This week on capital gains more movement on the political front for the 2026 elections.

We'll go ove who's in and who's out this week from the races for governor and lieutenant governor.

Just progress on implementing the state's medical cannabis model.

Randy Scott has those details on Capitol Hill.

Alex Angle reports on the quick action and Alabama's delegation in Washington on the issue of health care.

Joining us in studio this week, Senate General Fund Budget Chair Greg Albrecht talks about the online sales tax issues and what budgets are looking like such an approach.

And State Representative Susan to both sides.

This Alabama's team Addison Shoemaker to highlight girls day at the state.

That's all next on Capitol Journal.

From our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy, welcome to Capitol Journal.

We begin our coverage this week in Washington, where Congress wrapped up its work for the year without a clear plan to tackle the nation's health care problems.

Alabama's House Republicans supported a plan that stopped short of extending pandemic era health insurance subsidies.

Our own Alex Engle report on the latest from Capitol Hill.

The Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies, which hundreds of thousands of Alabamians rely on, will expire at the end of the year.

The House and Senate failed to pass legislation that would extend the tax credits.

Instead, this week, House Republicans voted on a GOP measure, and the bill is passed to boost small business health coverage and appropriate money for cost sharing reduction payments.

People are frustrated with where health care costs have gone, but this is 15 years to his person that Obamacare doesn't work.

All of Alabama's House Republicans supported the measure that doesn' continue the enhanced subsidies.

The state's two Democrats opposed it.

They also signed on to the Democratic discharge petition for a clean, three year extension of the tax credits.

In a matter of days, roughly 130,000 people in my home state of Alabama will lose their health care coverag because Republicans in this body refuse to extend the ACA tax credits.

Millions of Americans will find themselves one diagnosis away from bankruptcy.

For moderate Republicans to fight.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday signing the discharge petition to force a vote on an extension of those tax credits.

But that vote won't happen until January, and it isn't expecte to move forward in the Senate, where most Republicans have already rejected that effort.

Without reforms, they won't pass the Senate anyway.

In Alabama, Hospital Associatio President and CEO Danne Howard says hospitals won't see immediate impacts from the expiring credits, but she expects challenges as months go by.

The potential of adding another hundred thousand individuals to already one of the highest rates of uninsured state in the nation.

Clearly is going to have a negative impact on our hospitals.

Congress will return to Washington the week of January 5th, when lawmakers are expected to continue to focus on health care.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Engle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you Alex.

Also in Washington this week, U.S.

Senator Katie Britt participated in a discussion with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessette and other officials to discuss Trump accounts.

A componen of the Working Families Tax Cut, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.

This program offers newborns $1,000 as seed money for investment accounts.

Britt said that these accounts will allow access to the American dream.

For those who may have felt it was out of reach before.

This is transformational.

You think about being a younger parent, right?

And so many of us remember being in the hospital and having this beautiful baby that you're like, you're going to send this chil home with me in about 24 hours.

And you start to think of all that you want to provide for your child.

And the immediate things you think about are what's right in front of you, you know, diapers and the right carsea for safety.

And where are you?

How are you going to make all of this work?

But ultimately, what you want for your child, for every child, is a chance at the American dream.

And look, after the last four year of the previous administration, I think all of us, you know, felt heavy, you know, with, with inflation and just the cost of life in general.

Many people felt like that dream was out of reach.

And the incredible thing about the working families tax cut is that President Trump said, no, we're going to make good on the promise we made to the American people.

We are going to see these parents and help them provide that opportunity.

And we want the next generation to be better of as a result of our leadership.

And I think there is no more evidence I mean, greater evidence of that than these accounts.

And when we're looking at America and the fact that we ar that shining city on the hill, everybody wants to be a part of that.

And we know that about 60% of Americans are invested in markets, but we know 40% are not.

And the thing that President Trump and the Secretary have made such a priority is, how do we make sure that that 40% has the same chances with the 60 do?

How do we close the gap between the haves and the have nots?

How do we create a pathway for these kids, maybe in an underserved community, or have not previously had access to have the abilit to achieve that American dream?

And that's what this does.

And we are going to look back on this moment and see that it not only changed our nation and how we work togethe from government to companies to philanthropist, but it is truly going to change lives.

And when we see these stories unfold, even in a few years, for kids that are under 18, but ultimately these children that are born during President Trump's administration and have the seed money of $1,000 and what it does for them, whether it's homeownership or education or other opportunities, it is going to be remarkable, and it's going to be the envy of the world.

With Alabama's 2026 legislative session set to begin in less than a month on January 13th.

Construction on the new Alabam State House is picking up steam here in downtown Montgomery.

Secretary of the Senate Pat Harris says the roughly $300 million project remains on schedule and under budget, with the building expecte to be fully operational in time for the 2027 legislative session.

