From our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was the 16th day of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session.

And leading the broadcast tonight is the news that legislation to make the Alabama Public Service Commission and appointed rather than elected body will not get a vote.

This legislative session, Senate President Pro Tem Garland Gudger said toda that the bill reforming the PSC moved to fast and without enough input from the public.

He also blamed out of space, out of state groups who are seeking to gain influenc over energy policy in the state.

But Gunter said he was still interested in addressing the PSC and other energy issues.

This session.

It's very important to do this session because the longer that we wait, the longer that infiltration happens from outside our borders.

And I truly believe that is there.

I've seen documentation.

I'm getting the proof together.

I want the media to have that so you all will have it.

But I want to make sure my colleague sees it first.

But it will become public.

So we're going to be working with all of our colleagues in the Senate.

We have to work with the House, Speaker Ledbetter and myself.

And the governor has to be involved.

Period.

And so as we move forward, it's going to be a collection of everyone working together in unison.

But there's going to be communication, and we're going to have to make sure that we have the right plan for the Alabama people.

It affects everyon from the elderly to the people on fixed income to everyone to small businesses.

But everyone is affected by higher power rates.

So the key is how can we make sur that those stay fixed or frozen for as long as we can until we fix this issue?

And that's really what my goal is right now, as they're putting out the immediate fire that the people feel the pressure.

A Greene County gambling bill that sparked controversy last year is back in the statehouse.

Senate Bill 133 sponsored by State Senator Bobby Singleton of Greene County, was up for a vote toda in the Senate Tourism Committee, where it passed out unanimously last year.

A broader version of the measure never received a committee vote.

And the dispute over it contributed to a breakdown that killed dozens of unrelated bills at the end of last session.

Singleton says this year's bill is more limited in scope, focusing on updates to the Greene County Racing Commission, revenue distribution and other tax provisions.

We have some entities in the bill, too, where we, divide dividend in what we give money schools, hospitals, different organizations, city towns, some of those entities are basically gone out of business over in Greene County.

They're no longer existent.

So what we're doing in this bill is kind of redistributing that money.

I'm giving more money to hospitals trying to give money to Emily's services.

And also this bill does is that it had an amendment that was on it, that there was some original language that was taken out of the bil that we was trying to work with.

Trial lawyers about immunity.

And so, you know, I just looked at and so I didn't want to make that compromise.

So we put that that language back into our bill.

Okay.

And so, basically that's how the bill does.

It doesn't define gaming, is not introducing no new games or anything of that nature.

It's not trying to last year to build define what HHR was this year.

We took that out of the bill because in the House they didn't want to define gaming.

So this bill does not define a game at all.

This bill does this upstate statute and also talked about some new taxes.

That's in it, making sure the state getting a tax worth and we're paying the taxes that we should be paying it, that's all it does.

A bill requiring post-election election audits in Alabama is now headed to the Senate.

House Bill 95 from State Representative Joe Loven of Auburn would requir probate judges to conduct audits after statewide and countywide general elections.

Under the proposal, one precinct and one contest would be selected at random for review.

After the election results are certified.

The bill is taken up today in the Senate General Fund Committee.

One of my concerns is how do we make sure that the precincts are chosen at random?

Like what kind of documents?

And because my concern i I don't want precincts targeted.

So I just I just, my probate judge hates us, and I just don't see it as being effective, in terms of, you know, again, we're talking about general elections, not my primaries, not to my municipal.

And when we've visited on things in the past, most of the fraud that occurs in the state apparently comes from municipal elections.

It's mainly to make sure if we do have an issue, maybe a machine, they got damaged during the vote.

They or something happened tha that convenience and can happen it make sure we fix that before the next election.

The audit will be done at minimum of 30 days past election, which is beyond the appeal process for any election.

So that's something that we worked with with our probate judge that help manage our elections, to make sure that what we're really doing is just making sure the process we have in place with our machines is working correctly.

Everyone's vote is counted correctly and and hopefully we won't find any problems.

That Bill advanced ou of committee on a 9 to 5 vote, with all Democrats opposing the measure joined by Republican Senator Sam Gauvin.

It now moves to the full Senate.

Back in 2012, the Alabama legislature first passed an A through F report card grading system for schools, not for students, but for schools themselves, offering parents and community leaders a clear pictur of how schools are performing.

The idea, modeled after Florida's system, was to gradually raise the bar and increase student achievement, but that has never happened this year.

State Representative Terri Collins of Decatur is bringing a bill to raise those grading standards, but the bill received fierce pushback today from local superintendents and other school officials, opposed to the bill.

That calls lawmakers on the committee to have second thoughts and asked for more time on the bill.

