From our state house studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

And a little change of pace.

This week, we will start our coverage in Washington, where Alabama's congressional delegation has been engaged in the passage of a budget resolution.

Adopting a budget blueprint i the first step toward sweeping spending and tax cuts planned by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Alabama Republicans ar especially supportive of the tax cuts and increase to defense and border spending, while Democrats argu that some of those spending cuts could have negative consequences back home.

AP Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill.

After a dramatic day on Capitol Hill, the House narrowly adopted the budget plan on Tuesday.

It's the first step to enact President Donald Trump's priorities.

Concurrent resolution is adopted.

Alabama's Republicans have voted for the budget plan that includes a $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in spending cuts.

It also includes billions of dollars to spend on the military and border.

That's something House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers says is critical.

The $100 billion in defens spending this resolution unlocks will enable us to begi restoring American deterrence, prioritizing lethality an ensuring peace through strength.

Congressman Robert Aderholt said a majority of his district voted for Trump.

He said adopting the blueprint will be the first step in enacting an agenda his constituents want to see.

Aderholt statement read in part, quote.

They voted for secure borders, energy independence, economic prosperit and a strong national defense.

But Alabama's Democrats are strongly opposed to the budget plan.

Representatives Terry Sewel and Shamari figures joined House Democrats outside the Capitol to protest it.

They argue the budget will lead to cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs so that we can get tax cuts for the wealthy, ie, we're taking away much needed services like Medicaid and Headstart and Snap benefits.

And these are services that folks back home depend upon.

The planet doesn' directly mention those programs, but it does call for $880 billion in spending cuts for the committe that oversees Medicaid spending.

It also calls for 230 billion in cuts for the committee that oversees Snap.

The Senate passed a separate blueprint last week that also boost military and border spending but does not include tax cuts.

Those would be in a separate bill under the Senate plan.

We came up with a good bill to help President Trump and helped peopl this country make it safe again.

President Trump has pushed for one big, beautiful bill, and now the House and Senate will have to reconcile their differences to agree on the same plan.

At the end of the day, we don't know what it's going to be like yet here in the Senate.

But before the chambers move forward on a budget, lawmakers will have to agree on how to avert a government shutdown.

The government is set to run out of money on March 14th, setting up Congress for yet another showdown.

Reporting on Capitol Hill Alex Angle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you Alex.

With so much going on in Washington, we are fortunate to have our own correspondent there on the Hill reporting on the delegation back here to Alabama's capita city, where the legislature met for the ninth and 10th days of the 2025 regular session.

That leaves 20 legislative days left that will be spread out between now and mid-May.

Our coverage starts in the Senate, where legislation aimed to reduce crime was on the floor this week.

Senate Bill 116 from State Senator Wil Barfoot would ban so-calle Glock switches under state law.

The devices can essentially turn a regular handgun into a machine gun that sprays bullets rapidly, making them especially dangerous in mass shootings.

Machine gun conversion devices are already illegal under federal law, but state leaders say a state ban is needed to allow local law enforcement to crack down on the weapons.

Certainly, law enforcement under, you know, has the ability no to prosecute those individuals who have those conversion machine gun conversion devices, as you mentioned, commonl referred to as a Glock switch, but under federal law, they had that ability.

But when you have a state resources, law enforcement, police officers and sheriffs, they don't have the ability to prosecute those cases to arrest those folks under federal law, which is already illegal.

This gives them that tool, so that, you know during a detainment or a stop, if they're in possession of that, they can, confiscate that item, hold it in until the case is over.

It's been a collaborative effort.

Law enforcement, the governor's office, both the House and the Senate and across the aisle, Republicans and Democrats.

From that standpoint, we've done a good day's work.

And we'll send it to the house, and obviously it's going down there, and hopefully we'll get final passage soon.

That bill passed unanimously, and as he said, now goes to the House.

The Senate also took u legislation expanding the impact of a nine year law.

That's the constitutiona amendment passed four years ago, allowing judges to deny bail to those charged with violent crimes.

Senate bills 118 and 119 would expand the list of offense in which bail can be denied, to include the illegal possession of a firearm and shooting into a house or vehicle.

The constitutional amendment passed, but lawmakers carried over the bill the enabling legislation to allow time to make sure the language was just right.

It's extremely important to balance the constitutional rights of those individuals who have been charged, right?

They haven't been convicted.

So balancing those constitutional rights, make sure we don't infringe on those.

But still at the same time, giving the courts the ability to hear that evidence in a timely fashion that's put on by the district attorney's association or district attorney's office and the defense counsel for those individuals.

So there's some procedural changes that we're working through on how that changes law.

Actually, the hearing itself works and the time frame for that.

The enabling part or SB 119 would also include the fact that if that individual who was out on bond for one of those types of felony offense is actuall is in possession of a firearm, that there could be a new charge that could be put on them for possessing a firearm.

It's important to realize, though, if the underlying charge itself is vacated dismissed, they found not guilty.

It was nol frost that that additional charge goes away.

So we won't want that.

We do not want to make people, you know, felons for violating that provisio if the underlying charge itself has gone away.

The House also had its focu on addressing crime this week, with several different proposal in committee and on the floor.