When the move into the new stat House is planned for September or October of 2026, with the current state House scheduled for demolition soon thereafter and a new green space in place by Inauguration Day 2027.

Construction is also moving quickly on a new 400 space parking deck next door, which officials hope to have partially usable by Januar to help ease downtown parking.

Ahead of the legislative session.

Harris says overall the project is going smoothly.

We're really pleased with where we are.

We we, we're still on schedule.

We're still under budget.

Pleased with the progression of the parking deck for the, the new parking deck that goes along with the building.

But, we're thrilled that, where we stand right now, we have to work on the interior now, and, it's pretty much sheetrock, and we're trying to get the dome finished and the roof finished, because you want to protect that from any moisture, any rain.

And luckily, the weather's held out for us over the past few months.

Parking that we feel will be usable the 1st of January.

Some of the outside, some of the precast on the outside, some of the decorative stuff and some of it will not be finished.

So we will not be able to use the entire 400 plus spaces, but we will free up all the parking that we'v initially taken off the streets, and some of the other dec spaces to free that parking up.

Once you start digging you begin to find all kinds of interesting things pipes and drains and things underground that nobody knew were there.

So I cannot, talk nice enough about those people in the cooperation that in the communication that has gone on between everybody that's been involved in the project.

We're looking forward to having, the inauguration ceremonies and the organizational session with it, pretty much 98, 99% all done, including the, green space where we are now.

The Alabama legislature passed a medical cannabis law back in 2021, but its implementation has been dragged out for years due to multiple lawsuits.

But after a recent meeting, members of the Medical Cannabis Commission believe the state has turned a corner.

Capitol journal's Randy Scott has the story.

We waited a long time to get to this point in time to where we can make a decisio like this, and it is monumental.

It's a milestone meeting for us, so I'm tickled that we can get this far.

There's a sense of success coming out of the Alabama medical Cannabis Commission.

Four years after being created.

The organization has mad some progress to help the state organize its medical cannabis program.

The first decision item that will take up on the agenda is for the Commission to consider.

The Administrative Law judge is recommended.

Order and exceptions and briefs for the final decision on the ward and the denial of dispensary licenses.

Those four licenses that were awarded today, those entities will be responsible for paying their license fee, within the next 14 day and then 14 days following that.

So 28 days from today those four licenses will issue, by rule, to develop a viable syste to monitor those who grow, sell and distribute medical cannabis in Alabama is the chief goal for the Alabama medical Cannabis Commission.

Members recently had a meeting where they came up with several ideas to make those plans a reality, from the fields to the finished product.

The commission wants to cover all the bases.

You know, based on everything from the recommended order from the ALJ, I'm sure these dispensaries are actually going to be able to start at least within a week from January, a week or two.

So that means it means peopl should be getting money right?

Probably not a lot of money initially, but the medical marijuana industry it's been debated over and over and over, and we have been hamstrung by litigatio and just challenge or challenge levied against the commission that we've not done things right, but we have i should not have taken this long.

But I want to commend the commission because they have worked tirelessly and with me having the background of being a medical cannabis patient and working in the industry I have watched them like a hawk, and I can tell you that I fully support them.

And I'm proud of them.

In Montgomery, Randy Scott, Capital Journal.

Thank you Randy.

This week marked Girl Day here at the state Capitol.

The third annual event invites high school age girls from around the state to come to Montgomery to meet Alabama leaders and see how government works.

This year saw more than 100 girls participating in the program, which included visits to the governor's mansion, the old Senate and House chambers in the Capitol, and here at the state House for a mock debate.

I'm really excited to learn about the importance of women's voices, voting rights first in perspective.

So the table, especially at the state level, where these decisions and these policies are really connected to our communities and our familie and even our education system.

One of my favorite verses specifically for 12, which says, don't let anyone look down on you because you're on the side, is an old speech and love and faith, and I'm sure.

And so as young women, I want you to know that it doesn't matter how old you are is usually the first right here in the state that you're experienced.

I was like, here's my knees are completely different.

Can totally change the trajectory of your life direction guy.

What you're going to do is career that if you combine your passions and service.

And I'll speak with State Representative Susan DuBose, who helped organize this event, and Addison Shoemaker, Miss Alabama's Teen A later in the show.

On the education and workforce front, there's new reporting out this week from our own Trish Crane about how the state's efforts to bolster economic workforce development in Alabama.

Back in 2018, Governor Kay Ive set an ambitious goal of adding 500,000 credential workers to the workforce by 2025.

This year, a new report from the Alabama Commission on Higher Educatio shows that the state has added 487,937 credential workers to the job market.

That includes 311,000 degrees, about 170,000 certificates and certifications, and thousands more licenses and apprenticeships.

So the state fell short of that goal, but just about 12,000 or so.

But Commission Executive Director Jim Purcell said that is even more impressive considering the disruption from the Covid 19 pandemic a complete legislative overhaul of the state's workforce system and a key staff change.

