From the Alabama Public Television statehous studio in downtown Montgomery.

I'm Randy Scott.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Todd Stacy has the day off.

Coming up, doctor Scott Harris of the Alabama Department of Public Health of the fight against airborne illnesses.

Historian Doctor Richard Bailey, on the observance of a moment in Alabama history.

Stephanie Smith with the Alabama Policy Institute looks ahead to the new regular session.

And State Security Director Amanda Senn on fighting scams in Alabama.

But first, today's news a single senator used his authority this week to press pause on several state contracts, tying a move to a lawsuit over how Alabama distributes internet sales tax revenue.

Senator Gregg, All Britain says the legislature, not the courts, should decid what and where the money goes.

Tuscaloosa mayor says cities have waited nearly a decade for a fix.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders has the story.

A routine contract review committee meeting took a turn Thursday, when one senator exercised his power to block four state legal contracts.

Republican Senator Greg Albritton, who chairs the Senate General Fund Budget Committee, halted three contracts for legislative services and another for the pharmacy board.

Albritton says the move is directly connecte to a lawsuit filed by two cities challenging the state's internet sales tax system, known as the Simplified Seller's Use Tax, or suit.

When you start pulling a lawsuit against the state and interfering with the revenue flow, and now the same cities that's bringing the suit and the same lawyers bringing this through them are coming to the state asking for more money to fund things that they want.

And need.

I can't get blood from the turnip, so to speak.

So I just trying to send a message that if they got a problem, come talk to us.

Tuscaloosa and Mountain Brook filed a suit back in August claiming that the suit structure violates the Alabama Constitution and shortchanging cities by allowing online retailers to charge an 8% flat rate instead of the higher local tax rates.

Brick and mortar stores must collect.

Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox estimates his city is losing nearly $14.5 million a year in revenue.

Maddox released the following statement, saying in part, seeking a legal remedy is no something we've taken lightly.

Our responsibility is to protect our citizens, educate our children and invest in our future.

As is evident from recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday data, the issues of our society are growing exponentially.

This is dangerous to the fisca viability of cities and schools that depend upo locally generated sales taxes.

But Senator Albritton disagrees with the premise of the lawsuit, arguing local leaders have other ways to raise revenue.

You know, they can raise the taxes, and all they need is three votes or two votes or whatever to get it done here.

We have to deal with 140 people plus the governor.

So if they want to raise a tax and are able to improve their revenue, or they want to take something different or new, they can.

Under state law, the contract review committee cannot cancel contracts, but one member can delay them for 45 days, which is what happened this week.

Albritton did not rule out placing hold on future contracts, as the 202 legislative session approaches.

But for now, the legal battle continues and the future of how Alabama collects and shares online sale tax revenue remains uncertain.

Reporting from the Statehouse in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

US House Republica leaders abruptly canceled a vote on college sports legislation this week after facing bipartisan backlash.

Now it's unclear if the score at will ever get a vote.

Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill.

Hour before the House was set to vote Wednesday on a bill establishing guidelines for student athlete compensation.

Republican leadership punted the vote.

Congressman Shamar figures is one of just a handful of Democrats supporting the Score Act, along with most Republicans.

He says the bill is about, quote, protecting student athletes, about preserving their right to be compensated for their name, their image, their likeness.

The legislation would preempt state Nil laws during a hearing teeing up the Score act.

One of the Republican sponsor says it would create a necessary framework for athletes and universities to follow.

Provide stability for th governance of college athletics.

Protects Olympic sports programs and the broad array of opportunities they represent, and ensures long term stability for this vital piece of American culture.

But on Wednesday the Congressional Black Caucus came out forcefull against the Score Act, arguing it would give too much power to the NCAA and conferences.

A few Republicans also weren't happy with the bill, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries oppose the measure that would prohibit student athletes from becoming university employees.

It undermined the ability of college athletes and undermined their freedom to negotiate took away collective bargaining rights.

Now, it's unclear if or when the House will take a vote on the score act.

Former Auburn football coach Senator Tommy Tuberville, says he want any college sports legislation that makes it to the Senat to regulate the transfer portal.

Number one education for players making money.

But I'm not for them using transfer every year to make more money and not getting education.

This score act would allow the NCAA to set parameters around transfers, so long as athletes can transfer at least once and become immediately eligible to compete.

Tuberville wouldn't directly say if he supported the bill, but he does want to see more guidance around Nil.

We have to do something, folks.

We are ruining college sports.

But after this week's cancele vote, the Score Act's prospects look grim.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Engle, Capital Journal The world of politics i abuzz in Alabama with the recent decision made by Doug Jones to run for governor.

Jones previously represented Alabama in the U.S.

Senate from 2018 to 2021.

Jones and other Democratic candidates will face off in the primary elections on May 19th, 2026.

Then the gubernatorial election will take place on November 3rd, 2026.

The man who replaced Jones in the U.S.

Senate, Tommy Tuberville, is also running as a Republican for governor.

The senator announced back in May he will be a candidate for the governor's office in 2020.