Collins argued that the current grading system is long past the time for improvement that we're saying over 60%.

Our schools right now, our A's and B's, and yet we have 65% of our eighth graders.

They can't do math at grade level.

And so we're not where we say we are.

We are doing better.

I'm proud of the work that the teachers, the principals, the students have done.

We are moving in the right direction.

We are funding things at a level we never had before.

Those are the times that you do continue to lift the bar for that continuous improvement.

Some people will not want to ever lift the bar because otherwise you just get better and better and better at a same low bar.

That bill could get a vote in committee next week.

Today, the House Education Budget Committee took up legislation aiming to authoriz tuition assistance, assistance for members of the National Guard fo workforce development programs.

House Bill 233 from State Representative Ed Oliver of Danville got a favorable reaction from committee members, but some want to study the details before sending the bill to the full House.

I've got an Alabama National Guard bill.

It's a scholarship bill and it seeks to increase options for Alabama National Guard students.

Want it?

Lets them pa scholarship money within 90 days of the beginnin of the beginning of the semester to allow students to plan and count on funding.

I'm very happy about this bill and what you're doing.

And and I want to support it, but, I do think there wer some things raised that seemed to me to be some simple possible adjustments.

And, I don't think a week.

This is not meant to kill this bill.

In fact, I like this bill and want it to go forward and pass this session.

So but I would personally lik to see it carried over a week.

I don't think it's going to hurt anything.

Again, that's your decision.

You're the sponsor.

But that would be what I would like to see, because I want this bill to succeed.

And I'm afraid it would never vote it out.

It would do harm to your bill, which I want to not happen if you don't address some of these concerns.

It could be carried at the chair.

Chair with.

No, when I first spoke, the things that I mentioned, the three major items there.

Those were the things that were contentious.

But the most contentious is that is that in general, actually having the final authority.

And I think without that we would have had no opposition.

That bill was carried over and could be heard again next week.

Several Alabama based businesses gathered today on the lawn of the Capitol for by Alabama's Best Day, a program highlighting Alabama made food products.

Vendors offered samples of their products, ranging from Connecticut sausag and Milo's Sweet Tea to Golden Flake potato chips and pickles, all free to the public.

There on the Capitol lawn.

The celebration Alabama products.

Alabama manufacturers of food Alabama cleaner food producers and so like you think well, why have it?

Because we know people want to buy local and they want to support the local economy, but it takes a little bit of effort.

And so we had to remind them, ask question where' where's your food coming from?

And so that's what today we've been in business for 5 or 6 years.

And it means a lot.

Come to the state of Alabama on the loan.

Get feed all the you America.

You get to show you a lot of Alabama products right here based in Alabama.

Most people don't know that $200 billion worth of products were sold in the state of Alabama.

And we're just one of.

We'll take a quick break and be back with tonight's guests.

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.

Singer Wilson Pickett was renowned as an energetic and intense performer.

The Prattville native gained international fame with such hits as land of a Thousand Dances and In the Midnight Hour, and became one of the biggest music stars of the 1960s and 70s.

He remains one of the most unique and significant artists of the soul music era.

Atlantic Records produce Jerry Wexler encouraged Pickett to record at Stax Records in Memphis, merging the gospel roots of Pickett's vocals with the strutting, layere rhythms of the Stax musicians.

Picket soon was topping the R&B chart and crossing over to the pop charts.

In early 1966, Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, which had built a reputation as a versatile source of hit records.

He and the Muscle Shoals Swampers recorded celebratory, hard driving hits such as land of a Thousand Dances and Mustang Sally.

Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Roc and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative James Lomax of Huntsville, the newly named House Majority whip.

Mr.

whip.

Thanks for coming on the show.

Well, thank you, Tom.

That still sounds weird to me, but, yeah, here we are.

Here we are.

Well, again, you've been named the new House majority whip.

That happened this week.

I was hopin you could kind of explain that.

Like, what is that role?

Because you've been named by the new majority leader.

That's right.

So the majority leader appoints the majority whip.

And essentially a majority whip is to be that conduit that goes between the majority leader and the rest of our caucus.

So we as Republicans, we have 76 members, and all of them have a lot of different, needs and requirements.

And we just got to make sure that we're moving their legislation forward at a good clip.

And, the whip can help support that.

And then also on key votes for our caucus, for the what we believe in as Republicans, we have to make sur we get the vote counts.

Right.

So we really whip up votes and make sure that, we can get our priorities passed.

Oh, absolutely.

And with 77 Republicans, not many close votes, but you never know.

Sometimes there will be.

And that, like you said, that whip count is important.

Well, congratulations on that.

