From our State House studio in Montgomery, I'm Todd Stacy.

Welcome to Capital Journal.

It's August and we're now in the dog days of summer which sometimes means slow news.

Weeks after the last month we've had in politics that's not exactly a bad thing.

This week in the state House, lawmakers and policymakers gathered to discuss blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and what steps the state might need to tak to protect consumers from fraud.

The Alabama Blockchain Study Commission brought together industry leaders and regulatory agencies to explore how the state can utilize this emerging technology while protecting consumers.

Blockchain technology is the foundation upon which cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin are built.

It acts as a secure publi ledger that records and verifies all transactions.

But the industry is far less regulated than banks, credit unions and other financial institutions.

Very important to the way we work with crypto companies and make sure that this is a friendly environment for crypto complex.

We want them to stay her as opportunities for our state, but their traditional opportunities with just employment and how that works, but also just there's advantage to us to be on the forefront of, of bringing these companies in in a positive way.

I want the state to be very friendly to blockchain companies, but also want to make sure our people are protected too.

And so many of these companies that are popping up around cryptocurrency and it's not the cryptocurrency itself, the transactions peer to peer, but the companies that are forming around cryptocurrency, that are allowing consumers and investors to apply their assets to certain trade or trading functions and deposit their assets, make loans with these digital assets, receive interest, are not complying with laws that are required of financial institutions in this state.

I think that you look at blockchain and crypto is a it's a $2 trillion asset class right now.

I truly believe within the next ten years we're looking at it being at 50 to maybe $100 trillion asset class.

And you know, right now the question is, is is Alabama going to be able to take advantage of this?

Monumental growth in value or are we going to let it pass us by?

And I'll sit down with Alabama Securities Commission director Amanda Sun to explore this in more detail later in the show.

Turning to Washington, U.S.

Senator Katie Britt this week introduced bipartisan legislation that aims to help families better afford child care.

She's working with Senator Ti Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, to build support for a proposal that would increase the child and dependent care tax credit to 20 $500 for those with one child and $4,000 for those with two or more children.

Britt said workin parents are facing exceedingly high costs for childcare.

I've experienced America's broken childcare system firsthand.

My husband, Wesley and I had our own challenges as we went through the journey as new parents.

Challenging might actually be an understatement.

I went back to law school and there I was with a newborn and an 11 month old while Wesley was getting his MBA.

Then we moved to Birmingham after school and we had to spen an astronomical amount of money to send our daughter and our son to child care.

I felt like we were actually writing checks for their college tuition and not for their child care.

Today, these costs are even higher for families across Alabama and across America.

When the cost of child care is that high, parents fac the question of whether or not it's financially rational to return to work.

And for many, it's not even a question.

It's unaffordable and it leaves them with no realistic option.

This is where it really become an even bigger workforce issue.

It is my belief that Congress has a role to play here and it can and must do something.

I'm really proud to com together with Senator Tim Kaine.

We have what I believe is an actionable legislative solution to actually help.

Speaking of Senator Brooke, she was one of several officials gathering in Mobil this week to celebrate the $550 million grant from the US Department of Transportation that will go toward making the mobile bridg and Bay Way project a reality.

Also gathering for the celebration at Gulf Quest were Governor Kay Ivey, Congressman Jerry Carl, Federal Highway Administrator Charlene Batt, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Fairhope City Councilman Jack Burrell.

He's the chair of the Eastern Shore Municipal Planning Organized Session.

The state has for years sought to build a new I-10 bridge over the Mobile River and replace the Bay Way, connecting Mobile and Baldwin Counties.

The current tunnel is a frequent traffic problem, both for local commuters and commercial traffic along the heavily traveled I-10 route.

The project will see a six lane bridge constructed over the river in downtown Mobile that will connect to an expanded and elevated bay way into Baldwin County.

We've reported before on the shortage of physicians here in the state of Alabama.

It's especially acute in the black belt and other rural areas.

The state's medical association is taking steps to address that shortage.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders has more.

The pathway to becoming a physician is a challenging, multi-year process filled with many requirements for medical students to officially be called a doctor.

I have seen estimates around 3000 physician that we're short in this state.

Mark Jackson is the executive director of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.

All the primary care side.

So we're talking about family medicine.

We're talking about pediatrics, general internal medicine.

We're looking at 250 to 300 physician that were short in this state.

That number plays out much in a much greater sens in the rural areas of the state.

So to help address the shortage of doctors in Alabama, the legislature passed the Physician Workforce Act back in 2023.

Part of that act is the Bridg Year graduate physician program, which is now accepting applications.

It enables medical school graduates who did not secure residency placements to gain valuable experience and skills under the supervision of a licensed doctor.

But it will allow, again, those medical students to go into a with a physician supervised by a physician, to provide additional manpower in that practice so that they can see patients and provide care that the physician wouldn't ordinarily have that additional help and see in those patients.

For more information on the Bridge Year graduate physician program, you can visit this website ail BMA dot gov.

For more information.

Reporting for capitol journal, I'm jeff Sanders.

