Choose from our state house studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol journal week in review.

And what a week it was i Alabama government and politics.

The legislature met for the fourth, fifth and sixth days of the 30 day session.

Technically, that makes us 20% finished, but don't let that fool you.

There's a long way to go.

We've reported for weeks on how addressing crime is the top priority of this session for Governor Kay Ivey and legislative leaders this week, many of those leaders gathered in the capital to roll out the safe Alabama package that aims to crack down on violent crime, support police officers and take deadly weapons off the streets.

Among the bills and the safe Alabama package are the Back the Blue Legal Protection Act that would offer greate liability protections to police who discharged their weapons in the course of duty.

Offering scholarships to children of law enforcemen officers to enhance recruitment.

Tightening laws on gun possession in inner cities, particularly when it comes to felons.

Expanding the metro area.

Crime suppression units to crack down on violence.

More monitoring of juvenile offenders and banning Glock switches.

Ivey called on lawmakers to pass those bills and send them to her desk.

Y'all, this package is responsible, and it's important as I've said, bolstering public safety is my number one priority for this session, and I look forward t getting these bills to my desk so I can patiently make it loud and create a safer Alabama.

While much of the package has bipartisan support, Democrats this week pushed bac on parts of it, namely the back the Blue Police Officer Liability Shield proposal.

They say that bill goes too far and they want to work with Republicans to scale it back.

One of the crime bills sa movement in committee this week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Senate Bill 116, a measure to ban so-called Glock switches.

It's sponsored by State Senator Wil Barfoot.

It would make it illegal at the state level to own or possess devices that convert regular handguns into fully automatic machine guns, drasticall increasing their rate of fire.

These devices are already banned under federal law, but Barfoot and other say adding a state prohibition will help law enforcement crack down on their use.

The bill receive bipartisan support in committee, and senator also heard emotional testimony from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, whose city was rocke by a deadly mass shooting last fall, an attack that lef four dead and 17 others injured.

Investigators sa the shooter used a Glock switch.

This bill gives our local law enforcement the ability when they pull somebody over who has a Glock switch, again commonly called a Glock switch, a conversion kit in their possession to arrest them on a state statute.

These guns will not built.

But for the thrusting forward that comes when they involve is so they don't have any control and citizens should not be afraid to go places because of being injured or killed or shot.

I believe what you all are doing here today related to machine gun conversion devices will literally save Alabamian lives in Birmingham and in other cities across the state.

There are too many grievin mothers who've lost their child because of the use of these machine gun devices.

Too many children have lost parents because of these machine gun conversion devices.

In 2024, we had two mass shootings, and machine gun conversion devices were used in both.

Innocent lives were stolen from families.

Birmingham would not hav had the deadliest year on record if these conversion devices had not been used.

Immigration was a big topic this week in the Senate.

Republicans say they want t align Alabama law to complement federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Under the Trump administration.

Here' what they brought to the floor.

Senate Bill 63 from State Senator Lance.

A bill would require law enforcement agencies to fingerprint and get DNA samples from an illegal aliens in their custody.

Senate Bill 53 from State Senator West Kitchens would create the crime of human smuggling.

If someone transport into Alabama, someone they know or reasonably should have know is an illegal alien, and Senate Bill 55 from Senator Chri Elliott would change current law to say Alabama will not recogniz out-of-state driver's licenses that are issued to people who did not prove their legal status at the time of issuance.

All those bills passed along party lines with Republicans saying their efforts are aimed at protecting Alabama and combating crime.

So the question is, is it going to be a problem for other people that are driving from other states?

And the answer is if they're illegal, yes.

And it's designed to make it a problem.

If they're illegal, I mean, look, there are 8 to 19 other states that say, hey, we're going to give you a driver's license, even if you have no, proof that you're here legally.

And it's valid for being able to drive in that state.

Only Alabama doesn't issue licenses like that.

And so, to answer your question just as directly as possible, if, if they're here illegally, if they don't have any proof that they're here legally, didn't prove that when they got a driver's license in another state, then we're not going to honor their their license here in Alabama.

A lot of them are here doing great work.

Being good citizens, we're just trying to capture the ones that are committing the criminal acts, doing things of that nature.

My bill, actually we passed it through the Senate in May of 23, so it had nothing to do, with what's going on right now with that.

But I think the the Senate Republicans are working hard and trying to, you know, assist President Trump in his goal of securing the border and getting us back to a safe state that we used to be.

But it's addressing the issues that we face right now.

Coming from Marshall County, we have a lot of issues that we're trying to correct.

And I think a lot of the bills that we have seen on the floor today and other bill that we've discussed, the House that has a package tha they're going to be working on.

And I think all of that goes back to the issues that we're facing today in Alabama.

Senate Democrats were opposed to the immigration bills, but they chose not to engage in filibusters that would have dragged out debate potentially into the night.

Minority leader Bobby Singleton said Democrats worked with Republican in an effort to, in his words, catch some of the unintende consequences in the legislation.

Singleton also criticized the bills as being more political theater than meaningful policy and appealing to national politics rather than addressing Alabama issues.

