This week on Capitol Hill, the Alabama legislature continues its regular session with another smooth week.

But signs point to more clashes ahead.

We'll report on the latest from the House and Senate.

And lawmakers, welcome to special visitors this week and Nick and Terry Sabin.

We'll speak to them abou their visit to the capital city.

Joining us in studi this week, State Senator Marika Coleman of Pleasant Grove talks about her driver's license legislation and the session so far in the Senate.

And State Representative Gin Ross of Guntersville discusses her bill limiting screen time for young people.

All that and more right now on Capitol Dome from our state house studio in Montgomery, I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capital Journal.

We start our coverage this week in the nation's capital, where the Senate has been trying to reach a deal to fund large portions of the federal government.

US Senator Katie Britt has once again been at the center of a major issue in Washington, this time on funding th Department of Homeland Security.

Amid the unrest in Minneapoli and Democrats demanding changes to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, our own Alex Engle reports from Capitol Hill.

After hitting snags Thursday night and Friday morning, the Senate passed the agreement on Friday night.

It will temporarily fund th department of homeland security while passing the five other spending bills that will fund multiple agencies through September.

As snow blanketed the Capitol this week.

Senators scrambled to find large swaths of the federal government after the fatal shooting of Alex Peretti in Minneapolis.

Democrats demanded constraints on the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations before agreeing to fund th Department of Homeland Security.

This is a moment of truth for the United States of America.

But Senator Tommy Tuberville viewed the funding situation differently.

Now we have woke Senate Democrats threatening to shut down the government over funding for ICE.

Give me a break.

We've already allocated about 75 billion for ice and the one big, beautiful bill.

After negotiations all week, the White House and Senate Democrats agreed to pass a two week stopgap funding patch for homeland Security while approving five appropriations bills which fund multiple agencies, including the Pentagon.

President Donald Trump endorsed the plan Thursday night.

Senator Katy Britt, who oversees DHS funding, told me earlier this month she was committed to keeping the agency funded.

Everything from TSA to the Coast Guard to FEM when there's a natural disaster.

So we've got to make sure we're taking a comprehensive look at all of the things that Americans need to be safe and secure.

Before the agreement was struck, Democrats and seven Republicans, including Tuberville, blocked the original six bill package during a procedural vote.

This package has got a lot of things in it that I don't agree with.

We've got funding in this package that would go to some of these NGOs.

Democrat objected to the procedural step to give way to the continuing resolution for DHS.

Both Tuberville and Britt voted for the modified package on Friday.

Now more debate is set to begin as lawmakers negotiate how to reform immigration enforcement before the next funding deadline in two weeks.

The bills now go back to the House.

Lawmakers aren't set to return to Washington until Monday, so there will be a funding lapse over the weekend.

And getting this new modified packag through the House won't be easy.

Hardline conservatives have already voiced opposition to those changes.

Reporting on Capitol Hill.

Alex Angle Capital-Journal Thank you, Alex.

And as she noted, even with Senate passionate passage of that package, the governmen will still experience a partner, a partial government shutdown until the House returns to pass it next week.

As I mentioned at the top there were some special visitors to the state house this week.

Nick and Terry Sabi spent the morning in Montgomery meeting with the governor and state lawmakers about the Saban Center for Education, expected to open in 2027.

The center is described as a first of its kind campus that will blend STEM education the arts and hands on learning.

The center aims to serv as a hub for student learning, teacher training and workforce development.

The savings have raised tens of millions of dollars for the project and they are hoping from buy in for the state.

We caught up with the savings just as they had left meetings with lawmakers.

We just wanted to promote young people's opportunity to for career development.

We also have our STEM hub for statewide teachers so they can develop better teaching skills to take back to the students so students have a better chance to be successful.

You know, it was always my goal as a coach to help, you know, players be more successful in life because they were involved in the program.

And this is going to be our legacy that lives o beyond us to be able to do this with young people.

And we want state support for the teachers STEM hub from an operational standpoint not from a building standpoint.

And we've been looking forward to the opportunity to come here and meet with our, you know, legislators and senators in the state so that they understan exactly what our goal is.

And, you know, Dr.

McKee, who has been very very instrumental in helping us develop the standard that we need in our state to be able to continue to improve the quality of education for our young people.

We have spent the las four years developing this plan for Saban Center which is an educational center, focuses on all STEM subjects.

We traveled all over the United States saying What's the best way to do this?

And we've talked to peopl who have built similar projects.

We've raised $100 millio to build this fabulous building.

But the heart and soul is going to come from the programing.

We need teachers to teach, we need programing, and we need the state to help us with that.

The whole thing is going to be based on the state of Alabama educational objectives.

And then we have teachers on our board as well who says who say, you know, I can teach this, but I need help with this.

