This week on Capitol Journal, the legislative session rolls right along and enters its middle third with a package of bill aimed at reining in data centers and changing utility governance.

Was the big issue of the week?

We'll have the latest.

Also, bills impacting local library boards, public schools, campaign fundraising and high speed police checks were all considered this week.

We'll catch you up.

Alex Angle checks in from Washington with the latest on Department of Homeland Security funding as another shutdown looms.

Joining us in studio this week, Senate Education Budget Chairman Arthur or talks about several of his bills.

Plus an update on the education trust Fund.

And Trish Crane discusses a banner week for Alabama's educatio progress on the national stage.

That's all.

Next on Capitol Journal.

It's from our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

This week saw the 11th and 12th days of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session.

And as always think two things kicked off at the Business Council of Alabama's weekly legislative breakfast.

The Education Budget Committee chairmen were invited guest House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett and Senate Education Budget Chairman Arthur or spoke about how the Education Trust Fund budget might look this year.

I think the biggest hurdle, at least from the Senate perspective we're going to face, is managing the expectations.

The, th the money has been pretty lofty, but now with Pip and other, needs taken, a large part of that, the capacity to, to and maneuverability that we're going t have is declining substantially.

So the membership they're still thinking up here, and managing those expectations is going to be difficult as far as, you know, tryin to manage, you know, keep the, you know, the two biggest things I think we've done.

And everybody in this, enlightened room read the New York Times article yesterday, the Numeracy Act and the Literacy Act and how much of an impact they have had, among others, on our state, which is, been a good thing.

And finally, we know we're getting some national props for, you know, the headway we've been making these past few years.

I think now we're in a situatio where money has gotten tighter with the general fund having been under pressure.

That puts pressure to us, and we have to resist but also comply.

Some of it, some, you know, cooperate.

But there's a fine line there.

But I think that what I'm concerned about is, you know, I see all the accolades we're getting for the improvement scores, whatnot.

That's got to continue.

I mean, I've been around numbers enough that I've seen anomalies and they come and they go.

Numbers look great and they look bad.

You know, look at our reading.

You know, 20 years ago, what looked like.

And then it went back, you know, so I think the issue is we got to make sure that how we're investing our dollars is continuing to address those issues.

And those issues aren't static.

They change constantly.

And so I think that's what we're trying to do is, is create a budget that addresses the issues we have in the state that are evolving in a way that gets into the classroom and makes a difference.

And I'll speak with chairman or in more detail later in the show.

A new legislative package targeting data center costs and overhauling utility governance was the talk of the state House this week.

The bipartisan grou of lawmakers bringing the bills say their goal is to address affordability for families, specifically in the form of electricity bills.

The package would do four major things.

First, require data centers to pay the full costs of grid improvements.

These are the massive computer server facilities that require incredible amounts of energy to power, which lawmakers argue raises rates for other customers.

Second, it would scale back incentives for data centers and require them to start paying sales taxes on purchases.

Supporter argue that Bentley era economic development incentives for data centers were too generous and lasted too long.

Third, one key portion of the package would make the Public Service Commission, which regulates state utilities appointed rather than elected.

Alabama is one o just ten states that has elected regulators rather than appointed ones.

And fourth, it would restric utilities like the power company and the gas company from using ratepayer money on lobbyin and other political activities.

It was that third bill making the Public Service Commission an appointed body rather than elected.

That was the subject of most scrutiny.

During a public hearing in the House Committee on Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure.

Capital Journal's Randy Scott has that story.

This legislation will provide accountability.

It requires each utility to have a public hearing once a year, something we don't have now.

This also takes politics out o the Public Service Commission.

Representative Chip Brown lays out the details for House Bill 392 in the House transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee meeting.

This measure is mean to streamline the Public Service Commission and Brow says aren't out some wrinkles.

We'll have stronger ethics.

This bill contains, requirements that th commissioner and their families to not work for or receive any financial gain from regulated companies, but also companies that are indirectly involved with regulated utilities.

They also cannot own stock.

Utilities will be banned from passing on lobbying and political cost to customers.

Brown says it would also improve accountability and develop more transparency.

Thing lawmakers and citizens address during this public hearing.

I'm really just trying to understand why are we taking a vote from the people?

That's one.

Two is where this half a term limit.

There's two and three.

How would the rates be regulated?

I think that as being appointed, we as the representative of our district are the voice of the people.

I also think we have to watch what we say too, because when you say a certain compan is backing a certain candidate, they can say the same things about us, because each time anybody give us a donation, they are backing us.

Under current law, utilities like Alabama Power explicitly prohibited from donating to or endorsing candidates for the PSC.

That prohibition exists for a reason because the regulated should not be choosing their regulators.

But this bill creates a loophole in that very protection.

Alabama Power can donate practically unlimited sums to all of you, the speaker, the Senate pro tem, and the governor.

The very people who would now control the entire appointment process.

If this bill becomes law, the committee approves House Bill 392 sending it to the House floor.

Some of the speakers today, the the thing that we heard from all of them is that they think our rates are too high.