It's all about a lot of pompous circumstances.

Even if you look at the driver's license bill, the only penalty in is is a ticket.

I mean, why are we pushing bills like this?

And just to say, to be able to say that we did something for immigration, to be able to please the president of the United States?

I think that we've seen a lot of tha going on at the federal level.

We just settle down and take our time.

They're probably going to push down, law.

That's goin to make us have to do something totally different, in a way, just to become in in line with what they're doing.

You know, as an African-American who, understand history, my people that were born here on slave ships, you know, it's still kind of sketchy as to whether or not the way I get treated on a day to da basis, you know, being targeted, you know, in terms of profile and crimes and being blamed for different stuff.

So it's it's hard to sit back and see other races of people go through the same thing.

Each of those bills now go to the House.

Reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs and its board was a major topic this week.

Legislation to bring the department closer in line with state government and make the commissioner a cabinet official was debated on the Senate floor.

The bill comes after a messy interagency dustup last year that eventually led to the dismissal of the commissioner over the board's objections.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders has more from the Senate.

Debate over Senate Bill 67 took center stage at the Alabama State House this week.

The proposed legislation would give the governor the power to appoint the commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Some lawmakers argue that the department is operating without enough oversight for too long.

Senator Gregg on Britai said it was time for a change.

This entity has remained in obscurity, and this is an effort to bring it out of obscurity and into the operations of state government.

Several senators took to the floor to push amendments aimed at ensuring veterans organizations still have a voice, and making appointments to the Veterans Board.

But I'm hopeful that, given the overwhelming response, the feedback, the stakeholder input that we had today, I'm hopefu that everybody will be excited about moving forward, in a unified front.

This is it gives them notice it also says that we will accept three recommendations, to fill that position and that we will give them primary consideration in appointing that new board member.

Democratic Senator Marika Coleman acknowledged her reservations about making such a huge change to the department, but expressed optimis about the progress being made.

Challenges with this bill, that's concerning to me, but on the positive, because I'm trying to be that person now on the positive, some of them came down today.

They did inform me that they got some great reception, that people were willing to have conversations.

And I think that's the place that we need to be.

The bill's co-sponsor, Senator Andrew Jones, said the back and forth of amendments on the Senate floor showed how the legislative process is supposed to work.

And, you know, and although there was a little sausage making and things might not have fit and things had to be reworked and we finally got there.

So given the fact that it' all in there and together we've, taken some feedback, we've had some discussions, we've heard a lot from our, our veterans communitie about what's important to them.

No vote was take on the legislation, as Senator Jones says he wanted to give lawmakers and stakeholders more time to discuss any more possible changes, but he hopes to bring it up for a final vote sometime next week.

Reporting from the statehous in Montgomery, I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

The House of Representatives picked up its pace this week, working through legislation on the floor.

Much of their work was bipartisan and non-controversial, but there was plenty of contentious debate over gender issues as legislation moved through committee and onto the floor.

Capitol journal's Randy Scott reports from the House.

House lawmakers spent the first day of week two in a committee meeting.

Senate Bill 79, which deals with the subject of what is a woman, appears in the health committee.

I wish I didn't have to be here today.

I wish we didn't need to define what a man is or a woman is.

But you know we do.

When you have a Supreme Court justice who could not define what a woman is despit being one herself, it looks like we're going to hav to codify this into Alabama law.

This bill define female as an individual has had, will have, or would have but for a developmental anomaly, genetic anomaly or accident, the reproductive system that at some point produces over.

And that includes me.

Do you want to walk int the women's bathroom and see me?

Do you want your daughters to do that?

If this i how you want to define things, if this is how you want society to look like, I look forward to using the women's restroom in the statehouse going forward.

Senate Bill 79 passes the committee and is on the floor of the House the next day.

Concerns are raise about the speed and lack of time for debate.

Thank you.

Will find the individual that have spoken this morning, and not necessarily in opposition to what a male and a female is.

That is not the opposition.

It is a process b which we've used to get to this.

Oh I understand.

Yes, ma'am.

And in doing so that we have not had the opportunity not and I don't know, I don't think they would have taken any more time than has been taken that we've taken at this particular part.

Understand.

It's just the fact that that was the need.

I always felt that that was a need.

Okay.

We're going to limit the, conversations on this.

Senate Bill 79 passes and is later signed into law by the governor.

Both sides of the Hous are talking about Governor Kate Ivey's Save Alabama package of bills designed to fight crime and protect those keeping people safe.

We've already seen some problems with them, but we have an opportunit now to address them and try to come up with some consensus in terms of how they should, be written so that it is best for the whole population and not just a few.

I certainly think we can.

And that's the goal.

I mean, I didn't know they'd put out a statement.

You told me something I didn't know, but, we're going to pass some bills on that regardless of what they think.

You know, and it's a sad da when we don't protect our police officers and defend them for serving us every day at the statehouse.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Turning now to Washington, where Alabama's congressional delegation is reacting to the potential funding cuts coming from Elon Musk and his presidentially created Department of Government Efficiency.

