From our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy, welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was the 18th day of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session.

We'll start our coverage in the House, which worked through a lengthy calendar of bills mostly focused on various tax credits.

One bill of note considered today is a constitutional amendment that would allow local schoo boards to consolidate operations in order to save money on administrative costs.

House Bill 380 from State Representative Terri Collins of Decatur, is meant for smaller rural school systems that don't have a lot of student and could use the cost savings.

I think we have about ten different counties, maybe 7 to 10 counties with less than 1000 students.

So the money they're putting in administration is exorbitant for that amount of students.

So this would not do away.

Our Constitution is what' in the constitutional amendment says that, each count has to have a school district.

So they would still have a school district, but if they chose to do it's completely permissive.

They could join with one with another bill word or two or even three, and they could work together.

They could combine some of that administration.

They could then put more money back in the classroom.

They would, I'll have representatio on that new Multi-county board, but then they could reduce some of that overhead in that administration.

They could actually maybe recruit a superintendent, like you'd recruit a football coach and have just a rock star superintendent come in.

And the focus was about the kids to make sure that we're offerin the best education that we can.

There are a lot of detail that would have to be worked out for counties to go together, but this is completely they would work out those details.

The good news is, Park, one of the research communities in Alabama is actually going to do a study for.

So if it passes by the time i gets on the ballot in November, we would actually have some study data to show what are some advantages that could happen with this.

What are some benefits that could be there?

Where are the savings that we could get?

That bill passed 96 to 2 and now goes to the Senate.

State Representative Matt Simpson was back in the state House today.

We reported last month that Simpson had to leave a committee meeting abruptly suffering from appendicitis, for which he spent time in the hospital.

Simpson thanked his colleague for their prayers and support, and said he's feeling much better.

I'm trying to keep my emotions in check so I don't go crazy.

I want to thank each and every one of you for the prayers.

My family, my wife, my children.

We I've read every one of your texts and every one of your phone calls.

I hadn't had a chance to respond to everything.

It's been great to see a family come through this process, and it doesn't matter what aisle you're in, what, who your group is, what group you stand with.

Thoughts and prayers go a long way through this process and I'm happy to be here today.

I'm happy to be back with you guys.

And, may not be able to throw fireballs and fastballs just yet, but but I'm workin on it, so I appreciate you all.

Thank you so much.

Up in the Senate.

Lawmakers debated legislation today aimed at addressing ambulance service in rural areas.

Senate Bill 269, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton of Greensboro, would require health insuranc companies to reimburse ambulance providers at set minimum rates and would prevent patients from being billed more than their normal in a network call sharing.

Supporters say the changes are needed to hel ambulance providers stay afloat, especially in rural parts of Alabama, where services often struggle financially.

But during the debate on Senate on the Senate floor, some lawmakers raised concerns that the proposal could shift more health care costs onto insurers and ultimately, consumers.

State Senator Larr Stutts of Tuscumbia questioned how the bill would affect those who end up paying for ambulance services with ambulance issues.

We're call shifting more of the cost to a smaller percentage of the people.

And, and we're shifting it to the people that are trying to pay for everybody else.

And I understand ambulance services, operated, lost a lot of times.

I struggled to make ends meet.

And they're needed in rural areas.

I fully understand that, but I'm sayin this bill unduly shifts the cost to a very small percentage of the people.

This is all a part of health care.

Guys.

Understood.

How many in your bill who all is exempt from the nobody exempt in my bill?

No one is exempt.

So I keep hearing you said so and want I see the House exempt some of what I did.

I put them all back in this bill.

Alpha who don't want to be here.

We've been working y'all y'all up and probably working for Alpha right now.

Alpha.

P hip C hip bluegrass Humana.

They all are in this bill UnitedHealthCare who don't want to be in here.

They all are in here in this in this Senate version I'm not leaving out anyone.

That bill passed 26 to 2 and now goes to the House.

The Senate Judiciary Committe took up legislation addressing unauthorized drone flights over ticketed outdoor events.

House Bill 429 is sponsored by State Representative Neil Rafferty of Birmingham.

It would make it illegal to fly a drone within 400ft of a ticketed concert or sporting event without permission from that venue, or is an operator.

Violators could face fines, with repeat offenses potentially rising to a misdemeanor charge.

Similar legislation is being pushed in states across the countr by Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which argue the restrictions are needed for safety and to prevent unauthorized recording of their events.

Some lawmakers raised concern during the committee discussion about how law enforcement would realistically identify and enforce violations if the bill becomes law.