And so I think that if we we move towards an appointed public service commission, we have an opportunit to to reset things and at least have an opportunity to try to get our rates lower at the state House.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Randy.

So once the bills passed out of committee, the House of Representatives was poised to take them up at the top of the agenda on Thursday.

But those plans hit a snag.

And the bills were eventually removed from the final agenda that was adopted.

State Representative Jim Brown of No.

Bill, who is sponsoring that PSC reform measure?

So the votes were ther to pass the bill in the House, but the Senate passage became questionable.

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter agreed, saying it would be unfair to force House members to take a such a tough vote if the landscape is so uncertain upstairs in the Senate.

Brown says he hope the bill will reemerge because, despite the push back, he believes the policy change is the right one for Alabama.

Well, it's it's actually written in my legislation that you have to have a minimum of one public hearing a year.

And so, also in there was ethics reform.

And, you know, no, no utility can pass on their lobbying costs to their customers.

So if you look at actuall the list of the people that pay the lowest rates, we're only one of only ten states in the United States that still elec their public service Commission.

I had a conversation with someone from Florida recently, and the person that they just picked the head up their public Service Commission is a retired nuclear physicist.

I mean, it's it's just a different it's a different type of professionalism.

And it's, I think you could have a better job of economic developmen with such a long term strategy.

Then today, it's about it's about race.

It's about cost.

And that's what I'm concerned about is lower in our costs.

I mean if I'm in a lot of conversation around that, rightfully so.

I think one of the things that's been missed, it's kind of been, misleading, is the fact that, you know, Alabama's only one of ten states that does doesn't appoint public service commissioners.

And of those states in the United States, those ten states that does election has the highest utility rates in the country.

So there's a parallel with that.

I think that was one of the things that sponsors wanted to do is try a little in line of sight while the rest of the country and, you know, we had the vote in the House and we had enough to pass it, and it just come dow to the fact that now we didn't have for sure in the, in the Senate that we could give it out.

And I know they've got a lot of movement going on, a lot of things happening.

And I think they wasn't ready to get the bill.

And, I've talked to the pro tem multiple times about it.

And I think for them it was better to kind of wait and see where it lands upstair to the Senate, where debate over local control over library governance took center stage.

This week, lawmakers debated a bill that would change how members of local library boards can be removed from office.

Capitol Journal's Jeff Sanders has more.

That's what they call that.

And say you.

In all fairness, I think this is the third year for this bill.

It was a lengthy and at time pointy debate on Senate Bill 26.

The measure, sponsored by Republican State Senator Chris Elliott of Josephine, would allow city councils and county commissions to remove members of local libraries boards at any time.

Elliott says the bill is about accountability and aligning library boards with other appointed positions across state government.

What's good in Hoover may not be good in Bessemer, and what's good in Orange Beach may not be good in Fairhope.

And so we talked a lot about that today.

I just think it's important to make sure that our local elected officials and I used to be one of them, is in control of of their delegated authority at the end of the day.

Under current law, library board members serve fixed four year terms, and there is no clear mechanism for early removal.

The bill would change that, allowing removal if two thirds of the appointing authority agrees.

The proposal comes amid several years of controversy surrounding library governance in Alabama, including disputes over a book banning and state funding.

But Democrats raised concerns that the change could subject volunteer board members to political pressure.

I would love to see this bill.

At least give term limits.

Allow the Library board to be appointed without having that fear o I could be taken off tomorrow.

Just because somebody don't like the color wheel.

However, Elliott says appointed board should ultimately answer to the officials who selected them.

These library board members are great folks.

They, they serve their communities, honorably but they're not federal judges.

And so most of our appointe officials throughout government, executive branch, legislative branch, judicial branch serve at the pleasure of of the, the appointing authority.

And this just makes library boards the same.

The Senate approved the measure 26 to 5, with one abstention.

It now moves to the House for consideration.

Mr.

Robert reporting for Capital Journal.

I'm Jeff Sanders.

Thank you.

Jeff.

There was plenty of action in committee this week.

We'll start in the Senate.

Fiscal Responsibility an Economic Development Committee, which took up a bill aimed at increasing transparency in campaign fundraising.

Senate Bill 220 from State Senator Arthur or of Decatur, would require certain nonprofit organizations that contribute to political campaigns t disclose their sources of money, or says the proposal does not prohibit nonprofits from participating in the political process, but instead ensures greater reporting and accountability when that money is directed toward campaigns.

They're going to give the candidates, they would have to report the money that they are using to give to candidates, so they can still do it.

It's not prohibited $100 or more.

It's s the donations aren't prohibited.

If they're going to get into the supporting campaigns now, they can do advocac all day long like they have in, but they're going to give to campaigns that have to set up a separate account.

And out of that count comes money that donors would know.

We're going to candidates an principal campaign committees, and they would have to report where the money came from.

So it's treating them if they're going to engage in electioneering and campaigning or giving the candidates, then they would just have to report to sources of their money.

Under current law, they don't.