This week, Browns Ferry Nuclear Power plant in Athens, Alabama, celebrated 50 years in operation.

The plant generates about 20% of the Tennessee Valley Authority's total electric capacity.

The occasion comes ami increased talks nationally about building more nuclear power plants as a clean form of energy to meet growing electricity demands.

We are excited about the last 50 years of operation at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant.

When I think about the demand for power in the next 20, 30 years, we have an opportunity to create a new legacy for the next 50 years.

When I think about the future of Browns Ferry, what excites me most is the transition of how we do business to the next generation.

So we have to teach, we have to mentor, we have to use technology.

We have to change how we've done it.

To almost shepher the new generation into nuclear.

And we're going to invest heavily in the plants assets to upgrade equipment.

We've already started that over the last few years, and that's going to continue.

And, you know, I' really excited about how Browns Ferry is going to support the entire Tennessee Valley for for the next decades to come.

Well, ready or not, it' back to school time in Alabama.

Some districts have already started class and most are starting back in the next couple of weeks.

The Alabama Department of Public Health is reminding parents to make sure kids are up to date on their shots and healthy when they return to school.

Capitol Journal's Randi Scott reports.

We recently told you about a tax free holiday weekend around the state to get parents discounts fo buying back to school supplies.

There's another bo to check of their back to school list of things to do.

This time, it involves health care.

Many of our children, especially children who have to ride the bus and maybe those that have to ride the bus for long distances have to get up really early.

And that can be a big shock to the system.

That was Stubblefield with the Alabama Department of Public Health, has a list of pointers to help students and their parents get ready for class.

You have trouble getting up but the kids don't want to eat and then they go to school hungry.

That can be a problem.

That can be an adjustment period.

It's quiet now but soon that won't be the case for schools across Alabama.

As the new school year officially starts preparing future leaders, it's what they do.

And getting those future leaders ready.

It's what their parents do.

So from an educational standpoint and a health standpoint, parents also have work to do.

Children that are on medication that they are either o at school or on before school.

Think about diabetics, those that have ADHD medications for asthma.

All of these things need to be reevaluated.

Prescriptions need to be recycled, forms need to be filled out.

Preparation also includes vaccines, according to Alabama law, that children need to be vaccinated with a certain minimum number of vaccinations to attend school in Alabama.

That's private and public.

Dr. Stubblefield says COVID and flu vaccinations are not required for school entry, but parents should keep a watch as the season gets going.

Some children could be at risk.

Other children could be at very high risk because they have underlying medical conditions.

So it's important fo both the health of your children and the health of the broader community.

The doctor says parents should also consider items dealing with mental health issues.

Children, especially children who have had mental health difficulties in the past.

This is yet another reason to make sure that you have those yearly evaluations with your trusted health care provider to discuss these issues, things about previous medication taken, counseling, appointments that that may have gotten delayed over the summer.

Moving to a new grade, a new school.

Previous problems with previous classmates.

Anything that may have to do with with with a, you know, boyfriend or girlfriend.

There's just lots of things to think about.

Emma Gunnery Randy Scott Capital-Journal.

And in the spirit of back to school, Governor Kay Ivey today released a special message for students and teachers returning to the classroom.

She encouraged students to study hard and have fun.

And she thanked teachers for serving as the backbone of Alabama's education system.

I hope you've had a wonderful summer filled with great fun and plenty of reading and learning.

As many of you are returning to the classroom these next few days, I want to share a few words of encouragement here in Alabama.

We believe that strong students are key to our success.

Each one of you has th potential to make a difference, not just in your own lives, but in the future of Alabama and our nation.

Your passion for learning is what makes Alabama shine, and I am looking forward to seeing the enthusiasm and hard work from students all across the state to our incredible teachers.

Thank you for your dedication in shaping the minds of our young learners as you guide and support our students.

Know that your hard work does not go unnoticed.

You are the backbone of our education system and we are grateful for everything you do.

Let's make this school year the best one yet.

Coming up after the break, I'll sit down with State Superintendent Eric Mackey to talk abou the new school year after that.

Alabama Securitie Commission director Amanda Sin joins me to discuss tha blockchain issue we reported on.

And later in the show, Ellen McNair and Bob Smit from the Department of Commerce are in studio to talk about th recent London Airshow and offer an update on the state's economic development.

Stay with us.

You ca watch past episodes of Capital Journal Online any time at Alabama Public Television's website app TV, Dawg.

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.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is Dr. Eric Mackey, Alabama superintendent of schools.

Dr. Mackey thanks for coming on the show.

I'm glad to be here.

Well, it's good timing becaus it's back to school time, right?

It really is back to school time.

And in fact, our first students went back to school earlier this week.

So yesterday we had some students going to school.

That's crazy.

I mean, I mean, I guess it just starts earlier and earlier each year.

But.

That's right.

I mean, between this week and next week and in August, it's back to school time.

So, I mean, that's really go time for you.

All right.

Walk us throug kind of what happens as schools prepare to accept students into this new school year.

Maybe some things that we don't take we might take for granted.

Sure.