Some of the cuts are hitting close to home, including those planned for the National Institute of Health, which spends hundreds of millions at research institutions in Alabama.

Capitol Journal's Alex Angle reports from Washington.

Alabama's Republicans are mostly embracing Elon Musk and Doge, while Democrats are working to find their best message to fight against his effort to slash the federal government.

If the bureaucracy is in charge and the what meaning does democracy actually have?

Doge has become a popular talking point in the halls of Congress, which is seen as a good or ba thing, depending on who you ask.

Conversation about a co-president referencing Elon Musk, referencing the work that Doge is doing.

I think it's importan to remember that President Trump ran on this.

I mean, he said, we're going to look for wastefu spending across our government.

Senator Katy Britt's endorsement of Doge during a hearing with the fed chair struck a different ton than her more cautious comments earlier in the week on the now paused NIH funding cut.

She also spoke with Robert Kennedy Jr, who's now confirmed to be the health secretary, about those cuts.

UAB says they could slow research.

He understands the lives that it's saved, and he's committed to making sure that we're judicious about how we do this.

Alabama Republicans told me they understand there are concerns about research in the state, but say the money needs to be spent wisely.

Senator Tommy Tubervill says if the federal government ends up being half successful as one of Musk's companies, it will be a win for Alabama.

I'm all in for funding researc to help Americans live longer.

You want to help and healthcare last, but we have to get rid of the liberal pet projects that have been bankrolled by the taxpayers.

You, the taxpayers, have been paying for this nonsense.

But Democrats like Congresswoman Terri Sewell aren't feeling as optimistic about the operation aimed at making the federal government more efficient.

Our phones have been ringin off the hook with constituents who are horrified and frightene that their personal information has been handed over to an unelected billionaire with no accountability to the American people.

Sewell honed in on Musk getting access to the Treasury payment system that contains personal, sensitive data.

A federal judge has paused that access for now.

For that, a letter with other ways and means Democrats asking for more info on that access.

She also convened an emergency town hall Tuesday to tell her constituent about how she was fighting back.

American privacy is being invaded.

Federal workers are being attacked and black history is being erased.

That is why I want to take this moment to speak directly with you.

The DOJ's subcommittee also met for the first time this week to start the war on waste.

Next on the To-Do list for Congress is getting both chambers to agree on a budget blueprint to implement Trump's agenda.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Ingle, Capital Journal.

A big week for State Representative Randall Shed.

The Coleman lawmaker announced he will step down from his House seat and take a position in Senate President Pro Tem Garlin Gutters office managing constituent affairs.

In his last day in the House, shed was able to pass one last bill.

That legislation was ensuring that prospective homebuyers aren't required to enter into contracts with real estate agents in order to see homes sheds.

House colleagues honored him for his service and wished him well in his new role.

But one of the best I've eve served with is Randall Sheard.

And when I ran for speaker, I called Randall asking people to do my nomination because I respected him that much.

And, And we're going to miss you.

And but we're proud of you.

And we know whatever you do God's led you in that direction.

You're going to do an amazing job.

Mr. speaker, Mr. leader members, this both sides of the aisle.

I love everybody.

So I'll just keep it brief and say thank you for, you shot me this morning.

And staff and security and everybody that works and makes the train run.

And in this place and on time.

By the way, Mr. Speaker, you know, it's, it's been a wonderful, wonderful ride.

And I look forward to the next chapter.

We reported last yea that Alabama's longest serving lawmaker is the subject of a new book chronicling his more than five decades in public service.

Senator Jabo Waggoner an Alabama political legend, is written by political columnist Steve Flowers.

The two men took part i a special book signing this week where even Governor Ka Ivey stopped by to get her copy.

Wagners career spans back to 1967, when he first took offic under Governor Lurleen Wallace.

Over the years, he has played a key role in shaping Alabama politics, particularly in the Birmingham area.

He is a 52 year career in the state Senate, is almost a direct correlation to the change of Birmingham being a steel blue collar steel city to the biggest medical research institute in America.

He's done so much civically in Jefferson County, but when this book is set out in the archives 50 years from now and all of those are gone.

He has the history of the longest serving, the state senator in Alabama history.

You know, I started in this process in 1967 with, Lurleen Wallace.

She was my first governor, and I've served with a total of 11 governors, Lurleen being the first one.

I guess you can say I got hooked on this process.

I don't know if that's proper, but I did.

I've been serving for 52 years now, and to look back on my career, I said, I think Steve did a really good job.

This week, faithful citizens from throughout Alabama gathered in Montgomer to pray for the state's leaders as the legislative session begins.

The Alabama Citizens Actio Program, better known as Alcoa, put on the prayer rally.

And although the rain kept them off the statehouse steps, it did not dampen their spirits or deter their mission.

We were glad to gather in this room just to pray for all three branches of our government to call the names of those that are elected to such high offices and, just bring together, believers, Christians from all across the state who believe in the power of prayer and who pay attention t what goes on in our government.

And, we know that prayer is powerful and, we need more of an emphasis on prayer.

So it's our honor to sort of coordinate this and to welcome in many of the folks who are elected to office to come in and allow u to pray with them and for them.