We have an issue with folks flying drones over a concert or sporting event recording that and then selling the the content.

We also have issues with drones falling out of the sky.

I was at a at a Kenny Chesney concert about two years ago.

Chesney's team had a had a big drone up flying, and there are a couple of other small drones flying around.

They stopped the concert to ask the folks flying the small drones to please quit.

There were no one can see you and be close enough to operate it.

And it just be.

That's.

But that's on us is on the operator of the venue to figure out who that is.

Yes, sir.

There's no thing that comes to my mind is the Senior Bowl.

This would include that you could not do this at the Senior Bowl was that you could do it.

If you have a permission.

These are people that don't have permission, like in football games.

Both teams have people that fly drones.

And there's this.

Yeah.

All those people ar covered under this bill.

They.

That's an exception under this bill.

That bill passed out of committee with bipartisan suppor and now goes to the full Senate.

And we'll be back with tonight's guests.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative Greg Barnes of Jasper.

Representative thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you very much for having me.

Absolutely.

We like to have new lawmakers on.

And you are one of the newest members of the Alabama Legislature.

I am elected back in September Is that right?

That's correct.

Okay.

Number 30.

Well, before we get into issues, can you kind of share with our audience some of your background and why you decided to run for the Senate?

Well, I'm a retired builder, contractor and developer.

I built houses, apartmen complexes, that type thing, and, leased apartments for a long, long time.

And now I'm in the, medical leasing and lease medical offices to hospitals, that type thing.

So.

But I am fully retired.

This is my full time job, and I wanted to come out and be able to represent the peopl and have no other distractions.

So that's one thing that brought me here, and I've had no other distractions.

And if you do this job right, if you're very focused and put your time into it, it's a very full time job.

Well, you've wasted no time really getting started here.

You know, sometimes it takes folks a few years to get their feet under them.

But you've, you know, come out, pretty busy.

Your bill, about, criminalizing the disruption, the intentional disruption of a worship service.

That's great.

Big Bill, because it's really born out of this Minneapolis situation, right?

Well, that was a part of it.

The everything that's been goin on in the nation with churches for the last few years has jus kind of evolved and erupted up to this point where I felt like we needed to do something.

You know, we've had so many church shootings, we've had so many different issues.

So this kind of this was erupting to this point, and I knew it was time to do something.

But that was probably the pivotal point where I knew we needed to make some, some decisions.

And and this is more of a preemptive measure to keep something from that happening.

You know, the likelihood of that happening here.

What me through what the bill does because I know it's been through, I guess two different committees and everything.

So you've had some feedback along the way.

So what's this right now?

I took it for the public Safety Committee, which I sat down.

Then I had to take i before the Judiciary Committee.

I mean, the committee.

And we went through judiciary.

And then today I had to take it before the Senate, committee.

So we got it through those three.

So now it's coming to the House, to the Senate floor, and we expect everything to be okay with it there.

Okay.

So give me an example.

Like because you talked in the committee about intention intentionality and to intentionally I mean, is it kind of like what Don lemon did up there?

I mean, the they went there with a purpose to disrupt worship.

You know, in the protest.

So is is that a good example?

What are some other good examples of this, of what would be criminal under this law?

Well, if you intend to go in and disrupt, harass or cause any kind of damage to the property or anything like that, or people in their worship service, all that would fall under the scope.

And and it's a class A felony.

And we we wanted to send a crystal clear message.

And I think we're doing that that that type of behavior will not be tolerated in Alabama.

Now that's a pretty high penalty.

I mean, yeah, I mean, it' my it's a very serious matter.

Sure, sure.

You know, are you are there concerns about unintended consequences, like folk getting caught in a gray area?

Some of that came up in committee that that exchange with you and Mr.

Jackson was, was was humorous but he kind of had a good point in terms of one person's disruption may be another person' expression or things like that.

What what happens in those gray areas?

We'll see the gray.

There really is no gray area.

You have to intend a to come onto the church property with the intent, you know, that's reall one of the, clarifying markers that you're coming there to cause a disruption or harassment or disorderly conduct, something like or a riot.

So, you know, there's the intense, the threshold you cros when you come onto the property and you go i and commit one of those crimes.

Well we will certainly be watching.

You said it's headed to the to the Senate floor side.

Okay.

I wanted to also ask abou you're involved with this opioid having to do with prescribers that could be you know doctors and things.

You are from Walker Count which is obviously been hit hard by this opioid crisis.

Tell me tell me about this bill and what you're hoping to do with it.