So some hours are really busy in schools.

You know, I can certainly remember my days as a principal and even the state superintendent.

In many ways, the summer is more busy than the first few weeks of school for school administrator because so much has to be done.

And of course, they're doing a lot of behind the scenes things.

You know, we're cleaning schools, we're doing a lot of repairs, a lot of repaving of parking lots went on this summer.

So there's so many things that you really don't want to do, whether students o campus, if if at all possible.

So those things are going on in the summer.

Unfortunately, we all know how hot it's been this summer and we've had to replace a lot of AC units.

In fact, we've had some schools that are they're having a hard time getting all those things up to date and installed.

But all in all, we feel pretty good about it.

Most of our schools will be starting on time.

All of them will be starting by the end of August.

And there's a lot of work goes behind it.

And we just ready for students to get back to school and get back to learning.

Is it that same kind of feeling of optimism as the new school year begins about Hey, it's another opportunity to really improv outcomes in terms of education, that optimism that comes with the new school year?

Yeah, I'm more optimisti about this year than any year.

I've had this, you know, in my seventh year state superintendent.

So it's a lot to say, you know, you never know what's going to happen in the year.

I was pretty optimistic about the 1920 year.

And then, you know, by the end of the year, we had the COVID situation.

But we even learned so much from that.

If that same thing were to happen again, we'd be so much more ahead of the curve.

I feel really good about this year because, as you know, literacy our literacy scores are the best they've ever been in this state, the best I've ever been.

Our math scores are getting better.

We had some regression this year in second and third grade math.

We're a little worried about that.

But again, part of that I think, is just that we focus so intensely on readin and those early grades that that maybe we backed of just a little bit in some places on math, it's not enough regression to really worry about as long as it's not a trend.

We want that to turn around.

But if you look at fourth grade and up, we've had growth in mat and in reading across the board.

So I feel good about where we are with the basics.

You know, we're going to be looking this year at a new graduation opportunity through the Pathways bill that passe the legislature in the spring.

And so I just I think it's a really good time to be working in K-12 and it's going to be a good year.

It's good to hear.

Let's talk about summer learning.

I know that's been a big focus here in the state over the last several years.

Talk about how that went becaus it's such a critical component really to catching kids u and avoiding that learning loss.

Right.

Well, we had good year of summer learning, especially in the early grades.

You know, for the Literacy act, we provide summer learning opportunities, especially for students who score below grade level on the tests, but they're not the only ones that are invited to come to summer learning programs.

And there's a lo of acceleration going on, too.

One of the things we saw this year, this is a trend now for a couple of years, and it really informed the way we plan in the future is a lot of people show up for June.

Not so many people show up after the 4th of July for summer learning opportunities.

And part of that i families are going on vacation.

They have other things they want to do.

So we think in the next year and beyond that, we're really going to focus our attention on the beginning of the summer.

People seem to be their parents seem to be what they want a place for the kids to go in June.

But again, we see them backing off of of summer opportunities in July, a little bit.

And that's not true for our families because a lot of families don't have a place for their kids to go.

And so we're going to continue to offer opportunities throughout the summer, but really focus in early in the year.

Participation this year seem to be really good.

And a lot of the stories I go back where the children enjoyed going to summer reading camp and math camps and STEM camps.

I got to go down to Stillman College and visit with a group of high school high school students that they were all high school students at Stillman last week.

They were from all over the Black Belt, Black Belt Scholars Program.

And I mean, they were hyped up and having a great time.

And it was, I think, the next to last day for the for their program.

So people people are still excited about it and and also got to do some really neat experiments with those young people.

Mm hmm.

Let me ask you about funding, because I know that the some of the code funds from the federal government helped pay for a lot of summer learning programs.

Is that funding drying up or are we going to be able to replace it or how does that work?

So a lot of the funding is already been replaced by the legislature.

We have paid for summer.

Summer reading camps, math camps and some other programs with extra funds.

The last couple of summers and this summer, next summer there won't be any federal funds for that legislature went ahead and fully funded our summer math and reading camps.

They've also given us a small line item.

It's not real big, a couple of million dollars, which is not much when you sprea for for other programs like school programs and summer programs.

But that can help fund like high school programs, middle school programs.

And we have a few other a fe other programs that are funded with public and private funds.

But but I would tell you, going forward we're probably going to have to look at that because there is a demand, especially for afterschool programs, but also for summer school programs for older students.

And again, the literacy math acts are really focused on those youngest kids.

Again, the program I went to at Stillman is a great example.

We are able to put some money into that and there's also private funding that helps support those about 300 students, I think, that go to those summer camps.

But in the end, there are a lot of students or a lot of families looking for a place for their students to go in the summer.

Mm hmm.

Let me ask you about the literacy act, because the accountabilit provision kicked in this year.

And so letter went out to some families about, you know, students possibly being retained.

How did that go?

Because I know part of the summer programs also are aimed at if they weren't at grade level, they're reading at grade level, try to catch them up over summe before they go to fourth grade.

So how did it all work?

Well, a lot of those students, thousands of them, did go to summer reading camps.