So I call it a loophole or whatever, an avenue where if you just want to give to somebody but not know, nobody knows.

If you want to give to a candidate and you don't want anybody to know, will you just give it a 500 1C4 and nobody will know?

That bill passed out o committee with unanimous support and now heads to the full Senate.

The Senate Education Policy Committee took up a bill that would allow Alabam public school students to leave campus during the school day for religious instruction.

Senate Bill 24 from State Senator Shaye Shell.

None of Trussville would expand state law in this area and clarify how students can receive elective credit for attending off campus religious instruction provided safety guidelines and local policies are met.

Shall Not told lawmakers he worked with the education community to address concerns and improve the bill.

There's been a lot of work done with the Superintendents Association, the school boards, the no longer have to adopt a policy.

The last year that was required, a local school board superintendent may deny participation if there's an objective, substan SB 248 add a local affiliation requirement, so only churches or local community based religious groups can run release time programs.

SB 248 adds a mandator check out authorization process that did not exist under last year's bill.

Background checks are allowed.

So that adds that the sponsoring entity entity may conduct criminal histor background checks for personnel likely to have direct ongoing contact with students.

Missed work.

SB 248 specifie that students remain responsible for any missed school wor while in release time, and adds a clause explicitly stating that local board are not sponsoring the program and the programs are not under the school supervision and control.

That bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support and now heads to the full Senate.

That same committee consider a proposal that would require the Ten Commandments be displayed in Alabama public schools.

Senate Bill 99, sponsored by State Senator Keith Kelly of Anniston, would mandate a display in classrooms that includes not only the Ten Commandments themselves, but also references to their his Well, thankfully, we'v had an omitted from our culture and from our historical facts, and it's, the Ten Commandments as a basis for how our laws came abou in the history of this country.

And it's just a simple display of of them in the school rooms in fact, grades five through 12, to let kids know about our history and how we got to where we're at.

It also includes quotes from the Constitution and, the Alabama, Constitution as well.

And it doesn't give, it's not advocating for you to be a certain religion.

It's not preaching religion.

It's just telling that the Ten Commandments are a basis on the foundation of our country's history.

That bill passed out of committee and also now heads to the full Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee took up legislation that would limit when police can engage in high speed chases with suspects.

Six Senator Arthur o is sponsoring Senate Bill 120.

Known as the Tristan Hollis Memorial Act.

The proposal would require Alabama law enforcement agencies to adopt writte pursuit policies and limit high speed chases to situations involving violent felonies or immediate threat to public safety.

The legislation follows a September of 2025 high speed chase in Hartsville that reached speeds of mor than 100 miles an hour and ended when a fleeing suspect crashed into a vehicle caring for teenagers, killing 17 year old Tristan Hollis.

Hollis was not involved in that police pursuit.

The victim's mother, Rachel Moore, gave emotional testimony this week urging lawmakers to pass the bill.

Tristan is friends for typical wholesome teenager hanging out on a Saturday night.

Plans of eating at Taco Bell and on to a bonfire before curfew at 1030.

Tristan never made it home.

Tristan sustained internal bleeding and a broken pelvis.

He had never broken a bone in his love.

A statement made by Officer Wood, traffic homicide investigator, was that the vehicle was hit so hard that Tristan's pants were not open, his body.

Can you imagine?

What a horrific image for all of the horror.

So, police officers and medics outside.

What torbett did they give my only child in pain, clinging for his love?

Yes, we need to have policies in place to be able to stop pursuits when they get reckless and you're in danger to the public.

So I think if we come together and let's come up with a solution instead of something that's going to say no, we need to be able to come up with a solution.

I urge you all to work with us.

And will we, as far as law enforcement, chairs and police chiefs will come to the table to at least be able to come up with a something that's going to work for all of us in law enforcement.

No vote was taken on that bill following the public hearing, but it's expected to come back before committee members next week.

The Senate State Government Affairs Committee took up legislatio this week aimed at clearing up what would happen if there were be a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office.

Senate Bill 271 from State Senator Sam Gauvin of Huntsville, propose an amendment to the Constitution that would make it so that a new election would be called for lieutenant governor should a vacancy occur in that office.

More than 60 days before the general election.

With the the governor's office is one of the ways that we work in the Senate.

You know, I realize that we have a provision in the office of lieutenant governor and governor are both vacant for a special election, basicall during the presidential cycle.

But we have, you know, theoretically, any we have some can happen to the governor, the first day of the term.

And lieutenant governo obviously would become, governor at that at that point.

And then there's no provision.

You know the Louisiana governor's office would basically be vacan for possibly up to four years.

And so this, constitutional amendmen would just go in and say, hey, if that vacancy happens in th first two years of quadrennial, then, we're going to have a special election at the same time, we have so we can see more could still do in a presidential election, but we would hav a special election for someone to be elected with two last two year of Lieutenant Governor Sherman, who I went through, is a mental gymnastics with our senator, the man of the House.

