people face throughout the day that wouldn't be covered.

You know, if this plan were to pass.

So our concern is we want people to have affordable health insurance and admire Alpha for what they're trying to do to find their consumers affordable health insurance.

But what they're offering them is not really health insurance at all, nor really is it any sort of health coverage.

I mean, it doesn't even specifically state in the bill that it will cover doctors.

They say that their contract will cover these things, but we want to see it in legislation.

A contract is not enough.

If you have a contract with ten that you kno 10,000 people in your program, you have 10,000 contracts, right?

We want to make sure that al the contracts cover cancer care, that they cove the essential health benefits, that they cover preventative screenings, and that they cover preexisting conditions.

So I know that change were recently made to the bill, basically a brand new bill.

Right.

And to meet some of these concerns that you've raised, and Blue Cross has raised it, trying to say more oversight, you know, more, more regulations in the bill, does that get it closer to where y'all would be able to support?

We appreciated that.

They included some of the essential healt benefits like hospitalizations, but they don't include things like regular doctor visits.

They don't include things like prescription drug treatments or mental health.

So, you know, we've heard a story from a Farm Bureau, someone who was looking to purchas a Farm Bureau plant in Tennessee who is a medical student, a healthy young medical student who has anxiety.

He was denied, you know, coverag because he has anxiety, right?

We want to make sure that people with anxiety are able to be covered.

And then when they aren't covered, that their prescription drugs are abl to be covered for them as well.

So what they're not really offering is going to work for a lot of Alabamians, and there's no regulatory mechanism over it.

So when an Alabama consumer says, well, I thought I was covered under this, but you've declined, you know, denie my claim for physical therapy.

They don't have any recourse, any person to go to, to, you know, issue their complaint.

And then there's no enforcement agency over these Alpha plans either.

So we're really worried what's going to happen to consumers with this plan if it's sold.

Now talking with Alfred, hearing their testimony before the committee, they acknowledged some of this saying that's by design.

We don't want it to be an Affordable Care Act, kind of th traditional kind of insurance.

It's by design.

It's insurance for their members.

So why not?

Why shouldn't they be allowed to specifically for their members, for their farmers to do what they want?

I mean, it's nobody's been a gun to their head.

Well, sure, they can do whatever they want, but we're here for public health, and we're hoping that, you know, our representatives and senators will look at public health and consumer protections.

There simply are not enough consumer protections in this bill to protect a consumer who is sick or become sick, right.

So we're encouraging Alabama lawmakers to put consumers first in this process and put in some basic, simple consumer protections.

And then on the other side of that, while I sympathize with farmers who struggle to afford health insurance, we know that three out of four farmers have a preexisting condition.

So this isn't a best plan for them to begin with.

And then I'll just lastly say, you know, we don't have any and say we don't have any stakes over, you know, who has what share of the market in health insurance or not.

We believe in competition, obviously that that's good for consumers.

But everyone should play by the same rules.

It's not fair to have one company that gets to pick their consumers, to get to pick all the healthy people out of the market and leave the sick people left behind in it, which will drive up costs for all out of the and which is a concern.

So while they say it may not be we're not looking at the ACA, it absolutely does impact the ACA marketplace, which needs to have a combination of both healthy people and sick people on it to make it work.

Well you mentioned some of the things you're asking lawmakers to do.

Might we see some of those things via amendments?

I'm assuming this thing will probably end up making it to the floor.

Some of what you're saying was brought up in committee.

So do you imagine you could see amendments in the House?

Because I'm assuming it goe to the floor of the House first.

Yeah.

We'r looking into lots of amendments, and I've spoken with a lot of lawmakers in the committee about that.

We would like to see amendments on essential health benefits, preexisting conditions, lifetime limits and caps.

We don't want people to get a limit on their care because they reach some arbitrary cap that Alpha decides.

We're also looking at making sure there's enforcement mechanisms for the you know, the Department of Insurance in enforcing these plans.

We also want some consumer protections in place.

Like, for instance when you sign up for this plan, you should be told it is not health insurance and that it does not cove you for preexisting conditions.

So we want to look into some consumer protections.

The bill as it is, we could not support the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network could not support.

However, we're hoping that there are changes that may are made that we can support, because we do see that this is a problem that needs to be addressed.

I'm hopeful that we can see some of those changes.

I, you know, I've been having common sense conversations with lawmakers about this bill and they understand that we need to just hav some basic protections in there.

So hopefully we'll see some of those at the end of the day.

It's a big one to watch, and we will certainly be watching it.

We're out of time right now, but I want to have you back to talk about Medicaid, because that's a whole different ballgame now.

What' going on at the federal level?

It sure is.

So we'll we'll have you back, Jane.

Thanks again.

Thanks, Todd.

We'll be right back.

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Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

Tune in tomorrow night at 730 for Capitol Journal's Week in Review, where we'll break down all of this week's legislative action for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.