Tuberville defeated Jones for his Senate seat, a position he holds to this day.

Recent reports sugges Tuberville has raised $9 million in contributions, compared to Jones $106,000.

For most of this year, the state of Alabama has bee involved in a serious drought.

Now we have rain coming in, and it's also coming in at a time where the weather patterns are changing because the season is changing.

Does that make a change of temperature and a change of conditions for people that they need to keep their eyes on so they don't get sick?

Let's find out by talking t our guest, Doctor Scott Harris, the director of the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Director, good to see you.

Thank you.

It seems as though we've reached the point of the year where we're at the tail end, wher we're going from fall to winter, and we're in the middle of two important holidays.

And lo and behold we have all this rain coming in and temperatures are changing.

Does this give people pause to want to be careful so they don't get sick?

Sir?

Well, this time of year is, when we think about it, a lot of peopl having gatherings, for example.

And that's really the biggest risk of the holiday season.

Certainly rain or cold weather can influence some of that.

But being, enclosed spaces for a long period of time with all your friends and neighbors and family, that's what really puts people at risk.

And we want to remind people, just a few simple things about that.

First of all, protect yourself, if you can, by making sure you've protected yourself against those diseases that we see this time of year.

Flu is the main one.

We haven't seen a real take of the flu season yet in Alabama, but we know it's coming because it comes every year.

And we think it could be you know, maybe slightly worse than the normal year.

Just based on what we've see in other parts of the country.

And it is not too late to get your flu shot.

You're right on time if you haven't gotten there yet.

So.

So consider that talk to your doctor about other things that you might need, as well.

And then another really simpl rule that sometimes we forget is if you're sick, please stay home.

You know don't put other people at risk.

A lot of times we feel like we're too important to the gathering, and I don't feel that bad.

And I can tough my way through this.

But when you're getting together with family, like, perhaps you have a lot of seniors there you have small children there.

You really do, put peopl at risk or potentially you do.

So we do ask people to remember that this time of year you mentioned immunizations.

The best way to, get the medicine that you need to fight this.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, the respiratory diseases that we see transmitted not only this time of year, but particularly this time of year, include flu and Covid and RSV.

We do have ways to prevent all of those, at least to lessen the severity of them, if not outright prevent you from from getting those.

So talk to your doctor about that and see what's right for you.

See what's appropriate.

All of those, products are available, and might be something that your doctor would recommend for you.

And you just mentione in other areas of the country, you can see examples of thos problems being very prevalent.

It kind of gives Alabama a chance to say, hey, we need to take a look at this because it could come down the stream and hit us.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, there's no, there's going to be no surprise when we're in the middle of flu season soon.

You know, the only question is when does it start?

And sometimes it's before Thanksgiving and sometimes it's closer to Christmas.

But by January or February, we're all going to know a lot of people that have the flu.

And, you know, hopefully it's not you and me, Randy, but a lot of us are going t have the flu that time of year.

So it's absolutely coming.

There are ways to prevent it or to ease the severity, as you mentioned, with vaccination, there's also medication you can take, particularly for seniors or peopl that have immune system problems when they get the flu.

We really want them to talk to their health care provider to see if there's medication, that would be appropriate for them.

You know, we don't think about this because flu just seems so common.

But there are tens of thousands of Americans every year that die from the flu.

It's in fact difficult to quantify the number because many times the flu just makes othe chronic medical problems worse.

So someone with heart disease or chronic lung disease may ultimately succumb to that disease.

But the reason they did is because the flu made them really, really sic and really stressed their body and maybe put them in the hospital and caused other problems.

So flu is nothing, to sniff out.

It's a serious disease and we know it's going to be here soon.

It especially for thos who may have immunity problems, they definitely need to be on the lookout.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Right.

There are really good ways to prevent serious illness in people with immune system problems.

But the number of people with immune system problem in this country has grown a lot.

And for a number of reasons, you know, one is that people are just living longer.

You know, they get to longer older ages where they're just more likel to develop something like that.

But there are also many, many products out there now that are used to suppress your immune system, to treat other types of diseases.

So, so many, allergic or room to logic, disorders are treated, by suppressing your immune system.

That that works great if you have, let's say rheumatoid arthritis or you have eczema, but it can potentially put your at risk, for certain types of infections or make it worse for you if you get certain types of infections.

And here in Alabama, as you noted just a short time ago, as of right now we are not in the red, if you will, in terms of anything hitting us right now.

But we have to keep our eyes an our attention looking forward.

Yeah, it's absolutely going to come.

You know, it's just, one of those things that we're certain about.

We we are looking at a lot of other things.

There are, you know, measles outbreaks around the state.

There's, believe it or not, our botulism outbreak going on in this country related to baby formula.

There are lots of things for us in public health to keep our eyes on flus.

Not here yet, but, it'll be here and let's talk about measles, because at one time, measles was completely eradicated from this country.

This state was it not ye fought for more than 25 years.

You know, most of the measles, almost all the measles in this country has been from people who were traveling overseas and encountered it somewhere else, where measles transmission is very common.

