From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy.

Welcome to Capitol Journals week in review.

This week saw the 13th and 14th days of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session.

But before we get to legislative coverage, we have the Alabama angl on the biggest story of the day.

Alabama leaders are reactin to the US Supreme Court's Friday ruling that tariffs levied by the Trump administration under an emergency rule are unconstitutional.

The ruling deals a blow to Trump' tariff based economic policies.

And the president said today he has no plans to go through Congress to re-implement the as the Constitution prescribes.

Many are hopeful that the ruling will open up international markets for Alabama products including agricultural products.

Commissioner of agriculture and Industries Rick Pate said he was supportive of Trump's tariffs, generally as a reset to unfair trade policies, and said that the issue still needs to be looked at.

He said, quote, it will obviously open up some markets to start buying American products in the short term, but I think the long term solution is we need to have fair deals with other countries.

In quote.

A spokesperson for the Alabama Port Authority had this to say in reaction.

While the court's decision provides legal clarity on the scope of tariff authority, the practical impact on trade flows will depend on how the administration implements the rulin and how trading partners respond until additional details are finalized.

It is difficult to determine the precise effect on cargo volumes, customer supply chains, or broader economic activity.

Speaking of agricultural products, Alabama farmin leaders are praising a new farm bill being considered by the US House Agriculture Committee.

Typically, Congress passes a new farm bill to set agriculture and nutrition policy every five years, but it has been since 2018 since a new farm bill was passed.

Our own Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill on what this legislation could mean for Alabama.

The House Agriculture Committee is set to begin marking up the Republican led legislation on Monday afternoon.

House Agriculture Republicans released the long awaited farm bill text last Friday.

Alabama Farmers Federation praised the step forward.

These farmers depend on the progress in the farm bill because of so many things tha they can't control on the farm, whether it's weather, disease passed.

Lawmakers haven't passed a farm bill since 2018, but the legislation has been extended.

Some provisions like raising reference prices, were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill act.

But other priorities are tackled in this new farm bill.

Those include specialty crop production, funding for the market access program and support for new farmers.

Excited that this bill actually makes the barrel salmon Eradication and Control pilot program, it makes it permanent law.

That's a big deal for us in Alabama.

The very small damage is still a real issue.

The bill doesn't address year round E15 sales.

Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate says he would have liked to seen that included the biodiesel field.

It's got more corn in it.

And so we were expecting to see that.

But just to help our corn farmer.

But passing the farm bill won't be easy this year.

The top Democrat on the Agriculture committee is opposed to the current measure.

She argues that the bill contains, quote, poison pills and isn't sufficient.

It takes on some pretty lofty, policy areas, and I think that's why you're seeing some of the the resistance to it.

The bill also includes support for rural communities by establishing a child care initiativ and improving broadband access.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Angle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you Alex.

Back here to Alabama's capital city.

There's a new majority leader in the Alabama House of Representatives.

State Representative Paul Lee of Dothan was elected this week by his colleagues to lead the House Republican caucus.

The previous majority leader, Scott Stafford Hagan of Hartzell, stepped dow from that post in order to run for chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

The position entails managing the activities and staff of the caucus serving on the Rules Committee and perhaps most importantly in an election year, supporting the campaign efforts of caucu members running for reelection.

Lee said in a statement that the caucus needs to keep its focus on the important issues and finish finish the job.

Voter sent them to Montgomery to do.

New this week, Governor Kay Ivey has signed two of the session's most high profile bills into law.

First is House Bill 161 from State Representative Chris Sales of Greenville and State Senato Clyde Chambliss of Prattville, known as the App Store Accountability Act.

The new law will requir App Store companies like Apple and Google to have age verification for users.

Those under 18 would have their accounts linked to a parent who would have approval for any downloads.

The goal is to protect children from inappropriate content online.

And Senate Bill 71 from State Senator Donny Augustine of Geneva known as the Sound Science Bill.

It would prohibit the state from adopting environmental regulations more stringent than those imposed by the federal government.

And in the case wher federal regulations don't exist, any state regulations would only be allowed after demonstrating a direct causal lin between exposure to a substance that threatens to the threaten manifest bodily harm to humans.

Lawmaker took action this week on a bill that would implement new safety and security requirements for camps in Alabama.

Multiple states are taking similar actio in the wake of the tragic flood last year at camp mystic in Texas that claimed the lives of 27 young girls, including eight yea old Sarah Marsh of Birmingham.

Capital Journal's Randy Scott has more.

What happened at camp mystic in Texas exposed dangerous gaps in how youth camps are regulated monitored and held accountable.

Those gaps exist not only in Texas, but in Alabama and across the country.

Representative David Faulkner brings House Bill 381 to the House chamber, which he has the full attention of.

House Bill 31 addresses problems which came to light last July with a deadly floo at camp mystic near hunt, Texas.

It camp mystic.

There was no effectiv emergency communication system.

Cell service in the area was unreliable, and counselors were required to surrender their phones.

