From our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

The Alabama legislature's 202 regular session is in the books.

The House and Senate met for the 30th and final legislative day on Wednesday.

Going all the way to midnight attempting to pass legislation.

Much of the second half of this session has been marked by a logjam of legislation in the Senate.

That' where we'll start our coverage of the end of the session this week.

Senate Democrats led a prolonged filibuster Wednesday that stalled proceedings and prevented even noncontroversial local bills from passing.

As the clock ran out, Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders has more on what led to the standoff and what legislation managed to make it through on confirmation in a session that was anything but quiet, the Alabama Senate closed out the 2025 legislative calendar with nearly 11 hours of delay, most of it fueled by a sustained Democratic filibuster.

At issu two controversial bills, HB 202 the back the blue law enforcement immunity bill, and SB 330, which reshapes oversight of the Birmingham Waterworks Board.

It already passed earlie in the session, sparking outrage from Democrats who said th measure stripped local controls.

And again, people, we don't have to be in this posture.

We're all in this position.

This is where y'all want to be.

You want to be because this is your showing you in control.

We got them under control.

This is what you want to show the public.

But for Senate Minority Leade Bobby Singleton, the frustration ran deeper especially over a House decision not to consider his local gaming legislation tied to the green track gaming facility in Greene County.

We just want to make sure that we're being treated equally in this process.

You're not going to run over us, you know because at the end of the day, if you take this mic and you do this, it's just time for us.

That's all it is.

It's just time.

Republicans use cloture to end debate throughout the day, but even so, only about a dozen local bills received final passage out of roughly 50 bills o the calendar to start the day.

Now, when it comes down to this calendar and all of these bills on here are local bills, we've never had a calendar.

This almost look like the Big Bertha calendars.

We've never had a calendar like this long.

All of these bills are the ones that we could have passed if we had just been fair about home rule of others.

As the clock neared midnight, Republicans managed to give final passage to the back the blue bill, sending it to Governor Kay Ivey, who has since signed it into law.

This is something that's needed in the state of Alabama to clarify where they stand, what they do.

We asked law enforcement officers to go in our communities and protect us.

We asked them to take care of us, keep us safe in our homes while we sleep at night.

It just disappoints me that the goal of somebody get pissed off because you don't like the fact that we don't want to get blown away.

I look, I see the attitude.

You think we both be happy getting blown away.

Throughout the night, Republican and Democratic leaders held a series of private meetings to salvage what they could.

Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gardner maintained the process remain fair.

We're going to start havin leadership meetings immediately.

If you're going to about if there's going to be any rule changes, seeing how we can make, this particular body function better on both sides of the aisle so that when we do come back, we're able to make sure that everybody is being treated as fairly as possible.

You heard some people tonight saying they didn't treat them fairly tonight.

But if you look back into how many minutes they've had at the mine I think they've had more minutes than anybody else on the floor.

God.

You're also reflected on lessons he's learned during his first session as pro tem, managing the different personalities that are here because everyone is not only a Type-A personality, but they want the best for their, for their home, right?

And for their constituents back home.

How they get to that point, is so different with each individual colleague that's here and each of the people that we have here.

We're blessed to have al leaders and influential people.

Barring a special session later this year, lawmakers will return to the state Hous to do it all over again in 2026.

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

Thank you, Jeff, and I'll be speaking in more detail with Senat President Pro Tem Garland Dugger later in the show.

Well, once the Senate did pas that back, the blue legislation, it had to go back to the House for final passage.

The lower chamber didn't have much time to act, but the Republican majority was determined to pass the signature piece of the safe Alabama package.

That was the top priority for Governor Kay Ivey and legislative leadership from the beginning of the session.

Capital journal's Randy Scot covered the action in the House.

The 2025 regular session had plenty of bills to debate from Senate Bill 330, dealing with restructuring the Birmingham Waterworks system.

What they're doing is just unacceptable.

They are the lowest rated on JD powers, on customer service of any large, water system.

Two proposals addressing health care expansion.

And most of us think, well, I've got health insurance.

I'm okay.

But when your premiums go up because that number of people who are receiving health care don't have health insurers, it impacts each and every one of us.

That's why so many hospitals are closing out the Goldie.

One of the biggest bills up for debate is House Bill 202.

It's actually 2 or 2 back to blue Bill.

There was three amendments received.

From Senator Singleton and the committee.

They came off the floor toda just a little while ago as a sub that's dealin with law enforcement recordings, data collection and the Joint Legislative Committee study, Commission on Law Enforcement as part of Governor Kay Ivey's public safety package of bills to improve Alabama law enforcement.

There are legal concerns about this bill.

What it actually is doing i taking away judicial discretion.

It is dictating to the courts and judges on how they should view police officers.

So when you're looking at it as a whole, I think it's unconstitutional based upon that in and of itself.

But I'm trying to wrap my mind around why would we give a bad actor?

The power of the judge and the judge and the prosecutor, as well as personal concerns.

I've been stopped and I've been not treated like I was, you know, was not a person.

Instead of being courteous and asking of, you know, a humane manner.

You know, you never experience this because you you don't know the side of this thing.

House Bill 202 passes before session time runs out.

I understand some of the colleagues from other side of the aisle, and I understand their comments and their plight, but we turn that nickel aroun and we got to say the same thing about our fallen officers.

You know, I care about their families in this bill.

We hope, will restore some faith in our officers.

That we do we do have the right bac in Alabama at the Alabama State.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Randy.