And, so, you know, it's a goo day and it's been a great event.

When we come back, I'll sit down with State Senator Greg Albritton to talk about the general fund budget, prison construction progress, and the prospect of gambling legislation after that.

State Representative Barbara Drummond joins me to offer the Democrats perspective on the session so far and her continued efforts to curb teen vaping.

And later in the show, state Representative Joe Lovern is in studio to talk about his legislatio aiming to give Alabama colleges a leg up in the name, image and likeness game.

Stay with us.

You can watch past episodes of Capitol Journal online at AppleTV.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is State Senator Greg Albritton, chairman of the Senate General Fund Budget Committee.

Mr. chairman thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me to.

Well all right, y'all had some action in the General Fund Budget Committee this week.

Give us an overview.

How?

I mean, everybody talks about the revenue kind of getting back to normal after the quote unquote sugar high of recent years.

Yes.

How's that going?

Because I know that you all have some pretty significant increases asking of the general fund.

I'm thinking about Medicaid and all kids.

I'm thinkin about Department of Corrections.

I mean, some of these are pretty significant.

I would say more than significant.

You're right.

Medicaid's 228 million more, 228 million more.

That's, more than double almost three times what they aske have been in the past few years.

Than all kids.

Another 28 million.

And then, Doc, Department of Corrections.

Another one close to 190 something.

Yeah.

So so those are pretty significant.

Asks and you're right, we are coming off the sugar high if you want to term it that way.

But we're getting back down to normal.

I think you mentioned that, normal is different from where it was about five years ago.

Revenues are up and and so our demands, will be okay.

We believe this year, bu we're not putting a supplemental in the general fund.

At least not to my knowledge at this point.

So we'll try to be careful and cautious, not spend again every dime.

And we're trying to be very, no.

So that we don't create a problem in the future with our spending.

Right.

Spend too much, get too many demands out there, and then there you go.

And then you talk about cuts, and nobody likes that.

And I know that part of the revenue growth.

We'll talk about this with the finance director the other day has been, the, the state deposits an all the interest gained on that.

And that's really abnormal, the interest, you know, going into the general fund.

So that might not always be around a year or two years into the future.

Oh, it won't be, because most of that is based on, what we're holding in, in our deposits.

Much of that is federal money that has to be spent by it spent by the end of this year.

And so that money will be drained out so we will lose that interest.

Not to mentio what happens with, the feds and, expectations is that those, interest rates will decline.

So both of those will cause decrease in that revenue source.

How do you prepare for that?

As the general fund chairman?

How do how do you prepare agencies for.

Hey, we're okay this year, but looking in a year to three years down the line, we could be lookin at a different budget situation.

Understanding that the need is still there, but the resources may not be.

Oh that's true.

And couple that with poin also that we've done extensive, tax cuts and tax credits, bot of which amount to same thing.

It reduces revenue.

So we we are looking at reduction revenues.

We're looking at a reduction in and ability to hold money like we have in some cases with savings accounts.

And so we got the only answe there is to spend less contract, or restrict the spending level and the growth of that spending.

That's hard to do, too.

Well, no kidding.

Given all the commitments and everything.

And I'll talk about one of those.

And that's prison construction.

Yeah.

You know y'all are following this law that you passed back in 2021 I guess 21.

It was you which is I mean i didn't seem like that long ago.

But here we ar with the Elmore County project really going along.

How how do you feel about that?

Are you pleased?

Is the legislature pleased abou how the construction has gone?

Are they following the law?

I'd like to speak with that.

That is, an interesting development.

You know, we hadn't buil prisons and more than 50 years, and this was a huge, endeavor.

200 acres, about 50 different buildings.

As a large project.

And we started out very, very slow with this, had difficulties at the beginning, but we seemed to be on top of this.

We've learned a lot in this past year or so.

We've got people on the ground, representing.

And for in state people that are watching this, that are trained, that know how to build and know the legal ramifications, that group has been doing very well.

Anybody.

Well, I speak to bluntly, but I would like to add.

Welcome folks.

You guys, to go out and take a look and see the progress that's made.

We've talked about that with the commissioner.

We had some photo and everything about a year ago, but I bet it's way different now.

It is.

It is very different.

And and you know, they build the cells on site and then move them to, to where the, the site is to for placement.

It's a great operation.

It's working very well.

We've had, a few glitches, but we've overcome them all, and, and I think is progressing very well.

What about Escambia?

The second projec is supposed to be in Escambia.

That's down in your neck of the woods.

I know there's a site and everything, but is there as that construction started?

No, it has not.

It has not now.

And if I might let me talk about the finance that's going on on some of that.

You know when we first put this together, the estimate was, both presumes we're going to cost $785 million to construct.

Both.

Well, that didn't turn out right.

The Elmore right now, the the construction cost is $1.086 billion.

That's more than both of them.

And yet when we went to market for that 785 bond, we were only able to sell 500 million.

That was because of some of the social justice pressure on institutions.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So all of that came about.

I mean, there were riots in London and New Yor about us selling prison bonds.

