Hell and welcome to the Grand Hotel.

And Point Clear, where Capital Journal is on location at the Business Council of Alabama's annua government affairs conference.

Each year, the state's top electe officials and business leaders gather here at the Gran to discuss policy and politics, build relationships, and help chart the course for Alabama's economy.

This year, BCA is celebrating its 40th year with the largest government affairs conference ever.

Capital Journal has been given special access to document this conference.

Our coverage will feature a conversation with the state's congressional delegation.

In-depth presentations on the state of the economy and business environment, and feedback from conferenc attendees, from state lawmakers to business owners who make up Bca's membership.

I'll be interviewing BCA President Helena Duncan and Chairman Kevin Savoy of Great Southern Wood, U.S.

Senator Katie Britt.

Congressman Robert Aderholt, Congressman Shomari figures and Alabama Senat President pro Tem Garlan Gudger Jeff Sanders kicks off our coverage with a look at some of the key issues at this BCA conference.

Governor Kay Ive helped open the Business Council of Alabama' Governmental Affairs conference, welcoming hundreds of business and political leaders for a weekend of conversation about the state's future.

Here in Alabama, we enjoy stron bipartisan working relationships among the legislative and executive branches.

We may not always agree, even within our own party, but pro tem Gudger,.

leader Singleton.

Speaker Ledbetter and Leader Daniels are always willing to sit down and work through the issues.

From there, the conference floor turned into a series of panel discussions.

Topics ranged from workforc development and infrastructure upgrades to rural health care, agriculture, and the impact of federal policy on Alabama businesses.

Industry leaders, lawmakers and policy experts shared ideas on how to strengthen the econom and prepare for future growth.

We can work together to understand what the barriers of growth are, and then we also get together public private partnerships, and we work together on finding workable solutions as we continue to work as partners.

There is absolutely nothing that we cannot accomplish in the state of Alabama.

The conversations were backed by fresh polling from signal showing what Republica primary voters say matters most.

Heading into the 2026 elections, that includes inflation and cost of living, taxes and government spending, illega immigration and border security, infrastructure and roads and jobs and the economy were people who felt that they didn't have job growth where they were, that they were yearning for that, but they felt that they were entry level and everything around them was very attainable.

But to grow, they fel they didn't fully have that yet.

And a lot of this too, was, talk about wanting to attract larger and bigger business to Alabama is prepared to mee the needs of the growing economy that we have here in the state is important.

And so we continue both, in the big beautiful bill, there are a number of those things that I think you'll continue to see, whether it's permitting, reform or other thing, be able to move forward so we can achieve that.

The people that work in this state, which by the way, has an individual media income of just north of $31,000.

And so we have to take this issue seriously and continue to develop and work on those opportunities to enhance life outcomes and enhance health care opportunities.

Across this district.

And it may come as no surprise that business and political leader say the ideas and conversations shared here at the BCA conference will carry forward strengthening relationships, shaping policy and driving new ideas to move forward.

Alabama's economy.

Reporting from the Grand Hotel.

In point clear.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

And joining me next are BCA president Eileen Duncan and chairman Kevin Savoy of Great Southern Wood.

Thank you both for coming by.

Thank you for having me, for having us.

Absolutely.

Well let me just say congratulations.

It's a it's been a great conference record breaking attendance, from what I understand.

Is that correct?

Absolutely.

We had almost 100 mor than we did last year, as though we were not bustling from the same last year Right.

Well, what goes into preparing for a conference like this?

Because you've got pretty much the entire congressional delegation.

Most of the legislature, the governor, lots of moving parts.

But you're also trying to put on a program that really is meaningful and substantive, right?

Absolutely.

So this process is very, very, granular thought through.

We want we want to make sure that people are living with context.

It's important the work that we have done, and it's important for the people of Alabama to know about that work.

So we do spend a little time making sure that we are, displaying that, and we're explaining the policies and things that we're put in place and why we've done it the way we've done it.

But then it's also an opportunity for us to look forward, to think about what is next for Alabama business.

What are the things that we need to focus on?

Also then we have the federal people in place and they also good to hear that.

And we get to hea the things they're working on.

Our synergy is getting better every day with between Washington and Montgomery.

And that is critica to the growth of this community.

So every panel every discussion, every speech, everything that you see here this weekend is thought through to making Alabam a better place to do business.

And what does our community that's our supporters.

What does the business and the elected officials need to hear from us?

As a collective, we're representing over 3500 businesses, which is over a million working Alabamians.

And so we are representing them in that space when we're here, making sure that we're getting the message out.

Well, Kevin, let me ask you about that, because, you know coming from the private sector, one of the largest companies in the southeast, why is it important for companie like yours to invest your time, your financial resources in the Business Council of Alabama, in the public sector, if you will, to why is that so important?

What do you get out of a lot of businesse like y'all's invest like that?

Well I get asked that question a lot.

I get asked that question, what is BCA?

What what does BCA do?

And, the advocacy piece is so important.

So I like to mentioned it, maintaining a business climate in our state that is pro-business at the legislative level.

So not only is our team involved in making sure that our legislators are passing legislation that are pro-business or supporting business, they're also involved in working with the governor's office and Department of Commerce and the Workforce Board on all the other, ancillary issues that need to be focused on sometimes promote business.

Exactly.

We our famil has been involved in politics.