I need you to take it a step further so that our students can have hands on experiences in whatever kind of class it might be.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey accompanied the Saban' for their visit to Montgomery.

He said the Saban Center is exactly what Alabama and the rest of the countr should be doing for the future of education.

We're so excited about this.

A few weeks ago we were over in Tuscaloos and had lunch with the Saban and talking about the Saban Cente and and why what the vision is.

Senator Gudger was there with us and the speaker was with us, and they said, Would you com and explain this to our members?

It's one thing for us to say it is something for Dr.

Maliki to say it, but what we really need i for you to come talk about it.

And they did a great job this morning with House and Senate members really talking about the grand vision.

So what we're talking about is is ongoing teacher development.

What I keep explaining to folks is, you know, we all love the game and we watch Coach Saban on the field win big games for a couple of hours on a Saturday.

But what we're talking about is not just the experience of students going to the museum, which is like that 2 hours on Saturday.

We're talking about all the prep work that goes into it.

And what the savings have made clear is they want to have this ongoing year round teacher development program.

So teachers are constantly working on the standards, working on improving, improving science, math and reading skills with students.

And then game day is a visit to the Science Museum.

So we're very excited about it.

Every activity, every single activity in the Science Museum will be related to one of our reading math or science standards.

And so they've made that a goal of theirs, and we've been working with them for about three or four year now and very excited that House and Senate members today were willing to take a break in their busy schedule and meet with the Saban's on to legislative action.

The Alabama House of Representatives was busy this week considering dozens of bills on the floor, including some controversial ones.

Randi Scott reports from the House.

The House Public Safet and Homeland Security Committee is hearin debate concerning House Bill 88, which aims to fix a problem with getting an Alabama driver's license.

That, according to Representativ Phillip Pettus, currently only gives drivers plus tests in 11 different languages.

In our examiners, most examiners only speak English, so there' no way for them to interpret it.

One of the most talked about matters in front of House member this week deals with a subject some citizens deal with on a daily basis.

Driving House Bill 8 seeks to make changes in the way citizen can get their driver's license by making the test English only.

So this is just a tool that if you drive in Alabama and you drive to Alabam driver's license, from now on, you're speaking English enough to be able to pass the test.

I know a lot of people speak English and turn left and right sitting.

That's why they have an accident and not because of the person can't read nor understand language.

It's just that people are just careless.

The committee will vote on House Bill 88 next week.

Meanwhile, members of the House Judiciary Committee debate House Bill 13 fro Representative Ernie Yarbrough.

It seeks to further define how and who's available to make immigration arrest in Alabama concerning local law enforcement.

What does that encompass?

Well, you know state and local law enforcement.

So you've got obviously state officers and, you know, sheriffs, local police.

I guess I would be questioning on college campuses that that include campus security.

I mean, whatever follow it follows all under the umbrella of how they hire private security versus you know, local law enforcement.

You know, I assume it's different, you know, with private security companies being included in this.

I mean, it's a never another.

I wouldn't think so, No, ma'am, because I'm I means local law enforcement.

That's a private.

I mean, we had privat we had private security like it when I worked at Nucor.

That was that wasn't considered at all local law enforcement.

I don't think we need to enter as local law enforcement agencies to enter into agreement on our own without somebody else intervening, which what the current law is with the attorney general, right?

That's correct.

So I think it makes more sense.

It'd be more you, u to allow that level of scrutiny to continue to exist, to make sure that somebody beyond just that local law enforcement agency makes the determination of whether or not our group of folks want to become de facto ICE agents.

House Bill 13 was approved and we'll head to the House at the state House.

Randy Scott Capital-Journal.

Thank you, Randy.

A bill aimed at increasin parental control over children's access to mobile apps is now moving through the Alabama Senate after having passed the House unanimously.

House Bill 161 would require app stores to verify a user's age and if the user is a minor, link, the account to a parent for approval of downloads and purchases.

While there was no opposition to the concept of the bill in this week's hearing of the Senate Children and Youth Health Committee, some lawmakers raised questions about how the measure could be enforced.

Supporters include a representatives from Metta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, who testified in favor of the legislation.

App developers like Metta can place younger users into age appropriate experiences on our platforms.

App Store Age verifications have now been introduced federally and in 27 states, which is more than half the nation and versions have been signed into law.

And for further, this is what parents want.

As stated, a recent poll found that 83% of Alabama parents support legislation requiring parental approval for app downloads.

I don't like sound good, feel good bills if it truly can't be enforced as well to make sure that that the children are protected as well because we didn't talk about enforcement, what kind of penalty it would be or whatever.

We've worked on this bill a long time and those who oppose it have done everything in the world to try to stop it, except for come to me as the Senate sponsor of the bill.

I was the Senate sponsor last year.