Well, I hope that we can curtai the amount of drugs coming out as far as opioids and stuff and help loo for other alternative measures besides getting them hooked on opioids and only takes from the physicians I've talked with two weeks to become addicted.

That's a very short time frame.

And if you, you know, if you take on beyond that, you have an addiction and it's hard to break.

And, you know, we've had so many people overdose and various things that have caused so much destruction to Walker County in the state, for that matter.

And, and the country, just more so in our case.

So what would the what would be the bill do?

Well, the any prescriber, we went back and brought everybody under the umbrella.

This is not just physicians and nurse practitioners.

We brought anyone who can prescribe under the same umbrella that they have to meet certain thresholds and keep records.

The record keeping is, not voluntary.

I mean, it's something you require.

It will be a requirement for you to do, and it's not self-policing.

Right now, they're kind of under the self-policing, and we want to put some teeth in it.

So, if they don't keep these records are certainly going to be consequences.

Interesting.

You know, you hear about opioids, folks kind of doctor shopping, if you will.

You know, if one if I don't get it from this doctor or if I've gone over my limit or whatever, I just go to the other one and things like, do you think this will kind of curtail that?

And it will, and we're going to address that anyway.

So, you know, we'r in the beginning stages of it.

So we will address that.

Okay.

I hope you'll keep us informed.

It is such an important issue.

Like I said, for the whole state, but particularly there in Walker County in north Alabama, where I know folks have been, it's just been a devastating thing for the community.

We have so many grandparents raising their grandchildren because their children are of old age and various things, you know, that have occurred as a result of opioid.

So it's we're going to bring it under control.

I mean this might take a little while, but we're going to keep focusing and focus again because we can't keep going like we're going.

Absolutely.

Well, again, welcome to the Alabama Legislature.

You've gotten off to a fast start.

So thanks for joining us and look forward to talking to you soon.

Anytime you want me, have a good day.

We'll be right back.

Cheaha Mountain, often called Mount Cheaha, is the highest natural point in Alabama at 2407ft above sea level.

It is located in north centra Alabama and Georgia State Park, surrounded by the Talladega National Forest in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

This dramatic landscape gets its name from the creek Indian name for the mountain char, meaning high place.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is Harry Schmidt, economic development field operations manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Harry thanks for coming on the show.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

Absolutely.

Well, Tennessee Valley Authority, we don't get to talk to you all much.

And admittedly, we don't focu enough on the Tennessee Valley.

North Alabama I was hoping that you could remind our audience of TV's footprint here at Alabama.

Absolutely.

So TVA is a little bit of a different bird, right?

So we're a federal corporation, which means that we have a board who's, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

And then after that we function as a normal company.

We have a CEO, filters down from there.

So we serve a, broader footprint of about, 10 million people in Alabama.

We serve 1.2 somewhere around there, million people.

We're the transmission and generation company.

So we make the power, and then we sell it to our local power distributors.

So we've got, 25 local powe distributors in north Alabama.

So that's like Decatur Utilities, same Mountai Electric, Huntsville Utilities.

We provide them power and then they provide it.

To the customer's door.

So everything we do in North Alabama is in partnership with our local power companies there to get a job with the TVA, right?

I mean, but Tennessee's in the name, but it is the north Alabama counties.

They're very familiar with all that that, you know, that electricity provider.

But you'll you'll do more than electric, though.

There's been a lot of economic development going on in North Alabama I mean, Huntsville is on fire.

Much of the Tennesse Valley is just really growing.

The most recent thin being Lilly coming to Alabama.

I mean, they're they're building and growing.

That's exciting.

Talk about how that works.

Talk abou the economic development side, because that's what you do.

The partnerships you build, how TVA plays a role in recruiting and sustaining economic development there in the Tennessee Valley.

Absolutely.

So TVA has what we call the three E's energy, environment and economic development.

It's core fundamental to the whole company.

So making electricity, managing the Tennessee River system and then the economic development side, which we view is making life better for the people of the valley, that allows us to put a great deal of resources into economic development.

We don't return profit to shareholders because of our corporate structure.

So we reinvest, in the company and in our in our programs.

We're also mandated to provide, the least cost possible power to our region, which is of interest to businesses so reliable and affordabl electricity are key to business.

But we, support economic development in a wide range of ways.

So we work on the, retention side with our existing industries, and then we work on the recruitment side.

Which of the, the bigger name headlin projects like, like Eli Lilly.

So we'll partner with our, local communities and the state of Alabama.

So we spend a lot of time working with the Alabama Department of Commerce, but we work with our local chambers of Commerce, Industrial Development Authority, whoever the bigge industrial economic development agency is for each of our counties.