After the legislature adjourned, signee die, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter spoke to reporters and offered some thoughts about how this session went while not everything made it to the finish line.

The speaker said lawmakers had a productive session and that delivering the final piece of the crime package to the governor's desk was a fitting end to the session.

I think we had a great session.

I mean, if you look back, I think we forget about some things we've done.

You know, the PBM bill, the pharmacy bill, you know, helping protect farm to stay open across the state.

There's no question that's going to happen.

And we will lose them by the dozens until that bill passed.

And there will be a chance to stay open and serve the people in the community that says, you know, when you go into the Alpha and the farmers to try to help farmers to have insurance, I think that was a huge the other veteran resource center.

You know, we gave this with this next cent off the grocery tax in this quadran and alone, we've given over $1.5 billion in rebates and taxes to the people of Alabama, the largest in state history.

I'd like to not back for blue, Mike says, for the most pro law enforcement state in the country.

I mean, I think we've got a lot to be proud of.

What the hanger had on.

You know, we lost some bills that I wish we'd got through.

Some of the immigration bills didn't make it, and they worked really hard to try to get those done.

But, you know, we always got next year and, certainly the members have done a really good job.

I can't thank our members enough to stay in to the late hour to try to get a bill that was important to law enforcement across the state, and that's what we talked about after we went in.

We met this afternoon late, you know, and talked to him about studying to try to finish up the work on that particular bill, because, you know, men and women in blue protect us every morning that never afternoon.

You know we just had to do another hour and a half to give them more protection.

So I think that's a big deal for the people in the state.

I think it's a big deal for the, people wear the uniforms.

Well, with the end o the session comes bill signing season.

Governor Kay Ivey this week signed a number of bills into law, including the bill banning cell phones in Alabama public schools.

The Focus Act from State Representative Lee Hulsey and State Senator Donny Stein requires students phones be turned of and stored off of their person during school hours.

Some schools already banned the use of devices, but this legislation will require all school systems to do so, leaving it up to the individual systems to decid how the devices will be stored.

The Focus act also requires the Alabama State Department of Education to offer social media safety training for all students before entering the eighth grade.

Ivey also signed into law the Power and Growth Act, sponsored by State Senator Arthur or.

The new law is designed to accelerate energy infrastructure projects for industrial development, particularly in rural areas.

The bill will establish the Alabama Energy Infrastructure Bank under the State Industrial Development Authority.

That entity will be charged with financing energy infrastructure projects that support economic development.

And the law authorizes the agency to issue up to $1 billion in bonds.

Other bills being signed int law this week by Governor Ivey include House Bill 386 from State Representative Danny Garrett, which takes another set off th state's sales tax on groceries.

State sales tax on food will now be 2% starting September 1st.

That's down from 4% originally Senate Bill 330 from State Senator Dan Roberts.

It reconstitute the Birmingham Waterworks Board to add seats from communities surrounding Birmingham that are customers of the system.

Supporters say the change is necessary due to skyrocketing water and sewer fees that they attribute to a dysfunctional board.

House Bill 307 from State Representative Jim Hill, known as the Speedy Trial Act.

The new law will allow the Chief Justice, at the request of the Attorney General or a district attorney, to assign a retired judge o a judge from a different circuit to come preside over violent crime cases where there is a backlog.

House Bill 152 from State Representative Neil Rafferty, which eliminates state sales tax on diapers, baby supplies, maternit clothing and feminine products.

House Bill 199 from Stat Representative Travis Hendricks, which aims to crack dow on juvenile crime by enhancing electronic monitoring of those those deemed to be dangerous.

And Senate Bill 158 from state Senator Will Barfoot, which prohibits foreign national driver's licenses from being used as a form of voter ID.

Governor Ivey also signed legislation aimed to limit and regulate hemp based consumable products like vapes and gummies and drinks containing THC.

I spoke this week with State Representative Andy Witte, who sponsored the bill, about why it was necessary.

The hemp industry was basically the Wild West since the 2018 farm Bill, and it created numerous loopholes in the state of Alabama.

And it began with edibles.

It began with gummie at our local convenience stores.

It morphed into THC infused beverages, and then it morphed and also, beverages being sold at restaurants, bars, things of that nature.

As I was, spoken committee you could come down 65 and get a 50 milligram THC infused slushie on your way to the beach.

So, yeah, it was it was a lot of scary products out there.

And and, in the, in the committee meetings and even on the floor, I brought some of the samples and things for the members, because this is a lot of products they're not familiar with.

But I think all of Alabama is that, that that visits a convenience stores, sees all of the Delta eight nine.

No, they see the flags and th vape shops and things like that.

That's advertising, these, these drugs basically, and synthetic that are targeting our children.

Understan there is no, no State Department that's over those, Elliott doesn't manage it.

The health department doesn't manage it, and ABC doesn't manage it.

So no one has the authority to go in.

Todd, you and I could make this product and put it in convenience stores and sell it.

That's the way.

And you approve without any approval, any testing, any regulation or anything.

So, you know, how safe is that?

It's not safe.

Stepping back from just this week, this year's legislative session really has been action packed with many consequential bills passing.

Let's take a look back at some of the notabl legislation enacted this year.

Start with legislation reforming how pharmacy benefit managers do business with pharmacies.

This bill was supported by local pharmacists, who say these PBMs charge unfair rates and are causing many local pharmacies to go out of business.