Nick Moore, who spearheaded the Success Plus initiative for the governor's office, lef earlier this year for a position in the Trump administration.

Governor Kay Ivey thi week signed an executive order to establish the Alabama Rural Health Care Transfer for Transformation Advisory Group.

The advisory group will advise the governor on the progress polic development and implementation of Alabama's Rural Health Care Transformation program.

The governor released a quote saying the creation of the Rural Health Transformation Advisory Group enables Alabama to hit the ground running once the state's ne comprehensive rural health care strategy is greenlighted by the Trump administration.

The members of this group will help ensure that our programs initiate positive transformations to the way Alabamians receive quality health care, that those transformative the transformative investments, and our policies are sustainable.

Our headlines will continue after this short break.

Stay with us.

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

aptv.. org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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

Born Henry Louis Aaron on February 5th, 1934, in mobile.

Baseball icon Hank Aaron first honed his baseball skills while growing up in Alabama.

He is best known for breaking Bab Ruth's record of 714 home runs, ultimately hitting 755, a record that stood from 1974 to 2007.

During his career, Aaron was a member of the Milwaukee and then Atlanta Braves for 21 seasons and made the National League All-Star team every year from 1955 to 1974.

He won three Gold Glove Awards for outfielder, and his lifetime records for most runs batted in and most extra base hits still stand.

Aaron was elected to th Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, with 97.8% of the votes cast in 2002.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Turning to politics where there is movement this week heading into the 2026 election cycle.

Former United States Senator Doug Jones made it official over the weekend that he will run for governor as a Democrat.

Jones, of course, became a United States senator by defeating Roy Moore in that 2017 special election to fill the vacancy from Jeff Sessions, becoming Attorney General.

Jones rallied with supporters in Birmingham, saying that they need to build that same coalition of voters this time around to be successful.

I have always believed that the people of Alabama had more in common than to divide us.

It was an earthquake.

You could say this is a huge defeat for President Trump.

This is deep red Alabama have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the countr the way that we can be unified.

Because I am running for governor, because there has never been a better time to reconnect peopl to their government, to empower people to work beyond Montgomery, the foundation of change and progress is to empower peopl with a measure of real control to decide questions that affect their lives.

That power is concentrated and has been concentrated in Montgomery for too long.

It has been too great for too long and we need and you need you need a greater voic in deciding critical questions.

And you can do it.

When we pass a ballot initiative and referendum that give you the opportunity to put things on the ballot, to vote for.

Reagan we will do that by givin counties and cities and Alabama more power to solve their problems at a local level.

We're at Henderson so that are our poo mayors and county commissioners don't have to make that long slog to Montgomery to beg for things that they need to do on their local level that people elected them to do, but they got to go get permission from the Alabama legislature.

That's wrong, folks, and we're going to change.

And there's a new entrant into the race for lieutenant governor.

State Representative Phillip Ensler of Montgomery this week announced he will seek the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

The first term lawmaker earlier this year announced that he would not seek reelection to the House, and he would move back to his native New York.

But he said that decision never sat well, and he want to continue in public service.

Doug Jones said he helped encourage Ensler to run, and that he'll bring a lot to the Democratic ticket.

As someone who has worked across party lines in the Alabama legislature and another candidate is exiting the race.

Former University of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron says he will no longer run for lieutenant governor.

The two time national champion this week was named the head coach of the Birmingham Stallions USFL League team State leaders gathered in Birmingham this week for a special meeting with a special guest.

Innervate Alabama held a forum in Birmingham with special guest, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The former secretary, an Alabama native, has been instrumental in getting Innovate Alabama off the ground.

She joined in a conversation with Finance Director Bill Poole, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, and Senate President Pro Tem Garland Gonzales about how innovation can foster economic growth and opportunity across all of Alabama.

Alabama Public Television was given special access to this meeting.

Take a look.

What you're trying to d is to create the circumstances in which the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the people who will bring the ideas, will be a part of the Alabama ecosystem and will feel that they are not just welcome here, but supported here.

And then you try to help them get the capital, help convince them to to be here with the talent, the like.

And you watch what happens.

And that's what I love about innovation is it's not somethin that can be top down, but boy, you can really create the circumstances in which those people want to be here.

You know, innovation is somethin that we have really dove into.

And I think we've got to continue to do that.

But with our economy growing at the pace, it's growing.

It's really exciting to see what's going on in Alabama.

And because of innovation some of the things we've started and over the past 3 or 4 years, Alabama's really started really strongly doing public private partnership.

And doctor, as you talke about that earlier, and to see what's coming out of that for me is so exciting.

You know, I mean, the growth of this state is going at a pace we've never seen in our lifetime.

And I think taking ever opportunity that we have to continue to grow Alabama and making sure that kids coming up in Alabama has opportunity to go to a lot of different things, you know, health science schoo that you worked on in Demopolis.