And I like where he winds up because some of us were here when, Pro Tem Marsh and you assume the chair for almost two full years, and it is a real problem, to run the Senat if they're going to have a pro tem ad in the governor hat.

So I'm in shape for Mr.

Chair, That bill was advanced by the committe and now goes to the full Senate over to the House Education Budget Committee, which took up legislation offering scholarships for family members of law enforcement officers.

House Bill 98 is from State Representative Alan Treadaway of Birmingham, who said the groundwor is already laid for the proposal and it would help recruit more law enforcement officers to the profession.

Alabama Law Enforcement Scholarship Fund and provide scholarships for, children and spouses of law enforcement officers in the state of Alabama.

The bill came out of the House a unanimous, I believe last year was up out of committee of the Senate was the last bill for a died.

The funding has already been put in it last year.

The money's waiting there, the rules.

And I don't want to speak for Mr.

Purcell.

Higher education.

But the rule have already been promulgated.

They're ready to go, and we just need to get the bill passed, through the House and Senate and, but the funding is already there.

And representative Baker, so the money that's already there, then, is there then that same amoun then being placed in the budget, this year, or is there another way I'm wondering, is there a sort of layer, does it duplicate money?

That's a discussion.

We're, we're that's part of the budget process.

So we're very good.

Thank you Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you so much.

That bill was approved by the committe and now goes to the full House.

Turning to Washington for a moment, where the Department of Homeland Securit is on the brink of a shutdown.

Most lawmakers have left town without reaching a deal to fund the department.

Meanwhile, the House passed a bill this week requiring proof of citizenshi for voters in federal elections.

Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill recapping this week in Washington, the Homeland Security fundin lapse will mark the third full or partial government shutdown in less than six months.

The motion is not agreed to.

On Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked a bill to fund DHS through September soon after Senator Katie Britt, speaking for Republicans, asked for another two week funding extensio for the department that oversees immigration enforcement, TS and FEMA, among other agencies.

By not allowing us tim to continue these conversations and shutting the government down, real people will pay the price.

But Democrats rejected the stopgap bill.

They want the white House first to change its immigration tactics after the shootings in Minnesota.

We have an obligation as members of Congress to fund a government that obeys the law.

This Department of Homeland Security is not obeying the law.

Talks between Democrats and the white House are expected to continue, but the shutdown is expected to last at least a wee during the congressional recess.

But before the House left, Republicans passed a revamped elections bill to root out voter fraud on Wednesday.

It would require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.

It also requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls.

It's hard to argue that a photo I.D.

is too much.

Must ask for voting when Americans already use it routinely for far less important activities.

But Democrats, including Congresswoman Terri Sewell, are strongly opposed.

They argue the legislation will block millions of Americans from voting who don't readily have access to documentation proving their citizenship status, what they're looking to d is make it harder to vote, not not to make it better or more efficient.

The Save America Act faces a rocky path in this Senate, though it would need some Democratic support to advance, which it currently does not have.

Some Republicans have pushed to end the filibuster to get around that, but there's not enough support for that change right now.

Reporting on Capitol Hill Alex Engle, Capital Journal thank you Alex.

Also in Washington this week, the House appropriations panel overseeing education funding heard from a pai of Alabama education officials about the substantial progress our schools are making in reading.

Bonnie Shaw, director of the Alabama Reading Initiative, and Larry Salisbury, director of teaching and learning for literacy at Huntsville City Schools.

We're invited by Congressma Robert Aderholt and Congressman Dale strong to share what's working in Alabama.

Alabama's experience shows meaningful literacy improvement does not come from isolated programs or short term initiatives.

Instead, it comes from coherent policy paired with long term jo embedded implementation supports that help educators deliver strong instruction, identif risk early, and respond quickly when students need additional support.

We all remember the tragedy in Texas last year on the 4th of July when a flash flood struck camp mystic and claimed the lives of 27 young girls.

That included eight yea old Sarah Marsh of Birmingham.

New legislation advanced this week in the state House that would set new camp safety regulations, to be overseen by the Alabama Department of Emergency Management.

I sat down with bill sponsor Representative David Faulkner of Birmingham who represents the Marsh family.

Sarah Marsh, who was a member of unfortunately, a member of heavens 27.

The she was the only non Texas member of heaven 27 that that that group of girls that lost their lives that were at camp mystic and her parents, Jill and Patrick Marsh, reached out about bringing this bill to make camp safer here in Alabama.

There was a real effort, as you know, to make camp safer in Texas and put requirements.

Todd, it's shockin when you look around the country at the really the lack of regulations, requirements on our camps.

You know, people entrust their children, to go to camps and expecting that camps are going to, you know, have things whether it be background checks, whether it be emergency plans and Alabama was no different than most states.

We simply did not have those requirements.

Now, let me caveat that we have great camps in the state of Alabama, and they do good things.

In fact, they're doing most of the things already.

But there was no there's no oversight.

There's no requirement that they do those things.

These are simple, commonsense safety measures that camps need to follow.

And then, you know, the great part is, even if a camp's already doing this, well, then you'll know that, hey, your procedures are being reviewed by emergenc professionals and they're good.