We did have, we have had small outbreaks, in certain communities when you had vaccinated people, unvaccinated people, but nothing like we've seen this past year.

The first really large scale measles outbreak, that we've seen in a long time happened in West Texas, on the, New Mexico border, starting last spring, that, outbreak had over a thousand cases.

There were, a couple of deaths, at least, perhaps more associated with that.

And we've continued to see these little hotspots of outbreaks all around the country since then.

Some in Arizona and Ohio, there's there's currently one going on, in the Greenville, South Carolina area that's involved over 100 kids.

In most cases, these are kids who were not vaccinated for measles.

And, you know, vaccination gets a, you know, a bad rap nowadays, for some reason.

There's all these peopl out there talking about shots.

But listen, there's there's no dispute about the measles vaccine.

This vaccine's been around longer than I've been alive.

It's safe.

It's effective.

One shot, protects most people more than 90% of the time.

Or if you get the recommended two shots, more than 95% of the time, closer to 98% of the time you're not going to get measles.

And measle is the most infectious disease.

It's the easiest diseas to spread from person to person that we know of when you're talking about a measles case in an unvaccinated patient.

So, please talk to your doctor about that.

It's a great time to consider updating your measles vaccination status if you haven't done that.

And something else you just mentioned, botulism.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Botulism?

Isn't that poison?

Is it that deadly?

Yeah.

So?

So botulism.

We don't think about it much in this country because we have generally very safe, food supply, in food manufacturing, processes in this country.

But there is a botulism outbreak around the country that's been associate with contaminated baby formula.

There's more than three dozen cases, around the country.

There's many of these kid have ended up in the hospital.

Typically they're infants.

And because it's contaminate baby formula that's being used.

So that's who's affected.

Botulism can occur in other settings, but foodborne botulism, like this is the most common, way to see it when you see it.

We have not had cases in Alabama, but this particular product, that was contaminated has been sold in Alabama.

And the FDA issued a recall for that.

Our environmentalists that are at Alabama Department of Public Health, went out and looked on the shelves o over 140 stores around the state that were reported to have received this.

We actually found some product on the shelves.

And got that pulled and, and destroyed so that, no one would be at risk.

So, so at this point, we don't believe there's any contaminated product in the state.

At least we're not aware of that.

We've done a good bit of messaging to make sure that the families and moms know about those products, that to make sure that they're not someho encountering it somewhere else.

It seems like this outbreak is going to go away.

The, FDA is still trying to inspect this factory, out west to figure out exactly what happened in the manufacturing process there.

But, you know, it just goes to show that these diseases never really go away.

You know, you have to be vigilant.

You have to be on guard.

And if you're not, they pop right back up again.

And like we said earlier, we're right between two the busiest holidays of the year where people like to gather.

And like you just said, it's best to be cautious.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Right.

And when weather turns coal and people get together, lots of things spread around.

So we know that's going to happen.

Okay.

He's Doctor Scott Harris director of the Alabama Department of Public Health Thank you so much, doctor Randy.

Thank you.

We appreciate you.

And please keep watch.

Let us know what comes up next.

Absolutely.

Thank 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.

Alabama's history has a strong place in the histor of the United States of America.

70 years ago, an event too place right here in Montgomery that definitely carved a path for this nation.

Joining me now to talk about that moment is Doctor Richard Bailey, noted historian and Montgomery native Doctor Bailey.

So good to see you Thank you for joining us, sir.

And thank you for having me.

So 70 years ago, 1955, an event took place in downtown Montgomery.

It dealt with a lady named Rosa Parks.

Real quickly.

Tell us again what happened during that time and how that catapult this nation forward in the history books?

Well first of all, December 1st, 1955 was a Thursday, usually for lunch.

Rosa Parks walked one block from a downtown Montgomery fair to eat with he good friend, attorney Fred Gray.

But on that Thursday, he was out of town.

So she did not eat with him.

But when she got off work that afternoon, she walked across the street to the Dixie Rexall dru to pick up some additional items and walked back to Court Square, where she boarded the bus for West Montgomery.

Shortly thereafter, she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.

She was sitting in the 10th row, and when the passenger on sitting next to her were asked to move along with her.

They did not object.

They move, but she did not.

And the bus driver repeated his command that she moved, but she sit still and, he and turned called the authorities, the police and a motorcycle, policeman came up, and this appears, and soon thereafter, two officers, Nixon and Day, came up an she was escorted from the bus.

And as I love to say, i a person had been standing there that day, that evening, in fact, watching Rosa Park disembarked from that bus, that person may have said that she is just being escorted from the bus, but in reality, she was being escorted into the history books.

Because real quickly, that was actually a law that was here in Montgomery dealing with people who rode the bus.

If you were told to move to a certain seat, or if there was a barrier that indicated where you could sit or you couldn't sit, you could be arrested for it.

Yes.

Yes.

The driver had that discretion.

He could, ask a black passenger to, relinquish her seat or his seat.