Okay.

That affected it.

So we were only able to sell 500.

And yet, right now, what we've done because of the way we've handled our finances is we have the money to finish Elmore completely.

That 1.086.

We've got the money for that.

Couple with that.

We also have the money in hand into the bank for, 60% of Escambia facility.

Now, put that together.

That's a lot of money.

And is that part the bond and part straight general fund allocations?

Correct.

And also part Arpa, if you recall, when we first started, 400 million or so.

Yeah, exactly.

So we've been able to put aside hundreds of millions of dollars, cash money to get this project moving along.

You have, moved legislation this week that would allow the stat to enter the bond market again.

Correct.

It doesn't force the state to, but it gives the authority, for that, you know prison bonding authority issue.

We've got that out of out of committee today.

Okay.

And yeah, I talked with, Finance Director Bill Poole and he didn't seem so sure that the state would pursue a bon even if they had the authority.

What's your take on that?

Well, I hope not.

Okay.

I hope we can find the money to be able to do this and pay the least amount that we borrow, the better.

However, the last thing we need is to start and get Elmore a correction.

Escambia up to about 60% and then stop.

We'll be worse off then.

Then just more cost to ge started back and other matters.

All this bill does is it gives us a means, the excess capacity so that if we need to borrow money to move this along to get this thing completed, we can do it.

We can do it without delay.

We can do it without a problem.

And we don't have to do it right now.

We can do it later when the market's a little better.

I'm going to take you up on that.

Tore out of the Elmore.

So I would love to take our viewers on that to see what the you kno what the future is on prisons.

I hope Doc's watching and they can start scheduling and saying that.

We talked about this last time Commissioner Hamm was on.

We talked about it and that was a while back.

So I'll follow up with them.

Okay.

Switching gears.

Gambling everywhere I go.

And I'm not even a lawmaker.

Everywhere I go, people ask me about gambling.

So what?

What can you say?

The house says, hey, we're not touching it until it comes out of the Senate because of what happened last year.

Understandable.

I think you all said that in the past.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we keep toss that football.

That's right.

So what do you think?

I keep hearin little whispers of conversations about really, from the industry side.

Maybe the industry's sort of being on the more on the same page than maybe they have in the past.

What what are the prospects of us seeing an actual comprehensive gambling bill even introduced, much less debated?

I would I would have a bill today droppe if I had 21 votes in the Senate.

I don't have 21 votes in the Senate.

I've got to have 21 votes i the Senate to move this along.

And keep in mind, now, last week, you know, before Sunday, Super Bowl, bets were being made on this, in the statehouse.

I'll say it that way.

On the Super Bowl, the upcoming Super Bowl, bets were being made.

I think Jalen Hurts made a lo of money for people in Alabama, and that went, like, online and get on the phone and.

Oh, yeah, because that's where most of th sports betting occurs on land.

Not to mention all the other stuff that's going on.

So this, in my opinion, Alabama has a moral obligation to take control of this industry and regulate it to protect the public.

We have that obligation, and yet we can't seem to get 21 votes to take this in and to control it.

Does the industry being on the same page, what I mean by that is, you know, when the porch creaks bought the Birmingham Racecourse, there was this vibe of things like, okay, well now they might have, the same kind of a commonality with the non-tribal lands and all that stuff.

Does that change the game at all?

It doesn't seem to.

I can't seem to, get a get my 21 votes.

And that has been discussed.

That has been, investigated, if you will, as to how that would change.

I haven't seen any change.

I got now we're about 2 or 3 votes shy.

In the Senate to we get that get this done.

Well, I appreciate your candor on that.

Everybody always asked me, and that's about as is clear.

It all comes down to math.

It does math and votes in th Senate and votes in the House.

You got 21 in the Senate and 63 in the House.

And they both got to be on the same bill, right?

Year Well, look, we're out of time.

But, Mister Chairman, thanks again.

And we'll be following thes issues throughout the session.

Thanks for your time.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Stat Representative Barbara Drummond from mobile.

Representative thanks for coming on the show.

Well, thank you for having m over two weeks into session now.

It's been a really busy two weeks, fast paced, which that we all kne that was going to be that way.

So let me just ask you how session going so far from your perspective and from your caucus's perspective?

Well, let me just say because I'm chair of our caucus, there are a number of things that are on the agenda that many of that caucus member have had some problems with it because we want to ensure that this is good policy that is going to move Alabama forward.

So our caucus is being very deliberate, deliberate in looking at what is is being presented.

We know we've got a three day week, which means it is going to be pretty a tough, tough, tough, you know, tough session.

Right now there are over 10 bills that have been pre filed.

And so we're being very deliberate, very strategic looking at those bills because we want bill that will move Alabama forward.

If you look at last session when we had all the workforce development bill, those were pretty much nonpartisan.

But some of the things that are coming on the agenda now, we don't we don't particularly feel that they'll move Alabama forward.

We actually feel like they will somewhat hurt.

Alabama.

And and we're very cognitive of those things because when you look at and I'll use a number of the immigration bills that are coming forward, we want to look at them because we want everybody to be in the United States legally.