The bill went through the Senate.

Within the last 48 hours.

I've been barraged with input on this bill, so the people who are killing it now want me to negotiate with them.

And all I'm saying is we didn't go through all the motions to do this and not have an enforcement issue and then eliminate them.

So as an enforcement element in the bill, that bill passed out of the Senate committee by a unanimous vote with assurances to senator figures that her her concerns would be addressed before a vote on the Senate floor.

The House this week passed House Bill 66, which is aimed at improving safety during traffic stops for peopl with certain medical conditions.

The bill from Stat Representative Ontario Tillman of Bessemer, would allow driver and non-driver ID holders to voluntarily designate certain invisible medical conditions, giving law enforcement officers immediate awareness during an encounter.

The designation would be optional and free of charge.

I spoke with Mr.

Tillman about his bill this week on the show.

Well, this bill would create a designation that would b placed on your driver's license.

So anyone who deals with a invisible disability, such as autism, epilepsy, any type of cognitive impairment, you will actually have a designation on your driver's license and you would have a narrative on the back of your driver's license to explain what the disability is.

So I really would like to say thank you to a. They were tremendous with trying to come up with the framework of this bill as well as Representative Halsell.

He helped with the bill with his input as well.

So everything was great.

So I think is working out pretty well so far.

Here's a look at other notable bills passing this week.

House Bill 78 from state Representative Gina Ross of Guntersville would limit the amount of screen tim allowed for children in licensed daycares, first clas pre-K and public kindergarten.

Ross says research show too much time spent on tablets and phones is detrimental t a child's cognitive development.

That bill goes to the Senate and I'll be speaking with Representative Ross about this bill later in the show.

House Bill 18 from State Representative Rhett Marx of Enterprise would set stricter limits for the depositing of mud like material in Mobile Bay.

This came up as an issue from the recent dredging of the Port of Mobile.

That bill now goes to the Senate.

House Bill 168 from State Representative Jamie Keil of Russellville would clarify when it is and isn't permissible to wear a mask when participating in public demonstrations.

That now goes to the Senate.

House Bill 72, from State Representative Patrick Zellers of Pleasant Grove would require certain peopl to report parents whose children smell like marijuana smoke that now goes to the Senate.

Senate Bill 136 from State Senator Chris Elliott of Josephine would consolidate the Alabama Massage Therapy Board to report to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

This is part of an ongoing effort to reform occupational licensing boards in Alabama.

And that bill no goes to the House, Senate Bill 41 from State Senator Keith Kelly of Anniston.

Would prohibit peopl who are convicted of elder abuse and neglect or financial exploit exploitation of an elderly person from profiting from that person's death.

That bill goes to the House.

Senate Bill nine from State Senator Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa.

Would ban vaping in public places, including government buildings, restaurants theaters, places of employment and sports and recreation facilities, among others.

And that bill now goes to the House.

All in all, it was a pretty calm week in the Alabama Senate.

Majority Leader Steve Livingston said lawmakers will be back on Tuesday with a more robust agenda and bills that will likely lead to fiercer debate.

We continue to work hard on our constitutional duties of sunset bills, local legislation and things and confirmations that we've been working to, noncontroversial bills that that our members have.

And we've have had thre good weeks, I think of sessions or we'll finish up with our with our sons.

That's what we have to do.

I think there's a couple of left and they'll be continuing on with with the confirmations bills and local words.

I think are pretty much cleaned up.

There'll be a few more coming as we go through.

Of course, I'm not sure about what was signed out today or devolve into committee, so we'll start getting into some more controversial stuff the next week.

I'm not sure which items they fix are, but we'll be looking at some things.

It'll probably make it stay here a little longer.

This week also saw budget hearings here in the state House which featured agency directors explaining their budget requests to lawmakers.

One of the largest expenses in state government is the Department of Corrections.

That's especially true of late with a major prison construction projects ongoing.

Commissioner Jon Hamm offered an update on how the Elmore Prison Project is coming along.

Prison construction.

According to our contractor, we're about 80% complete and we expect construction to finish in October of this year.

This is the facility in Elmore County that's already been named the governor, Kay Ivey Correctional Complex and the facility in Escambia.

And we're still working on getting a construction manager for that facility.

And then that way we can move forward on getting a general contractor and start bidding out that project.

State Senator Greg Albritton of Atmore helped lead the budget hearings this week as chairman of the Senat General Fund Budget Committee.

He came on Capitol Journal after the hearings were concluded to offer his take on the financial situation facing the general fund and its agencies, including the Department of Corrections.

Every agency needs supervision by the legislature.

They don't like it, but that's our job.

And we have been doing, I think, very good work on D.O.C.. We've got the oversight of th the Prison Oversight Committee this there chaired by Chairman Chambliss that's doing a great job in keeping things, making lots of changes and doing good work there.