And, you know somebody is there to tell you, hey, that's a good way to do it.

This is something you may you ought to think about.

physician's assistant or PA's from throughout Alabama gathered this week at the state House to urge passage of legislation aimed at bringing more health care workers to rural parts of the state.

They support House Bill 156 from State Representative Paul Lee of Dothan, which would allow Alabam to join a PA licensure compact.

Alabama is currently facing a significant access to care crisis, ranking near the bottom, near the bottom nationally, and the number of physicians available per patient.

The Alabam Office of Health Care Workforce 2024 data shows that 57 out of 78 population centers have a primary care provider deficit.

Now, more than ever, our state needs policies that support a strong, flexible and accessible health care workforce.

House Bill 156 provides a meaningful solution through participation in the PA Licensure Compact.

This legislation offers Alabama the opportunity to join Tennessee and 20 other states already participating in the compact, expanding access to care, providing flexibility for health care providers, and strengthening Alabama's health care system.

About 200 students students great for a per year out of the state of Alabama.

Obviously, we want them to stay here.

So what our goal is to make sure that you can have a career here for a long, long time.

That legislation has passed.

The House passed through a Senate committee and is awaiting a vote in the full Senate.

We'll take another quick brea and be back with State Senator Arthur or stay with us.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state senator, author or chairman of the Senate Education Budget Committee.

Mr.

chairman, thanks for making the time.

Thank you.

Todd.

Good to be with you.

Well, lots to talk about.

But let's maybe let's start there with the budgets.

Okay.

The budget, the education budget starts in the House this year, so y'all will get it after they pass it.

But you had some comments to BCA earlier this week about expectations versus reality in terms of we had these record budgets.

That means people have high expectations, as you said.

What should their expectations be in terms of the ask the requests you're getting for all kinds of different projects?

Well, as as you said, things are different and they're getting more normal.

And by that, I mean we're reverting more to the mean, as you've heard, our general fund colleagues talk about a sugar high.

We had somewhat of that in the education budget.

So now things are reverting, trending back downward, and, not in a and a catastrophe, you know, catastrophic situation, but, we're just, got to be more careful and, how we're navigating.

The cost is certainly substantial for us to, undertake.

And then there's some other calls.

So we'd love to do a retiree bonus of some sort and some other, expenditures that, members need and want and, we'll, you know, take the governor's budget and, work with it as best we can.

We'll talk about that a little bit, because this is going to be your last budget with Governor Kay Ivey.

And I was just thinking about this historically.

You go back to previous governors and previous legislatures.

It's not always been a, you know, close working relationship in terms of, you know, the executive in the in the legislative branch tend to disagree on budgets and things like that.

And in fact, years ago, i used to be pretty acrimonious.

These days you all seem to hav gotten along to talk about that relationship in this, her last term, last year.

I think, you know, I can't speak for the governor, but, I know from the legislative side there's a lot of respect for Governor Ivey, and, she does send her priorities over and the general fund and education budgets and, we try to maintain those as best we can.

And, of course she knows she's been down here, quite some time and, know that there going to be changes and doesn't get, to been out of shape as we adjust and modified, realizing that the changes we make certainly aren't personal in nature.

And but we've got to get the votes to get a budge through the legislative process.

And, we're not, you know, one person and get to make a decision for one person.

We've got to, make different members, you know, feel good about the budget.

So, it's worked well.

The mutual respect, I think, that we have for each other and trying to keep her priorities intac and then move forward with that.

Well, I know, as I mentioned, it starts in the house, but timing wise, what should we expect?

Movement on the budget.

That tends to happe toward the end of session.

Sure.

When when might we expec more discussion on the budgets?

I would think, first week in March, things will be moving pretty, pretty rapidly.

Committee meetings, etc.

maybe, as soon as the end of this month.

But, by the first week in March, it'll both general fund and the education budget should be in committee and moving.

Everybody will be looking forward to that for sure.

Switching gears, you have legislation I found really interesting ha to do with what you call closing loopholes and campaign financing.

Meaning not, you know individual donors or even PACs and things like that, but nonprofits, nonprofits, the 01501C threes and four can pretty much give unlimited and your, your legislation would have some transparency like we need to know who their, their donors are.

Maybe I'm not explaining it right.

What does your legislation do?

Well it takes those to IRS definition entitie and says if you're going to give to candidates and and campaigns, then you need to repor where your money's coming from.

So, the bill actually allows an entity to set up a separate account and receiv money from whomever individuals, and then donate it to campaigns for candidates, but they have to report it, just like you would d if you were assembling PAC money and people were contributin to a political action committee.

That has to be reported.

So it's just to bring some more transparency.

It doesn't prevent them from, engaging in campaigning, but, it does require a and a transparency, component to it.

And that's certainly a good thing.

Well, we all remember the PAC to PAC transfer fight, which I sponsored.

Yeah.

That's right.

It took years to pass.

Did I mean that was such a fight because it it really did upset the apple cart.

And there's there's never going to be 100%.