The Alpha Health Plan bill this will allow the Alabama Farmers Federation to sell health benefit plans to its members.

Legislation revamping the governance structure of the Alabam Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Commissioner of Veteran Affairs is now a cabinet member, and the board overseeing the department is now an advisory board rather than a governing board.

This, of course, came in the wake of former VA Commissione Kent Davis dismissal last year following a messy interagency dispute.

Lulu's law.

This will institute a shark warning system at Alabama's Gulf beaches, similar to Amber alerts.

It was inspired and promoted by Lulu Gribbin, the mountain Brook teenager who survived a shark attack last year.

A ban on so-called Glock switches, which turned regular pistol effectively into machine guns.

It was also part of that safe Alabama legislative package, the Raise act, which will modernize how Alabama allocate funding to public schools with with extra support for special needs English language learners, students in poverty and gifted students.

Multiple immigration related bills passed, including measure to crack down on human smuggling and requiring law enforcement to collect DNA from illegal immigrants.

They detained for identification purposes.

Legislation requiring smartphone manufacturers to activate content filters on phones sold to minors, and making Juneteenth an official state holiday.

Turning to Washington for a moment where tensions ran high on Capitol Hill as Republicans advanced critical parts of President Trump's budget plan.

Multiple protests interrupted committee proceedings over plans to enact cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.

Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill on how Alabama's delegation was involved.

Key House committee advanced controversial portions of the budget bill this week along party lines.

The proposals tackle health care to food assistance, to boosting tax breaks.

Alabama's Republicans defended the measures in committee this week, while state Democrats warned about the possible negative impacts of the plans.

Protesters filled the halls of a house office building Wednesday to fight against the GOP plan to add new work and eligibility requirements to Medicaid.

One protester even interrupted Congressman Gary Palmer as he was defending the change during the Energy and Commerce budget markup.

Many of the people who've spoken out here and had to be removed.

They're not going to lose their Medicaid.

The interesting thing is we're not going to let this happen you out.

The proposed billions in cuts to Medicaid will help offset extending Trump's tax cuts and covering other breaks, like no tax on overtime.

The Ways and Means Committee advance those tax cuts after a grueling markup this week.

Congresswoman Teres Little sits on that committee.

She fought against the proposed Medicaid cuts.

These cuts are about more than just statistics.

They are about lives and livelihoods.

Real people will be impacted by the actions that we take.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is also facing significant changes.

Republican lawmakers proposed a partially shifting cost of the program to states and expanding work requirements for benefits.

Congressman Barry More on the Agriculture Committee says the changes would encourage state to have more skin in the game.

So there has to be a carrot stick program, as I call it.

So the carrot is, hey, we're going to provide this money.

The stick is you got to manage it.

If we're funding fraud, you're going to be accountable for fraud.

And that's taxpayer money.

But Congressman Shamari figures, who also represents Alabama on the AG committee, says the proposal will make more people hungry.

And adding these administrative burdens and an other resource cuts.

We're going to increase the error rates that we're trying to reduce and further penalize the states for doing that.

The budget bill now goes to the House Budget Committee followed by the Rules Committee, and then to the House floor for a vote.

Reporting on Capitol Hill Alex Angle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Alex.

This week, friends and former staff of former Governor Jim Folsom Jr.

Gathered at the Alabama Archives Building for a special reception and a screening of the new documentary on his political career, A Legacy of Progress.

The Jim Folsom Story highlights the consequential career of Alabama's 50th governor, including his crownin achievement of landing Mercedes.

It was a fun gathering at the archives, with friends and former colleagues telling old stories from the early 90s.

You just saw Carol Brown right there.

There's Senat President Pro Tem Garland Gutter with Governor Folsom and former First Lady Marsha Folsom.

And there they are.

There's Tom Coker.

It was a lot of fun.

And it actually happened to be Governor Folsom's birthday.

Here's a clip of the documentary.

Jim Folsom junior first entere the political arena in the 1970s after graduating fro Jacksonville State University.

He began his career in public service, and I became lieutenant governor, and I was 37 years old at this point in the 1980s, the lieutenant governor was a tremendously powerful position.

They gave the autonomy of organize in the Senate to lieutenant governor.

That means he organized the Senate and gave the committee assignment, which is the most importan thing of the 35 member Senate.

Jim's accomplishment would be more than enough to get him reelected to a second term as lieutenant governor.

But just two years into tha term, everything would change.

I came to the polls in June.

I really never thought that I would become governor by sending to the office that way, we could count on every Friday afternoon an ethics complaint, be involved, or I'm that concerned about that.

There's going to be nothing, you know, wrong.

His opponents didn't want him to be elected in 94, so they were softening the ground to weaken hi as a political candidate in 94, Governor Folsom needed a win, needed it fast.

In 1993, Mercedes-Benz made a monumental decision.

The company had decided to build a manufacturing plant, its first outside of Germany, in the U.S.. Jim Folsom Junior has a very, very definitive legacy in Alabama.

Here' what he brought Mercedes here.

He laid the groundwork for Alabama becoming the second largest and soon to be the largest manufacturing of automobile in the United States of America.

If that's not a legacy, I don't know what he.

It really is a good show.

And you can watch it online at AP, tv.org.

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

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

aptv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journal's Facebook page.

You're watching Alabam Public Television celebrating 70 years of service to Alabama.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state Senator Garland Gutter, president pr tem of the Alabama State Senate.

Mr. pro tem thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me today on oh, we'r through another session.

We are.