There were no walkie talkies, no intercoms, and no effective way to communicate of actual evacuation instructions to each cabin.

In an emergency where minutes matter.

Also watching the house action is Patrick Marsh.

Marsh and his family live in the same area as Representative Faulkner in Birmingham.

The Marsh family has bee forever linked to camp mystic.

On that day last July eight year old Sarah Marsh was one of 27 campers and counselors who died during that tragedy.

It's just really great to see, such a terrible event being turned into something that can be positive going forward.

Obviously can't change what happened, but, the prevention aspect is so important to, having the, you know, the events of July 4th not be totally in vain.

The same incompetenc is still incompetent right now.

Homeland security and not you want to brin didn't want to spend the money.

The problem was you got to get approval from you got emergencies situation.

You got a called the secretary to ask for approval.

When you get one of those, a five alarm fire.

And so, I'm, I'm I'm grateful to you, my colleague, my friend, and I appreciate it.

And I'm with you.

But I'm glad you brought some attention to this.

Seeing the process that's goin on, the work that's been done.

It's so honoring to to Sarah and her legacy and to, to having 27 girls.

House Bill 3 one is approved by the chamber, and Patrick Marsh was there to see it happen.

As a dad, it makes me really proud that even after she's she's gone she's still making a difference.

It's also just it's really sad because, you know, and rightfully.

And I want her back.

Like, I want nothing more tha to have her come give me another big hug.

You.

Thank you.

Randy.

Lawmakers heard testimony this week on a bill that could allow the state to assume oversight of certain local police departments that failed to meet staffing requirements.

Senate Bill 298, sponsored by Republican Senator Will Barfoot of Pike Road, was taken up in a public hearing before the Senate, County and Municipal Government committee.

Capitol Journal's Jeff Sanders reports.

The bill would require Alabama's Class three municipalities, currently Montgomery and Huntsville, to maintain at least two full time police officers per 1000 residents within five years.

If a city fails to meet that benchmark, the Alabama law enforcemen agency could step in and assume operational oversight until staffing levels are restored.

But Montgomery Mayor Stephen Reed argued the proposal is unnecessary and crosses the line between state and local control.

Part of this is a core argument of wher is the role of local government, and what's the role of state government.

And I think for us, allowing the state to override local officials, is a bridge too far.

But Gunnery Police Chie James Gray Boyd told lawmakers the department' recruiting efforts are already improving and questioned the need for possible state intervention.

Literally, I have 23 peopl waiting to go into our academy.

I've got eight lateral posts, certified individuals waiting to start and 23 in the hiring process.

Our numbers are rising and they're going to be in a good place.

Democratic State Senator Kirk Hatcher, whose district covers roughly three quarters of Montgomery, told the committee he was not approached about the proposal until just days before the public hearing.

He also said none of his constituents had expressed interest in state oversight of the city's police department.

No, not a single person.

And so this is a concern for me, obviously, as a, as a, as a member of this community, a voter in this community, that we are putting this kind of restriction, on our people because it onl it can only be viewed this way as a weaponization to som extent of the legislative body.

But bill sponsor, Republican state senato Wil Barfoot of Pike Road, said the legislation is designed to provide structure an accountability, not punishment.

Montgomery has had a problem like other municipalities throughout the state and, quite frankly, throughout the nation, fully staffing their police departments.

This is a bill that, enables, the state of Alabama to come i alongside the city of Montgomery if the city can't meet certain standard on the recruitment and retention of those law enforcement officers.

Supporters also include the Attorney General's Office, chief counsel Kathryn Robertson, who was also running to become the top law enforcement officer, told lawmakers the proposal is needed to help fight crime.

You do need to kno that the state does hear a lot, when these kind of questions come into play and they looked at the AG's office, I can speak for us to be the answer to a lot of local problems.

There was no vote taken on that bill following the public hearing but the measure should be back before committee members again next week.

Reporting from the statehouse in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

And while that bill isn' even through a Senate committee, it is already getting some attention.

Downstairs in the House, Minority Leader Anthony Daniels took to the floor this week to send a warning about the bill, saying if it comes to the House as currently written, it will say strong opposition from Democrats.

There's a piece of legislation that has been introduced that have brought my commute, my city into it that deals with police powers.

Now, if this bill was meant for Montgomery, then it needs to be with Montgomery.

But when Huntsville get brought in to something, then it gets my attention and know that this legislation, things are going to change.

If this legislation moves out of the Senate.

I will be on this floor every single day fighting against everything that this city, that the city, the, the senator that bringing this legislation, everything my city.

I will be a one man wrecking crew in this chamber fo the remainder of this session.

And so I am not going to put up with anyone doing anything to impact my community, bringing my community into something wher we don't have the same issues.

So you pick your poison, but you just started a fight.

Debate over how sex education should be taught in Alabama's public schools move to the Senate floor this week.

Senate Bil 209 from State Senator Michelle none of Trussville would establish sexual risk avoidance as the framework for sex education in public K-12 schools.

It would also require parental notification before any instruction.