You know, Jimmy's wa on, Governor Wallace's campaign when he was in college, and he's always, impressed upon us how important it is to be involved in the legislative process.

Provide input, provide guidance.

Because we have to maintain that environment so that the state can continue to grow.

We create jobs.

We're making an environment where Alabama moves forward.

So we believe in it strongly.

Oh, yeah, I remember Mr. Ryan coming on and sharing memories about he and Governor Ivey, George McMillan and some of those early days.

Absolutely.

For Joe.

Fine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I wanted to ask y'all both about this polling that you demonstrated today.

You had the contract with signal to have this polling.

One of the thing that struck out to me was asking voters what they want their elected officials to focus on.

And overwhelmingly, they said economic issues, pocketbook issue rather than the social issues.

And yet, a lot of times, that's all we hear are the kind of culture war things that go on.

So talk about that.

What was your reaction to seeing those numbers come in to say voters actually want their leaders to focus on economics rather than some of the, I don't know, red meat, you know, more divisive kind of issues.

That's right.

So at BCA, you know, that' what we work on is the economy, whether it's job creation, whether it's incentives to get more business here.

That's that's what we do.

So we were thrilled to see it was like a validation of the work that we've been doing at BCA.

A few years ago, as you recall, Todd, we we establishe the public private partnership, and that was, all about bringing the center do to the table state leadership with state business leaders.

And let's talk abou how to move our economy forward.

So this validates that all the work and efforts that has bee put into place over the years.

It started back, if you think about Rebuild Alabama.

And so we started there.

And then infrastructure was another public private partnership, then workforce and now the energy bill that we did powering growth this year.

All of this is like building blocks to a better Alabama.

So this tells us hey guys.

You guys are pointing it in the right direction.

Now, our voter probably have not seen the fruit of this labor as much because this is all very new.

You know, foundations are being laid, but it's there and it's going to grow and it's only going to get better.

So for our voters to say hey, over almost 60% is saying, hey, stay focused, work on the economy and let these social issues work out somewhere else is exactly what Alabama needs.

We are a pro-business state, and that validates that what we're doing as a pro-business state, the mission, the direction in which we're moving in, is exactly what our constituents and our the people in Alabama need for us to focus on.

We were thrilled to get these results, but I was surprised because on social media news, everything is, you know, the social.

Excuse me, social issues.

And I'm agree with Helena.

I mean, we were pleasantl surprised with this information.

And it validates Bca's vision and its purpose.

And I think it's good for our legislator to see that information as well.

Yeah, I was going to say, because you've got about the entire elected leadership of the stat saying that that's a message set for sure.

Absolutely.

Well, look, again, congratulations on another fantastic conference.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of it.

And to document this.

I mean, it's unique.

It's the largest premier gathering of Alabama business and political leadership.

So thanks for letting Capital Journal be a part of that.

Thank you for being here.

Yes.

Enjoyed it.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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

aptv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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

Alabama's Gulf Coast is renowned for its white sand beaches bordering the Gulf of Mexico.

It is an important part of the quality of life for many of the state' citizens, and one of the state's greatest economic and environmental assets.

The white, sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Dauphin Island are popular vacation destinations for Alabamians and out-of-state tourists.

The fine quality of the san and gentleness of the surf make for some of the prettiest beaches in the world, and are the top tourist destination in the state.

And welcome back to Capital Journal's coverage of the BCA conference here at the Grand Hotel.

And Point Clear.

As I mentioned at the top members of Alabama's congressional delegatio are here at the BCA conference, and they sat down for a panel discussio to talk about what's happening in the nation's capita and how it's impacting Alabama.

A Washington correspondent, Alex Angle, has that report Here in point clear.

Alabama's delegatio touched on health care, energy, infrastructure and agriculture.

During their panel conversation, federal lawmakers are back i Alabama for the August recess, making a stop at the BCA conference.

Republicans are touting the new tax breaks and spending cuts law, including the $50 billion fund for rural hospitals.

At least 50 million will go toward Alabama.

Got to help these people stay alive.

These facilities stay alive.

But this bill goes a long way to do that.

I mean, it's just a lot of money.

$50 billion is nothing to sneeze at.

The funds were added into the legislation later on to offset the Medicaid cut that could hurt rural hospitals.

Democrats summary figures di not support the GOP led package, but he agreed with the delegation on the need to support struggling hospitals.

And I don't care if your name is Saban or Tuberville.

You cannot close a recruiting pitch to a resident, to a company, to a retiree, to an industry.

When that pitch begins with, we don't have a hospital.

And so this is a significant issue.

Also during the delegation panel, energy was a key topic.

Senator Katie Britt wants to see permitting reform and federal action aimed at boosting production.

We've got to have more acces to energy and that reliability, making sure the grid is not only safe, but is is prepared to mee the needs of the growing economy that we have here in the state is important.

Senator and gubernatorial candidate Tommy Tuberville compared the state's competition for energy to an SEC football schedule.

We're going to be fighting Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida, and they surround us, okay.

And whoever gets the most energy, whoever plans for the future, is going to win that race of getting manufacturing back to the state.

The bipartisan delegation also agreed on the need to incentivize farmers and pass a new farm bill.

Reporting in point clear Alex Engel, Capital Journal.

And joining me fresh off that stag from the congressional panel is United States Senator Katie Britt.

Senator, thanks for coming by.

Thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity It's always good to be with you.

Absolutely.

Well, we're here at the BCA conference.

Really interesting presentations toda about polling, economic polling.

I was struck by this, data that showed voters really want their elected officials to focus on economic issues, pocketbook issues more so than social issues, which is interesting because sometimes when we're on social media, that's all we hear about is the divisive thing we're fighting with each other.

As an elected official, what did you take away from seeing that data?

Well, I thin obviously the more people learn about the one big, beautiful bill, the more they're going to realize that we're being responsive to that very thing, whether it's no tax on tips or no tax on overtime or even deductions for our seniors that are living on a fixed income.

There are a lot of things in the big, beautiful bill that are going to address hard working Americans being able to keep more of their hard earned money.

One of the things I was most proud of that we did in that Bill and I led the effort for, was actually updating the child care tax credits.

So you hear a lot, Todd, about the child tax credit, which I'm proud that we've made permanent and expanded by $200.

But the work that I did specifically on this bill, we're updating tax codes that haven't been updated in almost four decades in some time.

So we did both the CTC and the D cap, one of whic had not been updated since 1986.

So believe me, the the cost of child care has gon up since Reagan was in office.

The other had not been updated since 2001.

Additionally, we put another component in there, 45 S. It hasn't been updated since 2001.

What that does is allow businesses, both large and small, to actually be a part of the solution.

Now, all of that to say is what we're trying to do is allow hard working parents to keep more of their money to make those decisions about what's best for their child, and then actually address this affordabilit and accessibility of child care, which I hear from the top to the bottom of our state, whether I am talking with our largest manufacturer or Tod or our smallest business on Main Street, they say workforce and making sure that they can retain that quality workforce, not losing them to chil care issues, which we have found that 59% of people who have a stay at home parents actually want to reenter the workforce, but that affordability or accessibility of child care is a problem.

So this is one of those things that we've heard people on both sides of the aisle talk about for years.

And I think it's really instructive that the Republican Part has become the big tent party, the party of parents, party of hard working Americans.

We heard Americans on November 5th.

Because if you look at this reconciliation bill, Democrats had two bites at the apple under the Joe Biden administration.

They never tackled the affordabilit or accessibility of child care.

And the fact that we were able to update those our very first, run, so to speak, out of the gate, i something I'm really proud of.

I hope more people learn about them.

So they take, they actually take advantage of them.

And then we're going to continue to carry that mantle.

I'm proud to carry it and continue to look for ways to alleviate that for hard working people across the country.

Well, also on the economi front is the issue of tariffs, right The president's tariff policies.

I mean, I don't know.

We're all trying to figure it out, but a lot of concerns about that because you know, these tariffs a lot of times get passed on, you know, and you know, import taxes essentiall get passed on to the consumer.

What should we think about tariffs.

I mean do you support these tariff policies.

So what we're seeing obviously is for years American being taken advantage of on the world stage.

And what President Trump has said is that we want to level the playing field.

He believes that if you put America on a level playing field, that we're going to win every single time, and I do as well when we're working to figure out how we on, sure, more jobs for Americans.

That is critically important.

Look, if we took nothing away from the pandemic in 2020, it was that we should onshore our critical supply chain that we want to make sure that we don't just lead when it comes to innovation, but we actually lead when it comes to building as well.

It's one thing to create these things, but then if we are, if we are dependent on our adversaries in some spaces to be able to actually achieve them, we're not putting America in the best place possible for success.

And driving up American wages is also critically important.

So what we've done is obviously he has been given the flexibility and the time to create those spaces on many fronts.

He has had just historic wins for the American people.

It'll take some time for u to be able to let those cement for the building to come back and that won't happen overnight.

But the commitments we've gotten from so many companies, whether it is Apple o some of our auto manufacturers, are going to be significant in creating the American dream for hardworking Americans.

Now, we're not done yet.

So to your point there are some more outstanding trade, deals that need to come together.

But I have faith that President Trump will actually achieve that, whether it's with Mexico or Canada, or some of our, some of our other countries that we deal with quite frequently across the board.

I believe when you see the success that he's created thus far, we'll continue to have that moving forward.

Speaking of the president, you've had to, interact quite a bit with the administration on funding.

Right?

I'm going back to the Greyhound situation, in Montgomery.

You talked about that on stage just a moment ago.

The Tuskegee situation.

You had the education funding that was frozen and you worked to get it unfrozen.

And I h all these things, I always I describe it almost as whac-a-mole.

You're you're having to play whac-a-mole to get all this funding, figured out and released for, for Alabama, which I understand of, you know, it takes a lot of work and, you know, kudos to you.

But should it ever have to happen, should you have to be playing this game of whack a mole with the administration considering, you know, this is funding that Congress has already appropriated.

And what's that been like?

What is your process?

How do you who do you call?

Right?

Well, I think, it is my job to know and understand the needs of our state, to understand our strengths, to know our our history, to ensure that is preserved and celebrated and work diligently to achieve that.

So making sure that when things do come up, that I am, you know, well-versed on the issue and then figure out who the best point person is to call to either unlock that funding or to make sure that things are set in the right direction, whether it was, you know, obviously, Pete Headset stepped in immediately when it came to the Tuskegee Airmen situation and was so prou of his leadership and ensuring, that they, cemented their rightful place in the history not just for our state, but our nation in the world.