Capital Journal's Randy Scott reports.

The house started this wee looking at ways to fight crime by examining the stat of law enforcement in Alabama.

House Bill 287, sponsore by Representative Wunderlich van of Birmingham, addresses staffing to report on an annual basis the number of sworn law enforcement a certified officers to the, excuse me, to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency and Attorney General.

Purpose behind this is t make sure that officers are not that they're not being put in a situation to where they are not able or what's not safe for them to carry out, their, their duties and that certain setting is what I'm hearing.

Yes.

House Bill 287 is approved.

Wednesday's Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee featured House Bill 34.

It would set new guidelines for people who provide law enforcement false information, as this makes to failure to provide or name address information when the officer has reasonable suspicion to ask for it.

It all makes it a class C misdemeanor.

A lot of times when we bring bills, we don't look across the aisle to see exactly what it is on the other side.

We just doing things, as law enforcers in the Judiciary Committee, a long discussion about House Bill 202.

This proposal from Representative Rex Reynolds of Huntsville faces questions about immunity safeguards for law enforcement personnel in Alabama as it currently stands.

If you, as a law enforcement officer, assert defense by use you know I was a self-defense.

For example if you would start self-defense, then the judge has to tell the jury what it isn't in their instructions, what self-defense is, and it has to be part of their deliberations.

If we are at that first hearing.

An officer has already been indicted.

Right.

So that's going to a grand jury.

And I ask you, as an attorney they consider all those options at the grand jury level when they indicted our police officer and arrested him.

Do we not owe that police officer to pause and hold his hearing?

Both House Bill 34 and House Bill 202 are approved and they head to the House floor for more debate at the Alabama Statehouse.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

thank you, Randy.

By the way, I'll be speaking with Representative Reynolds in more detail about that police immunity bill later in the show.

Continuing on the theme of crime this week, local, state and federal officials provided an update on the success of Montgomery's Metro Area Crime Suppression Unit, or Max.

The unit was created in response to rising violent crime and a shortage of law enforcement officers.

In a press conference at the Capitol, officials highlighte the unit's achievements in less than 100 days.

You can't work together as a team when you train together an want the outcome to be the same, if you don't care who gets the credit.

It's amazing what you can do, and that's what we've done here with this group that, while it i not the responsibility of Alea to provide bodies, specifically the city of Montgomery, they've chosen to do so.

Why is clearly no the responsibility of a sheriff to allow deputies to be engaging in stops within the city limits?

Montgomery.

He has chosen to do so.

It's not my responsibilit to give investigators to be able to assist in this effort, but we have chosen to do so.

When you had a chief that has embraced this help and has worked togethe with others to provide valuable leadership, no is not the time to play gangs.

We are off as our streets are being flooded with dangerous individuals with gun glock switches, and it's time for us to hold those.

I said before, to hold those defenders accountable for the violence that they're inflictin upon the citizens of Montgomery every single day that this team is out there.

That's alarming.

Parent know what your kids are doing.

Know what they're bringing home because we're catching them.

Just like we're catching a dope.

Specifically, the unit reported 2300 traffic stops.

674 arrests serve.

That ranges from failur to appear to capital murder, 266 additional arrests 56 drug seizures, 195 firearms seized, 103 machine gun conversion devices seized and 51 stolen car seized.

This is exactly wh the legislature is considering expanding this program statewide with targeted help for cities.

While the first half of the week was productive in the Senate, action came to a grindin halt on Thursday as a filibuster from Senate Democrats drag out most of the day they were objecting to legislation from Senator Chris Elliott that would alter the governance structure of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Elliott originall brought the bill last year after he raised concerns about a lunch event at the archives about the history of LGBT Alabamians.

The bill never actually came u because Democrats made it clear they would use every tool at their disposal to slow down the flow of legislation.

Minority Leader Bobby Singleton and other Democrats filibustered for about six hours.

I mean, when you start talking about in the mean spirited that this is this is bringin you're wiping off you already.

Pasdar you're wiping black members off this board.

You have a vacancy in district seven which black would probably come from.

So we don't we don't know what this new board would do.

What they're trying to set it up to do.

And so that the bill when you start talking about the wiping out history, what you say they won't get ove archives and wipe out history.

We just need to make sure that this board stays intact.

This board stays as independent as it possibly can to continue to do the great work that has been doing for this state, so they can preserve the history of the state.

If it's on the agenda next week, it's the same thing.

We're not backing down.

We want to immigration's, which I thought that was we should not have been doing.

We work through that.

We worked through some of the crime bills.

So we all want to stop crack.

And we could have filibustered a lot of those bills, but we worked through and try to work throug those unintended consequences.

You know, we don't want this bill and we're going to do everything we can to keep this bill from being passed.

Nearly four years have passed since the Alabama legislature approved a medical marijuana law.

However the process of awarding licenses through the Alabama medical Cannabis Commission has been bogged down in legal disputes ever since.

That means no products have been made have been made available to Alabama patients.

This week, the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee held a public hearing on a new bill introduced by Senator Tim Melson.

He's the original sponsor of the Medical cannabis Law back in 2021.

Capitol Journal's Jeff Sanders has more.