For white passengers, he had that discretion because it was quoted in several works of history that Mrs.

Parks said when she got on th bus that day, she was very tired and she wasn't paying attention because she saw who the bus driver was, was.

She said she will not get on that bus.

Right.

And in fact, in 1943, Rosa Parks had an encounter with that driver, and she had pledged that she would never, ever, never, ride a bus in which that driver, but was there.

And it just so happened on December 1st when she boarded that bus.

She realized it was the same James Fred Blake from 1943, but that those first ten rows, as most people know b now, were reserved for whites.

And the rear ten moving to the front from the back were reserved for blacks.

And, you had your discretion with those middle rows.

So she was not sitting in that white section.

And that's the reason I say the first ten rows.

She was not sitting in the white section when, driver James Fred Blak asked her to give up her seat.

So she's escorted off the bus, as you said, she's arrested.

And escorted literally into the history books, because what she helped started was a movement that will bring forth the likes of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.

Yes, E.D.

Nixon and other who were on the path of helping to write some history for the city for the state, for this country in 1955, December, notwithstanding, African-Americans in Montgomery were fed up, were tired of the kind of treatment they had received on the bus and in the city.

In 1955, basically everything in Montgomery was segregated.

The newspaper had a black section of white section.

The city parks were segregated.

The theaters were segregated.

The schools were segregated.

The churches were segregated the communities were segregated.

And certainly on the bus, the way black passengers were treated, it was just awful.

And Rosa Parks was just one of those persons who was, totally dissatisfied with the way that African Americans were treated on city busses.

Now, you mentioned about her being escorted from the bus, looking like she was being escorted, literally.

A lot of people observed and made note of her physical appearance.

She was not a large person.

She was a diminutive person.

But that did not.

For one minut play in on how her personality, her personality was.

That's true.

And the point of the matter is, if one were to look at Rosa Parks, one might assum this is some meek, individual.

But this lady had a. Wheel that was just very strong at first.

She first of all, she was a religious person.

Rosa Parks was not a rabble rouser.

She believed in the Bible.

She believed in going to church.

She believed in doing what was right.

But she was fed up with the way that black people were treated on those busses, how they were, treated.

So just courteously and no one of those drivers, basically no one there were a few courteous drivers, but most of the drivers were very just courteous.

And black passenger was just fed up with that.

So that's what just, just just bothere Rosa Parks that Thursday evening as she was, asked to give up her seat.

She was fed up and being fed up pretty much jump started the movement.

And when the movement happened, no one really knew that it would take the course, that it did it how it will carve a path.

As I said earlier, not just through Alabama, through this country, around the world, literally.

That's true.

That's true.

And it just so happene that Montgomery became the place that all of this would take place, in American history.

Let me just back up for just one minute.

Rosa Parks was not the first person to receive that kind of treatment.

On city bus, if I want to mentio just one person in particular.

And that was Joanne Robinson, who worked in the English department of, Alabama State.

And when she heard that Rosa Parks had been arrested, she went into action with two students at Alabama State and John Cannon, who had a ke to that administration building.

She wrote up somethin and put on a mimeograph machine, and she asked black people to stay off the bus just for one day if you will stay off the busses.

And believe it or not to make a long story very short, black people basically state of the busses that Monday morning, December 5th, they stayed off those busses and they leave.

Not again.

Even some black people would be a bit surprised that we had that kind of cooperation.

But the point of matter is black people were in deep fed up with the fact that, black people were not respected on city busses.

In fact, in the cit of Montgomery, for that matter.

So 70 years that happened 70 years ago.

Here we are in 2025.

Other lessons from what happened with her and the movement that came afterwards.

Oh, those lessons still important to this day, sir.

Those lessons are very important to this day.

And they are important because despite all of the attention that we've given to what happened to Rosa Parks, just despite how some laws may have been changed, black people still have not begu to receive the kind of treatment that kind of fairness, i you will, that black people feel that we should be abl to enjoy as American citizens.

So 70 years that that history book is still teaching the history books, still teaching the Black Lives Matter movement and, driving why black, instances that black people have just had to endure in recent years.

But times have changed, have been some improvement.

But we're still not there yet.

70 years later, the school session is still i and people are still learning.

Doctor Richard Bailey, thank you for coming by to talk to us and reflecting on Rosa Parks and the moment that changed American history 70 years ago, right here in Montgomery.

Thank you, sir, and thank you for having me to answer.

And Capital Journal will return.

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

Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

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

The 2026 regular session is literally right around the corner.

And in a couple of weeks, lawmakers will return to Montgomery to talk about various issues.

Issues dealing with budgets, and also policies.

Lawmakers will also tal to people about certain policies they would like to see them discuss during the session.

One such idea is coming from the Alabama Policy Institute.

And joining us now is president CEO of the Policy Institute, Stephanie Smith.

So good to see you.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it so much.

Yes, ma'am.

Now, this polic that you will be talking about, well, first let me back up for those who may not be familiar with the policy is to tell people what it's all about.

Please.

Sure.