And and, you know, some of the things that we're doing across stat that's really outside the box.

You know, we've really started thinking about a lot of different ways to innovate our state with kids coming up and and trying to make them successful.

I think it's important tha we're having this discussion now and been having this discussion.

But we're on the brink of doing what other states aren' because we have the ingredients to to lead as we go forward with this competition.

And again, our competition isn't really just with our neighboring state, it's with every state that's in the nation and worldwide.

And so as we're getting into the eye on technology, it's important for us to be able to lead that way.

And if we do not lead as we move forward we're going to be left behind.

What makes young techies want to live someplace?

And it's school outdoor and millions.

It's cost of living.

And Alabama has a lot of those things going for it.

It's known out there that Alabama is on the move.

It, you know, was once when you'd say, well, yes, I was born in Alabama or I grew up in Alabama, people would sort of think, oh, I know Alabama.

You don't get that anymore.

I and I really do think that it's spreading the word, spreading that this is a state that's, on the move.

So what you're doing, keep on doing that.

But I would just challeng you to be even bolder than that.

Every time, you think, well, we should do that.

Think, can we do that times, too?

Because, there is a race out there, and, Alabama is now in one of the fast lanes.

Don't lose it by lettin somebody catch you from behind.

The only other poin that I would make is you do have a lot of people like me who were born in Alabama, who still love the state and who respond when you ask.

And so get that group of Alabama lumps, even if they went to th University of Alabama and left, they still care.

There's something about the state, and there's something about its long history and its its difficulties.

And coming out of those difficulties, that's quite compelling.

And I would say, call on your, on, on those who were born here to be a part of Alabama's future.

I mean, I think it's the right challenge.

I think it's an exciting challenge, and I thin we're aware of that challenge.

But she articulated it well.

Be aggressive.

The world's changing.

This is an opportunity for Alabama.

We have wonderful assets across the board.

We've had great economic development success.

We have a lot of talent in the state.

So what are we going to do with that?

And her challenge was, you know, think big.

Whatever you think you're going to do, you know, go twice as far.

And and I think the, the lesson of that is, you know, let's recognize tha Alabama has a real opportunity to be successful in the future economy, for the benefit of our citizens and our future.

And so that's a component of our economic development effort.

It's not all of it, but it's important.

Innovate.

Alabama's only like three years old.

And so we are kind of in our infancy stage.

But we're at a point now a critical point because the technology wave the AI wave, the innovation wave is happening at a rapid pace right now.

Fortunately, because of the the planning and the work that's done before no we are on the riding that wave.

And I think now there's a desire we heard today, a desire to really continue to ride that wave, to continue to expand those programs is really important to our state, to diversify our economy, to retain talent, and to really meet the needs of the 21st century economy.

We have traditionally grown our state through attracting industry, and we're going to continue to do that.

But the fact is, we don't have the talent to really expand or do that when we we we attract an industry.

Often we're poaching the job from other existing industries.

What we need to do is grow that business, that local business that small business, the 21st century business which tends to be a lot smaller.

And so and, and requires different talent skills.

So what, what we need to do i really continue those efforts, but create this new opportunity for this emerging workforce.

We have the lowest labor participation rate in the country right now.

We have an exporting of our college graduates.

We need to reverse that, increase that labor participation by creating new jobs, but also giving the entrepreneurs and these these college graduates the ability to take advantage of these new 21st century, 21st century opportunities, which are different than what we've had in the past.

So technology is changing everything.

AI is changing everything.

A lot of people are scared of those changes.

We should really how can we embrace those changes to the benefit of our state?

And that's there's a way to do that.

I think in a way that that will help us lead in that regard.

and an update to a tragic news story.

19 year old Ella Cook of Mountain Brook was one of two students killed over the weekend during a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Ella has been remembered this week as a bright, grounded, faithful young perso who lifted up those around her.

She's also the vice president of the Ivy League Schools College Republican Club.

The man police believed to be the shooter, Claudio Neves Valentine, was found dead in his New Hampshire was found dead in New Hampshire of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

And we are saddened by the loss of two members of our APT broadcasting famil this week, Christina Chambers, a longtime sports reporte for WBrC Fox six in Birmingham and a sideline reporter for our coverage of the high school football these last three years, was found dead this week alongside her husband in what police describe as an apparent murder suicide.

And Michael Harrison, a broadcast technician here at Alabama Public Television, passed away this week after battling an illness for some time.

Our hearts go out to these families and for all those suffering loss during this holiday season.

We'll be right back with this week's guests.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

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Tuscumbia native Helen Keller is popularly remembered as the deaf and blind child who learned sign language from her teacher and Sullivan at the Keller home.

Ivy Green.

But during her adult life, she was a tireless activist on behalf of workers and women's rights.