And it would give the Attorney General the authority to enforce the law.

The measure passed the full Senate 26 to 3, with some bipartisan support.

But some lawmakers warn that limiting instruction to a sexual risk avoidance model could leave students, especially those in low income and inner city communities, without comprehensive information, to help prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

It was a cycle because the mother was on the air and she was saying, you know, well, you know, I got pregnant when I was 16 or whatever.

Father was in jail or whatever.

She had to raise that child alone.

The question in my mind was, why did you not tell your child about this?

But this is a cycle that's being repeated.

It is not being taught in school.

And if they're not getting somewhere, I understand we would like to live and di in this world with the rainbow over the rainbow and everything.

Sky blue is not the way it is.

There's some inappropriate things being told to our students that we don't want to.

We want it to be scientifically based.

We want it to be based on what's best for our students.

Sexual abstinence is the best and only 100% way to avoid unwanted pregnancies or students.

And that's the main focus of what we want to talk to our students.

And the bill allows parents to opt out.

They have a 14 day notice if they want to opt out and their kids not do not take the course.

They do that.

That bill now heads to the House for consideration.

The House took up an agenda of sunset bills this week.

That's the annual task of reauthorizin various boards and commissions.

And while normally a noncontroversial process, one such bill spark some debate on the House floor.

Senate Bill 113 from Stat Senator Chris Elliott of Baldwin County, would shift the Behavioral Health Licensing Board to an advisory only role and make the Alabama Department of Mental Health responsible for regulating and licensing therapists.

Some lawmakers of the da had heard concerns from parents of children with autism and other similar disorders.

What are we doing here?

This board is being pulled back into the Department of Mental Health class.

Yeah, okay.

And they will do the administrative function for them.

But tell me what out.

And I guess I'm concerned.

And my question is more along the line of the context of what they do.

Because mental health is such a huge issue here in the state of Alabama.

And I said, I think two days ago in speaking to a group that we need to do mor in this area as we move about.

I think it may have been on Faulkner's, bill, as we, recapitulated the, matter of the, non-disclosure agreements.

And I just think that we need to focus more and put more in the budget, or that, becaus we have so many families, this this disease impacts families, and they are more people in and families that are impacted than not.

You know, so I guess my confusion about autism, is that right?

Yes.

And so my thing is, you know, exactly what is board does and is it a seat it board.

Now are we receiving them?

Do they operate at all?

That's what I'm trying to get.

So we are not changing the board make up no the ones who are on the board.

They just will go from a standing independent board to an advisory board.

The same people are on it.

They're pulled unde the Department of Mental Health who handles all of the administrative functions, and they will continue to do the advising part of what they're designed to do.

And I know autism is one thing.

I don't think that's everything, but they still will be the ones that are overseeing advising mental health about what they should do.

In that regard, mental health is just going to cover the administrative functions that bill passed with an amendment an now must go back to the Senate.

There was debate this week over legislation that would expand the power of certain state leaders to remove members of boards and commissions.

House Bill 220, sponsored by Representative Chris Pringle of Mobile, was taken up in the Senate.

Fiscal Responsibility an Economic Development Committee under the proposal.

The governor.

Lieutenant governor.

Speaker of the House.

President pro Tem of the Senate, and majority leaders of both chambers could remove and replace board members that they themselves originally appointe even before their terms expire.

Supporters say it strengthens accountability and helps boards function more effectively.

Some Democrats raised concerns about removing members without cause and the potential for political pressure.

I do understand the direction that the legislative body is going in.

I just want to go on record that my no vote is simply because there's no provision in here on cause.

I can understand having the ability to remove if you're the appointing authority.

But again, there's nothing in here that says that it has to be for calls.

It could be.

I don't like what you're wearing today, particularl with what we have gone through with certain person or certain persons.

Don't vote a certain way.

And they get punished.

Now, there's always a concern that.

But, you know, take the unified judicial system, you know, the chief justice can remove anybody in the, you know, unified judicial system at any time without cause.

And they don't do that.

I don't see it being abused more.

I see it as a way to make these boards and agencies function.

We found a lot of boards for sunset that that have a hard time meeting, because I can't get a quorum because these appointees aren' showing up and doing the work.

And it simply says the peopl that appoint you can remove you.

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

Lawmakers in the Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing this week on proposed changes to a Niles law, approved by a constitutional amendment back in 2022.

A nice law allows judges to deny bond to people charged with certain violent crimes after a pretrial detention hearing.

House Bill 228 from Stat Representative Jim Hill of Moody would revise how those pretrial detention hearings work and eliminate the need for a separate preliminary hearing in some cases.

Supporters say the change would streamline the process, but others raised concerns about due process.

Whether defendants would receive a fair hearing, and whether defense attorney were included in conversations about these proposed changes.

Requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard at a meaningful hearing, at a meaningful time, and in a meaningful manner.

The United States Supreme Court has found tha a prompt hearing is necessary, and that the limitations of any bail reform, act, or law have to be followed with care and precision.