We like to call them camps, not summer school.

And they took test as a separate test but it's another reading test.

The end of that.

We don't have all those results back yet, but preliminary results are going to show that we're going to have some success.

Obviously those are the students who are who have reading challenge or they wouldn't be identified.

And so I don't think we're going to see, you know, 90% or 100% of those students pass the second test opportunity.

But we do have some students who did pass the will.

We'll have those numbers out next week.

Parents are being notified right now about whether their children are being promoted through those tests.

Some other good cause exemptions.

So in the original round of testing, we had about 9% of students who tested below grade level.

Last year it was about 17%.

So we're headed in the right direction, and I'm going to predict that it's somewhere around 7% that actually could be held back.

Again some of those might be promoted.

Another good college exemption if they have an AP or special education student that may be promoted on that special education status.

Students that take what we cal the alternate test, which means they're they're academically very low functioning.

That's only 1% of our population.

Obviously, we're not going to retain those students because they really their school experience is not not about reading per say.

So so we'll look at the final numbers.

By the middle of August.

We'll have numbers.

But but I really feel very good about where we are.

Considering the fact that we were about 23% belo grade level than last year, 17% this year, 9% tells me that our teachers are doin the work that we ask them to do to make sure that students are reading.

Mm hmm.

And at the end of the day, let's say it is that 7% or 9%, whatever.

I mean they're having trouble reading.

And that's the whole point of the law, right, is to say, okay, you're going to need some more instruction.

You all talked about it as learning to read versus reading to learn.

And that kind of transition happens in fourth grade.

That's right.

So in fourth grade, you start doing more book work.

Actually, we say book work.

You start readin a lot more in-depth materials.

And of course, that continues fifth, sixth, seventh grade and into high school.

And so if student are not reading on grade level, they're going to really struggle through those middle grades and high school to read more complex text.

We're talking about real text books, but there's also this group of students I keep talking about the who who may test on grade level, but they're barely on grade level.

And so, you know, toda they may they may be one point above the cut score, but tomorrow they might be one point below and they might be two points above.

So they're in that bubble area where they're going to really struggle no matter what.

And we're really focusing on those students.

We got $5 million in the legislature this year.

And a new line ite we're calling struggling raters.

And it's really targeted toward those middle grades.

We're going to we're going to roll that money out to the schools that have the most struggling readers in the middle grades.

And we're going to be back asking for more money because we know that that's importan to support those young readers in the wa that they need to be supported.

Mm hmm.

You mentioned the legislature, and it strikes me that, you know, if you go back decades, it tended to the conversation tended to all be about money.

Right.

ETF, which of course is where everything gets started.

So.

So of course that's important.

In recent years thoug I just so much as policy focus you got the literacy, you got the numeracy it seems like you have lawmaker especially on those committees that are really engaged on the details.

Is that helpful to you as the superintendent to have legislators that aren't just worried about dollars and cents, but actual polic that helps improve instruction?

Yeah, we've seen this across the whole country that there are big policy ideas moving through legislatures.

Most of the states passed some sort of literacy reform in the last five years or so.

I think in the Southeast Georgia's the most recent one.

It's just a little bit behind us.

We were th first state that really passed some comprehensive mathematics reform, but we're seeing more and more states now starting to do that.

West Virginia just passed something.

I think ours is bolde and bigger than West Virginia's.

But but we're going to see mor states working on mathematics.

We see legislatures also focusing on high school graduates and what the experience beyond high school looks like.

Again, back to the Pathways bill that moved through the legislature.

So I think it's really good in that the legislature, we depend on them for funding and they really want to fund programs that they buy into that their constituents buy into.

And so we get buy in from the legislature, we get funding from the legislature.

Obviously, our state board is always concentrating on writing the rules for how that's going to play out in the schools or really more of an implementation phase.

And then, of course, what we're doing at the department is then then we take the legislative work, the board's work, and we actually go out in the schools to to make sure it gets done.

So it's a hand-in-glove it all.

It takes every level o government to get things done.

The the problem is when all those levels are pulling in different directions.

Unfortunately, in Alabama we don't have to deal with that.

We are all pulling in the same direction.

It hasn't always been that way.

There's been some friction over the years.

Well, while I've got you, we got a little time left.

Like I said, we're getting back to school.

Wonder if you have any tips for parents of school age children of you know, as the school year begins to make it really count and maybe, you know, tips for helping improve that instruction.

Yeah, well, I will offer some tips.

One really controversial and one not so controversial.

So the first one not controversial.

Raid, raid, raid, raid raid.

Especially if your children are third grade or below.

You've got to be reading with them, read to them and let them read to you.

We know that reading aloud is one of the best and most important ways that vocabulary develops.

And, well, of course, we want parents reading to children.

Well, I would say in-utero, but certainly from the time they're born to be reading with them.

But as soon as children can begin doing some reading, whether that's a Dr. Seuss book, you know, simple words, let students also start doing that reading.

So you read to them, read with them, and then let students read to you.

Practicin reading aloud is very important for young minds as they develop.