A prolific author and an unofficial U.S.

ambassador to the world, he most famous publication is her bestselling 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life.

Through her work with the American Foundation for the blind, Keller advocated for broadened educational and employmen possibilities for blind people, and the State Departmen funded her international travel and advocacy of people with disabilities.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the Congressional Medal of Freedom.

A bronze statue depicting a young Helen Kelle represents Alabama in the U.S.

Capitol, and she is featured on our State Quarter.

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

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state Senator Greg Albritton, chairman of the Senate General Fund Budget Committee.

Mr.

chairman thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me.

Well, a lot of talk about a lot going on in your world, but I wanted to start with some simplified sales and use tax.

You made some, some waves on this recently during the contract review committee holding up these contracts to kind of make a point, about this lawsuit that's been going on, challenging the online sales tax.

Let's back up, though, and start from the beginning.

What is your objection to this lawsuit that challenges the online sales tax?

First off, Todd, let me correct you.

Okay.

I didn't make the waves.

I'm responding.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

So, let's lay that where it is.

I didn't follow any lawsuit, so I didn't bring any issues forward that that was forced upon us.

As far as, the matter that was contract review, that that had to come up.

That was simply an opportunity.

And and here we have, lawyers involved in a legislative matter.

They have brought the courts in who have nothing to do with taxation, should not have anything to do with taxation that belongs here in the legislature, is a completely legislative matter.

That doesn't need clarification.

It may need adjusting.

It may need some some other matters.

Every piece of legislation does.

But you don't do that by fighting, in the different branch of government where it has no standing or no no place to be.

So that was my message.

If we need to deal with this matter, bring it here to these halls.

Let's sit down and let's talk about it.

Let's deal with it as we should.

Well, let's talk about that because I talked with Mayo Maddox, who's kind of the leader of this lawsuit.

Also talk with Sonny Brasfield, leader of the county commissioners, all 67 of which have joined us to oppose it.

Right.

You know, they're on different sides of this.

We'v we've gotten their perspective on the online sales tax.

But both of those individuals said that they would welcome a legislative effort to reform the law.

Easier said than done, because it's an incredibly complicated law.

Might we see something like that?

How possible is it to have legislation to deal with the issues underlying here?

Oh, we've already done it.

We've already had.

This was a long, difficult fight, as you recall.

And and it will be a continued fight.

That' part of what we're dealing here.

The only difficulty else is not the fight.

We just need to have the fight in the proper form where we can achieve something good with it.

I don't see anything good coming out of the of the court system in this regard.

However, I would welcome the opportunity.

In fact, I've talked to, Mister Maddox.

I've talked to several other mayors.

I think I'm approachable, and I think I'm not the onl legislator that's approachable.

And we need to sit down.

But you're right.

It's complicated.

It's difficult.

And the reason we got into this is because the economy has changed.

The circumstances has changed.

The government didn't change the the economy.

The technology shifted.

And now we are going to have to find a way in a path to make this work.

Not just the state but the cities and the counties are going to have to make a change.

Because when you have online purchasing, you get into all kinds of arguments that that deal with, who pays and who doesn't pay.

Right.

And those type issues.

And how do you collect it?

That's one of the biggest problems.

Who and how do you collect it?

Sure.

Never an easy time to do that.

But yeah.

Going back to 2015 when I, when this discussion really was, taking place, you know, we, we were starting to see a surge in online, you know, sales.

We saw the problem, but it's, it's been I don't think anybody would have imagined how much it actually has grown.

I mean, I can get on my phone right now and in, you know, 30 seconds, order an Amazon package, you know.

Yeah.

And so it really has just changed the game.

But it's also a major revenue source now, not just for countie and cities, but for the state.

Correct.

And and so what I mean, let's just say that that the court did put an injunction on this.

What would this what would tha look like for the general fund?

Well, not just the general fun for the state, for the counties and for the cities.

Yeah.

It would be devastating to all ends of government.

Hope that doesn't happen.

But then again, it's in the courts that have that authority to do so.

And that's that's my major, major problem.

How can I make a budget up when I don't know how we're going to make this budget that we're in?

How much would you say we get annually?

The general fund gets from the online sales?

I would look is growing and it's millions, tens of millions of dollars we have brought in, I think since we instituted this, billions of dollars of revenue spread throughout the state at all levels.

If this is placed on an injunction, all of this stops and it stops immediately.

We may be able to recoup i at some point after a decision, but the courts don't work fast.

Well, goin back to those contracts again, you put a hold on these contracts.

Legal contracts.

Correct.

That's contract review.

It's a 45 day thing right.

So it's right.

It's a temporary hold right.

Okay.

But one of them was for the, Legislative Services Agenc exactly this session coming up.

Exactly.

I mean, they kind of need that, don't they?

Well, they all need it.

I'm not saying that they're not warranted or not needed, but, if you're going to make if you're going to join in the fight, you got to join in the fight.