The concern with the current changes in the amendments to this particular bill do not provide some of the fundamental protections that would be necessary in order for this bill to really have the protections that it needs for every particular citizen in this state.

And that's the concern I've got.

If you if you do away with preliminary hearing, we had the we had a bill last session that I think we both spoke about enough to do away with the preliminary hearing.

And it's this early.

There's been time with forensics that you may be six months waiting on forensics.

That totally changes the case.

That's my concern on it.

I believe in giving the judges all the discretion they need.

Has something happened since the initial law was passed that the DA's and the judges saw?

The need to change the bill, that it wasn't working as it was.

I mean, I agree with Senator Smitherman, about having everybody from all sides at the table when you change something.

Pretrial detention hearings, also known as soon as law take place within three days.

Right.

And then they turn the judges turn around.

The judges, the defense attorneys, the district attorneys then turn aroun and have a preliminary hearing a few weeks later.

And it's basically doing things twice a word defense attorneys included on this new conversation in this room.

No.

No, ma'am, they were not.

Now, there were many discussions on how it would affect defense attorneys, but that is, they were not in the room during the discussion to express for themselves.

Correct?

Yes.

Now, no vote was taken on that bill.

Lawmakers say they would like another week to make possible changes before a final vote in committee.

The House Judiciary Committe considered legislation this week that would make disrupting a worship service a crime under state law.

House Bill 363 from State Representative Greg Barnes of Jasper, would make disrupting a worship service a class C felony.

If convicted, a person could be sentenced to up to ten years in jail.

This, of course, comes on the heels of the Minneapolis incident where two people were arrested for disrupting a church service as part of an immigration enforcement protest.

Well, it's the church protection bill, really is what he does, and he's focused on that.

It's pretty narrowly scoped to someone who intentionally comes in to disrupt church service and, starts causing issue that were laid out in the in the wake had 56 co-sponsors, which I think only a handful of bills last year had.

So it's very strong.

They came out in full support.

And, I was very happy with that.

And we're sending a clear message to Alabamians and to the world, don't come here to this road.

Any time you add criminal elements to a bill, it has to go through the judiciary.

Did have some kickback about the mandatory.

A lot of judges like to use their discretion and that was passed down to me.

So we're going to leave it to the discretion of the judges to decide what, element of discipline i required or needed or just about that bill was advanced by the committe and now goes to the full House, the House Way and Means General Fund Committee this week considered legislation that aims to make ambulance service more availabl and affordable in rural areas.

State Representative Ed Oliver of Danville, is sponsoring House Bill 400, which is based of a pilot project in his district.

But members of the committee raised concerns about passing along the cost of the program to others in the state.

I'm going to be dead honest and just say.

I represent citizens, whether they are in here for whatever program we have in the state.

All of my citizens do not have that.

We have had more mandate bills come through in 13 days than I can remember any time in the 12 years I've been serving.

I love our rural ambulanc people and the things we've done in Shelby County to provide them with ambulances and get them to them to make things better, do whatever we can.

But I can't in good conscience not ask the question, are the people that we represent who elect us and put us in office?

Are we not going to be concerned about what effect this is going to have on their health care costs?

Absolutely.

This is going to increase their health care costs.

Fundamentally.

It cannot not increase them.

I've got more people at hom asking me questions about this than ask him more questions about it.

And most of the stuff that has been in the news and whatever about other stuff because they are well-educated people in my district, and they understand when they see mandates coming, what it's going to mean to their health care costs.

That bill was carried over, allowing lawmakers more time to consider its impact.

And that bill is one of several this session aimed at addressing the challenges of rural health care.

This week, I sat down with Doctor Tate Hinkle of the Alabama Academy of Family Physicians to talk about the realities facing doctors in rural communities.

If you look at the reality now that many doctors are not taking care of patients in the hospital as a function of some of the administrative burden they have to deal with so many more prior authorizations and, dealing with, insurance denials and whatnot for patients getting care.

That wasn't a reality back, you know, 20, 30 years ago.

They can't see as many patients.

Right.

Whic which then hurts the business.

And also if you look at the last 20 plus years cost of living, obviously, inflation has occurred, capital cost, human resource costs have gone up.

But for the most part, reimbursement rates from Medicare and some of the other payers have really remained rather stagnant.

And so if you think about that, you know, many many businesses couldn't survive if they were still getting paid 20, their rates 20 plus years ago.

But that's the reality of of practicing medicine.

We don't get to set a lot of that.

Those prices.

And so then what that forces a lot of doctors to do is because they can't survive on their own, is they're usually forced to sell into a hospital syste or some larger entity that can then help them with that.

And, and then that brings o its own challenges of, of that.

Many of them want to be part of that community, want to be employing people from the community and, taking care of people.

But it's just it's much, much more difficult these day with the business aspect of it.

Members of the House Education Budget Committee this week got an update on the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, no under construction in Demopolis.

Originally proposed by Governor Ivey.

The school is designed to give students a head start on health care focused careers, whether that be in medicine or nursing.