So I'd say raid, raid, raid raid.

I would say if you got middle school students or high school students, this low controversial, but help us take those cell phones away from them.

You know, access to cell phone during the school day, we know, is one of our major problems of discipline.

It's a disciplinary problem.

It can be a mental health problem because students are dealing with, you know, material that shouldn't be seen.

And I don't mea it's all inappropriate material, but they get text messages that upset them.

They say social media post that give them a feeling that only a certain perfect body is the only right body.

And so they they internalize that, that we really need students on a lot less social media.

And we need student not accessing their cell phones during the school day.

And and I've said this before, parents are as addicted to the cell phones as children are.

We are guilty.

Yeah, absolutely.

All of u and parents send their children a text message during the day.

And, you know, the child's i class, they're in science class.

And if they don't respond in 10 minutes, the parents think something's wrong.

So we really got to focus on getting our students off of cell phones at least during the school day.

Now that they're not at school.

You know, that's parents business.

I'm not going to get into parenting and how to raise children.

But but at school, we don't need them on phones.

Yeah, some schools are starting to ban them.

Right.

Or have you pockets where you can go and deposit them?

Yeah.

We've got probably more than a dozen school districts this coming year that plan to ban cell phones.

We had about, I think, five or six last year, the largest, which was Montgomery County.

And it's taking hold across the country.

This is not I'm not the only person talking about it.

We were we were one of the first states to bring it up as an issue.

And we've been talking about it now for quite some time.

But but I think more and more folks are going to jump on that bandwagon.

I agree.

Dr. Maggie, thanks again.

Good luck on the start of a new school year and we'll look forward to those updates.

I have to thank you.

We'll be right back.

You're watching Alabama Public Television and welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is Amanda Sen, director of the Alabama Securities Commission.

Amanda thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

Always a pleasure to be here.

We all had this really interesting taskforce meeting this week here in the state House having to do with blockchain, but it had a lot more to do with just blockchain because cryptocurrency came up.

And I know that your organization is really involved in that.

Before we dive into all that, can you remind our viewers of the role of the Securities Exchange Securities Commission and how it help prevent fraud around the state?

Thank you.

I'm always happy to talk about the commission.

I know we're a small agency, but we do so much so our office is tasked wit enforcing the securities laws, the money transmission laws.

We have elder abuse laws that we enforce, and also industrial revenue bonds.

On the securities side we have a team of investigators.

We're a law enforcement agency that take complaints from the public and from our financial institutions about suspected financial fraud.

And so we have a team of investigators, and we also can take those case and prosecute them criminally.

On the money transmission side, we license PayPal, Venmo Cash app.

So any agency or organization that's involved in transmitting money on behalf of an individual and this is where cryptocurrency has come in oftentime on the money transmission side for the protection of vulnerable adults from financial exploitation.

That's the name of the act.

Our office enforces that.

And so what that does is require this was passed in partnership with our financial industry.

So our legislature are working with our financial industry, said you guys.

On the financial side, you'll see so much fraud.

And so customers will come in and these bank tellers, securities broker dealers and investment advisors are saying, I know my client is being defrauded, but what can I do about it?

Because there are privacy laws in place.

Well, now they can delay those transactions that they know are transactions that will ultimately be in the hands of fraudsters and report it.

And so we can intervene early befor the money is lost to fraudsters.

So we see reports from across the state hundreds each year from financial institutions that are looking out for our seniors in the prevention of fraud.

And so that's just in a nutshell what our agency does.

But we oversee the investment industry generally and license the professionals and the products that are in our state to ensur integrity in our markets.

Hmm.

Yeah.

I remember during a previous visit you telling some of those stories, some heartbreaking stories about fraud and particularly elderly folks being taken advantage of.

And so let's talk about this crypto blockchain thing, because I'll admi I don't completely understand, and I think most Alabamians probably don't.

But look, this is going on, right?

People are trading and buying and doing things with blockchain.

Can you first kind of explain the difference between blockchain, which I guess was supposed to be talked about today and then the cryptocurrency?

How how are those different?

Sure.

And that's a lot of there's a lot of confusion around blockchain.

It's not synonymous with cryptocurrency and other digital assets, so some of the other digital assets are nfts, which is a term that, you know, many have heard nonfungible tokens, but both of those are sort of created on the blockchain.

And the blockchain is lik the digital ledger that allows digital assets to be transacted and it's not a centralized mechanism.

So like a bank would be an intermediary for financial transactions.

So the blockchain has a system of computers and so they relay the information and validate the transactions or prove their authenticity, much like a bank would approv a transaction and send it out.

And so blockchain is the digital ledger that allows for the recording of the transactions and the transmissio of the digital assets that are held in that technology.

And so we were excited that our legislature formed a blockchain study committee.

We met this week.

Senator Allbritton agreed to serve as the chair of the committee and he had us rolling very quickly and everyone has a salmon.

So the state of Alabama now with all of our our stakeholders in the state private industry as well, and all interested parties were represented, we'll take a very close look at the technology and cryptocurrency industry and to see how that best fits Alabama and the public.