Getting new treatments to patients in Alabama that are suffering was the driving force behin Senator Tim Nelson and his push for the original medical cannabis law for years.

I mean, they talking about it's moving at a pace.

And, you know, I've seen a slug with salt on his back move faster than they have.

And something's got to give.

Alabama approved limited medical marijuana in 2021, but licensing efforts have hit major roadblocks.

The Medical Cannabis Commission's first attempt in 2023 faced scoring issues and transparency concerns, leading to lawsuits from denied applicants.

With the commission a the center of the legal fight.

The rollout remains stalled.

Nelson' new legislation, Senate Bill 72, aims to fix that by adding more licenses for integrated facilities and bringing in an outside firm to make the selections.

I hope I come up with something that we can move out of the Senate and get it, or get it to the floor, or pass out of the Senate, get down to the House.

I mean, something's got to give.

Patients are hurting and it's time to get it to.

But during the public hearing, no one spoke in favor of the bill.

Instead, several opposed it, including owners of companie that have been awarded licenses.

While we change the process now other than to give individuals who are making the most noise a another bite at the apple is beyond me, I do not understand it.

I do applaud again.

Your efforts to move this forward, it needs to play out in the courts.

SB 72 is detrimental to independent, businesses like mine.

A prioritized, large, vertically integrated companies while leaving independent cultivators in the process with no path forward.

We are being forced to wait.

And industry we have already invested in, and we were told that we were going to be a part of.

No vote was taken on the bill during the committee meeting.

Nelson says he's aware that a pending court decision could remove the need for his legislative fix.

Wants to have a plan in place just in case.

Mr. Rogers, reporting from the statehouse in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

Lawmakers continue debating the issue of immigration this week.

The House Judiciary Committee considered House Bill 30 from Representative Ben Robbins, which would require labor brokers with five or more foreign workers to register through E-Verif to confirm their legal status.

Robbins called it a way to cut down on illegal worker smuggling.

Have you heard that the labor brokers I was interested in that was in your bill?

Because I've heard that the a lot of these labor brokers no are controlled by the cartels.

Is that through your research?

If you heard that?

Well, yes.

I mean, I guess the kind of term if you want to get real, like, not technical but like what you might hear in some of be used the term called coyote sometimes where.

Well, you might you might get people bring them here and a staffing agency might say, hey, can you bring me 100 people?

And they'll tha labor broker will go is the term we're using find 100 people, bring them here, and then the agency will say, here's your money for bringing me people.

So we're we're kind of eliminate that kind of kickback that you might get paid for, in essence, just trafficking in moving human beings.

And it's already against the law that human trafficking.

But we're just saying you can't pay someone an act that now, like, oh, I don't know where they got those people.

You know, it's not it's not on me.

We're saying you can't pay them that that fee anymore.

Okay.

That kind of kick back in the labor broker.

Yes.

Sometimes it is associated with a with a.

That bill was reported out of committee and now goes to the full House this week Mark the groundbreaking of the Alabama Port Authority's Montgomery intermodal container transfer Facility, or I CTF.

This state of the art facility will enhance freight mobility and it will stimulate economic growth throughout the state and the region.

Containers that come into the port of mobile will be unloaded onto rail and transported to this new Montgomery inland port.

It gives the port more capacity and it will mean less truck traffic on Interstate 65.

We are celebrating the Animoto Container Transfer Facility project, right?

Happening right here in Montgomery.

It will be one of the most efficient container terminals in the United States, and no doubt it will expand one of the most efficient containe terminals in the United States.

And no doubt it will expand the port's economic impact.

One of our great strengths as a port, more importantly as a state, is really three things the connectivity, efficiency and reliability.

And this pervade through all sorts of businesses, including transportation and logistics.

And it's because of these strengths that we are here to break ground on the Montgomery ICT.

From capital investments going in the ground in your port, in mobile to the shi channel, deepening and widening, that really is tied to this more than most people probably realize.

And to the entire stat for even bigger global markets.

Right.

This really opens up global markets in a way that is going to be unheralded for for our state.

And I'll sit down with Por Authority Director John Driscoll to discuss this project and more later in the show.

We've been reporting on legislation revamping the governance structure of the Alabam Department of Veterans Affairs.

It developed in the wake of the messy interagency dispute last year that eventually led to the dismissal of VA Commissioner Kent Davis.

Senate Bill 67 would elevate that commissioner position to be a part of the governor's cabinet and part of that chain of command.

It would also make the state Board of Veterans Affairs, which is made up of appointments of various veterans groups and advisor one rather than administrative.

The bill passed the Senate last week after several amendments were added at the request of veterans organizations.

But not everyone is satisfied.

Dozens rallied against the bill on the statehouse steps this week, saying the legislation should be scrapped and the department of Veterans Affairs doesn't need this reform.

Among the speakers were Becky Gerritsen of Eagle Forum and Kent Davis himself.

We are told that it's important to hav this, a cabinet level position, so that the department won't be in the ear of the governor.

Well, let me remind you, the governor is the head of the board.

She should be at those meetings.

Who can get more in the ear of the governor than the governor's own ear?

This makes no sense.

There are about 400,000 veterans in this state.