But that's our workforce, that's our workforce.

So we want to make sure that we are very deliberate, that we do good policy that will help us to promote the workforce in Alabama, because immigrants, they offer a great deal in a state like Alabama that is ruled by nature.

So we're looking very closely at those things.

And, you know, there are a number of other social bills that we're looking at that we don't fee will even move Alabama forward.

And that's that.

Those are the kinds of things that we want to make sure that we look at very closely.

We're not here for, you know everybody's opinions or social.

We're trying to do policies because Alabama is a great state.

We want to move it forward.

We want to make sure that it is the best that it can be.

And one of those initiatives, if I may go and just talk about it, is, is this nonpartisan approach that we're taking with education now, which I didn't want to get to education yet with changing the formula for education.

That task force has been meeting for a number of months because we want to make sure we put dollars where students need them.

And we and all o this is designed to help us move our workforce forward.

Alabama has made some very good policies in education.

You can tell that by the Nape scores.

I was going to go there.

You took the words out of my mouth.

And so we'll just go ahead and talk about it.

The nape scores were promising in a lot of ways, especially the younger guests.

But it's things like the literacy Act, things like the Numeracy Act, investments made specifically in those laws and programs.

And so you go to the, you know, changing the funding formula.

Do you think that process becomes a little easier when you all you can tell your colleagues, see, these are the results when we do the right things.

I think that becomes a little bit more legitimate, because Alabam has put a great deal of money, about $5 million into early education and so forth which says that is helping us.

We now need to move up to those that are in the fourth through the eighth grade.

Those are the Nape scores and the progress of the Literacy Act and the numeracy Act say we're no longer throwing something up against the wall and sticking.

We know that it will work.

We need to continue to make more investment into those areas that we see that is working.

And having that foundation we now know that the foundation is going to be solid for those student that are in those younger years, and that's why I believe that we need to go to fourth, the fourth through the eighth grade now to get that foundation, because usually it's middle school that our kids are having problems.

Yeah.

And then the scores showed that.

Exactly.

Doctor McKee kind o wanted to have more conversation going forward, lik what was going on.

Do we need.

So I appreciate, those comments.

Let's switch gears to crime seems to be a big issue this session.

The governor said it's our top priority.

I know that you've got a gun related bill.

A gun safety bill.

Tell me about what it does and its prospects.

Well, it's and it's House Bill 103.

And it's a very simple bill.

It is simply telling parents and guardians, if you have a weapon.

I'm a gun owner.

Lock them up.

That's it.

It takes awa nobody's Second Amendment right.

It doesn't take away your gun or anything like that.

It simply says that because of all the school shootings that we've seen across the country, and tragically, we've had one in Huntsville, a few days ago.

And I'm thankful that nobody was injured.

Gun went off, the gun went off.

And so this bill simply says, take that weapon.

If you have minor children in the household and just simply lock them up.

That's that's all that would be required under the law.

Yes, yes.

And to lock a gun up, it' very it's very cheap to do so.

I mean you can it doesn't mandate to tell you what brand that of lock.

But just lock them up.

I had someone just ask me said, well Barbara, what if I lock it up in the closet?

Well, that didn't work.

Our kids are a lot more creative than that.

We're talking about legitimately locking up your weapon so that that kid will not have access.

I had someone else come to me and say I use a trigger lock.

What if that my kid takes that gun with the trigger lock to school will I be held responsible?

Well, they won't, becaus he won't be able to use the gun.

It's locked up.

The premise here is safety for our children and those who educate our children.

There have been too many shootings where you've seen innocent people get killed as well as hurt and I don't want that to happen.

So that's the premise of this school safety bill.

That's what it is.

It's a school safety bill for guns.

Lock them up and store them properly.

That's that's it.

Well, we'll be watching that move because there's a lot relate to guns and crime this session.

And just a big topic to to pay attention to.

Switching gears again, you've got your vaping bill back.

We've talked about this so many times.

Well as a year two year three.

It's the third year okay.

And third year is going to be the charm, I think.

Yeah, it's it's been around long enough.

Face some hurdles here and there.

But explain what your bill does.

It's about child vaping and trying to prevent that.

But start from the beginning.

Well, I'm not going to say it's going to prevent because we already have some laws on the books that right now, companies now have to get on th pre-market registry and tell us the type of vape products and what's in it.

So that started federally and we adopted that for the rule pre-market registry.

So we know the bad stuff that's being sold.

But there's a whole lot more that's coming in from China and Mexico and other places that we don't have a handle on it.

I don't know if you were like me.

I see those shops popping up like popcorn everywhere and our young people are getting hold of this.

Bill was simply do a couple of things.

The reason I did the bill was to create funds that would give ABC and Alia enough dollar to hire the personnel to go out and to go into those places and get that bad stuff that we know is out there on the streets, unregulated, unregulated stuff that tha our kids are getting a hold of.

And it will als give school personnel right now, those kids who are getting caught on school campuses with these products, they don't know what to do with them.

Now, those kids will go through juvenile court, them and their parent to get some sort of regulation as to what they need to do, and then they will have to go through classes to show.