There were so many ways bac when the, Republicans took over where you could hide campaign donors and launder money.

And I don't mean in an illegal sense, but, like, you had to hide the donors.

And I think the public has the right to know.

And our system of government, who's who's funding whom?

There's still other loopholes out there, but this, certainly seemed like one that we could visit and, try to just shine the light and let the public know that, who the donors are for different candidates.

Do you see it getting traction?

What is your feedback from your colleagues?

Well, it came through the, Senate committee pretty easily this week, which is, you know, a good thing.

But I also hear that there are, organizations that have concerns about it.

So we'll see.

And, but I definitely believe, you know, the more sunligh we provide for these campaigns.

So the voters have, the all the information before them, if they want to have the information before them, so they can make good decisions on, when they go to the ballot box, when, like, back to back, it may take multiple session sometimes.

That.

Correct.

Does your other bill having t do with high speed chases this, you know, came from this tragic incident in your district, Hartsville, I believe.

And you and the mother of th victim spoke before committee.

Just a heart wrenching, testimony before the committee.

But you also had some pushback from law enforcement saying that they might need some changes to this.

First of all, explain the bill.

And and might we see some amendments and things?

Yeah.

So, you know, I've been telling la enforcement if they'll ask you, you know, I'm certainly open to amendments and to changing the bill.

It was a, you know, first tab at it.

And the first, you know, initial start.

The bill basically says, you know, for, felonies, you can pursue the felon, however, you need to pursue the felon, a suspect, the suspect, and, and I'm but, an and usually if you don't know, you can still use your best judgment and still pursue them if you suspect they're going to endanger other people, etc.. The.

So it's a prett simple bill, but it was a start.

I have I've been somewhat frustrated because I haven't heard like from law enforcement in that we'd like to you know, mend this or do this or oh, there's a law in Idaho or somewhere that, that, that that works out there.

Let's look at maybe adopt in another state statute on this issue.

I just, you know, as much as we like law enforcement and respec law enforcement, they, you know, don't want the guardrails or parameters or rules.

So we'll see.

I'm optimistic that, and sit down with them.

I'd love to.

And, you know, we all particularly in this legislature, a lot of support for law enforcemen got a very difficult job to do.

I don't want to bring unreasonable, limits on their ability to do what they need to do.

But, you know, the idea in this case in Hartzell, where it was just a traffic infraction, we didn't know.

You know, the guy speeding down the interstate and wound up going 90 plus down a downtown street in a small town, 25 mile per hour speed limit.

And, and, you know, ended up killing one person and seriously harming another.

And, but, hopefully we can upgrade our public safety.

Sure.

And so the idea being this, the suspect was not a suspect for a felony.

Correct, correct.

You know, if somebody, speeding on the interstate and the blue lights go on and they decided to flee.

And incidentally, you know, we've got a bill, that, we want to, to pass I believ Governor Ivey's very supportive, to increase the penalties fo those that would flee evading.

Yeah, exactly.

And that'll certainly be a good thing, to to put on the books to help law enforcement and, hold people accountable if they won't pull ove when the law enforcement tries to get them to pull over.

Yeah I can see those two being pretty closely related, so we'll keep up on that.

I wanted to ask you, it's not your bill.

But this PSC bill that, it would get pulled from the House calendar this week.

It was expected to be on there.

They got pulle and the speaker said, well, it's because the votes aren't there in the Senate yet.

The Senate is having some questions.

What's going on with with that proposal?

I mean, is that is that right this year?

So I think that's a fai assessment based on what I know.

Regarding the, making the Public Service Commission an appointed board and not an elected board, I think that's one of those, you know, public, you know, entities that the duty that they have as fa as watching electrical, right, you know, power rates and things like that, the public perceives is just kind of a watchdog or protection against increased, power rates and bills, and that's important to them.

And, I've heard from constituents already on the issue.

I know my colleagues have and the bill hasn't been aired out that muc as far as I know, in the media and as far as the public knowledge of, oh, there's a bill in Montgomery that would change the governance of the PSC.

And as the public learns abou it, I think their concern grows.

What about these other bills, like the data centers?

Those don't seem nearly as controversial, because I have heard from many lawmakers that they want constraints.

On on these data centers that seem to be popping up everywhere and, you know, needing a ton of power to operate, that's got to increase demand and make everybody's rates higher.

But that's, you know, certainly how it's being billed.

You know, it's not something that I've yet done a lot of research on, but, that's a concern.

Nobody likes their power bills to go up.

And if someone down the road a data center is, is causing it to go up, the preference would be like, I think it's Bessemer or somewhere.

We we don't want it in our neighborhood if it's going to cost us more.

Same thing down at Baldwin County and everything.

It's almost like years ago when it when, you know, you start hearing, hey, Google's coming or Facebook's coming or Apple's go you go, we get all excited thinking, hey, this is great.

Wait a second.

Let's let's think twice about the long term implications of that.

Well, before I let you go, I have to embarrass you a little bit to bring up this, article that was out, a study from Vanderbilt and UVA, University of Virginia went around to all legislatures and ranking ranking people.