So AP was started, over 36 years ago.

By now, Congressman Gary Palme as the Alabama Family Institute.

And then we shifte to the Alabama Policy Institute, and we cover three main tenants free markets, limited government and strong families.

And so we advocate for things, like school choice.

We advocate for things like low taxes and accountability for government policies.

That's right.

So when the session starts in a couple of weeks, no doubt you and your staff will be here to talk to the lawmakers face to face about various policy issues.

How long have you been doing this?

So this is my third year leading AP.

I worked for AP for a couple of years before that, and then I had various experience, being a corporate lobbyist, a contract lobbyist.

And I once upon the time, Once Upon a time was a gubernatorial staffer.

So here in the statehouse, in our statehouse studios, and this is probably the quietest you would hear this building.

That's right.

Especially coming up in the next couple of weeks.

But you're here because as we said, you will be talking about policies with lawmakers, which brings us to this blueprint you have in front of me.

That's right.

The blueprint 2026 that you all are presenting.

Tell us a little bit more about this now.

Sure.

So three years ago when I started at AP, my thought process was the AP had done a really good job in years past of being a resource for legislators.

And the way that we do that is by reading bills, doing bill analysis, doing, data researc and research on different ideas from different states.

But one thing that we really had not been effective doing was setting an agenda that we thought lawmakers ought to conside during the legislative process.

And so that's how the blueprint was born.

And so this is our third year of presenting the blueprint for Alabama.

It's 30 issues every single year.

And what we do is we do research on what's happening in other states, what we think ought to be considere in the legislative process here and then compile all of that those ideas, during the summer and then spend the entire summer and fall doing research and writing on those issues, which came out to be, the 2026 blueprint for Alabama, which is about 195 pages, all told.

But we also have something called what we call the baby Blueprint, which is kind of, summer a summary or CliffsNotes of those types of issues.

Now, is API the only organization I guess, in this region, in this country that does something like this in a state like Alabama.

So we're the only ones who d something like this in Alabama.

But there are other groups in other states who do similar things.

And so we're a think tank.

I like to sa we're a think tank and a do tank because really we're action oriented.

Because it really and that's that's part of why we started doing the blueprint, because you can have really good ideas.

But if you're not working with lawmakers to make those ideas come to fruition, then it just remains an idea.

And so, we that' why we are putting those ideas on paper, presenting them to lawmakers, having meetings with lawmaker before the legislative session begins about those ideas, encouraging them to carry that legislation and then also listening to their ideas and trying to inculcate their ideas into the blueprint itself.

Other than lawmakers.

Yes.

Do you talk to citizens about things they would like to see the lawmakers talk about and present when they're in session?

Absolutely.

We sure do.

So.

But, we work year round, not just when the legislators are here in the building.

On those types of issues, we hear from our own donors and our and supporters about what they would like to see.

And then we also hear from, you know, the general public about the issues that they're having in their communities or problems that they're having and try to address those as well.

How has that transferred to the blueprint?

What ideas have or have you heard any ideas repeatedly from citizens that they would like to see lawmakers talk about?

You know, it's interesting when you talk to the general public, what they want to see is increased transparency and accountability from their government.

You know, most you know, I used to be the deputy finance director for the state.

So I have kind of an intricate understanding of the state's budget.

But random people that I talk to in my personal life or in or in the grocery store don't have a keen understanding of the state's budgets.

But what they always do want is efficiency and accountability and transparency.

And so those are the things that we hear the most often from the general public and those constituents.

Well, as I said before in a couple of weeks, literally right around the corner, they'r going to hear this in earnest.

Now, as you said, there are a number of points in the blueprint that you brought her that we're going to talk about.

I'm going to I'm going to bring up some great.

And if there are any others you want to please feel free to add a man.

But I know one deals with strengthening internet protections for Alabama children.

Now, this is something that we actually heard about in the legislature for some lawmakers.

Right?

Oh.

What else do you think need to be brought to the forefront tackling this issue?

Yeah.

So I mentioned one of our tenants is strong families.

And so we really try to do child protection bills, so that we can make sure that children are protected from issues that, that they're not old enough to handle.

And so we've walked through this process over the last couple of years with several different bills.

Ther was, the age verification bill, and then last year, the filter bill, for devices and this bill that we're talking about this year specifically, there are a couple of different ideas, but the one that we're really focused on is called the app Bill.

And it is a bill that holds the, the app developers and the App Store accountable instead of having children being held accountable.

And what that's one of those thing that we hear a lot from parents, which is that they want to protect, they want their kids to have access to technology, but they also want to have confidence that their kids will be protected.

And a lot of times they rely on, the age appropriateness level that is given to them, by the App Store by either the Google App Store or the Apple App Store.

And those are actually which I was I was dumbfounded when I found out those are actually developer initiated meaning, like if I developed an app, I could just declare that it was okay for everybody four years old, an app, and no, there's no outside entity that looks into that.

There's no outside entity that governs that.

And so basically everything is appropriate fo for us, though, it's really not another issue, restrict the flow of abortion inducing drugs into Alabama.