Member heard from Rob Pearson, chairman of the school's foundation.

It's a lot of exciting thing happening on the new facility.

We are in phase one and construction has started, started back in November.

We're actually a little ahead of schedule.

The weather and the and the soil there has been very favorable for a lot of good progress.

And so we are we fee comfortable in being on target.

Date of finishing in the early summer of 2027.

We're introducing our school to the rest of the state and introducing our school to to stakeholders around the state, like the hospitals and other other community partners that are would be invested in our school.

And, and certainly to those parents and students around the state who want to give their, their, their kid and their kid wants a leg up in the health care field.

This is the place to do it.

And selling that vision to them and getting that that message all around the state has bee something we're very focused on.

A grou of 18 Alabama cities and towns recently withdrew their lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Revenue ove the simplified seller's use tax, commonly known as the online sales tax.

They say they want to work with legislative leaders on a fix to the law.

And so the lawsuit was withdrawn as an act of good faith.

Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox came on Capital Journal this week to explain that decision, and what he hope the negotiations can accomplish.

We still believe there are legal flaws within the simplified seller's use tax.

Us and the 18 other parties that are involved in this.

And it's not just big citie like Hoover, Tuscaloosa, mobile.

We're talking about cities like Gulf Shores, Foley, alabaster, Pelham, and school systems within these cities that believe there are legal.

It falls within that study.

But the reason why we decided to withdraw the lawsuit was because and let me just say, first, a lawsuit was against a door.

And so the Alabama Department of Revenue, we were approached a couple of weeks ago by legislative leadership who were very interested to see if there was a pathway to solve this problem.

But the only way we could begin those negotiations was to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice.

The 18 parties, other parties and the city.

We felt this was a good option for us to take because by withdrawin the lawsuit without prejudice, we retain our right to sue again.

Go file agai in circuit court in Montgomery.

But we felt like we needed to engage with legislative leadership that was willing to take a more prominent role to seeing if we could find a solution to the simplified seller's use tax.

State lawmakers this week reacted to the passing of Jesse Jackson.

The civil rights leader died Tuesday after a long battle with a neurological disorder.

State Senator Vivian Figures paid tribute to Jackson on the Senate floor.

She was actually a delegate for Jackson during hi presidential campaign in 1984.

She talked about how he paved the way for future black candidates to compete and win at the presidential level.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, senior was somebody he conceived and so believed that the United States of America would elect an Africa American president in our time.

And I must say that he, with his wife, Jackie by his side, achieved it by paving the way for Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to become our first African-American president and first lad of the United States of America.

My heart is full of love, respect, and gratitud for Reverend Jackson and to Mrs.

Jackson, for he surely could not have done i without her being at his side.

I am honored and proud to have known him, for he truly will be missed in the House.

It was State Representative Patrick Sellers, himself a minister, paying tribut to Jackson on the House floor.

We receive call that Reverend Jesse Jackson, passed this morning, and, he was a civil rights icon, a preacher, a true warrior, a true leader.

His last visit to Alabama and especially to Birmingham, we were able to be with him.

And, he was able to hold Marlin.

And the question that he asked, who baby did?

Patrick still, even though he was having his health issues, he was still able to mumble those words.

And so we pause for a moment to reflect and to remember his life, his legacy from here on out.

Thank you.

This week saw Highe Ed Day here at the state House.

The annual event brings hundreds of college students and administrators to the Capitol complex to meet with lawmakers and rally in support of funding for public colleges and universities.

The day always kicks off with a parade with mascots and marching bands and dance teams going through the streets of downtown Montgomery and ending on the statehouse steps.

You can see him there.

Then there, turning the corner there by the statehouse, the SGA president from each school sign a pledge saying that they will work together to support higher ed and specifically, funding.

Also includes the mascots.

I think we've got some footage of T Roy from Troy.

There he is.

Troy from Troy and Troy's SGA president there with Gordon Stone, leader of the partnership.

And I think we can see all be at some point where's all we there's all we with all Princess J president state leaders from the governor to the budget chairman talked about the importance o investing in higher education.

Higher education is Alabama's future.

Alabama' public universities returned $27 million to the state's economy every year, and more than that, they improve our quality of life.

Well, generating new leaders in every field imaginable.

With over 180,000 students under the umbrella, Alabama's public colleges and universities elevate Alabama's students and frankly many students from other states and countries as well, to achieve one and greater career success.

Overall, Emory University has its own value to add to this great state.

I by education, because of the knowledge that I have gained that I couldn't have attained anywhere else but I also gained the kind of character that no man can take away from higher education, telling me to keep trying to collaborate and critically think about the things tha the rest of the world may leave.

On the surface.

I speak for all students at the 14 public universities in Alabama, as we pledge to make daily choices to pursue an education that will set ourselves and those that come behind us up for success for a better tomorrow.

Thank you for your help i turning our dreams into reality.

The legislature has been so kind to offer us the chance and extension partnership too, for four years now and we hope for many more to be spearheading a group calle the Student Retention Council.