It was a slog.

It was it was your first as president pro tem of the Alabama Senate.

I've got to just ask you upfront, like, what are your reflections from this first year as leading the Senate?

A tough job, a big job, but you got through it.

Well, first of all, I was honored to be able to have this position that was voted on by my peers in the Senate.

And, I'm not taking it lightly.

I've done everything I've come that I could work hard, make sure I cast the vision that we wanted for our constituents throughout the state.

And I do believe tha we did a good job this session.

As far as, for me, monumental.

It was it was my first time a a, you know, the Senate pro tem.

That's a big position in the state of Alabama.

And I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

You know, the volum has been more, increased.

Right?

The chaos has been a lot more.

The tugging on your shoulder, how you can kind of get you for a minute.

It's been astronomical.

But in the end, I enjoy that.

I like kind of bringing people together and making people come together to make a good decision, for the state of Alabama.

And I feel like we've done that on a lot of different views, and pieces of legislation this time.

You know, I think if we can just came in in general and did the tax package, for example, that we passed last week, giving people back the money that they work hard for back in their pocket, and we're cutting the grocery tax, you know faster than anyone ever thought.

And took off another minute.

So now we're half of what we used to be, right?

And we're doing it faster than anyone thought.

We were able to do that and then left.

I think people would say that was the best session we've ever had, but we've done so much more than just that.

So as far as this session, I'm very proud of it.

I'm proud of my colleagues in the Senate, and I think we've been working very hard and working very well with the the House of Representatives as well.

And the speaker.

Yeah.

Let me ask you about the Senate, because it has been a difficult session.

Everybody's talking about it.

You know, it slows down, right?

The Senate rules are a lot different than the House.

The House can be very limited in terms of debate.

And so it's different.

The rules, you know, your rules are, you know, allows for the minority to really slow things down.

If you want to, talk about that.

What's it been like working with Mr. Singleton and the minority as their issue comes up?

And then they slow down a day, they, you know, try to kill a day and things like that.

How's that been to try to manage that, knowing that, you know, bills are piling up in the last days coming.

You know, the the runway that I had into this job was one day pretty much.

Right.

I got sworn in the first day of session, and I've been there before that.

I've been in session for six years.

This is my seventh session, and I've been able to try to keep up with the rules where we are.

And there's been a few rule changes, but not much in my last seven years.

But the rules were what they were since I've started this job three and a half months ago, and I've had to work with those rules and within those confines.

The good thing about workin with Senator Smitherman, Senator Singleton and the Democrats is that those are the tools that they have in their tool belt, and no one can blame them to use those tools because that's what they have, right?

That's what they have to use.

They don't have the majority.

They don't have the super vote that they can get things passed through.

So they take their time and delay, delay, delay.

And obviously as yo well know, they're great at it.

So looking at those rules, that's something that I'm going to have to look at going forward with Legislative Council.

And so I think we're goin to have to change some of this as we go forward.

I was going to ask you about that.

Considering the slowdowns, might we see rules changes next year or next quadrennial or something like that?

Because, I think everybody appreciates the rules and how the it gives the minority a voice.

Some people are saying like, local legislation and things like that, maybe that differently than statewide legislation.

Is that being considered?

It is being considered and especially after today when we try to get through as much legislation as we possibly can in mainly local legislation, you know, in all politics or local.

And so those are the bills that we really need for our colleagues back home, so they can be the voice for their constituents because those local bills, they matter to the city councils, the county commissions, the probate judges, that they're D.A.

this back, the sheriff's department and those things.

We need to get passed more than some of these big bills that we're trying to do statewide.

And so it's a balance that's there.

But we do.

We are looking at changing those rules.

But you have to always remember we can use those rules the same way to our advantage when there's something there that we want to slow down.

And so you can take advantage of those tools even though we don't as much.

And the reason we don't is because we have the supermajority, we have that vote.

And so when we go into cloture, we can take that, Mike and we stay focused on them.

I did that once we saw that that was an a clever use of the rules, because you kept the mike and kept kind of prevented them from filibustering.

Well, and that's the creativ side that when we use the rules, it comes to our advantage and is truly one sided.

Then because we have the vote and we have the mike, the only tool that they have is using the mike.

So at times there needs to be a balance there because my job that represents a Senate pro tem, the Republicans and the Democrats, is that everyone in that chamber, 35 senators, gets a voice at the mic to make sure that they represent their constituents.

And so that's part of it.

Now, changing those rules doesn't just really help one side or the other.

Those are just tools of how we're going to play the game.

And we need to make sure that everybody knows that.

So if we do a rule change, obviously it would be so that everybody knows and both sides can take advantage of it.

But I think on local legislation, I think there's been some issues with that.

As you as you saw this last day, that we need to change a little bit because one person can hold those up all day, right?

And it's not like you mentioned the county commissions, the city councils.

It's not their faul that the Constitution requires, you know, all that to come to the legislature.

And you're correct It's not controversial.

Right.

Speaking of controversial legislation, the back the blue House bill 202 all the way to the last day.

Right.

But you made it a point to finally get it across the finish line.

That might have been the most controversial, bill, that I would talk about the importance of getting that final piece of the safe Alabama, package, because I know tha it was important to the governor and the legislative leadership.

Well, what you see with the Trump administration and bringing stuff from the federal government all the way down to the state and now to the locals, is that we want to let everyone in Alabama see that elected officials back the blue and that they're supporting law enforcement in general.