Yeah a hot button issue no doubt.

Yeah.

That's that's definitely a hot button one.

You know, we have a constitutional amendment in the state of Alabama, a pro-life, almost unconditional pro-life, constitutional amendment that was passed, you know, almost a decade ago now.

And then the Human Life Protection Act, which was passed in 2018.

So we have very, very strong abortion, legislation and also constitutional amendment in the state of Alabama.

But the number of abortions in the state has just shifted from physical abortions to chemical abortions.

And so what we're trying to do is, protect women, actually, because a lot of the folks that are that are doing the chemically induced abortions are not getting adequate medical care, and there's not a lot of consent or understanding that those that that medicine can be really dangerous, obviously, not only for the baby, but also for the mother.

Another one, of your, issues I've seen on this list something that I also heard i Alabama House of Representatives promote and improve civics educatio in K through 12 public schools.

Yes, this is something I feel really passionately about, just, you know, personally, being being a history major and, and doing what I do for a living.

We're not really teaching civics education particularly well in, in our schools, in K-12.

And I would argue even in higher ed, having a pride in our country, having pride in our state is something that I think is really important.

But also more than that, having a keen understanding of the way our the way our government is supposed to work, the way the different branches of government are supposed to work togethe and hold each other accountable, those are things tha get kind of lost in translation if civics education isn't a focus.

And so we want to make that.

We want to refocus, our history lessons on civics education in American government.

Because if they understand how government works, they understand how government works.

Right.

Well.

And that way you can also see when it's not functioning, if you don't understand how it's supposed to work and the and the checks and balances and that the judiciary is supposed to check the executive, and the executive is supposed to check the legislative and all of that and how it works together.

If you don't have an understanding of that, then you can't identify when it's not working.

Well, anothe one that I've seen before in the in the legislature are whole sexual predators accountable and increased penalties for crimes against minors.

Yeah.

This this the situation in Bibb County that I'm sure your viewers are aware of, that was just absolutely horrific.

Is is part of this.

Matt Simpson had a bill last legislative session that we were supportive of.

And now April Weaver has has also taken up the mantle of, of this piece of legislation.

And so we'll be supporting that.

We have to have significant deterrents, for people who intentionally abuse children, whether or not that's physically, sexually or otherwise, what other bills or bulle points of this jump out at you if you want to describe some of them right now.

Sure.

Yeah.

And one of our, major focus is this legislative session will be within the budgetary process.

As far as, promoting the full universality of the schoo choice program, the Choose act.

As your viewers are probably aware, the the Choose act was passed a couple of years ago, but in yea three becomes fully universal.

And so we want every student in the state of Alabama to have every family, to have the ability to choose the right school for their child every single year.

And so that will b a budgetary question this year.

Something that we're already talking to the budget chairs about and had a fifth that i and make sure that that remains a priority for the Alabama legislature.

So I know we have a lot of bullet points here.

We can't get to them all.

But what we're going to do is put your website on our page wher people can go to your website, thank you and take a look at it too.

And and more than likely, remind them, hey, when the session starts, you can come down to the state House and see some of the discussion in person.

Yeah, talk about it.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's always entertaining, to see what you know, the legislature is actually doing you know, boots on the ground.

I always encourage people to come and experience it for themselves, especially kids.

But even grownups really need to be able to see their government at work and see, and have relationships with their legislators.

That's something that we really promote at API, which is you can't really, have a relationship with your legislators or lawmaker unless you know them personally.

So we encourage people to do that as well.

So in a couple of weeks, be ready to come down.

We'll be right back.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate i I appreciate it.

Thanks so much.

And we'll see you during the session.

Absolutely.

Sounds good.

Yes, ma'am.

And Capitol Journal will return.

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

Appy tv.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.

Rosa Parks i one of the most enduring symbols of the American civil rights era of the mid-twentieth century.

She was active in the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, serving as its field secretary.

Although she was not the first black woman in Montgomery to be arrested for doing so.

Her 1955 arrest for violating the segregation ordinance by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, triggered a 382 day boycott of Montgomery city busses and prompted a challenge o the ordinances constitutionality in federal court.

In December 1956, after the US Supreme Court affirmed a district court ruling against segregation, parks took a symbolic victory ride near the front of a city bus.

Parks continued to work for civil rights causes throughout her life, and was awarded the nation's highest honors for her role in the movement.

When it comes to scams and fraud, the Alabama Securitie Commission is always on the job.

They're tapped with making sure they keep track of different companies and individuals who may come to town to try to scam and fraud Americans and Alabamians throughout the state.

Joining me now to talk about some of the things that are going through at this time of the year, is the director of the Alabam Securities Commission, Madisyn, thank you so much for having me on real artificial intelligence here, on artificial intelligence, for those of you one, we had a discussion just a second ago about AI who's real?

Who's not real.

Sure.

You I'm here.

Thank you I'm glad to be here in person.

Well, thank you for being here.