We agreed to divide into subcommittee, so we'll have a grou that's a consumer focused group.

We'll have a group that's looking at the blockchain technology and how it might be useful to our industry, both in the public sector and the private sector.

And we'll have another group, I believe, that is focused on the uses of blockchain technology and possibly like how crypto assets could be useful within our economy.

Hmm, that's interesting.

But again, your organization really investigates and prosecutes fraud.

And I'm just thinking with this whole new world of cryptocurrency, you know, blockchain and all that, with so much misunderstandin and lack of education about it, there's ther certainly would be a potential for fraud in terms of, you know, scammers and others out there trying to take advantag of that ignorance.

Folks might to sell them a bill of goods.

Is that part of why you are in this conversation to make sure that the regulations meet the moment in terms of the technology?

Absolutely.

That's one of the more important reasons we're involved.

So about ten years ago and I've been with the agency for almost 16 years, cryptocurrency started coming up this the name cryptocurrency, you know, the terms associated with cryptocurrency, Bitcoin or COIN.

Yeah.

Etherium And there were just a few at the time, but the white paper on Bitcoin was published in 2008.

And so around 2010 we started hearing about a company called Mt.

Gox and they served as a crypto exchange.

And exchanges are what the Securities Commission is responsible for overseeing.

So securities firms, you know, exchanges that pop up or any type of of financial firm that engages in investment type activity.

So on Mt.

Gox came up the securitie industry, you know, began really focusing on crypto assets and ultimately Mt.

Gox was hacked.

And so millions of dollars are lost to fraudsters.

And so the investors with the company and the consumers were, you know, deeply affected financially by the loss here.

And so Mt.

Gox was operating like a securities exchange.

But, you know, of course, our interest is to make sure that industry is fairly regulated across the board.

But they weren't complying with the protocols that are required of securities firm.

So our financial industry the regulated industry, banks, credit unions, depositor institutions, securities firms and the financial advisory industry has to comply with cybersecurity procedures to ensure that customers and investors that are depositing money with them aren't losing money to cyber attacks because of the institutions or the organizations neglect with regard to their cyber practices.

And so, you know, to minimize the risk, I know that's impossible to prevent all types of security breaches and hacks, but to minimize those risks are procedures.

There are also procedures required to prevent money laundering.

So we don't want our financial institutions to be used to launder money through criminals.

And so there are procedures in place that detect and prevent mone laundering through our systems.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to maintain a financial payment system that consumers and investors and those transacting busines with our institutions can trust.

And so we want to maintain the integrity of our payment systems and of our capital markets in general.

So the laws that apply to our financial institutions, you know, it's our position that these firms that are popping up around cryptocurrency, I need to play by the same rules.

And so there's not a disparity.

And the cryptocurrency industry versus the regulated financial community, without your question.

So Mt.

Gox came up and and that you know, sort of the first experience that the regulated regulators and regulated industry had with regard to an institution that kind of performed like a financial institution.

Yeah, on it was there was some conversation in this meeting this week about emerging technologies and kind of our history with it.

And, you know, as the Internet came along, scams, of course, abound.

Same thing with just, you know, social media and things like that.

And all along the way, you know, laws regulations had to be adapted.

I mean, some of that stuff is still being talked about, especially with social media in terms of keeping up with the technology and not being afraid of the technology, because some of this can be really helpful, as you've discussed, but making sure that, again, we're adapting and not letting technology overcome our ability to protect consumers.

Right?

Yes.

So you mentioned the technology.

Someone said in the audience yesterday at a fraud seminar or office host several fraud seminars throughout the state.

You know, can we use technology to take out the fraudsters?

And I thought, well, yes, we can and we do.

Also, technology can be useful.

We love Siri, we love Alexa.

You know, we love the streamlined processes, but the fraudsters capitalize on anything new and they say they rip the fraud out of the headlines every day.

So combating is an ongoing battle, and it's impossible to eliminate and eradicate fraud from every system in every industry.

But there are, like I said, the procedures that financial firms have to follow that can be applied to crypto industry and should be applied s that our folks here in Alabama aren't losing million of dollars to these fraudster.

And our office has been investigating many of these crypto related cases for about ten years.

And so when the consumers call us, when the investing public calls us, they say, well, we put the cryptocurrency in either a Bitcoin ATM, ah, we were instructed to this to this website that purported to be a legitimate financial institution, and I've just lost, you know, a lot of money.

Can you help me?

So we're able to trace it out, but we can see it immediately going overseas.

And it's just it's impossible at this point.

And that's where the committee can be very helpful in discussing the issues surrounding, you know where to put procedures in place to help preven some of the fraudulent activity.

So our members of our publi can continue to trust, you know, and and maintain the integrity of our payment systems.

That's the ultimate goal.

Something to watch for sure going forward.

And I'll do my best to understand better what was going on.

Before we let you go, I know that you all have been working with Innovate Alabama, a grou that we've been covering a lot here on Capitol Journal o some projects talk about this.

So we're excited to be working with Innovate Alabama to roles within our organization to help facilitate capital formation.