On public safety.

It's been too long where the law enforcement officers have been out there risking their lives and not knowing, hey, how does this affect m if something goes bad in my job?

So now they're able to see light back the blue that we were passin today and the immunity they have or something bad happens on side.

But from that they know that we've got their back and that's what they need to know as they continue to do their job.

And we want to continue to keep Alabama safe, not only for our communities and our neighborhoods where we live, but for the people that are out there risking their lives for us.

Well, you also made a point of focusing on rural Alabama.

You had this op ed this week talking about look you know sometimes we take for granted what happen in the rural parts of our state.

But that's the majority really.

If you think about just you know, where people live in everything.

Talk about why that was important and kind of some examples of focusing on rural Alabama.

No.

Thank you for letting me talk about it.

First of all, I' from a rural section of Alabama.

And if you looked at small business, it's kind of like small business versus big business when you're talking about rural versus urban.

And when you talk about small business, approximately the jobs created are over 90% of all new jobs are produced by small businesses with 50 employees or less, right, in the state of Alabama and really nationwide.

I found out from that.

It's the same thing in rural Alabama.

You're producing agriculture that's out there.

We still have to have electricity and generation that's out there.

We have all the blue collar workers mainl that's in that rural sections.

And so you're looking at th land mass, the state of Alabama.

You're talking about 90% right of rural Alabama versus about 10% of urban.

Now the population are in the big cities, as we know, as we say, the Big Ten.

But I wanted to make a focus on rural Alabama because a lot of times it's overlooked.

And the reason being is it's nice to be able, like Department of Commerce, to go in and do one big corporation and give incentives to them for jobs.

But do you have twice as many jobs being produced over here with small businesses?

But they can't get those incentives.

And so, somebody that wants to make an impact for all of Alabama, I think it's rural Alabama has been looked over.

I want to be a champion for rural Alabama and make sure not only in my district, but statewide, that they have a voice.

And this is a good way to do that, whether that's generation of electricity, whether that's economic development, whether that's making sure that they get their fair share in the roads and the road money and highway money that's coming out.

But any aspect that we can bring together for roll out Bama, it makes our state stronger.

You kind of touche on this earlier, but you know, part of being pro-tem is not even legislative.

You become the leader of a, you know, the body and you become involved in those conversations with the governor is speaker, you know, different than just being a state senator, right?

That's great.

Committee chairman talk about that role and what I don't kno what you've learned from that.

Maybe, the experience of being at that table, like, you've got to be involved in those conversations when when an economic development project comes in or one of those big decisions are made, you get that seat at the table.

Is that been interesting?

To elevate to that position?

I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

So you're able to this particular position Senate pro tem, I'm helping cast a vision for not just the Senate, but for the state of Alabama.

And whether that's economic development, like we were just talking about or whatever we're looking at into the future of where the state of Alabama wants to go, and then are we going to allocate funds to that in the budget?

I've did that on a smaller scale for 14 years as president of the city council in Cullman, Alabama.

When I came to the Senate as rank and file, I was able to move up quickly as the chairman of economic development.

And now I've won the Senate pro tem.

And so being tha I've seen it at different levels and in the end, it's all about leadership.

You've got the right leaders in spot in the place where that's the governor, the speaker of the House, the Senate pro tem, those three people get together and really focus on with the department heads and then administration.

We come together as a team.

And there hasn't been many, issues that we haven't all agreed upon because we know what's right for the state of Alabama.

Obviously, sometimes those, get, operated differently in the house than it does in the Senate because of the rules.

And the same way with the governor's office, with the executive branch of government.

But we work as a team, and when we work as a team, we can get so much more accomplished.

And I'm proud to be in those meetings.

It has been totally different than being a rank and file member but I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and I believe that I'm here for a purpose.

Talk about that.

Because when you firs when you first came on the job, I asked you kind of why you ran and you talked about that purpose and opportunity, seeing God work in your life and things like that.

Now that you're you're finished with your first session, does that remain the case?

Does that yeah.

Does that remain the case more now than ever before?

Todd every day when you take a step of, of faith, and be honest with you, at this level, it's it's fearful at times as a human being.

And am I doing the right thing?

Am I going in the right direction?

But you keep your eyes focused on God.

And every time I've taken a step out on faith and say, I believe this is where my gut is telling me to go, we've done that in the Senate.

And it's been right.

I mean, looking at the PBM bill that's been working on for 20 years, I came in and we try to bring everybody on both sides of the aisle, both sides of every aspect tha they were focused to the table so they can have a voice in that piece of legislation.

And in the end, we were able to thread that needle where it ended up making everyone happy.

I mean, and so, validation of that is when Blue Cross Blue Shield is going to be in our ceremonial picture when it's on, you know, and so I want everybody where as they were opposed.

Oh excuse me.

Yeah.

Because they were opposed on the other side.

The key is, is that we've worked and we've communicated like crazy.

And I've done my job because I felt like it was the right thing to do.

I'm here and you know my story.

We've talked about that in the past because I felt like God was saying, there's a door open an I want you to walk through it.

And I did.

There's something happened last week.

A lady came up and there's people that, are in the state House.

I pray every day for the legislature.

I didn't even know that there was a group of prayer workers in the statehouse.

And she came up and she spoke in Spanish.

And when she came up to meet the the Senate president pro tem, she started crying.

And I though I said something to offend her, but she couldn't speak English.