Same thing with making calls about whether it's the Montgomery bus stop or others.

In particular, you know, when you looked at the education money, I was proud to join, nine of my other colleagues to say, hey, you know, this matters.

And let's make sure that the money that we appropriated is properly used.

And then additionally, the NIH.

So not only did I lead the letter and make sur that we are working diligently, and we've been working on this for quite some time, we've gotten actually Secretary Kennedy a number of times in the space, whether it's being hearings or other things, talking about the great work that's done in Alabama, the life saving and life changing research that we do here across our state, that's because we've been front and center, both in my conversations with him and making sure we're providing data to decision makers.

So I led that letter when it came to NIH.

Possible pocket rescissions wit I think there were 14 of us on that letter.

And then when news media kind of broke that that may not be the case and they may actually be rescinded, made sure I actually called the president myself.

It was a great conversation with President Trump.

He believes in finding cures, he believes in saving lives, and he believes in America leading the way.

So that was a quick and easy conversation, ensuring that we have the proper funding to continue that research, not just here in our state, but across the country.

So I think that's the role that I signed up for, right, Todd?

I mean, I'm supposed to know Alabama best, and I'm supposed to be willing to step up when it's needed.

And that's what I'm doing time and time again.

And look forward, though to the appropriations process, to continuing to move forwar right now, this is the problem.

And what we had under Chuck Schumer, which was not putting any of the marked up appropriations bills on the floor, wanting to hoard that powe and hope to get an omnibus, only to ultimately get a CR in the end, if we do appropriations bills there's more skin in the game.

People have more opportunity to direct that funds where it needs to go, and then there's more buy in and progress moving forward.

You saw us do a rescission bill for the very first time in over 30 years, because we lost the trusted the American people.

Money that had allocated to certain things was used far outside the mission of which it was intended.

And the American taxpayer deserves better.

So we're approaching thi from a number of different ways, but I am proud to be a voice for the great things that happen in Alabama.

And make sure that those are elevated sometimes to the very highest level, so that we can make sure that we achieve results.

It's interesting you bring that up the appropriations process because, I think the last time we talked on Capitol or actually just after you got elected, we talked about article one and Congress reasserting its article one authority because under the prior administration, you had a lot of these, these articles.

But I have to say, a lot of times it just seems like Congress is ceding its authority to President Trump.

There's no room for debate, no room for disagreement or anything.

So how do you square that?

Is it going to be an actual congressionally led article?

One led, you know, appropriations process, or is it just going to b whatever the white House wants?

So I would I would have t respectfully disagree on that.

I think probably a lot of what you're seeing is what the media, ultimately wants you to see.

We've had an unprecedented level of obstruction, both when Chuck Schumer was the leader of the Senate, when the Democratic Party was in control, not putting things like the appropriations bills on the floor, not moving things that had true bipartisan support forward.

And yet, we've seen that that became the crux of our leadership election, when we were lookin to find a new Republican leader.

Quote, number one question on everyone's mind is, are you going to give power back to individual senators?

Are you going to allow us to actually move bills through the process?

And are you going to actually put the appropriations bills on the floor?

So we have an opportunity to speak for our constituents directly into how we're spending these dollars.

Leade Thune has done a remarkable job, but yet again, in the face of on precedented obstruction.

So if you're looking at what we've been able to achieve this Congress so far, we've sent more than 12 bills both through the House and Senate and to President Trump's desk.

I was proud to have the very first bill, which was the Laken Riley Act, where we for the first time actually dealt with immigration enforcement.

And over 30 years, also have gotten rulings all through the Senate.

We look forward to getting that one through the House.

But we've also gotten the hot fentanyl act.

We've gotten the take it Down act.

We've gotten a number of important pieces of legislation to the president's desk.

But there are many pieces of legislation, Todd, that are waiting to get floor time.

We have over 12 bipartisan pieces of legislation that have been marked up in committee that are waitin for their moment on the floor.

Now, one of those pieces of legislation is the Road to Housing Act.

We know that housing has become unaffordable for Americans.

Going bac to your very first point about this is what people care about.

They want economic security.

They want a pathway to the American dream.

I would argue to say most people's American dream, a component of tha is being able to own their own home, used t people would own their own home at about 28 years old on average.

Now it's about 3839.

Before you can buy your first home, we've got to make sure this becomes in reach.

When you look at homelessness, there's pieces of this legislatio that we want to even improve on and make sure that, you know, homelessness is addressed.

It grows exponentially in 2023, even here in the state of Alabama.

You know, some statistics say up to 40%.

There's 11,000 children in the state that say that they consider themselves homeless.

So I have a bill with Angela also, Brooks to actually address that.

And so, Todd, all of these different components and a portion of the Road to Housing Act that I have with Senator Jack Reed, and there is making sure that we take programs that were built to help people get on their feet and create a glide path so they can actually do that.

So we've got a lot of good things, right, that will address issues that people are having and make the American dream more attainable, will make the country more prosperous.

But they have to be able to see the floor.

And right now what we're seeing is yet again unlevel preceden of our unlevel and undue levels of obstruction from Chuck Schumer.

And I just want to give you a little bit of a window into that.

We have voted twice more than the House of Representatives have and you have worked in Congress.

That is unheard of.

Some people say that we've been in session.

I don't have the exact number, but over 30 days more than they have.