And we want to say to each member of of our group today and all of our student leaders and campus representatives, we are committed to being a voice in this process, to doing what we can, to sharing your perspective of what it means to think about being a part of Alabama long term your career choices in Alabama.

We'll take a short break, an when we come back, I'll sit down with Steve Flower to talk about all of the things.

Stay with us.

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Do you want to be.

Next is Steve Flowers, Alabama's leading political columnist.

Steve thanks for coming on the show.

Like that.

But, good to see you.

Always good to sit down with you and talk a little politics.

Here we are, almost halfway through this legislative session with 14 days in to a 30 day session.

What would you say?

You know the session.

How's it going so far?

What are the big themes stand out in your mind?

Well, it's been like, expect an election year.

They won't just pass a budget and get home.

The campaign.

But, you know, having said that, there have been some some more controversial issues than we thought anticipated.

The Public Service Commission things, for example, the, But they want to pass the budget.

They got a little more problem with the budgets because they don't have all that Covid money.

But I think we have good committee chairmen in both Hous and Senate and finance taxation.

So they want to pass that thing at home.

However, we've we, you know, have watched it over the years that, they want to pass, you know, mundane benign legislation and not get any controversy issues during a legislative session i this quadrennial election year.

However, when looking at the peopl who are running the legislature becoming analogous to Congress, do you know, I had my cursory survey of that things 80% of legislators running unopposed.

Yeah, you you see the same thing on both side, Democrat and Republican.

Sure.

You want it's traditionall a tough to take on an incumbent when I think there are I don' when we get to this at the end.

But I think you may see a few pretty tough primaries, but mostly you expect the incumbents if the if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing the next year usually you can win reelection.

Well, then come, let's raise all the money and everything, right?

Well, let's talk about House Republicans.

They've had an interesting week.

It's interesting to me because of all the caucuses and everything, this is the, like, the least drama and most drama free, you know, caucus, usually.

But there's some drama this week.

You had this secret recording.

A member of the caucus had to record, you know, the speake try to, you know, embarrass him.

You had a shakeup with the leadership that Hagan is going to run for party chair.

Obviously, that makes it tough to beat the majority leader.

So he stepped aside.

Paul Lee, representative from Dothan, has now assumed that role, elected to assume that role.

What do you make about this interesting week?

For House Republicans?

I thin it's more to do about nothing.

I don't there's been that much controversy in my mind.

Nathaniel Ledbette and I've seen a lot of speakers.

Has the abilit and can anonymously control but respect of the House members.

He may be one of the best speakers I've ever seen.

And, he runs with a he understands all the members districts.

He works well with them.

He's helped a lot of them get elected.

So he's got control of the House.

There's a little right wing group in there that wants to be instigators probably have a lot of ambition, but he's worked well with them and placated them.

But I don't think it's going to be any controversy.

The thing that television's got going for him, best if he indeed is the governor, is he and Ledbetter are close friends.

I saw that tweet.

Yeah, he had that tweet saying, hey, this is my this is my friend Ledbetter wil probably, speak for a long time if he wants to be.

And I think he's got the potential to be, and he's one of the best because I would say he does it right.

He's fair, but they respect him.

It's not like a dominating thing.

He has a real good rapport with his house members.

Like I said, he he he's influential in getting their deals.

He knows every one of them.

District.

Yeah.

He's been involved and helping them.

So I don't see him having any controversy.

And like I say, the next quadrant him here, probably the best leader in the state.

Well and having that stability, like you said will help the goin into the next governor thinking how long he's been governor and all that.

So that continuity is important.

But you're right about like there's a there's a group on the right.

I don't know how many number to put on it, but it reminds me, going back to DC, my time in DC of when the Freedom Caucus really first got started, because it really was only a handful.

It's at first and they jus kind of wanted to cause trouble.

And I feel like I'm on a hobbyhorse all the time about saying, let's not let what happened in Washington happened in Montgomery, where the two sides just went to their polar opposites, right, the fring and started controlling things.

And I think, I think there ar some who would absolutely like to do that in Montgomery but I don't see that prevailing.

I see the speaker and like minded people prevailing.

So it's something to watch, though.

Certainly.

It would be it would be interestin if that emerged in Montgomery.

Talk about Paul Lee, the representative.

Lee.

He's now the majority leader.

And that's interesting to me because he's been around a while.

Right.

He was part of that 2010 class.

Only a handful of them still around, experienced then a committee chairman for a long time.

What do you think about his, you know, assumption of that leadership role?

That's a probably better position than the prior one.

Paul Lee, don't put a lot of stability in that thing.

He's well respected.

He's helmsman.

While I agree and as you said, he told me this or that, what he said, do you realize I'm one of the last one of the few 2010 class members?

My classmates are all gone.

So he he's got some stability, he's got some tenure and he's got, he he's more stable than the prior one.

Yeah.

I think stability especially going into the election year and that's the thing people forget like that's the job of the House majority leader is to help get everybody reelected.

Right.