They ranked you the most effective member of the Alabama legislature.

That's pretty cool.

I mean, you know, not to embarrass you or anything, but what would you think when you when you heard about this ranking?

I was surprised, I wasn't familiar with the organization, some nonprofit organization, but, was surprised.

All I know, Todd, is I work hard and, try to pass good policy for the state, what I believe to be good policy.

And many times it's improved to by my colleagues.

And, but at the end of the day I can't pass a bill by myself.

It's my colleagues.

And, you know, a governor has to sign it.

And, so there are a lot of people involved in the process and maybe a lot of prayer, as well, a lot of times it's, you know, trying to get things done.

Well, congratulations on that.

Certainly if part of the ranking was most bills filed you would certainly be up there for sure for what it those.

Well, you know, again, I it may sound self-serving, but I didn't come to Montgomery to hang out and, you know, again, there's a lot there's always something more that can be done.

And, people have remarked abou a post I made about, you know, I still would love to see us privatize the, retail sales of alcohol and the ABC and, payday lending.

Tried that and made but, yo know, willing to try it again.

So there there are a lot of good policy moves I believe our state can make that would, improve the lives of Alabamians, which would be a good thing.

Well, we'd love to have you back on, as the session goes on to follow up on the budge and some of these other bills.

So thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Todd, we'll be right back.

At 2 p.m.

on February 16th, 1968, the very first 911 call was made in Haleyville, Alabama.

The call was made by State Representative Rankin Fite from Haleyville Mayor James Woods office, and was answered by US representative Tom bevel at the Haleyville Police Station on a bright red telephone that was given to the city b the Alabama Telephone Company.

Haleyville still celebrates their part in 911 history with an annual festival.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is APT senior education correspondent Trish Greene.

Trish thanks for making the time.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

I know you're down here looking at the school board and I want to get to that, but I thought it was really interesting this week because we really had a banner week in terms of national attention on Alabama and our specifically our progress in education.

It started with that, New York Times article.

I read it when I woke up.

Nicholas Kristof is one of the best, you know one of their most read columnist spent some time in the South, a couple of states, but a lot of time in Alabama.

Looking at our reading scores, looking at, you know, a lot of the progress we've made.

I mean, what were you thinking as you read this article because you did a follow up story?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I will admit I had a heads up.

I knew he had visited.

I was looking forward to seeing, you know what?

Why he was here and what he was going to write about.

You know, it's always great to see Alabama's children and teachers put in a positive light.

It's not something we're always used to.

But we've been sort o getting this bandwagon rolling.

So that was kind of the the cherry on the top.

I think, with th with the New York Times column.

You know, it was great to see that the work that I mean.

Yeah look at the Literacy Act, right.

I mean, because reading is really where we're standing out right now.

Fourth grade reading, early grade reading, and math is coming along.

But, you know, the Numeracy Act has only been around for a couple of years.

It's great to see thi where it seems like everybody's rowing in the same direction.

Everybody's headed towards improvement.

I think teachers feel more empowered.

They feel they've gotten better training.

Parents are excited.

You know, the Literacy Act calls for parents to be involved too.

So it's kind of a group effort, right?

Which is really what Doctor Mackey said when I called him about it, I said, well, what do you think about this?

You know, like you've been getting a lot of attention and Alabama' been getting a lot of attention.

It was, he he's he is not one to take credit.

He really isn't.

He he really wanted to talk about everything everybody else had done.

And I said, well what do you want people to know?

You know, what do you what do you want people to walk away with?

And he said, you know, I just want people to believe that this is happening because we still hea negative things about Alabama's public education system.

And there really has been progress made are they'll all say, are we where we want to be?

No.

Right.

But we're getting there.

Yeah And you got to start somewhere.

And I do think the literacy Act was one of those foundational things.

We lost so much progress from the old Alabama Reading Initiative.

So you had to start somewher and it had to be legislatively.

That was back in 2019, made it through Covid.

So you talk about a long process, but it's and when when I was reading the article, I was just really impressed by the way that he got.

He must have spen a good number of days and weeks preparing this because he got it right.

A lot of drive bys don't necessarily, get it right all the time.

Correct.

And one of the things that stuck out to me was the efforts the on the effort, on truancy.

Right.

And I guess we spent so much time talking about literacy and numeracy and scores and things like that.

Truancy isn't always on my radar.

But when he was writing about how, you know, if kids have missed multiple days of school, you know, they're, they're getting a knocks on the door like you're getting knock on the door and, and it's not like some kind of punitive thing.

I think the sentenc that stuck out to me is that the the educators, the teacher are standing up for their kids.

They're looking out for their kids.

Right.

Almost kind of got me a little emotional.

That's that's the way it should be.

And I thought, of course, of course, that has to be a part of the solution in terms if they're not in school, how can they improve?

Exactly.

And I think they learned a lot during Covid.

You know, teachers really in a lot of places went way beyond the call of duty.