We have been working around the clock passing this legislation and one big beautiful bill.

The legislations I mentioned, I mentioned the rescissions that we've actually passed appropriations bills on the floor all before August.

But the nomination process has become so ridiculous when it come to throwing up every roadblock possible, is what Chuck Schumer is doing to prevent President Trump from getting his people in place.

And I think your viewers need to take a look at this, and I encourage you to do this.

If you go back to the exact same time.

Okay.

Rewind to Clinton.

I think he had passed at this same point in time before we left fo the state work period in August.

217 nominees by voice vote.

Then you go to George W Bush, 192 nominees by voice vote.

Then you can go to Obam 209 nominees that pass by voice vote, then go to President Trump's first term, four.

Then go to President Biden's term 44 and now go to President Trump's second term zero.

So when you were jumping through these procedural hurdles, you are inhibiting our ability to actually move things through the Senate in a multitude of ways.

So I would say we are absolutely asserting our authority in a number of ways and we'll continue to find ways to do bette and be better in that for sure.

But we've got to make sure that the obstruction stops so that we can get to work for the American people.

And I certainly am going to work to be a part of that.

Absolutely.

We'll leave it there.

I know it's been a long slog.

I've never seen a stretch of like, like this if I'm in the Senate, honestly, it's unbelievable.

And you think about the number of votes we've had overnight, like 30 hours on our 27 hours on the floo and 14 hours and this and that.

I mean, we understand the mission.

We know that this is a moment in time and we have to do everything in our power to, you know, to to cement thi and to move the nation forward.

But it is it is certainl something it's rare that you see the Senat take more votes than the House.

And at such a significant level.

We've also seen yo wearing your comfortable shoes.

So listen, I got it.

I got to be ready.

I got to be ready to ge after it at any point in time.

Yeah.

Look, I really appreciate you.

Come on in explaining some of these things, the questions we have about what's going on in Washington and.

Yeah, thanks for your time here at the BCA conference.

Thank you.

It's an honor to represent Alabama.

And I promise I'm giving i everything I've got every day.

We'll be right back.

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And welcome back to Capital Journal here at the BC Government Affairs Conference.

I'm joined next by Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger .

Senator, thanks for thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for having me, as usual.

I appreciate having the time to spend with you.

Absolutely.

Well, here at BCA, you've come here for several years.

But now you're the leader of the Senate.

So I'm curious what you and your members actually get out of conferences like this.

First of all, you know, BCA is a wonderful conference I think is the largest that we have every year.

Everybody wants to be at this conference, and partially because you're going to have to build relationships here.

You're going to talk about what's been going on in the off session.

And then when people come together, obviously there are work sessions for all of us to get to, to really focus on where are we going in the future and then what has been happening in the past, and how is legislation that we've already passed?

How is it affecting their own particular districts?

And so, as a rank and file member, when I first started coming here, it was great just to see everybod come together in the off session and really focus on where are we going in the future.

Now that I'm president, pro tem is a little different because my day is eaten up with meetings and people that are holding my time.

But that is good because they're wanting the same thing, you know, they're wanting where are we doing for the next session?

Where do we what have we done in the past hours?

Everybody coming together.

How are we working with the house?

How are we working with the executive branch?

So it's a little bit more comprehensive where I am now but it's really the same thing which is really building relationships.

Well you know the session will be here for you know Januar may sound like a long way away.

It'll be here before you know it.

So what might we see.

It's an interesting sessio because it's an election year.

That means it'll start earlier and I assume, and maybe earlier, just because everybody's got to go home and campaign and everything.

But you also had a couple of sessions of big, heavy lifts and everything.

What kind of legislative focus might we see come January?

Well, first of all, you've got to realize that being an election year, everyone's really focused on back home, even when they're coming back to the state House.

There's going to be some other list that we're going to pick up that are going to be some major list.

But really everybody is because we're starting earl and trying to focus on campaign that is coming up right after we get out of session.

People want to kno what their hometown is thinking, what their district is thinking, and making sure that we're covering those local needs for our districts back home.

So that's going to be influenced into some of the heavy lifts that are going to be coming up.

And then everybody's going to be talking about what happens after this session because this campaign time and we're going to have a new governor, a new lieutenant governor, and different leadership as we move forward.

So when there were a lot of those local bills that got caught up at the end, so I'm assuming some of those are going to need some, some attention as well.

Speaking of that, the last time we talked on Capitol Journal, it was right after the session.

It was the day after the session.

Right.

And the to talk about kept coming up about potential rules changes because of the frustratio at the very end with Democrats filibustering, holding up bills, especially local bills.

There's been some time between then and now.

So I'm curious what the caucu talk is about that might we see potential rule changes upstairs in the Senate?

There is talk about that.

You have to be very cautious.

And when you are even talking about that because the rules that can hurt you today are the rules that you need for tomorrow on your side to be able to pass something.

So we're making sure that we're very diligent and methodical on anything that we are talking about changing and putting together on black and white so that we can make those rule changes.

Those would actually have to be adopted in an organizational meeting which is once every four years when we come back into the next quadrennial.

But we were frustrated at the end of last year.

The Democrats have never held up our local bills because all politics are local, and we allow that common courtesy to let your local bills pass.

They didn't last year for the first time that I know of in the history of Alabama.

So having that said, there is talk about that.