I mean, that's especially significant because this is your first term and, you know, you're a younger member of the caucus.

So talk about how that that how that's meaningful i terms of the younger generation kind of getting leadership positions.

Sure.

I mean, we'v we've got a lot of really good young leaders, serving in both the House and Senate.

But it was funny when I first got there, someone cracked a joke and said, hey, you know that you've brought down the average age by about 25 years.

But but we really do have a great blend of, of ages in our, in our caucus.

And I don't really think it's an age thing.

It's an experience thing.

And, they see what we can bring to the table.

No matter what your age is.

And that's that's what I really like about the House of Representatives is it's based on what you can get done and how you can move the ball forward.

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks in the House Republican caucus, more dramatic than it has been in quite a long time.

Is that subsiding now that the new leaders in place now that you're in place is all that drama calming down a little bit?

Well, I think it's a breath of fresh air and that we're we're finally united, and, we can all step forward and everyone can go do, what they, they need to do.

And, look, I mean, families fight, and that's what our caucus is, is we're family.

And I think, you know, we want to be able to do that in a way that's productiv and in a way that ends up being results oriented for the people of the state of Alabama, especially the people that care about republicanism and conservative values.

Well, it is an election year.

So it's also not a surprise that some of these, you know, tempers flare and things like that during election year, some of what you're hearing, from conservative Republicans out there, voters is, you know, Democrats voting in their primaries and crossing over that those things have been around for a year, right.

Did those have those issues bubbled up to the caucus yet?

And is there any thought then to addressing some of those issues?

Yeah, I think I think that's something we need to look at.

I think that's something we got to get more aggressive about.

Obviously it's more important to all the parties, but I think you can see what' happening on a national level.

There's always concerns about how do we make sure our elections are secure and then, okay, how do you make sure that your primary is you're getting the voters that are registered to vote for your party and really care about what your party pushes.

And look, I think on both sides of, of the aisle, you have, an extensive roster of candidates.

You haven't had that in a long time.

So you want to make sure that people are voting for the party that they align with.

Do you see that happening this session or is that something maybe in the future?

I think it's a discussion worth having.

I think I wouldn't be surprised, you know, here and the end of this session, we're we're only halfway through.

It feels like we've been here a lot longer, but, we still have plenty of session to go.

We'll keep us updated on that.

I did want to get to one of your bills that is moving.

This has to do with.

We'll also it has to do with election because it's foreign nationals prohibiting foreign nationals from contributing to state races.

Right.

I think there are some prohibitions on the national level.

Your would do it on the state level.

What we through the details.

That's right.

Well, we were all very surprised to see that foreign nationals actually can.

There's no prohibition on them currently for donate to Alabama races.

Now, you know, you do run into FEC law, which is a national level, but, the Fair Campaign Practices Act, the state of Alabama, we want to make it sure that there's no foreign moneys.

I mean, no matter what country it's coming from, if it's a foreign national, they shouldn't have a part in dictating who our candidates are or what our ballot referendums are, what the results of those are.

So we mirrored that up with the federal law, but then we also closed a loophole that does exist in federal law for ballot referendum and constitutional amendments.

We've seen this happen in other states, that where foreign moneys were being funneled and sometimes to the tune o hundreds of millions of dollars into races her in the United States of America.

So, kind of like you'd think of a fire extinguisher.

You get it before the fire occurs.

We're getting ahead of that here in the state of Alabama.

We gotta remembe when y'all are talking about it on the floor, the questions were, has this happened before and all that?

But it doesn't take to in today's world, it doesn't take too much of imagination to think, okay, let's say there is a ballot initiative.

Let's say there is a a race that determines the future of a data center or some other kind of big project.

It's not hard to to see the influence there.

So I'll be curious, is this bill through the House or is it in the Senate?

It's up in the Senate.

Yeah.

Guys passed Senate committee.

So, you know, we got it all the way to the very last day in the Senate last year.

But this is one of those things that, we really need to get this across the finish line especially as people are focused in on what happens in our elections.

Absolutely.

All focus on elections right now.

Mr.

Lomax, congrats again on the leadership role and we'll hopefully have you back on soon.

Thanks for.

We'll be right back.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

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

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

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

Birmingham native Virginia Foster Durr was a constant presenc in progressive Alabama politics and the movement for civil rights in the second half of the 20th century.

In the early 1950s, Virginia, during he husband, attorney Clifford Durr.

Were living in Montgomery and became involved in the Montgomery Bu Boycott for most of the 1960s.

The Durr household was a hub of civil rights activity as the couple opened their home to journalists, activists and attorneys during the Freedom Rides and the Selma to Montgomery march.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Virginia Durr continued to write and speak on behal of progressive political causes.