Now, it's it's no joking matter because scams and fraud is really running rampant around the country and here in Alabama too as well, is it not?

Yeah.

So we've been in a fortunate position to be able to, see the activity across the state in terms of scams and what's being reported.

Several years ago, our legislature and efforts to protect our the wealth of our senior citizens i the state passed reporting laws.

And so our financial institutions report to us when they suspect that accounts of seniors are being, you know, in any way used to facilitate fraudulent activity.

So if they're being compromised in some way.

And so we've been able to se all the scams that are happening across the state and in the holidays, during the holiday season, that number is always a staggeringly high.

And we've we've seen it come u already in the last two months because you think Thanksgiving we just get pass.

Everybody's in a good mood.

Everybody's happy.

The thank you turn.

Everyone's looking to a Christmas okay.

Let's go Christmas shopping.

Let's get gifts.

Let's make donations.

But you have to look at everything now.

Twice to make sure it's not fraudulent.

Yeah.

So, you know, our office is tasked with overseeing the investment industry.

We make sure the integrit of Alabama's markets are intact.

Protect consumers, investors.

And, we also work with money transmitter.

So we work with a lot of financial institutions and also are in discussions with consumers.

And both parties will say, yo know, during the holiday season, we have invoices that come at us.

People are trying to, conclude the year end.

Our consumers are busy shopping.

And so everybody's in a hurry.

And, for our peers, our professionals out there, we're trying to wrap up things that work.

And so we're not as attentive as maybe we are in January when things slow down a little bit.

I guess, though this January we'll be confronted with the Alabama general session.

But, for most of us, though, we're trying to work in all we can during the holidays.

And, it's reflected in the number of reports that we're receiving across the state.

People aren't.

There's no, like, being a victim of fraud is not in any way.

It doesn't coincid with the level of intelligence.

So our victims run the gamut.

Accountants, doctors, lawyers, you know, reporters.

It's just that, you know, they, after interviewing them, finally confess.

Yeah.

I was in a hurry.

I didn't pay attention.

Before I click this link or accepted this a calendar appointment.

And, So, yeah, we're here to tell everybody to slow down this holiday season and of course, announce that the Alabama Securities Commission is here to help in any way we can.

And as you noted, just a short time from now we will be back in this building full forc with legislators and lawmakers who no doubt will have several thousand questions for you and your agency when it come to keeping businesses, citizens, institutions like the government safe from fraudulent things and being deceived by people who in many cases just want to take money away from us.

You mentioned the program with financial institutions, especially helping senior citizens.

There has got to be a huge issue to deal with.

Yeah, but we've been abl to prevent millions of dollars from leaving the accounts of our seniors.

And I tell my colleague this nationwide, I'm going to, have the privilege of serving as the chair of the Seniors Committee for North America.

So I communicat with all of our sister states, Canada, Mexico, and the territories about the efforts in Alabama to help combat fraud against our seniors.

And, guys we have such a wonderful state, really just a community of people.

We get along so well.

We're all focused on helping our residents.

And, so, you know, our office has been empowered to help combat fraud at that level.

We met with victims in their homes.

We have several victim service officers that come out and just talk with folks if we can't recover the money, because oftentimes, as I'm sure you know, this money is being stolen by, criminal rings out in Southeast Asia.

Although some o these fraudsters are now flying into the United States and into Alabama and showing up at the homes of our, victims, we actually have one in the Montgomery County jai right now, a Taiwanese national who flew in to from California just to steal $600,000, from one of our local residents.

So.

Well, at one time we believe that these fraudsters were overseas, and they primarily are.

They do have boots on the ground in the States, and they're coming into Alabama as well.

So just when you make progress on any one type of activity, up pops another.

Yeah, whack a mole.

And we take one out here and another one, shows up.

But in Alabama we're sending a strong message that we will not tolerate you know, fraudsters, you know, stealing from our folks, especially our senior population, who are not always, able to go back into the workforce to recoup those funds.

Your agency, your department, no doubt, is very busy year round.

And, as we know at this time of the year, especially as well, too.

But you also, as you said, deal with lawmakers to help get some legislation together or fine tune legislation if need be Yeah, that needs to be tweaked.

What are some of the things you're seeing that in in some cases the you feel that you in lawmakers and others will probably get together to re tweak so that citizens and other agencies are safe.

So our legislature is very sensitive to the needs of Alabamians.

I know we said that the session officially begins in January.

It's year round.

And, you know, we're constantly, discussing with legislators about, you know, needs that their constituents have.

And, we're on a united front always.

But, especially when it comes to combating fraud, there have been several discussions.

I know artificial intelligence right now is a hot topic.

Not just in Alabama, but nationally.

We don't want to thwart innovation.

In any way prohibi or impede progress in that area.

But there are significant risks with, artificial intelligence.

And so we want to be able to encourage good use is beneficial uses, but also prevent, you know, fraudsters and others from using it in ways that are harmful to our residents and in the state.

So, we're looking at the wa businesses implement and use AI.

Our office ha a financial innovation division.