And we're having talks on both sides of the aisle, not just on one side, to make sure that if we do this, that this is something that's going to benefit everyone, but we're going to be very cautious going forward.

Well, you've talked about, you know, sometimes we think about business and economic development and sometimes it's just so muc of focus on cities and suburbs.

The rural parts of Alabama sometimes get left out.

You and your counterpart in the House have really made a focus on rural Alabama and lifting up rural communities.

Talk about that.

Your partnership with the speaker there and what we might see develop out of that.

First of all, I hav a great partnership with them.

I know what they're the speaker of the House.

We work very well together, and that's not always been the case.

But he and I, we do work well together.

His focus and mine, since we both live in rural communities, have been making sure that rural Alabama is connected, because right now it is, you know, separated, throughout, whether you'r talking about rural health care, whether you're talking about agriculture, whether you're talking about economic development, where they're talking about small business, all of those, entities need to have a voice, but those voices nee to be connected into one voice in the statehouse, because what they happen is the loudest voice and the largest voice, usually in the statehouse i it really gets the grease right.

The key for us is to make sur that rural Alabama has a voice, because there's so many jobs that are produced, throughout this whole state in rural Alabama, no matter if there's a small business or industry.

But at the same time, right now, it's haphazardly being injected into some of these bills that we have.

And so some of the bills that we passed last year is what spurred this on.

And it's very important for NR to get together in both houses and making sure as we move forward, into a new quadrennial after this session, that we are on the same page in rural Alabama, has a strong voice as we move forward.

Well, look I really appreciate your time.

We'll see you around the conference.

And yeah.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Thanks for having us.

And now we'll send it to Randy Scott who's caught up with conventio delegates about their feedback on this year's conference.

Representative Jennifer Fittler represents the area where the Business Counci of Alabama's 2025 conference is being held.

She says it's a great opportunity for local, state and federal leaders to gather and talk about the issues such as health care needs.

The moneys that are coming down from the federal government, from the big beautiful bill, the $500 million that we're going to be abl to spend in our rural hospitals, those are that is so important to make sure that our rural hospitals continue, even if, as these hospitals close, there's going to be a stress put on the hospitals in urban areas that they are not prepared to take care of.

You know, I'm sorry, but they are not going to be a whole lot of additional beds, build in the urban areas to take care of the need of the people in the rural area of these hospitals, closing also education concerns.

I am a public education product, and I pushed there because I worked in the public classroom for 23 years, and I'm excited about the future for our students.

And then we're going to dismantle the education from the from the national state.

Point of view.

AA is important.

NEA is important.

And the Department of Education is definitely important as relates to how we fund ourselves and Alabama's agriculture industry.

Things that are happening now because of the big beautiful bill.

There's things in it that will really help move Alabama forward.

Funding for rural hospitals and also, we we've talked about, you know, agriculture and the need for, the farm bill to get passed.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this 2025 BCA conference here at Point Clear, Alabama, is the ability to bring federal leaders, together with state leaders and local leaders, to brainstorm on ways to improve Alabama and several aspects from an economic standpoint to a health care standpoin and even a technical standpoint, it's a good idea to have a conference like thi so that, we can hear the needs, make sure that we understand the demands of the business community, and then respond as government to that so that we're ready to go to work when they are.

How do we have one person that can kind of bring everybody together so we can make sure that we're all aligned and we can offer all the options that we need to address every single alabamian to get them working, to get them in the workforce, to make sure that they are providing for their family and bringing a grea contribution to our communities.

In point clear.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Congressman Shomari Figures.

Congressman, thanks for stopping by.

Thank you man.

Thanks for being here.

We're in your neck of the woods a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, what have you gotten out of this year's BCA conference as an elected official at the federal level?

Look, it' always good to be here and hear from the business community and constituents in general about the issue that they are concerned about.

I'll tell you, since we've been here, we've heard a lot about tariffs and the uncertainty and the potential impact that that's going to have.

You know, businesses here locally and their abilit to be able to expand and grow.

And so it's always good to have a good touch point with people, to make sure that we are, working in D.C. on the things that matter most to, to businesses down here.

Well, let me follow up on that, because we saw that polling that said voters wan their elected officials to care to focus more on economic issues rather than social issues.

And yet the social issues just kind of tend to dominate the the conversation a lot.

What did you do when you saw that polling?

What did that, how did that impact you as an elected official and as somebody that has to be on the ballot and ask voters for their support?

Yeah, it's reinforcing, it's reinforcing the things that we've long known that people at the end of the day, at the end of the day, they care about their personal economic situation, their personal economic, flexibility, their the well-being of their families, the well-being of their future in terms of retirement and being able to send their kids to school if that's what they elect to do, or investments.

So it wasn't surprising, per se, but it's it's a reminder.

And that's why we've bee spending our time in Washington working on those sorts of issues.

We spent a lot of time working on rural hospitals.

That may not seem lik an economic issue on its face, but when communities lose hospitals, the businesses and the jobs and the the residents and the tax revenue, goes with it.

We just recently introduced legislation to remove, the tariff fees associated with baby products because the US does not manufacture, a ton of baby products.

And so it cost money.

You know, that people here do not have to be able to be spendin more on those basic necessities.

Well, speaking of work in Washington, let's tal about the big beautiful Bill act that passed.

You've been speaking out about this because it has had an impact here in the state, here in Alabama.

I'm thinking about Medicaid.