And I recognize that.

I knew that when I made the made the, statement.

And I'm standing by that.

Let's talk about the general fund, sessions coming up less than a month away.

Yeah, I'm sure you all are.

You know, knee deep in in budget talks right now.

How's it looking?

Last time we talked to you, brought some kind of sober reality to the budget conversation, saying look, we've had record budgets, but it's not always going to be this way, especially considering all this, interest revenue that you're getting from interest from the trust funds.

Right?

Because that's all the Covid money, all those relief dollars have been sitting in those accounts again an interest that's going away.

So how's the how's your fund looking for this upcoming session and maybe longer term?

Well, first off, let me say this I don't the budgets are in the hands of the governor right now.

They're working on their on the budgets that they will send over to us.

The day we come into session after her state of the state, we will receive the budget as developed by the executive, and then we will go and do our work.

So I can't speak to how, the governor and the executive is developing that that hasn't been shared.

Okay It's not appropriate to share.

So I'll also say, though, that we are in whatever happens Alabama is in a better position now than we have ever been to deal with the challenges that's there.

And we will deal with them.

However, having said that, we are as far as the general fund is concerned, we have lots of demands.

The new state House, I've had, one agency come to me and, explained that their estimates were off and they're going to need a supplemental, this year to make ends meet in this fiscal year, not to mention the increase in the budget that we got to deal with.

Next month.

I've had an agenc come in a separate one, come in and look at the possibility of layoffs because of the budget constraints that are there.

Well we hadn't heard that in a while.

No you haven't.

So we are in some serious issues that we've got to deal with.

Now, there's ways to deal with this.

I know that there's different avenues of approach, of doing things, but it's going to have to take steps that we've never had to take before.

Haven't had taken a long time, but we're prepared to deal with that.

It's it's going to be difficult.

Change is always difficult.

But, it's always good also to take another look and take a harder look at where we're going and what we're spending.

Well, speaking of spending you know, the plans to construct two massive prisons, one in Elmore County that's really coming along.

It's, it's I think they said 2026 was supposed to be the, the open date for that.

But also Escambia County down in your neck of the woods.

Where are we in terms of the prison construction?

And are we going to have enough money to actually get both projects completed?

The answer to the last question first, yes, we have enough money to be able to deal with that.

Both in hard cash and also in bonding power.

Okay.

And I can explain in details on that if you choose.

But I don't want to bore too many people.

Y'all passed a bill allowing the state to borrow more, but they don't have to.

But exactly.

And I don't think we're going to have to, we have, left over that which we in the initial, borrowing authority, which we, have not touched yet also.

So we, we have plenty of bonding power and we have plenty of availability to, to meet that demand if need be.

So it's not a question of money.

I'll say it that way.

The question is quality.

And the question is timing now?

Yes.

Elmore is progressing well.

It is coming along.

But we had an incident, a month or so ago, when we had a, circumstance where we were not in the legislature, wasn't informe until we went into the meeting that the delivery time was going to be delayed for, 4 to 5 months.

Okay.

Every meeting, completion, completion and moving into.

Yeah.

So that's been moved back to October 1st.

Now, the I don't I don't know how much to place in rumors, but there is concern in the legislature as to whether even that date will stick.

And we're goin to be very concerned with that.

We're going to be asking some questions, along that line, in order to get a better feel for it and to get this openly discusse in some way so that the public will know that we're handling our affairs properly.

These are big, big projects, to take on one prison.

Like, this is unique.

Utah's done it.

I think Wyoming has done it.

And they built one.

We're building two.

And we're being successful with building those two.

And the whole poin is for existing inmates at old, dilapidated facilities to come into these new facilities.

So, so, so the date really does matter, because when the whole point that the state would eventually save money from deferred maintenance and all that kind of stuff, these would be, exactly.

That's part of the issue.

Now, I've never been a proponent or believer that that the government actually ever saves money.

But anyway.

Fair enough.

Okay.

Well, we can only spend less.

Okay.

So anyway, I think that we are doing the proper oversights here, but it's incumbent upon the Department of Corrections to come in and keep us and completely informed.

I think they've bee a little bit lax in that regard.

They've had their plate full.

They've been doing a lot of things.

But it's time now to sit down and let's have a real hard discussion about this, not only with the Elmore, but also with the Escambia.

You know, in Escambia, those, there's a plan out there that we would come in and we put in all the infrastructure, but we'd only come out of th ground with a 2000 man prison.

And I keep asking them, why do you want to do a phase program when we have the money to do the rest?

If you delay, it's only going to cost more.

So we're having some of that argument to.

So there's going to be some interesting, discussions along that line.

Yeah I look forward to that.

I'm I'm guessing in the New year.

Well, look, thanks for your time.

Happy holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Happy new year.

We'll see you in January.