When you add in their family members, you're talking about a quarter of the state of Alabama, probably the largest voting block in this state.

Why is that important?

It's important for this bill, but it's important for all of our rights.

These are men and wome who have served their country, sometimes at great risk, sometimes giving their life for this country.

I would urge you to exercise that right that you earn.

If anybody has earned the right to have your voice heard and to talk to your elected officials.

It's those veterans and their family members who have borne the battle for this country.

Many veteran service organization remain in support of the bill.

That includes the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and American Veterans, better known as AmVets.

Those groups sent out a statement through the governor's office urging the legislature to pass Senate Bill 67.

They also called on their fellow fellow veterans to make sure they are readin the updated version of the bill this week while answering questions from reporters.

Governor Ivey said those groups are supportive of the bill because they understand its intent is to improve services for veterans.

There are a lot of veterans who are supporting this bill and it's the right thing to do.

We have 400,000 veterans in this great state, and we want to serve all of them and give them a great pipeline and information, and we will improve and prioritize the service job that Senate Bill 67 is through committee and awaitin consideration in the full House.

Another big issue this session is the effort to regulate and tax pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs.

These are the companies that act as go betweens for pharmacies and insurance companies.

Negotiating costs with drug companies.

Pharmacies say the rates being charged by PBMs are making it difficult to stay in business.

They are supporting legislation that would crack down on some PBM practices and charge a $10 fee per prescription to help those pharmacies recoup that cost.

But this week the Business Council of Alabama argued that such a fee would raise costs for employers and employees alike.

Clay Schofield is executive vice president at BCA.

We're not opposed to everything in these bills.

What we are opposed to simply is that that employers and their employees should not bear the costs of fixing a problem that they didn't create.

The problem is still going to be there.

It's just going to transfer wealth from employers and employees to pharmacists to pharmacy owners, not just pharmacists, pharmacy owners.

And it's not just small independent pharmacies.

It's it's big box stores too.

So it's it.

This comes with a big price tag.

I absolutely think that there's compromise here.

But but there is no compromise, no compromise in making employers and employees bear the cost of something that they didn't create.

The PBM legislation could return to the Senate Insuranc and Banking Committee next week.

A push to ban cell phones in Alabam classrooms is gaining momentum.

Governor Ivey called for the change in her state of the state address, and now lawmakers are moving forward to legislation to make it happen.

This week, the Senate Education Policy Committee took up Senate Bill 92.

From Senator Donny Stein.

The bill would require schools statewide to keep cell phones out of the classroom.

Supporter say it's about letting teachers teac without constant interruptions.

Pick Rhode Junior High Principal Kristi Wright says her school implemented a cell phone ban this year, and they're already seeing positive results.

What we're trying to do here is, give our children an opportunity to go below the bell without any devices in front of them, and allow the teacher to teach, to instruct, and not having to be placed in a classroom to try to find out who's on the cell phone, or I can get them to put them up, basically.

It's been difficult because students are very addicted to their cell phones, as are you and I.

You know, you find yourself picking up your cell phone all throughout the day.

But the students have learned what it is that their expectations are.

So we've noticed an overall, increase in our academic engagement of our learners.

We've also notice a lot more in-depth discussions.

It even goes just in the hallways of student being able to communicate more with each other.

And just so overall, just a great positive.

That bill advanced through committe and is going to the full Senate.

Alabama leaders are lookin for a little Doge of their own while Elon Musk, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, continues to make headlines for its dramatic plan to cut the federal government.

Alabama leaders this week sai looking for efficiency in state government is already an ongoing process.

The Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services was established back in 2019.

It was created to assess state government and make recommendations on ways to be efficient.

Governor Ivey, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garland Governor are inviting the director of that commission to share its result with the legislature in March.

We'll be working just fine, and we're going to be working on, some issues probably in the next few weeks at the.

We've got a comedian house called the Financial Responsibility Committee, and we've had, a group of for about three years that has been working on different agencies, making sure the money is spent the way it's supposed to be, making sure the money goes where it's supposed to be.

But we've been doing the Down Committee before it was popular.

And so what I've aske them to do is to come together and you get those the people that's been working on it and to have some public hearings.

And so everybody understands what they've been do and what they've seen and transparency that they've gotten.

I think it's important, especially in today's world.

I think it's something to be positive.

This week marked Space Day at the Capitol Complex.

The annual event shines a spotlight on the state's critical role in space exploration and the aerospace industry.

State lawmakers also recognized Alabama's contributions to the space program, with official proclamations from the House and Senate honoring the Marshall Space Flight Center and the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

Today, we're celebrating Alabama Space Day, which is a celebration of, all of, the activities going on withi Alabama, both, at an at a U.S. government level, as well as, industry partners and academic partners.

It's been amazing today.

It's, big turnout from differen schools and industry partners.

Just a way to celebrate everything that we've been doing over the last 65 years here in the state and making sure that we're inspiring the next generation of, students.

And, to, to get into science and engineering as well as, business majors and things like that.

We need we need a combine effort across the entire state, to achiev not only, NASA's goals, but the.

But America's goals in space.

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

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online at Video adaptive.org.