And she told her husband in Spanish, that at the end of last session she saw me through the gallery and, looked at me and said, God is bringing that man to a position of leadership.

And she was crying when she was telling me, and I didn't know why she was crying.

I thought I did something wrong, but it validates exactly what you just talked about.

I'm here for a purpose, and I'm going to make sure that God is first in what we do in the Senate.

Wow.

That's great.

Thanks.

Looking towards next session, there are going to be plenty of issues.

You know, gambling didn't come up this year.

Everybody kind of thinks that can't come up in an election year.

And I guess that's what I'm going to ask you.

It's going to be an election year that starts right away.

It starts really next week.

So what should we be thinking about toward looking towards next session as we get prepared?

And how does, how do you prepare for that as leader of the Senate, you know, so it's a new role that we talked about.

I'm calling it campaign 2026 and I've got 30 other four, 34 other members that I have to look out for to make sure that we take car of through this campaign season.

We start next week raising money on our personal campaign funds.

And by doing that, people are going to be out all over the state asking for money and going back in their districts to say, hey, number one, let me hear what you need me to do.

Number two, help support me.

And so I want to help with those causes as we go throughout each election that we go through, as we go for next year gambling.

To answer that question, I do not want it to come up.

Personally, I think that there are going to be some people that want it to come out.

But I think during election it's already chaos.

If you bring in gambling to that.

It is mass chaos times four with a tornado coming through and, and a circus with three ring going on with different people.

So I think that the best thin for my colleagues in the Alabama State Senate is to go ahead and hear me say, I'm do not want to bring up gambling next year.

And if we do that, it will tak all the oxygen out of the room.

So let's focus on what we need to focus on the bills that we need to get at hand get through the campaign season, and then the first year of the next quadrennial.

I'm pretty sure it's coming back in June to be coming back hard.

Yeah.

But I will be monitoring that.

But right now my focus is on my colleagues, which is where it should be.

Well, you can't shut it down this session because and you made that very point that you didn't want it to eat up all the oxygen in the room because there was so much else to do, so many other issues.

And I guess that's part of your roles.

Okay We can't you got to prioritize.

You only got a limited number of days.

Is that why you came out and said, hey guys, we can't do this this year?

That was exactly why I did that.

But I do believe it was the right decision.

I think it we came in, too late and with too few votes.

And by doing that, that legislation that I finally got to see after people were talking about it for the while it came up and we did a vote coun in our caucus and on the floor.

And it's just one of those where it didn't make sense for us to push as hard as it needed to be pushed to pass.

And my personal opinion is, that if it's not ready to go and you get 21 votes for, constitutional amendment vote on the Senate floor, then it doesn't need to be introduced.

And so the key for me was we need to make a decision one way or the other.

And I've been here for seven years now, and every year it is creeped up on us and creeped up on us to the point by the end of session, everybody, that's what they're talking about.

I did not want that to happen in my first session.

I wanted us to have a good, clean vote where our head was very clear and not clouded by these type of issues.

And so I wanted to make sure everyone in my, in my Senate knew we're done with this for the year.

There's not enough votes.

Let's go forward on things that really matter, like helping our pharmacies, doing a tax package to get money back into the pockets of the hard working people of Alabama.

The health care, thing from Alpha, all of that are things that we needed to focus on and legislation we need to focus on that affect Alabamians instead of worrying about, are we goin to have enough votes for this?

And we didn't.

So the key is let's make a decision and move forward.

Yeah.

And the only reason I bring it up every where we go, we're asked about it.

I'm sure the same is for you.

It's sometimes it feels like we focu too much on the gambling issue.

But that's what people ask about every every time you're up.

Mr. Garrett, thanks so much for your time.

Congratulations o your first session as pro tem.

I know it's time to get some sleep and everything, but, man, thank you for being so available to Capitol Journal and our viewers as well.

Really appreciate your availability.

Always appreciate being able to be on the show.

Explain our side of what's going on in the Alabama state Senate.

Because from afar, you don't really understand sometimes things that are happening in operations.

But being on your show allows me to have that voice, and I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you very much.

Safe travels.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is AP education reporter Trish Crane.

Trish thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me, Ted.

Well, I wanted to have you on because we were at the end of the legislative session, and it occurs to me it was a big year for education.

I mean, it always kind of is because every year they go through passing the budgets and everything.

But this was really, particularly important.

I'll get t some of the particular issues, but let's just start there with the budgets.

Okay.

Well, the budget educatio trust fund, another record year.

There wasn't much drama associated with the budget, but what are some of the, high points that we should know about this education trust fund?

Yeah.

I mean, number one, it is a record budget, right?

It went up by 6%.

I think it's important to start paying attention to how much the budget increases, because that's held down by statute.

Next year, it can only go up by five and three quarters.

Rolling reserve?

Yes.

The rolling reserve.

And that's to make sure that we're budgeting lawmakers are budgeting responsibly, so that we don't go into proration.

Right.

But, yeah, there are a few things, you know, math coaches for the Alabama Numeracy Act.

Math coaches are expensive.

You know, these are supposed to be expert math teachers.

Those are funded.

Alabama Reading Initiative is funded.

Summer learning.

Which in the last two years has been covered by federal pandemic relief money.

And the state is having t step up and put that money in.

And they did, hiring kind of held its own.

There wasn't really anything that caught my attention.

And, you know, same for community colleges.

So K-12, you know, typically they're the ones that go up the most, in what they receive.

Well, related to that.

The legislature passed a really fundamenta funding reform in the Raise act.