So it's hard to do that if you're if you're chasing your own ambitions, which I guess that I am not even on the same team.

I mean, sometimes the previous we're not even all led by the same lot led by a Lee's a team player and they need a team player.

There's 77 Republicans in the House and that's quite a supermajority.

But you got to corral, I mean, as you mentioned, there may be a right wing group, but I bet it wouldn't wouldn't amount to more than ten at most.

Yeah.

And on that grou that are trying to be renegades.

Yeah I understand.

But interesting nonetheless.

You mentioned the PSC, a public service commission.

There was this legislative plan three part plan to they called it about affordability rating in data centers, rating in some of these economic development incentives, things like that.

But it it kind of fizzled, a least that that first iteration.

What do you think about that?

It seems to me it just kind of became very political.

People got really gun shy, because it was you know, dealing with the PSC, dealing with the right to vote and things like that.

What was your take about what happened?

I was surprised that it got the, the negative, results.

It did because I harpin back to my time in legislature, which was 20 years ago.

For 20 years, I was in the House for 20 years, you know, we would we would be loyal to to our commitment.

You know, if we said to Alpha BCA or power company or whoever, we see your side of that issue and I'm going to be there is changed to this degree.

Todd, I may not have gotten ten phone calls at this, probably 4 or 5.

That said, I don't want to change the Public Service Commission to being appointed elected.

Social media has changed so much that these legislators have gone home, their districts, even upscale urban Republican districts.

And they've got a I don't know what calls it.

I mean, there may be some underlying, substantial group, left wing people who started this against elected things that are trying to change, change the power company, power structure or whatever.

But the social media got to those people and they said, well, I can't vote.

Unlike the Public Service Commission, in an election year where everybody gets a little sensitive anyway.

Yeah, I kind of compared it to, the school board referendum a few years back, maybe 6 or 7 years ago.

So again, moving the Publi Service Commission from elected to appointed policy wa I don't see a problem with that.

I think you actually end up with a lot better, people in terms of I think you do too.

And I think that we're only one of ten of 50 states that don't do that way.

We only want to elect them.

You do get more demagoguery and less less stability and less.

And, you get less substantia left wing groups coming in here and trying to take ove and be environmental activists that way.

But the thing I would say tha was really a three bill package.

If I was doing the public relations aspect, I think I would have.

So the data centers, you know, the data center there, second, all of it.

And yeah, I mean, you don't want the consumers in the stat to pay for these data centers, which are big, big, power users, and they don't really have a lot of people.

So that' that's what you've got to that that would when I would, I would pass those anyway.

Well yeah.

And going back to the school board.

So the, the legislature passes this constitutional amendment is going to be a referendum that the state school board go from elected to appointed.

It was very popular here in the legislature.

I remember reading all about it and thinking, yeah, this is a good because the same thing demagoguery, these, these elected positions.

But was overwhelmingly defeated at the ballot box because people just, you know, tend to not want to give up their right to, to elect whatever members.

And I think the same thing here, it doesn't matter how good the policy actually is in an election year when things are hot like they are, people generally get a little fuzzy about it.

I actually what happened because my observation of politics in Alabama over the years, not just in recent years Alabamians have been up against taking away the right to vote for something.

Yeah, for Covid, our, you know, Supreme Court or whatever approval.

More like you said.

It's not just a recent thing.

Yeah, well, look, let's switc gears and talk about politics.

We've got 88 days from right now until the May 19th primary.

It's going to be after the session ends.

It's going to be hot and heavy.

What races are you watching?

Let me ask you first abou some of these statewide races.

Us Senate.

Man, that's really evolved with Barrymor getting that Trump endorsement and starting to raise a lot of money.

You know, Steve Marshall was really in the catbird seat originally.

What do you make of the US Senate race?

I think you you said Marshall, began with a hard core, 25 to 35%.

He's run two times statewide, has a bona fide reputation as a conservative.

But that race has not begun yet on the surface.

And I told you this over the years, Todd, mone is a mother's milk of politics.

And, I knew when mobile got in that race that this club for growt had was going to be behind him.

They had promised him $10 million, and I think they'll surpass that.

They've already done it because there's this cryptocurrency PAC that's really a spinoff of the club for growth.

This.

All right, dump $5 million in that campaign.

It's a lot of money.

It's a lot of money.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I can see more with the club for growth.

Spendin $20 million in this race easily.

I don't think Mitt, Marshall has been able to really crack the surface and raising a lot of money.

He could be outspent 20 to 1, and the three unknowns can't raise any money either.

They got all good people, good candidates.

But I say that because of the club's growth, you know, the club for growth is a Russian billionaire, millionaire, multimillionair businessman around the country.

They've got gotten raised sophisticated.

They're the reason that, more beat Carl in that first district two years ago.

Probabl the reason that that more beat, Jeff Coleman, Jef Coleman in the second district.

The Martha Roby retired, for that seat there so that that club and senatorial race in Republican states like ours, they have become very, very important because it's money and money buys ads.