Capital Journal episodes are also available on AP TV's free mobile app.

You're watching Alabama Public Television.

And you.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative Rex Reynolds, chairman of the Hous General Fund Budget Committee.

Mr. chairman thanks for coming on the show.

I appreciate you having me.

Thank you.

We can talk about General Fund a little later, but the more topical, subject is your bill, the bat the blue bill has to do with police immunity.

Was in committee this week.

Really?

One of the most talked about bills of the session.

Can you kind of walk through what your bill does?

Yeah.

HB 202.

As substituted right no and was amended again yesterday in committee.

It's it's in my opinion, probabl one of the most important bills that'll move through the legislature this year.

And you know, it's about identifying, immunity, for our, for our la enforcement officers in Alabama.

It's clarifying that both on the civil side and the criminal side.

And, it's been a tough conversation.

You know, we spent two weeks ago, we spent an hour and 40 minutes in a public hearing going i front of the judicial yesterday.

Even though we passed it out of the committee.

We had another 40, 45 minutes worth of discussion and good input.

So I think there's a lot of good dialog.

We we, our team, the governor's, attorneys, as well as the attorneys from Ilea have been taking that that information and going back and dissect anything from that lon discussion during the committee.

We came up with two to pretty extensive, amendments to the bill yesterday.

And the whole point is a part of the point is, you know, we need to recruit and retain police officers, something you kno a lot about as a former chief.

And so th Democrats have concerns saying, look we don't want it to go too far.

We want there to be, you know, a an ability if there's a bad officer, there's bad cop, you know, does make some mistake commits a crime for there would be recourse and due process.

Talk about their concerns about that.

And do you think your amendments address those.

Sure.

So yeah.

So back to the need of of the law.

And I've said this publicly is that it's this environment that we've seen change and evolve it over the last 5 or 6 years, and we want to ensure that law enforcement officers in Alabama feel like that.

We've got their back.

That's just the name of the bill.

Protection Act.

And really, we are replacing, a law that's been on the books for about not 49 years.

And there's some language in there that certainly needs to come out and be replaced.

So this just clarifies, when the and is very specific related to when that officer is performing duties, discretionary duties in the performance of his duties.

Now it's just as clear to say that if an officer acts recklessly or goes outside those parameters, then he has no protection from this bill.

We've recentl you've seen, you know, several criminal offenses being officers being indicted in Alabama.

And I've received a lot of calls and they said, hey, this is what we're talking about was our concern about your bill.

It was brought up in committee yesterday.

And I said, no, you know, those are criminal offenses unrelated to the scope an duties as they were sworn to do.

They absolutely hav no protection under this bill.

So we would proceed as normal.

And again, the most important part about this bill is we are we are simply pausing and allowing a hearing in front of a judge to determine, based on this piece of legislation, if it passes, does that officer have protection under this bill?

Okay.

So if an incident happens, say a shooting or something like that, before an indictment could go forward, before civil suit could go forward, there would be that hearing is that step?

No, no, actually, the indictment is what would begin the process.

Okay.

So the indictment comes first, but before it goes forward, there's a hearing.

We just paused that any kind of civil or criminal action pauses right there with that.

That judge of jurisdiction to hear the case and make a decision.

Did he act recklessly or outside the scope of his duties, or is he within the scope of his duties?

The discretionary duties he has.

You mentioned the environment, and you're right.

It has changed.

You think about the George Floyd influence and all that.

So much has changed.

A lot of pressure on officers and everything.

And do you have the feeling that the maybe the pendulum swung too far in that you're maybe you're trying to get it back?

Because I'm guessing it is difficult right now to recruit police officers just based on the shortages we're seeing in Montgomery and Birmingha and some of our larger cities.

It is a lot of our new officers can, you know, you're taking a 21 year old man or woman and sometimes putting in life threatening situations.

You heard me quote yesterday in our committee just over the weekend in the United States, we lost four law enforcement officers.

I mean, I think that puts an emphasis on how critical the need is, that they have a clear mind when they're about to make a split second decision and discretionar on how they handle a situation that they have.

They have an extra layer of protection.

And, you know, you heard comments from the Democrats and and they've been super.

We spent two hours last week after our legislative day was over with working on some of these amendments, with the governor's office and with the league.

We spent time again this morning and I've talked to, to t represent England this morning.

Kind of really diving into what his concerns were yesterday.

Felt like this bill would move on Tuesday.

I've asked him to hold it on the calendar until we have more time to work with them.

And and even a couple of Republican attorneys on, on the, on the committee have asked it to take a second look, if we don't get this right, we're not going to rush.

We're going t we're going to pause this thing, and we're going to get the bill right.

Well, I don't know if you heard it, but, Representative Tillman last wee said he complimented you, saying you were very open, weren't trying to ram it through.

And I think that's important when something like this is so delicate and that balance is so important for there to be bipartisan input, it is.

You know, there was even a committee member yesterday that though this provided blanket immunity and that that's just absolutely not true.

I mean, I think the verbiage is very specific to those dutie within that scope of his duty.

And what is out of it.

So certainly no blanket immunity here.

And it even the hearing is off limits yesterday because several of them are attorneys.