And we've talked about this on air multiple times.

And I keep I keep saying that this is one of the most, I don't know, underappreciated Under-covered kind of, reforms of the last couple of years.

Because anytime you get into funding and how schools or actually, you know, allocated their funding, it could be controversial and yet they were able to reform it this year.

Talk about the Raise act and what the new funding formula does.

So the Raise act is basically a mechanism.

It has a what we call a student weighted formula, weighted student formula, where for students that we know take additional resources to educate kids in poverty, kids with special needs, even gifted children.

Right.

So there is a weight attached to it.

So you get this base amount per student plus the weight on top of it.

So, English learners you know, there's some districts with a lot of English learners, they're very happy with their new allocation under the Raise act.

This is you know, it's the first year, I think one of the reasons that it was very palatable was we kept the foundation program in place, the base funding.

Right.

Right.

So we, you know, schools are used to that.

They know what to do with that.

The Raise act funding being very targeted funding.

They school district are going to be held accountable for how they use it, and they'r going to have to craft a plan.

You know, how are we going to use if I have this much money to spend on kids with disabilities, how am I going to spend it?

And they'll help.

They'll be held accountable for those plans.

So, you know, it's a way to get additional money into the school system, into the schools, to help with kids who are who have more challenges.

But it also isn't fully funded this year.

Right.

So it's just I would say, you know, a smidgen, I mean, 166 million, is that really a smidgen?

You know, it's a lot of money, but it is not.

If it had been fully funded, it would probably be about five times that much.

Yeah.

And it just because when everybody is getting the exact same and yet it costs more to, you know, educate those populations of students then that's when those districts get squeezed.

Right?

Absolutely.

And they have to rely on local money, which in some counties is pretty tough, right?

Absolutely.

Cell phone ban.

This is a big deal.

Governor called for it.

In our state of the state, the legislature, you know, they debated it.

We went through the ringer, s to speak.

But talk about this.

This is a mandate from the state.

The schools have to do this, right.

So talk about th the impact that's going to make.

Well hopefully it's goin to make a great impact, right.

I mean, the research is there.

Montgomery County schools did it on their own a couple of years ago.

They found that discipline referrals went down.

Students were talking with each other.

They were talkin with each other in the hallways instead of everybody looking down at their phone.

I mean, that is a I can' even imagine what that's like.

When we were in school, w didn't have cell phones.

Right.

So the idea is to take the distraction away, and, and let kids really ge focused on what's happening in school again.

I'm sure, you know, some parents are really not happy with this.

Mean, there were lawmakers on the floor that weren't happy with this, you know, really concerne about how parents would contact kids if practice got canceled or something like that.

And, you know, the answer was, we're going to go old school.

You're going to have to go to the office and call your parents.

And, I mean, typically there is a little pushback at the at the front of end of this, but then once it gets going, I think kids kind of like it.

And parents get used to it.

I just imagining a world where I wasn't allowed to have my cell phone for a certain number of, of course I would resist, but I would probably be a lot more, you know, a lot healthier, a lot of, you know, less anxious things like that.

I'm an adult, but the kids ar even more prone to things like.

Right.

Well, and, you know, research show it does have a negative impact.

Cell phone use this constan cell phone use and social media use has a negative impact on kids mental health.

So that's another goal.

Let's let's work to improve that.

Another issue teachers now are going to and all education workers are going to have two new benefits this yea that they've never had before.

One is parental leave.

For those parents mothers and fathers.

Also workers compensation insurance.

A lot of folks, you know, in the private sector have both of those things if they take a job.

Teachers and education workers didn't.

So talk about this is a prett big deal, for education workers.

Well, the paid parental leave was also in governor IV's state of the state.

You know, she said it's time.

I myself was surprised a few years ago when I learned that teacher did not get paid parental leave.

I thought, I've been writing about education for 20 years.

Why did I not know this?

So other people didn't know it?

And Senator figures and, represents Shaver brought these bills, on behalf, you know, Governo Ivey asked her to ask them to.

And it gives them, you know, it's sort of a minimum.

It's it's generous.

It's eight weeks where some states or three weeks some states are six week.

So it's a generous paid leave.

And to and it starts July 1st.

So, so this next school yea will be, you know, new parents and they talked about it is also like a good wa to recruit and retain teachers because, okay if if I want to start a family, maybe I want to be in a jo that offer something like that.

Oh, yes.

And you know, when we think about teachers, what do we think about we think about children.

So teachers are, you know, most likely to want families.

And they have to wait.

They had to build up that sick leave.

You know, I just hope the news gets out to them as quickly as possible s that they can, you know, start.

It's one less big, huge thing to worry about, right?

If you want to start a family.

And then the workers comp, that's huge too.

They have not had workers comp, which meant they had they had a different sort of mechanism, but they would have to foot all of their medical bills ahead of tim and then ask for reimbursement.

That can be a big deal.

And you can be out.

You know, none of us wants to be having paid 3 or $4000 and wait six, eight months, sort of adjustment from the Board of Adjustment.

Yeah, sorry about that.

But yeah.

So that's a big deal too.

Well and we're going to watch those laws because we don't yet know exactl how much they're going to cost.

And that has come to really be an issue in recent years.

Right.

And this brings me t the next point, the Choose act.

Obviously the Choose act was passed last year.

School choice.

You have, I guess, at $7,000, up to $7,000.

Where, a family can use that to send their kid to a private school, a different public school, things like that.