Going to kids houses, delivering work to them.

And they realized, you know, plus, we learned that when kids aren't at school, if they're virtual school is not great for most kids.

It really isn't.

Like for some kids, it works.

But they realized they need to have children in front of teachers.

And so, chronic absenteeism is one of those report card scores also, you know, and that was impressive that he mentioned, that, Nicholas Kristof mentioned the report cards through our schools.

Yeah.

You know that the school absolutely are paying attention to what's on the report card and what those measures are.

Which I think was what lawmakers wanted when they enacted it took a little while, you know, to, to to get really rolling in for, for the score to be accepted as somewhat fair.

You know, I think that's what everybody was worried about in the first place.

But yeah, I mean, me too.

You know, I get a little emotional when I think about, the stories that he relayed even in the article.

So everybody needs to read it.

Absolutely.

Good.

It's always good to see good news.

And for people in this building, everybody's read it.

By the way, it was kind of the talk of the week.

It's I think it's a proof positive of of what can happen when you pass good policy.

Right.

It's encouraging.

Hey, this is actually working.

Let's let's keep our foot on the gas, things like that.

I mean, when we talked to Danny Garrett, we talked to Arthur, right?

Like yes, we've made some gains, but we've got to keep this goin so that positive reinforcement, right is really good.

Well, along the same lines, national attention two Alabama policymakers were, in the education field, were in Washington this week testifying before the House Appropriations Committee.

Bonnie Shaw, who runs the Alabama Reading Initiative, and Larry Salisbury from the Huntsville City Schools.

Right.

We're up, you know, testifyin about what's working in Alabama.

I thought that was so cool.

It absolutely is.

And I have known missus Short for quite some time.

You know, when it began, when she first took over.

And she has just taken it so far.

And she'll tell you she has a team of people, you know, it's not her.

It's her team of people.

But staying very true to the, you know, they call it fidelity implementation with fidelity or to fidelity.

She's staying very true to this is what the what the Literacy Act says.

And this is what we're doing.

One of the things, too, about the literacy ac that is was really impressive.

Same with the Numeracy Act i how comprehensive it was, right?

It didn't just say you're going to, you know, hold kids back in the fourth in the third grade, if they can't read on a third grade level.

It was everything from studen intervention plans to training teachers, retraining teachers to higher ed to support for teachers, to support for kids to summer learning.

It just covered the whole range.

And I think you can't really take just 1 or 2 pieces and move forward.

Like it really take this whole system of supports, which cost money, right?

Yeah.

Well, I just think it's great that, you know, when talking about the science of reading and the science of learning, they call on Alabama.

And I think that, you know, how we've applied it here.

And a special shout out to Congressman Aderholt, who's the chair of, that labor HHS education subcommittee and his staff and Congressman Dale strong.

Who his staff was, instrumental in making that happen too.

So, yeah.

Like to see Alabama i a positive light in education.

That's good to highlight.

Well, we have time.

Again, you were in town covering the school board.

Met this week.

What were the highlights?

Of what?

The board.

Did I kno it's like a five hour meeting.

So it was a long meeting this week between the meeting in the work session.

But one of the things I was really happy to see, was the recognition of the 2025 National Blue Ribbon schools.

So you may remember that the U.S.

Department of Education jus canceled the program midstream.

You know, they didn't even wait to awar the most recent award winners.

So the story that you broke, by the way.

Yeah, yeah.

And it was just shocking.

And doctor McKee has used that word shocked.

You know, he and his colleagues were just kind of shocked.

It was such an important program for schools.

And it was a lot of prid to have that Blue Ribbon label.

Oh, my gosh.

They even have big celebrations.

And government officials would come.

And so, in January, board members said, can we go ahead and recognize them anyway?

Other states have done that.

So, this time we did get to see.

During the board meeting, they recognized five schools that were, you know, you call them nominate as national Blue Ribbon schools.

But doctor McKee said 99.9% sure they would have gotten the award.

So that was nice to see.

That was good.

We also got to see what it's called, the legislative recognition program.

And it came from the report car law, where the top 25 schools, in terms of report card grades, they were recognized.

I mean, the auditorium was packed.

And if you know the size of that auditorium, there's it's not usually packed.

And then we saw the top 25 most improved schools.

So recognizing those that are making a lot of progress that was exciting.

It just it feels good.

Yeah.

Again positive reinforcement rewarding.

Good work.

And I think that recognition for teachers, for students, for administrators is so important because they get to go back home with those pictures and with that, those certificates and things and say, look what we did look at, we did about doing the right things and working together.

And hopefully, you know, that becomes contagious.

I think it does.

Yeah.

Well, we love to think about and talk about good news when it comes to education in Alabama.

We will we will pick up this conversation later.

I guess maybe we'll get into social studies and textbooks.

Our next conversation.

Sounds good.

When they're ready to vote on that.

Yeah.

Trish, I really appreciate your reporting and all your time.

Thank you.

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.

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That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week, starting on Monday with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature right here on Alabama Public Television.

For our Capitol Journal team, I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.