When it reconvenes.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Tuscaloosa native Juli Tutwiler was an educator, prison reformer, writer, and outspoken proponent of education for women.

She was closely involved with the founding of institutions that became the University of West Alabama and the University of Montevallo, and with innovations in education for women and African Americans.

During the Jim Crow era, several public buildings in the state bear her name, and her home, Alabama, is immortalized as the official state song.

We have a labor gap.

We have the laborers that from the past, or they're getting ready to retire and there's nobody to take their place.

That's why friendship's important today, is because if we don't do that, this contract is already hurting.

To find qualified people to work for.

It's only going to get worse as these men retire.

It's really critical.

Just that we just some trained craftsmen out there.

And it's not just an electrical, it's in every field.

Tony is.

Mike started an apprenticeship program.

He was my teacher, an alum.

Thornton.

On the first, first two years in an apprenticeship program while I was in high school.

And I'm finishing the last two at art school.

And Mitchell Talbot, apparently an electrician.

My dad always done it.

I always wanted to do this.

And then he did my last grade year in an apprenticeship program, I went, I did like the core classes the second year teach about bab can't do it like learning stuff, and the third year is a lot more and lot mechanical.

My name is Tony Brown and I work at Allen Point Career Center, where I teach electricity.

With m teaching the kids during the day and on the high school level, I like Mitchell Talbot.

He completed his first year with me in high school.

So when he when he graduated high school, went into work.

He actually started at second year level.

I went to high school at 7:0 in the morning, got out of 1145, and I went to work from 1145 to 230, and I went to class.

The apprenticeship program at five, and then I wouldn't leave at about 8:00 at night.

It's basically you get paid to work, and I was going to save time and learn what you're doing for your trade.

Like in graduate already with one year of internship under their belt.

That's what you need to look at if you're looking to start.

You really need to get the local career to get involved in it and see if you can't work out a deal to where they can get credit for the work that they've done in high school.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state Representative Susan DeVos from Hoover and Addison Shoemaker.

Miss Alabama's team.

Ladies thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely.

Well, we were here, today, and this week is Girls Day at the Capitol.

Representative you've done this for three years now, bringing young ladies to the state House, to the Capito to meet some of their leaders.

Really see what it's like down here.

Let me back up.

How did this come about?

We started this three years ago with one of our former Miss Alabama teens, Elaina Byrd.

It was actually her idea.

She had seen it in Mississippi, and she had seen a female representative do it in Mississippi.

And she came to m and said, hey, how about this?

I'm like, I love it.

So I immediately called the governor's office.

They were on board.

They were supportive, but we wanted to give young women, basically seventh through 12th grade, the opportunity to see women in our state in leadership roles in all parts of government.

We don't have enough women.

Actually, as elected officials, we have less than 20% that are women.

And we want girls to be able to see women in leadership positions and think, yes, I can do this.

Yeah.

And Addison, what did you think about this opportunity to come to Montgomery?

Meet some leaders.

I mean, what were you most excited about coming down here to do?

Oh, absolutely.

I'm most excited to hear from some pretty amazing women such as representative DeVos.

You know, I've come for the last three years.

It was actually Elaina, the Miss Alabama's Tina 2023, who even encouraged me to get involved and start competing and have opportunities like this.

So I'm really excited to learn new things and to hopefully leave with more than just information, but confidence, you know, seeing her lead with such strength and resilience is really inspiring to me and to all the other ambitious young women who will be joining us later today.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I got the opportunity to interview a probably a friend of yours, Miss America, the just who came of Abby Stockard chicken on here for the, state of the state.

And somehow we got to interview her.

But it was amazing.

You talk about confidence, and I really see that as a byproduct of these competitions that you all do.

I see young ladies that just, you know, come with so much more confidence then than maybe you go in.

Absolutely.

If you would have seen me about two years ago, I was so shy I couldn't look at an adult in the eye.

And now I'm, you know, having news interviews like this, and I'm able to do it with poise and confidence and grace.

And these are skills that I've really acquired from competin in the Miss America opportunity.

And I'm just so excited to really just continue this opportunity.

Yeah.

Representative, it i an interesting time in our state in terms of having grea examples of women in leadership.

And you mentioned there's not enough and I agree with you.

That's nationwide really.

And having worked for a woman in Congress, definitely one of her goals was to recruit more.

But you've got some great examples.

You've got Governor Ivey right there at the top.

Yeah, the state level, we really did.

Absolutely.

And then you've got Senator Brett, who was a young you know, about as approachable as you can get in terms of young women.

So talk about how that trend is hopefully maybe reversing in terms of women pursuing leadership roles including yourself.

Right.

Look, I saw women in this role.

And that's what gave me the idea to think, yes, I can do this.

And I do see the change.

But still, Alabama has fewer than most states, less than 20 of our legislators are female.

And that's really on the low side, even in the whole if you compare to the whole United States.