So we've been exploring ways that I can be used, for the consumers and clients, and for our businesses to help those consumers and clients.

But we need to be careful, and I think focus on guardrails around the checkpoints.

And so everybody needs to be responsible when using those tools.

An a real estate frau is a question that we've been, asked of several times, you know, are you seeing real estate fraud in the state?

We certainly are, because I makes it so easy to replicate content or to create images that are so incredibly, realistic that it's hard for even experts now to discern what's real and what's fraudulent.

And, so there may be, you know, a Senate or a discusse a real estate bill earlier here.

And, you know, just ways to help our state take advantage of those tools.

But also, we still have a focus.

And this is where Alabama shines.

It really cares about our residents to help protect them, as well from fraud and other, you know, illicit type conduct that may come as a result of this technology.

You mentioned real estate fraud.

I'm aware of several people friends, friends of the family who have had some issues with people contacting them saying, hey, you know, we saw your house was up for sale or you went ahead with a real estate agent and made an offer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

All we need you to do is sign this and send it back to us.

Blatant coming across so sure.

Yeah, the fraudsters are bold.

I think Senator Barrett issued a post yesterday.

She said the frozen are getting bolder.

They absolutely are.

And you know the software that list these sites, you know, individual homeowners, oftentimes they may own, you know, a piece of property that, they're not always visiting.

And so fraudsters are well aware of the land that is unoccupied, real estate right now.

And so it's easy for them to pick it up.

And we've had several incidents in the state that have involved, innocent, buyers that have been affected or someone has reported their home was being listed an maybe sold out from under them.

It's incredible.

You know, the things that come up, I did back a few notes that there is a database I want to I want to share this with you here.

First incident database dot ey is a website where people have and businesse reporting the latest are frauds.

And so if you want to know what's going on, you know you can call our office.

But, many of these reports are being posted now publicly here as well.

If you think, oh my gosh, is this a scenario that, you know, I need to pay special attention to because it may involve a, you know, fraudulent type posting, then check it out because most likely it is these days, if you're on the internet, is that if it sounds like a dog, if it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck, then it is a duck.

Oh, yeah.

And, you know, some of that is the go-fund-me pages.

Yeah.

I think, you know, there's this is cruel.

Fraudsters have ripped off.

We got to report a GoFundMe page and they created, they don't have to create content that could steal content online because we put everything on social media.

So it's easy enough to, to copy your likeness.

And they created a similar one.

They were able to get links out to the email addresses where the, the person that actually needed a GoFundMe had already sent those, invitations.

And so they basically stole the GoFundMe page.

We had outlook calendar appointments that, in the state, people reported receiving calendar appointments in their inbox.

And I do this all the time.

When an appointment comes in, I'll say, I accept, accept, accept.

I mean, our colleague need to be careful about this.

And, and one of them was a contain malware.

So, you know, be careful clicking on those.

But but yeah, it's very challenging now to determine whether you're looking at a real email or a fraudulent email or if content online, if you can believe a story that you read or a photo that you see with I, I, you mentioned go find me.

And and this is the part of the reason why we want to have you want to talk to you about this.

I saw a story, a national story recently.

There was a gentleman, want to say, up the East coast somewhere who?

Honest to goodness, there had been a GoFundMe account set up for him.

It got hijacked, basically, about 20 times.

And they will use his image.

They will use an AI generated voice to fake the message in order t hijack money from that account.

Oh that's despicable.

And every time they will go in and shut it down, they will pop up with another.

Yeah.

It's hard, you know like whack a mole.

Another one comes up in its place.

So you know the tool that these fraudsters are using can also be used to help combat the fraudulent postings and the, you know, spam that goes out as well.

It's just that the fraudsters are so far ahead right now of law enforcement.

You know, there's a couple of tools.

People have asked u if there are AI detection tools.

There are several of them.

Some of them are open source and free.

But on a quill bot and Winston, you can buy, some programs to help you detect what may be, you know, generate it through artificial intelligence.

But, you know, for most of us, we don't have time to drop every email that we receive or every posting, or we're o social media, you know, online.

And so I think as, you know, business community, we can do a little better helping police our own platforms.

The Global Anti Scam Alliance is actually meeting this week in, Washington.

I was able to send, someone on my behalf, but it is an organizatio that involves many businesses.

And so our businesses are very concerned about AI.

And, you know, the harms that it calls consumers through some of that.

So I think everybody is beginning to pay more attention now.

And, you know, I know Alabama's concerned as well.

Alabama's Securities Commissio is very concerned as well too.

And keeping an eye out for scams.

Amanda, Senn you're the director.

Thank you for joining us.

Yeah.

Thank you for being here.

We'll have to talk about stablecoin and cryptocurrency maybe, next time.

So there's a lot coming.

Speaking of a financial type innovation, we'll see what's around the corner.

Will do.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining us That'll do it for this edition of Capital Journal.

Join us next week for our next show.

Todd Stacy will be in this chair as the host from all of us here at Alabama Public Television.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Randy Scott.

Take care and stay safe.