You can ask for a hearing to review any kind of evidence in front of any judge, for any citizen.

So we're just simply clarifying that that a police officer has that same right.

Okay.

Switching gears, you're the chairman of the general fund budget Committee.

The general fund starts in the House this year.

What are we looking at timing wise?

When we look, we see some movement.

I think with our conversations with the Senate, you know, the ATF is upstairs.

We've got the general fund in the House.

We are working on it.

I say we're about 60% complete on on projected changes that we'll have to the governor's budget.

And I look for thos to move the first week of April.

It's interesting.

In recent years, y'all have kind of taken your time, waited a few months into session to move those budgets because th the revenue projections change.

So you're really trying to be the most accurate you can be.

Is that accurate?

Well that's right.

So, so and even from when the governor transmits her budget we get to see additional months and receipts and and Alabama to remain strong.

Now what we won't see.

Unlike last year in the last two budgets, we knew the interest rates continue to go up.

And so that was that was feeding interest on state accounts into the general fund.

So as we got departmental one time, I ask in a lot of I know there's a recent, recent article out about all these, these one time capital funds that we did.

Well, that's exactly what you do with one time money.

You don't grow agencies, you do one time capital.

And we and proud of what the legislature's been able to pay for in some o our representative communities and for our state agencies.

And so this time, quite opposite, we know rates are going to be falling down.

That will impact the general fund.

And and we're going to be very cautious.

We're really working hard on the budget so we don't have to recognize additional revenue this time.

That could haunt us in 2027.

Understood.

We're out of time.

Mr. chairman, thanks again.

We'll be following these issues.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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 on 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.

Joining me next is state Representative Neil Rafferty from Birmingham.

Representative thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me.

Technically, we are on third of the way through session and I was going to go on till May.

But how's your session so far?

What would you say so far is about as expected.

So about kind of as it was laid out, particularly in the stay at the state address with the governor.

And so it's about where, where I would expect it to be.

Wanted to ask you about some of your pieces of legislation.

Sure.

Yeah.

Happy to.

Portable benefits.

Right.

We've talked about this a lot in the off season.

Because this is a new economy, right.

And people are taking different kind of jobs.

It's not like people are staying with the same company for 40 years, right?

In the past.

Walk me through what your bill does.

So what this bill does is establish a kind of a special account where a gig worker or somebody that works on an app based economy would be able to contribute money into it and then also perhaps get matched by, by that app based platform.

And this is a way for a two, nine nine employee to be able to kind of get the same thing that provide financial security that's more traditional in employment environments such as, you know, paid leave or sick leave, maternity leave.

If there's a it can also perhaps help with retirement savings as well as paying for health care premiums and that kind of thing.

So yeah, because if you are a contract I'm thinking of Uber, right?

DoorDash.

Oh yeah.

I mean all these things wag.

Oh yeah.

Sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'm I'm guessing most of those jobs don' come with traditional benefits.

And so this would be a way for them to participate.

What kind of would there be any cost to the state associated with it?

There's none that we see at this time.

No.

The only thing would b perhaps that would be the piece that the reason why it's going to education, Ways and Means, would be because it's establishing a new account that would have, a tax, special tax status under th Alabama Department of Revenue.

Okay.

So that's why I have to kind of go through the fiscal note process at times.

But you don't anticipate like ETF dollars being used for that?

No, not at all.

Okay.

Well what are the prospects.

Do you do you see this getting through the process.

What's the feedbac then from your fellow lawmakers, especially the majority?

Well, I think really the biggest thing is I think a lot of people don't know what a portable benefit is.

So once you get over that kind of hurdle, I think most people are on board with it.

It doesn't matter where you are in the state, you usually have gig workers that are that are in there.

And as we're seeing it become an increasing share of the workforce, particularly since Covid in 2021, we really saw a lot take off.

I think it's going to be more and more important to provide this kind of financial security for, for Alabama's gig workers.

We'll follow that one.

I also want to ask you about House Bill 291 having to do with the minimum wage when we through what it does.

So what this bill would do is repeal the Alabama Uniform Minimum Wage Act, which was a preemption bill when Birmingham tried to raise minimum wage to $10.10.

So this just allows for local municipalities have a better pulse and kind of readin as far as what the community's going through, to be able to pass an ordinance, to be able to be able to raise the minimum wage to where, where they see fit.

Okay.

So it doesn't actually raise the minimum wage statewide.

It allows cities or countie or whatever to to do their own minimum wage.

Right?

Correct.

Yes.

That is that is absolutely correct.

But I do remember that, when when that fight was going on and some of the Republicans were arguing, well, look, if you do raise minimum wage in Birmingham, then it has effect statewide.

So I'm guessing they might not still be on board with something like that.

So the thing is, it's still about, you know, local control at the end of the day.

And that's really what I'm trying to get at here, is allowing for the the cost of living in Birmingham and Huntsville and other metro area is going to be higher than it is and, more rural parts of the state.

So, if that city, who is duly elected by their citizens, you know, passes an ordinanc to be able to raise minimum wage so that more that people can you know, have a quality of life that what they would find on par.

Then I'm okay with that.

Local versus state control.

That's a that's a fight that goes bac decades, decades and centuries.