So that's a part of what the Alabama Securities Commission is responsibl for protecting folks from fraud and maintaining integrity in our capital markets and assisting with capital formation.

So we have certain rules and exemptions in place to allow, for example, startups to raise money quickly so we can help this.

The tech industry, which is largely what the startups are right now, get off the ground and help prosper.

This new technology and these entrepreneurs in our state that want to help get their products out.

And so we passed a rule a private fund advisor exemption that allows those that are managing private funds to be exempt from some of the regulation that were imposed on individuals that were managing larger funds.

So this is for individuals that would be taking advantage of Innovate Alabama's grant program.

And so we can quickly get those dollars in the hands of individuals and hopefully get investors to match these funds and help to grow these young entrepreneurs.

But the private fund advisor role does alleviate some of the paperwork.

I know everybody says cut the red tape.

Cut the red tape, but so I know the regulatory process isn't always easy, but we believe there are enough consumer protections in place to allow relie in this area of private funds.

You're excited about workin with Innovate Alabama on that.

Thank you Sounds like some some good news.

We're out of time, Amanda, but thanks again for taking tim out of your very busy schedule and look forward to having you back on soon.

Thanks always for having me time.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is the Secretary of Commerce, Ellen McNair and Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bob Smith.

Thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having us.

Well, I want to tell you, it's an exciting time for economic development in Alabama.

And Ellen, last time you wer on, you talked about developing a new strategic plan for the state's economic development system.

How's that going?

And can you give a kind of a general update on projects that are maybe in the works?

Right.

So the strategic plan is underway, well underway.

It is the one thing that the governor I've asked me to accomplish when I took this job back in January.

So we have been working with a huge team, getting input and putting together both the quantitative part of the strategic plan and getting input from around the state on the qualitative part.

So we are well underway.

We will have that delivered to the governor October 1st.

Okay.

And what about projects?

I know that you have got a pretty heavy load in terms of what you're trying to accomplish, but can you give a general update on how that's going?

Absolutely.

So currently we have well over 100 projects in our pipeline that represent over $25 billion of capital investment and over 30,000 jobs.

Now, of course, we will not win a maybe, but we will not win all of those projects by any means.

But it is a great pipeline.

It's a very strong pipeline.

And we're working with communities around the state to try to win those projects.

Mm hmm.

And I want to talk about the community part of it in a minute.

But, Bob, you've just returned fro the former air show in England.

I know this is like an annual thing, kind of flip flo between Paris and London, right?

Every other year.

Yeah.

So talk about this.

What what goes on at the Farnborough Air Show and especially the Alabama contingent that makes an appearance.

Okay.

First, it's not the air sho like you might be accustomed to.

You know, with, you know, flying.

But there are airplanes that fly.

But it's mostly it's business.

It's business meetings.

And the what's flying or usually could be as mundane as a 737 showing off some wingtips for the first time.

But it's mostly for business and it's a world showcase for every aerospace and aviation company in the world, either there or Paris every year.

And so that's the one place where you can find the C-suite of just about every aerospace or aviation compan in the world, all in one place.

And so it provides grea opportunities for networking and having meetings with, you know, high level decision makers.

So I'm just thinking, going back decades, really, the aviation and aerospace industry in Alabama has really just blossomed.

And you've been there for most of it.

I'm guessing that meetings like that at the air show provide that one on one contact, not just with American companies, but with European countries.

I'm thinking of Airbus and, you know, EADS, how that relationship got started back in the 2000.

Exactly.

You know, all the foreign you know, foreign companies, there are 27 international expos there.

You know we're a collection of companies.

And so it's a very international event.

So it's you know it's it's a melting pot for all over the world.

We'll talk about th aviation and aerospace industry.

But, you know, because, I mean, betwee what's going on in Huntsville, which is very well known now, Mobil, I mean, they're they're celebrating, I think, their 500th airplane at Airbus this week, just a really blossoming industry in Alabama.

And talk about how that happened because it just more so than other states seems to be really thriving here.

Well, to go back to Huntsville, of course, when the rocket team came in 1949, and of course, that started a since industr with propulsion technology here, NASA has three legs you know, mission control launch and we desig and do the propulsion technology there in Huntsville, Alabama.

So it started there.

The defense built.

And so we have a very diverse aviation industry across the state.

We have the largest rotorcraft training center in the world and other.

So but we were lacking in commercial aviation, and that's where Airbus fill that gap.

And so coming in, producing th first plane, flying it in 2016, and as soon as they get u to their rate, that their target rate of 16 per month will be the fourth largest aviation production plant in the in the world.

How about that?

Yeah, that's really amazing.

Really is.

And I'd like to just say in preparation, I really want to commend the commercial team and really led by Bob for the preparation that i takes to go to these air shows.

It is months of work and there were at least four different members of his team that worked for many months putting together, you know, a very detailed meeting schedule, trying to get, you know, on agenda from companies around the world.

So the lead time, the work, you don't just walk into those shows without preparation.