I'm thinking about Snap, and its effect on food banks and everything.

Talk about what your concerns are about.

It's law.

It's right.

It's it's it's law.

What are your concerns?

What how do we need to be looking at this from your perspective?

Look, I think it's similar to the earlier question about economics.

And when I look at it, what I see is a bill that at its core, provides a significant amount of tax relief and tax benefits to the wealthiest, people in this country.

And that's not the majority of my district.

That's not the majority of this state.

The individual median income in this state is just north of $31,000.

And these are not the millionaires and people that earn in high six figures or even low six figures across this district.

And so I believe the tax policy needs to be skewed towards providing the most benefit to the tax class.

That's the biggest, and not the tax class.

That's the richest.

And we did all of this and made all of these cuts to programs like Medicaid, like Snap.

All at the expense, of adding over $4 trillion, to the national deficit.

And so at the end of the day, you know, I just don't think that that trade off is worth it for the people industry, too.

We're going to be talking more about that bill and its impact for years to come, I'm sure.

Switching gears.

It's we're getting to football season.

Yeah.

And, you've got legislation about name, image and likeness in a L. It's really changed th landscape of college athletics at some would say in a negative way.

Right?

Really, it's not the same sport as it was even ten years ago or so.

Talk about your legislation, what it does and what needs to happen to, I guess, kind of right.

The ship when it comes to college athletics.

Look I think everybody, would agree, that students should be able to be compensated, for their name, image and likeness when it's being used to to make money for other institutions or businesses.

And that's what this bill ensures.

That ensures that.

Right, for student athletes to be able to do that while at the same time providing some guardrails, for the industry as a whole.

So we don't continue to go down this sort of unchecked, you know, framework or or in this unchecked territory, related to it, you know, that really poses a long term jeopardy, to, college athletics as we know it.

And so this bill is first and foremost about protecting student athletes, making sure that they have, access to the health care coverage that they need, making sure they have the right to finish college degrees if they come back and, making sure they have access to critical, life, skills that they need, including financial literacy and others.

And so, this bill aims to do that, it has bipartisan support.

It's already out of committee.

And it's something that we are continuing to work on to make stronger, and make more palatable, for everyone involved.

Well, speaking on behalf of a lot of college football fans, we hope something can get done with that.

But it is it.

I mean, it is an issue that needs addressing.

And I'm glad y'al are at least taking a look at it and we'll be following that moving forward.

Well, Congressman, thanks again for stopping by.

Thank you.

I appreciate your time Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

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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Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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The USS Alabama is a World War Two era battleship that first served in the Atlantic theater, but was better known for helping to take Japanese held islands in the Pacific between 1943 and 1945.

During the battle of the Philippine Sea, the Alabama State of the Art radar alerted the fleet to incoming aircraft, providing the American enough time to scramble fighters and decimate the attacking force.

Later, the Alabama serve during the Battle of Lady Gulf and anchored in Tokyo Bay t unload Allied occupation forces.

In 1964, the state of Alabama took possession of the battleship Alabama.

School children raised $100,000 in nickels and dimes to help bring the ship to mobile an create battleship memorial Park.

The park features the Alabama, the World War II era submarine USS Strom, and an American military aircraft collection battleship memorial Park as one of the state's most visited attractions.

Welcome back to Capital Journal's coverage on location here at the BC Governmental Affairs Conference.

Joining me next is Congressman Robert Aderholt.

Congressman, thanks for stopping by.

Thanks, Todd.

Good to be with you.

Thanks.

Well, I wanted to ask yo at the top about Space Command.

You'l have this congressional panel.

And I was I was almost surprised that it didn't come up because there's a lot of excitement about Space Command and the idea and the, you know, prognostication that it could be coming to Huntsville.

Where are we on that and what when might we learn the final, the final decision?

Well, any day now, I think, is the answer.

Quite honestly, I think the president wants to personally be involved in the announcement.

As you know, he's had a lot of things on his plate over the last several months, and especially with pass trying to get the one big, beautiful bill through the House and the Senate and trying to make sure that that, all the things are include in that, that don't get changed.

But obviously what's going on with, you know, economic situations with the tariffs for everything, but, it's from all indications that we're getting, is that, that there will be an announcement soon.

So, I mean, there's bee some indications that, you know, it might have been a week or two ago that there would have been, announcement, but we're not seeing any indication that it's not coming forward.

So I think just really getting the president to, concentrate as on this particular thing.

I mean, this is very important.

It's big.

But obviously in his world, there's a lot of big things going on.

So this is not to, minimiz the importance of Space Command.

It's just that I think he wants to make sure that, you know, he has, is involved with the announcement of.

And, of course, obviously, we know this was not, somethin that was politically motivated.

They did, unbiased research.

Huntsville.

North Alabama, that entire area up there show that it was the best spot hands down.

So it was.

No, there's no, political, aspect of it.

But I think the president, as you know, wants to be very involved.

And, this is something that's been something that's been, near and dear to his heart.

So I think he wants to be involved.

And I think he's probably went for the right time.

But again, there's no indicatio that it's going anywhere else.

Stagecraft is very important.

Yeah.

How?

We know that you are a senior appropriator a cardinal.

They call you on on Capitol Hill.

Talk about the appropriations process where we are in that process.

I was actually just talking with Senator Brett about it.

There's some frustration at the Senate level.