We don't know what the long term effect of vaping is, but it is not good.

And so this will give us an opportunity to to educate not only that student but also that parent.

So this vaping bill in my heart, it is a good piece of policy that will help our kids in the long run and also give these two state departments the opportunity to go out and be educated, because going into one of these establishments that like going looking for, a stamp on a cigaret, a pack of cigarets, they've got to know what those products are.

They've got to know what they're what's on the registry and what's in the product to be able to go in and regulate it.

And we're going to create about $2.5 million to do that by having this piece of legislation.

Now, I know last year, Senator Gunter Spotts was involved in your August co-sponsor.

He was the Senate sponsor.

Well, he's pro tem now, so that can't hurt your prospects in the Senate, where it really has kind of run into roadblocks.

Well, it got all the way to the Senate floor, and we got caught up in all of the gaming legislation and so forth.

So I am hoping now that Senator Gardner is the boss in the Senate, that it will probably help this bill get passed.

So we've worked very hard.

We've reached across the aisle and we've worked with every every group that would have an interest in vaping.

But our overall goal never changed.

We want to make sure that our young people don't have access to this bad stuff.

We'll leave it there and follow that bill as well going forward.

Representative, thanks for your time and I guess it's about time to say Happy Mardi Gras, Will, Happy Mardi Gras, and we hope that you will com down to mobile because remember, we are the birthplace of Mardi Gras.

That's.

And I'll never forget that.

You'll never let us forget.

Well, again thanks for coming on the show.

And we'll see you the rest of the session.

Well, thank you.

And I don't think I said happy New Year to you, but happy new year.

Absolutely.

All right.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative Jo Loven from Auburn, which I love.

And thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me.

Honore to be here with you again today.

Well, I also should have said rules, chairman, rules, chairman for the House of Representatives which is a really key position.

And I wanted you to, before we get to all these issues, remind our audience about the rules, process what your job as chairman is.

Because when people are watching the House floor, as it gets kind of busier in the session, it's important to remember it's not all random.

There's a rhyme and reason.

Well, there's certainly rules that we follow.

Just like in any organization for the legislative process, the House has their rules.

The Senate has their rules.

And my my role and our committee's rule to to look at those rules, see which ones we may need to adjus and which one we're following, and things that go bac to the beginning of our state.

When we say things are in the basket, there's literally a basket.

When there's a journal that needs to travel, there's a book that's literally a journal that is traveling.

And all the way bac to what committee action is done and where the Rules committe plays a key role is bills filed.

Then it has to go through the committee process where it may be amende and work through that process.

And then it comes to the Rules Committee.

And the Rules Committee meets and decides with which and which legislation, if it's ready, if it's the right timing, if the everything has been amended that they feel needs to move forward, if it's the right policy, we're wanting to move, and then a little bit of the politics is tied to it.

We set the calendar to set the agenda that will go to a full body vote in the House Representatives.

Same with the Senate bill.

So it passes out of the Senate.

It then goes to the House committee, and then it comes back to the House Rules Committee.

And we once again look at those bills to see which ones are ready to go to a calendar form for the House to vote on.

And the getting which bills on the calendar first of all, but then in a good position on the calendar, it's all a real kind of secret sauce in there, but very important to the proces and very important to fairness.

Y'all receive some criticism.

You'll pas the new rules package this time around, get some criticism from the Democrats saying, hey, you're limiting our time at the mic.

We need time to be able to draw out debate and filibuster a little bit.

Can you respond to that criticism while limit debate in that way?

Oh, sure.

And what we di today is a very limited thing, where we had limite the debate for the bill itself to ten minutes because we were dealing with an issue we've been dealing with for a couple of years, a bill that had already passed the Senate going through the committee process.

Their vote of the Senat committee process in the House is ready to move forward.

And it's an issue with the what is a woman, Bill?

And if you did not, ho you know how she's going to vote walking in the room, then I dare to say most people knew how they were going to vote.

We had a full committee day action starting at 930.

Public hearing, public hearings.

We had everything leading out of today.

So in very limited time for debate on the bill.

So toda I limited that to ten minutes of of debate on the bill itself.

Now they could debate the calendar for an hour, which they did.

And they're more than welcome to do.

But as far as the legislation we're we're limited with time.

And I certainly our colleagues had some problems with it on the, on the minority side.

And we heard their problems today.

But that's going to be a very limited time that we would do that, mainly because the tim constraints were under, I see.

So it wasn't a big package.

It was just for that bill I think that was important to, make clear.

Switching gears, you've got a bill.

It's a timely bill in.

I'll name it image and likeness.

Every college sports fan knows very wel what's going on in this space.

Millions of dollars, in some cases being being paid to athletes.

I guess there's kind of a spectrum there, but it's almost the Wild West i terms of what's being allowed.

What does your bill do, in terms of addressing in Ireland and giving Alabama a leg up in the system?

Sure.

First of all, Todd, Joe is not a fan of and I nor fan of the transfer porta or how they're working in unison in sports today.