In 1985 she published her autobiography, Outside the Magic Circle, which was widely praised.

She remained active in state and local politics well into her early 90s, often protesting nuclear weapons and working to achieve economic equality.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Today was disability awareness day here at the state House.

And joining m next to talk about that is state Representative Adline Clark of Mobile and miss at Miss Auburn University, Ashlyn Powers.

Ladies thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you so much for having us both.

Absolutely.

Well.

Disability awareness day I was saying all fair.

It seems to have grown in number every year.

Advocates so many organizations partnering together to come to the state House to raise awarenes about just the various issues, that families with disabilities, you know, those with disabilities and their families face, and how lawmakers can help.

So I was going to start with you, representative.

What issues?

What, you know, what were advocates advocating today?

What we are highlighting.

And so today, I had the honor of speaking to those who gathered for Disability Advocacy Day.

I was one of several, state legislators who had an opportunity to address the audience.

The crow on the steps of the statehouse, and in particular, I was asked to give an update about two bill that, have introduced this year that, would improve the quality of life for disabled individuals.

Well, let's go through, what what legislation are you looking at?

So one bill, is designed to allow for disabled individuals to designate a person of their choice to help them with the entire absentee voting process.

That would include, completing the absentee ballot application and also assisting, if needed, with actually completing the ballot and mailing i or hand delivering it on behalf of a disabled person.

Okay.

And the other one has to do with wheelchairs, right?

Yes it does.

And so you probably remember my constituent and friend, Doctor Joseph Mitchell, who served in the Alabama House of Representatives.

I think his last term ended in the year 2014, but he has multiple sclerosis at this point.

Is bedridden, but reached out to me, I think, in 2020, late 2024, early 2025 to say, hey, we need legislation that would require manufacturers and repair, companies of wheelchairs to make the repairs in a more timely manner.

He indicates that that he had it had taken anywhere from a week to ten long month to have his wheelchair repaired.

And that's just unacceptable.

And after speaking with him I started hearing other stories from individuals who use wheelchairs about the difficulty they were having in getting their wheelchairs repaired.

I hope you'll keep us updated on those.

Ashlyn as Miss Auburn University.

Congratulations by the way.

You have made disabilit awareness part of your platform.

I think that's terrific.

But I was curious.

What what what led you to, make that your platform?

Well, this passion did not begin overnight.

It started very personal to me, and it was shaped by my Aunt Jeanette.

My Aunt Jeanette was born with autism, and she is my best friend.

But unfortunately, she lives in an area with no specia needs programs to support her.

That's why I've dedicate the past five years of my life for disability advocacy, to promote, to promote more funding for more disability program.

Okay.

How's that going?

Because I know as part of being Miss Auburn University, you get the opportunity to speak in front of groups, school groups.

Sometimes you get to do interviews like this.

What's it been like sharing her story and and others, and advocating for disability, but from a personal level.

It's been incredible.

I've been able to share my stor and show that my Aunt Jeanette is more than just a statistic and being able to see real life change by supporting and actively volunteering with disability program throughout the state of Alabama, and seeing the help that I'm able to give, and providing larger number for volunteerism in disability organizations like Auburn's Eagle's program and the exceptional Foundation, Gulf Coast and East Alabama.

It's been incredible to see that all come to fruition.

So great to see young folks giving a voice to that something It's really encouraging to see.

I understand that there's a conference coming up in the fall for disability awareness.

Yes, it's actually held at Auburn University.

So from September 13th to the 15th, we have the Alabama Disability Conference.

And you can find that on ail disability.org.

And I'm very excited.

It'll be amazing.

Also any of it any of our viewers or curious.

And maybe they want to atten and find out how to get support and things like that and find a community, of those, you know, with disabilities, those family members, things like that, they can come to the conference.

And yes, it' a disability conference board.

We'll share that on our screen.

Well, look, thank you both for coming on and sharing about this, and I hope you'll keep us updated on your bills.

I certainly will.

Thank you.

Go on to the legislature and on your platform.

And good luck.

Thank you As you compete for Miss Alabama.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

We'll be right back.

The quilters of G span are world renowned for their traditional quilt designs.

The inhabitant of the small Alabama River town are mostly descendant of enslaved African Americans.

Gee's bend has demonstrated a persistent cultural wealth in the vibrant style of its quilts.

Quilt making has a long history in Alabama, and there are no finer examples of this art form, and the motifs and craftsmanship of the quilts of G spanned.

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

aptv.. org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

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

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

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

That's our show for tonight.

We'll be back tomorrow night at the same time with more Capito Journal here on Alabama Public Television for our capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.