Right?

Right.

In Alabama, I mean, probably every year comes up.

Well, speaking of Birmingham, we've seen the last couple of weeks where Doge, the, the Elon Musk department of, government efficiency kind of theoretical.

It's starting to have an impact right there at UAB.

Yeah.

National Institutes of Health had some funding paused.

Now, I think it's the cuts have been paused for now.

But they were going to go forward.

Talking about, you know, cuts to engag and some research are doing UAB.

Also there's talk that, there's some who have been cut from the local social security office.

That's your area.

Part of your district.

What's been the talk in the community about this?

There's a lot of peopl that are very, very frustrated.

Scared.

There's just all of Alabama, not just Birmingham is facing a lot of economic uncertainty when it comes to this.

You talk about the NIH grants.

You know, those are all one grants.

Are they?

They're like kind of thing.

I'm like a small business.

Almost.

Right.

So it comes down.

You know, a a researcher will write the proposal, to be able to, bring down these fund to study a particular subject.

Then they have to employ support staff as well as maintenance staff, data processing, all this kind of thing.

So we're talking about, you know, ripping away, a little something that's fundamental to particularly the Birmingham economy and being able to help out there as well.

We're talking about health and innovation.

So biomedical research has become a major, major industry in Birmingham.

Something that yeah everybody the lifeblood really.

Right.

And I mean so has there been any conversation between the state and the federal delegation about like, let's let's figure out what's going on here, what's actually going to happen?

I think there's been a lot of conversations going on to make sure that, you know, there is some sort of stability and predictability as far as what it's goin to look like in the in the end.

I don't know how successful those talks are going.

I just know that I've been for one, I've been a huge advocate of making sure that the NIH, NIH funding stays intact.

Yeah it's a big deal for Birmingham.

Well, it also is a big deal for the country.

In the world when we're developing, you know, ground changing medicines and treatments for people wit debilitating diseases as well.

That's right.

And and something we've been really proud of.

Yeah.

Over the years getting to this point.

So hopefully we'll get some clarity moving forward.

We're out of time.

Okay.

We'll look forward to seeing you next week when y'all come back.

All right.

Thank you for having me.

We'll be right back.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online at Video adaptive.org.

Capital Journal episodes are also available on AP TV's free mobile app.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journals Facebook page, and you can listen to past episodes of Capital Journal.

When you're driving or on the go with Capital Journal podcast.

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.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining m next is John Driscoll, director and CEO of the Alabama Port Authority.

John thanks for coming on the show.

It's my pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

And it was a big week this week.

Y'all had your big groundbreaking of the intermodal facility I'm going to mess up.

The name was a big, long name.

Sure.

Here Montgomery.

So it's a really big deal.

Can you kind of tell u about the, how this came about?

Because it's been a long time coming.

Sure.

So, in 19 in 2022 is when we actually purchase the property, about 272 acres, just south of Montgomery, Montgomery County, just west of the Hyundai facility, right off of 31.

But the concept of this idea, has been in the play at the port before I even came to the port, I think Jimmy Lyons, it was his conceptual ide to put in an intermodal facility right in, in Montgomery with the concept to try to basically have an off dock facility similar to what we have in the port, bu do that on an inland facility.

So we call it the Montgomery Inland Container Transfer Facility.

That's a long name you're talking about.

So the concept dates way back, like you said.

So this is, this is really was a great day for us for that, for the opening.

Absolutely.

And so conceptually, okay, I'm thinking about containers coming off of ships correct there at the port of mobile and getting on train cars.

Correct.

And then coming to the to the intermodal facility where they then can go to trucks or all that kind of stuff.

That's sort of that's exactly what it is.

And it's really, as I said it's an extension of the marine terminal is the way we look at it.

And so it's these containers that are coming in through the mobile gateway and is put on flat cars, rail flat cars in the the carrier, the rai carrier is CSX transportation.

So it's going on there, their rails that are already in existence.

Right.

They have that main line that runs right up to Montgomery, through Birmingham and up through the middle of the country.

So they're putting them on those, flat cars.

And then the 165 mile trek up, up the, up the, it basically parallels the interstate.

Right?

So it's, it's something that then when it gets into Montgomery, it really is an extension of the water.

So any businesses that are in that area can then draw their equipment from that particular, location to, as they need it.

And a lot of these customers for the import are just in time type of inventory.

Right.

So the automobile manufacturers and other types of manufacturing that we have in the area.

So it's going to allow them to be able to basically draw from this particular site, thi this inland facility to do that.

But the thing you need to understand, it's not just for import.

You really any of these type of movements, you have to have backhaul, they call it.

So the what's driving it is the import for some of the automotive and other businesses that are there, and the OEM that support that.

But then there's a lot of export that comes out of there.

There's a resin customer that's big out of Brookville, Alabama, right up the road.

That's going to planning on using it, extensively.

That train is going back south.

It's going back south.

Right.

This is actually it' they're putting these containers on these flat cars.

Well, cars, they call them, it goes all the way up to Chicago, but then there's going to be another merchant train that comes south and won't be the exact same train that's going back and forth.

So it'll actually proceed, continue up northbound.

We you mentioned, businesses.