However, it's the rules that we have to play under, and if we're going to have to follow those rules I want to make sure that we give Alabama sport teams to the most competitive advantage that they can have.

So all our universitie in the state, anything we can do to give us a leg up to recruit that scholar and and that student athlete to our state, I want us to have those tools available.

Othe states don't have an income tax, or they're looking to do away with their income tax with an eye or contracts.

When someone's contributed to Nil or the university that they give.

I, have a lot of heart and so and believe in that money's already been through the process or been taxed.

And then it goes to that initial collective and then paid out to these athletes and then it's taxed again.

This would remove the state income tax portion and give us a competitive advantage when we're going up against states that either have no income tax or they're looking to do away with that, or if they leave their income tax in place, the numbers will match up.

So if you had a $100,000 go into a in Iowa athlete, 5% o that would bring it down to 95.

Or if you're looking at these marquee players $1 million, it would take it down to $50,000 off the top.

And in today's world that may be the deciding factor.

And the huge economic driver I know in my district and a lot of districts across the state is all the travel involved with college sports, and we're so amped up right now in our state with Auburn Alabama game basketball coming up.

And so it is a conversation.

If we're going to play in thi and we're not going to get more lead and connections from the NCAA, AA of what rules there are, you're going to see all the states trying to jockey to give our teams and our our universities the the best foot forward they can do.

And we always gripe about the big contracts.

But I have to remind myself that most of the nil is very small, minimal.

That helps cover maybe the tuition and some of the living expenses of these student athletes.

And that's money that's going t turn right back into our state and hopefully kee some of these student athletes living here after they finish their education.

Well, I was going to say, because when you're talking about no income tax on these, you know, moneys, but what would you say to criticism from folks who say, well, looks in some cases these are kids turned into millionaires.

Why should I pay income tax when they're not having to pay income tax?

You, you know, can you see some of that criticism?

I could certainly see to understand it.

I'm not a fan of income tax period myself, so, I understand it, but if this is the rule we're going to have to compete against, say, a Georgia which is looking to do away with their state income tax.

If we can make sure that we are given the competitive advantage to our state, this is one way to do it.

And we we have to look at that.

Like I said, beginning, I don't like these rules, but it's the rules that we're given an what we're having to play under.

And I can understand it.

I have some of that same criticism myself and I understand it.

But we all benefit when our teams are performing at the top level in our state, and we're seeing that now in basketball.

And I'm very excited about all the teams rolling in the football season this fall as well.

You're right, it's really exciting time for our state in terms of basketball.

Auburn in Alabam one and two in a in the polls.

It's never happened not just in our state but in the SEC.

And you know, with our bow Iron Bowl of basketball upon us.

It's just really exciting.

And you're right, I don't I think most folks weren't upset tha there was some kind of mechanism that college players started getting some kind of income, but man, it seems like it's gotten out of control.

So hopefully the NCA will step in and do something.

But you know I'm not going to hold my breath.

Well, I put a three year sunset on this bill as well.

So if this moves forward and we pass it, we're just going to be looking at it.

And then we'll be able to evaluate it year after year going after that.

So I wanted to ask you quickly about y'all's top priority this year.

It really seems like everybody's top priority addressing violent crime.

You had some movemen this week on the crime package.

Are you optimistic that you're going to see all this?

You know, a pretty ambitious package of bills, get to the finish line and become law?

Well, the basics of law and order in our country shouldn't be political, but unfortunately, they've become that way.

And we're trying to move fo common moving for common sense package of bills with leadership, the governor, the leadership, the speake and the pro tem to back the blue because we have a shortag of police officers in our state, just like they do across the country.

Anything we can do to help recruit officers, keep them in their career.

If they're there, help them with tuition reimbursement for for any of themselves, their their own growth or their children because their decision making part, that's a dangerous job.

They're out ther fighting is standing up for you.

And, an we've got to take care of them.

They take care of us, and we've got to back them.

And so the back to blue package, you'll see several bills roll out.

There's the entire, force is trying to make sure we are recruiting the top top guys and gals for that job and making sure we're keeping them in that career and give them the tools the need to keep our streets safe.

Yeah, everybody stop priority this session, which is interestin for a lot of different reasons.

Well, Mr. Chairman, we're out of time.

Thanks very much for for coming on the show.

Are you going to the Iro Bowl of basketball this weekend?

Oh, it's not in Auburn.

So that's a big ticket score.

And I haven't scored one so.

Well, th when when they come to Auburn, something tells me you'll you'll be there.

Mr. chairman, again thanks for your time.

Thanks for having me.

We'll be right back.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online@videotaped.org.

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

Birmingham native Erskine Hawkins was a prominent Africa American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer during the big band era of the 1930s and 40s.

His Erskine Hawkins Orchestra was a popular dance band in New York City, and with it he recorded the hit Tuxedo Junction, about a streetcar intersection on the Aynsley Fairfield line that was a center of nightlife for African-Americans.

Hawkin is a member of the Alabama music and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

Monday is a holiday, so we'll resume our nightly coverage of the Alabama Legislature on Tuesday at 1030 here on Alabama Public Television for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.