So I do want to commend Bob and the Commerce team for all the hard wor leading the Alabama delegation to the airshow and the amount of work that it took to make that that trip a success.

Absolutely.

And we'll look forward t the fruits maybe down the road, we hope.

Speaking of that, so the legislature this year passed a series of economic development related bills.

A lot of them had to do with workforce and everything, and we'll get to that.

But I'm thinking of the seeds.

Right.

Really trying to get local give local areas more support for developing their own economic development project.

Talk about that because it seems like, yes, this is starting to get into motion.

They passed the bills, but they actually get to be implemented.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So, you know, we're really a victim of our own success because the success of the last few years in economic development really left us without a lot of product.

We really didn't have a lot of prepared and ready sight because so many successe that happened the last few years and companies have come in and located on those sites.

So really in my career, which has spanned many years, this is the lowest inventory that we've really ever had of industrial sites.

So these both both the SEEDS legislation and the growing Alabama that has been been there for a while, both help local communities to develop and prepare new industrial sites.

So we're really seeing that take off now.

We funded approximately 20 projects with the seeds and another seven or eigh with growing Alabama recently.

So very excited to get those projects up and running and get those sites into inventory.

So Bob and the project managers have something to market and sell.

Mm hmm.

I like the way you pu that victim of your own success, because, yeah, there's the sites, the mega sites, even the local sites are getting snatched up.

Oh, absolutely.

That's a good problem to have, I suppose.

Yeah, it is a good problem.

But then you're not prepared for the next project and the next opportunity to come along.

So it is very important to do the work.

And sometimes that takes years to prepare those sites.

It doesn't happen overnight and it really takes a team to to pull that together.

It really needs to be led by the locals because they're in their communities.

They understand with that lan and available infrastructure is, but they need the support of the state.

And so that's what those two programs, Seeds and Growing Alabama, are there to support their efforts.

Well, speaking of the legislature, you know they they did pass the series of workforce development bills and really a reorganizatio of Alabama's workforce platform, so to speak, taking it from kind of a siloed system to maybe a more streamlined system that's going to be obviously intertwined quite a bit with commerce.

Do you see that helping in terms of improving how we go about workforce development?

Because ultimately you've got to have a workforce to sell to companies, right?

Right And I think that programs on its own have been very successful.

Obviously ADT is one of the top training programs in the in the country, but it is an incentive.

It's really not all a long term workforce development entity.

It's there to incentivize companies and get them up and running.

But I'm excited to see, of course, it is going to be a process, about a year long process to get this reorganization up and running.

So, you know it's always great to take a look at how you can do things better, how you can improve.

So I'm excited to be able to you know, be apart and support in any way that commerce ca that this effort to reorganize and to try to make it a more efficient delivery.

Mm hmm.

Well, Bob, so much good said about incentives, right?

Because that's where the dollar signs are.

And so everybody, you know, kind of looks at that every time a project is announced.

That's the first thing anybody wants to see.

But I'm curious, when you're talking with executives, when you're talking to maybe site selectors and folks like that, I'm sure incentives come up.

But there are other factors too, like workforce, like the local area and things like that.

Talk about the factors beyond the dollar signs that go into a company's decision on where they're going to locate.

Well you've already thought workforce doesn't matter how many incentives you get.

If you can't get the workforce, that doesn't matter.

And so but it does come u and it comes up early and often.

And we just have to work through that because we know that most of the time decisions are not made there.

But the companies do want to talk incentive and especially site selectors.

And but the workforce is key.

You know, sites, you know, follows that and you know, finding the right product and for their market, you know, it doesn't do any good to have a perfect sit if it's outside of the region.

They're looking to serve it.

That's important to them.

But workforce is right now the key, the key item that everyone has to solve.

Everybody has a workforce problem.

And we're not alone here.

It's whoever has the best solution to that.

And that's what we're working hard to do to find the right solution.

And I'd say ADT and our two year college system are really, really working very hard right now to to provide the best solution.

Yeah, we've had Ed on the show a couple of times.

Yeah just a veteran and an innovator.

His whole career at ADT.

Yeah just huge tool in the tool box.

We're very fortunate.

There's not another state that I know of.

Has a program that does what Ed's program does.

So we talked about how Alabama is not alone in addressing workforce problems.

And that's that's interesting to me because we are in competition with other states.

And so you've seen the legislature go back and revise our economic development statutes.

I guess the last one was 2015.

There have been some revisions since then.

Talk about how important it is to revise those statutes to modern, keep them modern and to not fall behind, because after all, we are i competition with other states.

As fa as the incentives are concerned, it should be a continuing process.

We're always looking, you know, comparing ourselves to best practices around the country.

Part of the strategic plan is exactly that, really taking a look at what our incentives are, ho they compete with other states, and just the continuing process of refining those and updating those to stay competitive.

Well, we will be paying attention when that strategic plan is delivered to the governor.

We'll have you back on to maybe explain some of those finer points.

Look, Bob Allen, thanks so much for coming on and explaining some of this.

And we'll look forward to having you back on soon.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week at the same time right here on Alabama Public Television.

For our Capital Journal team, I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.