And I know that the chamber has talked about billions of investment.

Yeah, ever since the facility was announced.

So they're anticipating the impact that this is going to have.

Yeah.

All the customers.

It's it's a $3 billion, investment that's happening.

Right.

That's that was announce since we announced on in 2022.

Since that time, there's been about $3 billion worth of investment within that small little footprint there.

Well, let's connect the dot with the dredging that's going on.

We've talked about this a lot, but it's interesting now because y'all are nearing completion of the deepening and the widening of the shipping channel there at the port.

It's a big deal.

But, you were explaining earlier that it also, I mean, wow, this is a long time coming and everybody is excited.

It's going to mean more traffic is going to mean more containers.

Yeah, for sure because when you have the deeper water in the wider area to do some, passing lanes, as we call them, you'll be able to bring in the larger ships and with larger ships that we expect additional cargo coming through the particular gateway.

So when you do that, you have the bigger ship to be able to offload more cargo and have more space for our customers, whether it's import or export.

So with that widening and deepening it, it ties directly to this type of, business that we're looking at expanding on the on the rails.

And the other big benefi that I see for Alabama and for, others in the state, not just in the transportation side, but using the steel rails, the railroad, you get some of these trucks off of I-65.

That' going to be a tremendous benefit that we really don't talk enough about, because if you ca utilize the steel that's there and not putting trucks on the road for that hundred and 65 miles, it's going to be a major positive for truck reducing some o the trucks that are on the road.

Oh, absolutely.

Every everybody who travels 65 is going to appreciate that.

Yeah.

So is it is it correct?

I saw the statistic where once the shipping channel work is finished, it will be the deepest in the Gulf.

Yes, it will be, yes.

So it will be at 50ft.

The nearest port to us, is probably 47ft.

Is, is is Houston.

Houston will eventually get down to the 50ft.

But we will be the deepest, container port and port in the Gulf.

How about that?

Well, yeah.

Yeah, that's, And are we goin to see a difference, like when when those bigger ships come, is it going to be noticeable?

Like.

Wait, we've never seen something like that.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

So the average size ship that we the container ships, because there's other types of conveyances as well, like, coal bulk ships and steel ships and things like that.

But the container ships is what people this with this CTF will handle.

They're currently about the largest ones that we se through this particular gateway currently are about 9000, 9000, 9000 TEUs.

And we're going to get up t probably 14,000 to 15,000 TEUs.

And the, the distance the difference in size is goes from about 900ft in length, which is the size of the Empire State Building.

If you can believe that, you turn it on.

It's on its side.

And these bigger ships go up to 1200, 1250 feet in length.

So these are these are really large ships.

It's not going to be something that happens overnight.

But one of the other big things that happens is when you hav the deepest water in the Gulf, it'll probably be the first port of call because you generally these kind of ships, these larger ships need to have at least two, maybe three other ports within the Gulf to call.

So if you have the deeper water that's, you know, basically the draft is deeper for the ships.

It'll it'll most of those ships will come to us first, which is the full because they're full and they'll be displacing more water.

So that's a good thing for our customers because you basically will reduce some of the transit time if they would go to Houston first or New Orleans first or another port first.

It would add at least two or or 4 more days to the transit.

We're excited about that.

I look forward to coming down to Mobil and, and, this summer, I suppose talking about that while I have you I want to ask you about tariffs.

Yes.

We ar I don't really know where we are in terms of the tariff schedule.

I know there's a lot out there in the news, but people are hearing about it.

Sure.

Some concerns about it as a port of entry as a, you know, export as well.

Right.

What are you hearing?

What what can we expect?

What do we know about the tariff situation?

Well, what we don't kno is what it's going to be, right?

I mean, we hear a lot of things that, you know, there's talk of, of Canada, Mexico.

We do a lot of trade with Mexico through this particular gateway.

So if there are tariffs put on, through, for Mexico cargo coming into our country, it would be impactful in, you know, the volum and the rates in the in the cost to our customers of bringing those commodities in.

The impac we're still trying to assess it because we don't know what the final tariff implication will be for our customers.

And for the cargo coming in and out of the our gateway.

So it's a concern for sure.

But one of the real benefits that Alabama's port has is that we are very diverse in the number of types of commodities that we handle.

So we're not just focused on some of these commoditie that the current administration is looking at.

There's other things that we handle that right now are not will not be impacted by this.

So my personal opinion and that's all it is at this stage because we don't have hard numbers, is that yes, it will be impactful if there are substantial tariffs that are put on some of these commodities that we do handle.

But until we really know what that will be and when it will be, I can't really assess it.

But it'll be it'll be some impact.

Something to follow for sure.

Yes.

Well, we're out of time.

Thanks again for coming on.

I always love talking about, the port because it's not just mobile, right?

You said it right.

It' Alabama's port statewide impact.

And we saw that this week with the Trump with the, groundbreaking.

So congratulations.

Look forward to having you back.

Thanks.

Tom's pleasure.

We'll be right back.

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 on Capital Journal's Facebook page.

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

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

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

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

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week, starting on Monday with our nightly coverage of the Alabama Legislature right here on Alabama Public Television.

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

We'll see you next time with.