Where are we on that process?

Migh we see a continuing resolution?

And what kind of explain to our audience the difference betwee appropriating in regular order and then, you know, the alternative, having a CEO say, Well, as you know, and probably most of your listeners know, is that we start a new fiscal year on October 1st.

That's the way it always is.

So we're working on 20, 26 appropriations and, but, we usually start in February, March with our hearings and start getting the bills ready because there's 12 appropriation bills, as you reference, there's 12 cardinals, 12 chairmen of the of the committees that handle every aspect of the federal government, whether it's, know every department, every federal program or every agency or all in what is fits neatly i one of those 12 subcommittees.

They subcommittee that I chair is the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and Department of Labor.

So they get largest, b the way, is offense, right?

Yes.

It's largest domestic.

And defense is the only one that that's larger.

But it, you know, funds those three departments to make sure that they can keep doing what they're doing.

And obviously Department Health and Human Services, because health care in this country, Department of Education, of course, we're trying to change that and trying to, you know the president wants to do away with, Department of Education as it is now, which I totally agree with.

We need to have more control for the states.

And then, of course, of that, the Department of Labor.

But, we are to pass those 1 appropriation bills by September 30th so that when October 1st rolls around, we have, all the 12 bills passed and ready to go.

Now, the problem with passing on in an expeditious manner is the fact that you've go to get the house to pass all 12.

You got to get the Senate to pass all 12.

And then obviously when they do that, they're not always going to be identical.

Have to go to conference between the two, have to iron out the differences then go back and pass it again.

Each each individually or in a grou in each in the House and Senate.

And then since the president for his signature.

So there's a lot to go through that process.

And when you're talking about spending that kind of money, when you're talking about spending over $1 trillion, and every member of Congress has, an issue that they think is important that needs to be included, then they can get that.

It can get difficult sometimes.

But we are in the process right now of, of, of trying to pass those appropriations bills were passed to so far.

And, House Representatives, I think the Senate may have now passed three and, but we'll have a whole month of September, and that's what September will be focused on.

But if we do not pass, all 1 are the ones we have not passed.

We do like continuin resolution, as you alluded to, which will just continuing th funding from the previous year.

Previous fiscal year of our FY 25 and just carryover of when we'll say carryover.

There are 30 day 60 day until we get the right timing.

So or until we get the exact, till we get the negotiations worked out.

So the goal is the government will be shut down, but, hopefully we can get, do a continuing resolution for maybe 30 days.

So we'll probably have a continuing resolutio for at least 30 days to give us a little bit more time.

But at the end of the day, the goal is to pass all 12 the true blocking and tackling of the federal government.

Well, I've got you.

I wanted to ask you about your involvement in America's 250th anniversary of the founding of the declaration of Independence.

I know you're involved in the commission that's overseeing a lot of that.

We've got a lot of excitement here in Alabama about you talk about your work on that and what we can expect.

Well, every state has a commission.

202 50 a commission.

And, you know, a lot of a lot of your viewers will remember the, bicentennial.

I'm actually old enough to remember the bicentennial.

I know it's hard to believe in 76.

I, I actually was a young bo during that time, but I remember the bicentennial, and of course, that was easy to say.

Bicentennial.

That, for the 200th, the tour in 50 is a little bit more difficult, as we had alluded to earlier.

It is it's called a semi Quinn Centennial.

And, so that's why everybod thought and it says America 250.

Yeah.

We'll just and so, each state has their own commission, but we have a, there is a national commission, just like there was a bicentennial commission that sets up the, that sets up the celebrations and the things that goes on to celebrate America's 250th birthday.

Honore to be one of the commissioners, that serve on the was there's four House members.

I'm one of four House members.

There's four in the Senate.

And then some, public citizens.

That's on the commission as well.

So it is a, a great time to just to celebrate America.

It, you know what my goal is?

It's not to be political.

We're not, you know political agendas are set aside.

We're celebrating the greatness of America and our founding fathers of what they envision.

And here we are 250 years later, and we'r still have this country intact.

And, we still have the former government that Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Georg Washington, those, John Adams, those individuals set forth, 250 years ago.

And it's still a lasting and it's the longest lasting democracy on the face of the earth, really something to celebrate and to be proud of and to pass on to the next generation.

Congressman, we're out of time.

Thank you for your time.

Well thank you.

It's always good to be with you.

And thanks for what you do for informing, the, citizens of Alabama about, what goes on in Washington.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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From 1820 to 1826, Cahaba was the first capital of the state of Alabama.

The capital city was located at the convergence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers.

Because Governor William Wyatt Bibb had arranged for a free gift of land for that purpose from the federal government.

An ancient India earthwork was found on the site, so the governor reused it as a dramatic centerpiece for the town plan.

The sale of Lots and Cahaba built the state treasury for the new state and paid for the first state house.

Soon, the frontier capital had two newspapers numerous businesses, a theater, and nearly a thousand inhabitants.

Despite the loss of the capital to Tuscaloosa in 1826 as a county seat grew into one of the wealthiest communities in the nation and did not become a ghost tow until well after the Civil War.

Cahaba was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Today it is known as the Old Harbor Archeological Park.

And that's wrap of our coverage of the BCA conference here at the Grand Hotel.

And point clear.

A special thanks to the Business Council of Alabama for allowing Capital Journal unique access to document this important event for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.

Christmas.