But there's so many aspects to government that you can work in, not just in elected official.

And and that's what we're going to bring to light today.

So we're having over 100 young women here.

A lot of them are participants in this program, but a lot of them are not.

We have homeschoolers.

We have a broad diversity o girls that are going to be here, and they're going to have the opportunity to hear from other state leaders that aren't in elected positions.

For example, the lieutenant governor's chief of staff is going to speak to us, and the governor's director of communicatio is going to speak to the girls.

And these are young women, absolutely, that are probably barely 30, if even 30, that have risen up through the ranks to where they're in really prominent roles.

And so I want them to be able to envision themselves in these different types of leadership positions and hear about what was their career path, where did they start?

What did they major in?

Did they go to college?

You know, what was the path to where they are?

We talked about two wonderful examples Katherine Gill Fuller, Gina mayo, wonderful examples of young staffers.

And it is it is that way, people.

And there are different paths.

And so it seems lik you're going through a variety.

You're not just seeing the governor not just coming to the legislature.

You're kind of having, you know, like you said, a diversity of right input from someone.

We can talk about other leadership opportunities that are held throughout the state, like girls state, the governor state and the new Patriot program that started at Troy that they partner with the American Village.

And this is a week in the summer where students can come in and learn leadership skill skills and lear about government and economics.

So talk about severa different programs that's held throughout our state.

And then one of the really fun things I was talking to you about this that we're going to do today, that we haven't done before, is we're going to have an actual debate on the House floor.

Let the girls vote.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

I saw that as a mock debate.

Okay.

What's this going to be about?

Okay.

So we're going to talk about the new law that recently passed in Australia that banned social media to young people under the age of 16.

Very topical.

Yes.

Topic, very relevant.

And there's good issues on both sides of this.

Is this government overreach or we protecting our minors?

So we're going to really get into this, and just do it on the House floor like we do in real life, and then let the girls vote.

All right, Addison, how to put you on the spot?

But which side are you going to be on?

I agree that there are definitely, negatives and positives of both, but I would sa to not have this rule in place because I'm passionate about children's hospitals.

That's what I do with this organization.

And so I've been able to promote this program and my community service initiative, cheering on children's inReach, over 800,000 people just from me alone.

And that's not something I can necessarily do in person all the time.

So I've been able to reach more people, and I've also been able to crowdfund.

This year alone, I've raised over $25,000, and a large majority of that has come from crowdfunding and online fundraising through social media.

And so I think it's something that really starts in the home and with parents who set appropriate boundaries and, you know, have communication with their teams.

Wow.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm going to have you down on the well to say, let's discuss his weather.

Good luck.

Good luck to whoever is debating.

I'm glad it's not me.

Oh, that's a very.

No, that's a very thoughtful answer we've had.

Look, we've had discussions on this show for a couple of years now to the legislature because there have been different bills.

Big national issue now.

And so it is important to have that perspective.

I wouldn't have thought about that.

And so that's another reason why what y'all are doing is so important.

Because it is about the positive sides of social media.

And look we kind of had a similar debate when we talked about cell phones in the schools.

Right.

And we talked about that for a couple of years before it ever came up for it.

You know, an actual vote before it was ever passed.

And, you know, the young teenagers didn't like it, parents didn't like it.

And we debated it and thought about it enough that we finally ended up passing that no cell phones in the schools in the state of Alabama to build a bill, and that that's a different issue.

But still it had to equal it was equally controversial and good issues on both sides of that issue as well.

So I've talked to representatives, I've talked to principles I've talked to superintendents, I've talked to teachers about this.

I'm not sure.

I've talked to a student about the cell phone ban.

What's that been like?

Is it been a big change coming into this year, or did your school already have restrictions?

So my school already had restrictions.

We've never been allowed to have our cell phones out, but that's something that unpopular to my peers.

I really enjoy becaus I can't imagine going to school and being in a lunchroom and it being silent because everyone's scrolling on their phone.

I really like havin that interpersonal communication and reaction to interaction with my peers.

And so I think it's a special thing, and I really appreciate that.

Now we have the focus act in place.

Forget the House floor debate.

You're going to be debating candidates.

Yeah.

Great.

A great message for you.

Well, look, thanks so much for coming and sharing about Girls Day at the Capitol.

I think it's great what y'all are doing.

And thanks for letting us b a part of it.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for having me.

And we'll see you back here in January.

January 13th, first session.

It's coming.

Yeah.

It's coming fast.

See you then.

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.

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.

Since 1997, Alabama Public Television has provided programs, services, and resources to childcare professionals, teachers and parents.

Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We won't have a show the next two weeks of the holiday season that goes along.

We'll be back on January 9th at our normal time right here on Alabama Public Television.

And don't forget, the legislative session starts on January 13th.

So it's coming right up for our Capital Journal team.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Hanukkah.

Have a great holiday season.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.