You've done a lot of reporting on this.

There were some updates, though, because they had to really backfill some funding because the demand was so strong.

Right?

Right, right.

Well, so, you know, they opened up applications for the first time this year.

They had 37,000 children apply.

They expected 14 or 15,000.

So we're talking more than twice what was expected.

So initially $100 million was allocated to pay for this first year of education savings accounts.

And the chairman, the budget chairman, both said, look, we support this program.

We need to if people are really serious about this, we need to put up the money to make sur that they can get their funding, because there's an income threshold this year of 300% of the federal poverty level, 75% of Alabama families meet that threshold.

But that that is a threshold.

So they added $80 million in a transfer.

They're only going to transfer what was needed, but up to $80 million from the Educational Opportunities Reserve Fund.

And that will happen if if need be.

And then next year, they, they late in the session, they put together a bill, they added a provision on to an existing, sort of tax transfer bill having something to do with taxes and it said, you know, next year for fiscal year 26, we're automatically we're going to take 100 million off the top of income tax receipts before, you know, we can get to it before October 1st of the new fiscal year.

Explain why that timing is important.

So the academic year starts July 1st.

The fiscal year starts October 1st.

So there's this.

And that is a really important time for parents because July 1st they're having to that's when they get their accounts.

And you know they don't get the money.

Remember it's in like like a bank account.

Right.

And so they have to make deposits to reserve their child's private school.

See, they have to do registration fees.

There all sorts of thing that they have to be paying for.

So that automatic transfer bridges that gap I see okay.

And it is interestin because that record I mean, just large demand was with the income threshold, right.

This wasn't the full blown universal.

And so we're going to be watching that.

That' I mean, it's really significant that people have bought in that much.

Well, and I want to go ahead and mention, you know, something else did tha Bill did it sort of brought out, chairman or said, you know, we're not going to be able to just open i up to everybody in three years.

They call them universal essays.

You know, the income threshold was supposed to be lifted, and everybody was supposed to be eligible.

But he said, you know, we may go up to 315, 325%, but we're not going to be able to just cover everyone who wants an essay.

It's always been dependent on revenue.

That was kind of news to me.

I have not heard it put that way before.

Well, yeah, I would imagine if you if there was no income threshold and there's that much demand already.

Goodness gracious.

Then if you're going to fund all of it, that could be significant.

I mean you talk about $1 billion easily and we'll be we'll be following that.

This is going to be implemented this year.

And so there's a lot to follow while we've got, you know, there were bills that failed this year.

Yeah.

And at the top of my list is the religious instruction.

Bill, that was carried.

It kind of became a big political issue.

Talk about this, because it's my understanding that you talked about off campus religious instruction.

So if a student, arranges to have an off campus, you know, some kind of religious course, they can do that, or it's allowed.

Districts are allowed to set these things up, but this bill would have mandated it.

Is that right?

Yes.

And so it's called religious.

No, it's called release time.

Religious instruction.

You'll see our try that's sort of the acronym for it.

And it's been available in Alabama since 2019.

You know, there was a Supreme Court decision many years ag that said, look, you can do off campus during the school day, religious, instruction.

You can't do it with taxpayer money and you can't do it on campus.

But if it's private fines and all of that is taken care of.

So there are groups that have been working in Alabama since 2019 where they have, you know, it' a very individualized program.

You might have one district that allows only their elementary schoolers to go, and it has to be at the end of the day.

Or you might have high schoolers that can only the high schoolers can go, at one a one certain period of the day.

And what'll happen is the church, the ministry will com and transport the kids to this and then bring them back right during the school day, and then they can do that righ now.

Any district can do that.

But this bill would have kind of force the issue.

Yes.

And the and the people who, the lawmakers who pushed it said, you know, yeah, they can, but they're not.

And they're i parents are being turned down, because the districts are saying, well, we don't have a policy.

And so this bill would have made them create a policy.

And that would have interfered with local control.

Right.

And we we are a local control state.

We really like having that discretion at the local control for the Board of Education.

So this bill, the term is, when you look at the original 2019 law it says they may write a policy.

This would have changed the May to shall.

And that's sort of a catch phrase of this movement because it really is a movement across the country with this life wise group.

Right.

Doing this in other states around the country, there's a big lobbying push to do it here.

But it came up short, I imagine we'll see that, next time, Trish, at a time.

But, we're going to continue this conversation on Spotlight on Education that's coming up next month.

So I encourage people to tune in for that.

Thank you for your coverage of education issues.

I mean, it's so such a big, important, complicated issue, but you simplify it for us.

I really appreciate it I appreciate that I hope s that's my that's my goal okay.

Thanks again.

We'll be right back.

The Birmingham, Alabama native Fannie Flagg, who is best known for her novel Fried Green Tomatoes, had a long career as an actress and comedian before dedicating herself to writing.

Published in 1987, Fried Green Tomatoes, a story of racial and gender inequalities told through the unlikely but strong bonds of its female characters, resonated with audiences.

The novel stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 36 weeks and was adapted into a critically acclaimed movie.

That's our show for this week and the last of the 2025 legislative session.

Thank you for joining us throughout the session and for all the feedback we've received.

I especially want to thank our Capitol Journal team, of course, Randy, Jeff and Alex, who you see every week, but also the guys behind the scenes that make the show possible.

John Holman Rod Richardson and AJ Williams.

Excellent work this session.

And for that Capital Journal team, I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.

You.