And then we work comprehensively.

We've got a, a prett large department in some ways.

You can view us like, State Development Office overlaid on our service territory.

So our communities in North Alabama are getting the benefit of commerce and, whole additional, organization supporting them.

So we'll support communities on the recruitment side going back to sit development and site readiness.

So we call it product product development.

So that can be working with the community to assess, a piece of land.

Hey, does this make sense for your community?

Do you need to build a building?

Somebody has a building.

How do we market it?

We work with communitie to assess what needs they have and what assets they have in the community, so they can identify what can they recruit to the community.

Because everywhere is different.

Someplace.

Some locations are looking for office jobs.

Some may be looking for heavy industry.

Huntsville is an example looking into life sciences.

So what are the resources you have in the community that you can leverage to recruit a company to town?

So we will, support, real estate development.

So we don't own property or market property, but we have grant programs to support the development and identification of, property or buildings.

We work with the state to leverage that with the Seeds program.

They have in the state as well, get communities to maximize the available resources.

We have a group we call our target market specialists that are industry specific recruiters who do outbound, specific market recruiting, to the region.

So identifying leads and bringing them back to our service territory, sharing information with our communities, sharing information with commerce and their project managers.

So now you've got sites, you've got, market specific recruitment and then a range of other, programs.

So we have people who will come in and help educate, a chamber board, group of local elected officials.

If a community doesn't know exactly what they're looking to do, we can do, strategic planning with the community to get them on the right track and set their goals.

And then we've got a really neat group we call our technical services team who will, say community has a piece of property and they want to say, how do we best position it?

They're landscape architects, GIS, drone pilots, kind of across the board.

And they will master plan, site as you g through the recruiting process with a company, they'll do renderings of what it would look like, 3D buildings, all to make a company fee more comfortable when they come look at a, look at a site as a prospect you know, how would we fit here?

And showing that it all works?

Well, yeah.

And I can imagine, especially you talk about smaller communities.

They're not going to have those resources to go and figure all that out.

I mean, what you're describing is a major undertaking.

And so if I'm a small, smaller community there and, you know, Limestone County or Franklin County or somewhere, I may and I need that help.

I need those, those that, that, that help them TVA.

So a lot more than dams and electricity.

It is it we try to meet people where they are.

So we work with large, sophisticated, operations, and we work with one person shops and we do all of our resources for everybody and they're all free of charge, to the communities.

But there's times when, you know, it's a one person shop, developer in the county and they go on vacation sometimes it's our staff.

They'll step in and handle things, while they're gone.

So it is, a lot of identifying the needs in the community and trying to, to meet them where they are when it comes to electricity.

The two words I keep hearing ar affordability and reliability.

Right.

People, you know, thin their power rates are too high.

They're worried about reliability.

You know, when storms come in, not just that, just reliability of power.

How does TVA address those two issues.

Affordability and reliability.

So I think two ways.

One, we have a diversified generation mix.

So we have a significant amount of nuclear gas coal, hydro and then renewables.

You know, browns Ferry nuclear is the third largest nuclear plant in the country and really kind of flie under the radar, sitting there in Limestone County.

But so by diversifying the generation mix, you can help control costs because you can meet the power needs in the day efficiently.

And then you're also not subject to commodity price spikes and those sorts of things as well.

On, fueling the plant side.

And then we're building because, across the nation, electric demand is is taking off like never before.

So TVA is building like never before.

We've added 2000MW, since 2024.

And for context, 2000MW is enough to power over a million homes.

Right now, we're in the process.

We've got 6000MW planned.

3700 are under construction right now.

And, that include we've just completed last year 750 additional megawatts at culvert in North Alabama.

But for context, we're a 33, 34,000 megawatt, company.

And so adding 6000MW and you're talking almost 20%, 18%, that's a lot of growth.

And so, but that's what we've got to do to meet the demand in the market today.

Yeah, it's really interesting.

We're out of time.

But I do want to have you back and talk more about nuclear, because I think you're seeing the country starting to wake up and say, hey, we've got to have seeing it more as a renewable rather than as a, you know, dangerous kind of technology.

Is that how you all do it?

Absolutely.

It's, carbon free, efficient resource.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on.

And, thanks for coming on the show.

Absolutely.

Thank you for having us.

All right.

We'll be right back.

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

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Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers with access to free, curriculum aligned videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Media and all the PBS kids programs, parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

Visit us at AP tv.org/education to learn more.

That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow night with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature here on APT for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.