And by my ads equating a man like that name to guys and they do the dirty work, right?

So like, okay, if you're going to spend I mean, goodness at five would be a lot.

But if it's $10 million club is going to spend let's say attacking Steve Marshall.

Well that's money that very more doesn't have to spend attacking his opponent.

He can be all positive.

And that's that's how the last two races have gone.

That's why it makes such a difference.

And that is a lot of money, especially considering a federal race where there they're pretty strict limits.

You know, there's other groups.

It's hard to raise money for federal.

The club was not it was not as dominant.

They've been on the surface for ten years now.

They become increasingly, incrementally, powerful in Republican states, almost the dominant.

And they were not necessarily on the same page with Trump in previous years throughout the country.

They weren't not Oklahoma, not so much as some other states, but they are on the same page now.

They bankroll Trump's campaign.

Right.

And so Trump and the club are on the same page.

Now, I would suggest to you that the club for growth endorsement a more is as important as a Trump endorsement.

Well, and they'll certainly be, you know, the microphone for that because yeah, they more has the endorsement which is the hottest commodity in Republican politics.

Doesn't matter if nobody knows that.

You've got to get it out there.

Well, speaking of that, speaking of the Trump endorsement, John Wall going to the lieutenant governor's race, he gets the Trump endorsement kind of out of nowhere.

I don't know why the presiden cares about the governor's race, but that shot him up because it came with a, you know, well a little more than $1 million.

So what is that changed that race?

Fundamentally, definitely.

If you give someone $1 million and Trump endorsed but it it makes him a player in that race.

But they're again showing how deep pocketed and how intense and powerful that club for growth come.

I didn't know they got involved in state races.

I thought they were all federal.

But they've got so much money.

They're getting involved with Alabama.

Lieutenant governor's race.

Even some got $1 million.

And we're going to get everybody in Alabama.

So they're in state races there.

But yeah, that makes him a player.

I don't think the initial polling, the the polling is pretty reliable shows that he has no name I.D.

yet, but.

Yeah, bu but they again, to your point, the reason the club slogan, Porter for Moore is you got to tell folks here, the Trump nominee, I know they'll probably find out in the Senate, Dan Dorsey, but you probably find that out in the Senate race.

But in Lieutenant Governor' race, you may not find that out until yo you've got to have that couple definitely in that race, because the polling I've seen is very impressive for West Allen.

He's done some yeoman's work.

And while I call him a plow horse, he's gone out there and done some wor because he would he's shown 25%, in that race.

The rest of them have always five, right.

The sleeper in that race is Rick Pate.

Oh, yeah.

I mean twice elected state.

Well, can't sleep on that.

He can't sleep.

Well, let me tell you, something might happen if the club for Growth and West Allen's money start fighting each other where those folks g in, if they start going negative with each other, those folks go in.

And Rick Perry, we've seen this.

I don't see anybody in light.

Rick Perry we've we've seen that before for sure.

Well I've got you also the ag race.

I think the race for attorney general is going to be really interesting.

You know, three main candidates, Jay Mitchell, Kathryn Robertson, Pamela Casey.

It's those those first two that are really going after each other and we're about to see some air war, I would expect.

How do you handicap such a close rac like that was an important race.

Attorne general Alabama's important job.

So you have three very well qualified candidates in my opinion, I think Jay Mitchell and Kathy Robertson and Pamela Casey are very well qualified for the job.

All would do.

Well.

I think that, there' some money spent in that race.

And as you know, from having been around politics those gurus like to go negative.

I mean, you paid them $2 million.

The first thing I will do is attack their opponent, you know, so everybody goes negative now.

So you'll se negative ads in that campaign.

But then again the same thing may apply the best though.

Candy you got to watch that race is Pamela Casey from Blunt County.

The damn county.

She's going to get some votes.

And I don't think she has got the money that Ja Mitchell and Kathy Robson have, but she's going to be a player was the same thing.

Like you were saying.

Go back to that 2010 race, Bradley Byrne, Tim James spent millions attacking each other, not just them, other groups and people.

It turned people off, right?

It bit it, you know, turn people off to that.

And then this pretty obscur state lawmaker, Robert Bentley, ends u kind of emerging out of nowhere.

And that that can happen in races.

I tell them that, I saw Bernie and James attacking each other mercilessly.

And I said, you know, the rule of thumb in the old days.

Well, you go negative on your opponent.

They perceive themselves as two frontrunners.

You can go negative for the seven days out.

You got to turn around and go past.

And they were hitting each other in mobile, especially ove Summation mobile the last night.

And I saw it happen all over the state.

Everybody was saying, I like that doctor from Tuscaloosa, he won't take a salary.

And I knew when they were peeling votes off each other they were going to Bentley.

Yeah And they snuck into that runoff.

The rest is history.

Look, Steve, we're out of time.

Hope we'll have you back at the end of the session.

We'll give it a great.

I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your thoughts.

Thank you for having me.

Enjoyed it.

We'll be right back.

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Thanks for watching.

We'll be back 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.