And then we periodically have continued to be in touch with and watc over the construction factors.

And we're moving along on that, thoug not to the pace that we should.

And then there's the operational cost.

You know, we've been trying to hire people.

This wee also marked School Choice Week.

School choice advocates throughout Alabama celebrated the state's recen advancement of choice measures from the Choose Act to the proliferation of public charter schools.

I sat down with Tyler Barnett of New Schools for Alabama to talk about the stat of choice in Alabama education.

He had some interesting polling information to share.

Our mission is to support the growth of excellent charter schools in Alabama to ensure that every child has acces to a quality public education.

Every state in the country that has a charter school movement has an organizatio like ours that's really situated to try to catalyze a strong charter school movement.

Work with partners, support the growth of excellent charter schools.

And that's really what we do.

We also did conduct a poll in partnership with Signal, one of the more reliable pollsters, I believe, back in November.

And that poll was, I think the third iteration of polling that we've done with respec to the charter school movement.

And it really affirmed what I think we already knew from previous polling, and that was that Alabama has overwhelming support among registered voters for charter schools.

There were a couple of salient topline data points that I think I would share.

One would be support for charter schools outpaced opposition by more than 30 points, and that's across demographic lines, geographic lines, political lines.

So that's really encouraging.

And then another and I think this is maybe more resonant for where we are toda in the charter school movement.

That is that two third of registered voters in Alabama believe that if they send their kid to a charter school, their tax dollars should follow that kid to that school.

So and I believe you know, no to speak for the school leaders and the many parents who are sending their kids to charter schools in the state right now.

But I believe that that that belief is shared across across the game.

This week also saw International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It's always January 27th, which was the day the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz was liberated.

I spoke with Alabama Holocaus Commission Chairman Dan Puckett about the importance of keeping the factual history of the Holocaust alive, especially amid the rise in antisemitism.

I don't mean to sound tried to say, well, more education, but really education is the way we have to combat this.

You're right.

It's not just anti-Semitism on the right, which is generally where it had resided, but now generate anti-Semitism on the far left.

What we have to d and what Holocaust education is all about is historical accuracy.

We have to be accurate.

The distortion is the greatest threat now, not so much denial, bu how do we distorted and with I there have been so many images and so forth that mock much of what we do and what we teach.

So it's we focus on the history, the accuracy, being, in essence, very scrupulous in how we present this.

You know, Holocaust education is about historical accuracy.

It's not about any sort of partizan politics or claims of that nature.

And interesting tradition we have here on Capitol Journal is inviting newly elected lawmakers on the show to get to know them a little better.

The newest member of the legislatur is state Representative Norman Crowe of Tuscaloosa, who was elected earlier this month in a special election.

He has a background in local government, including serving on the city council and the local school board.

Well, I've been fortunate members of small business cabs and the trucking business in Tuscaloosa for almost 10 to 20 years.

So I've been a small business guy and I got involved in local politics.

I was on the Tuscaloos City School Board for four years representing District three, and then I ran for four council city council in my fifth year.

I just want a second term there.

So I've always believed in public service.

I love our community.

And with this opportunit opened, I thought it was a great opportunity for me to really help my community even more.

So I decided to run after Cynthia resigned to become president of the people.

And again, all those interviews that we conducted throughout the week are available on our YouTube channel.

We'll have more headlines after this quick break.

Stay with us.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal Online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website app TV, dawg.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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

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

Visi ABC-TV dot org Slash education to learn more.

The Kahala lillie name for the Harbor River is an aquatic plant native to the major river systems of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

In Alabama its best known natural habitat is the shoals of the Columbia River.

Little is known for the striking beauty of its three inch wide white flowers.

Each flower, six petals surround a thin corona, which connects the lower portions of the stamens lily scientific name a minneapolis corn area translated as beautiful crown like membrane.

Accurately depicts these characteristics.

Lily requires a very specialized habitat of swift flowing water over rocks and an open canopy.

The plant's bulbs and seeds spend the winter buried in the rocky riverbed.

Leaves began to emerge above the water line in mid-April.

Flowering commences in mid-May, reaching its peak in late May and early June.

The showy flowers attract a variety of pollinators, as well as large numbers of canoers and kayakers.

During the spring blooming period.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Turning to politics for a minute, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter made some ways this week when visiting with the Business Business Council of Alabama's weekly morning meeting.

He made it clear he would be backing State Representative James Lomax of Huntsville and was sharply critical of Lomax's new unexpected primary challenger, former Congressman Mo Brooks.

And also know you got somebody like a James Lomax that is an outstanding young man.

This super superstar as a future leade of this state, without question.

And what he's doing for Huntsville, Alabama, and the growth her show and the work he's put into it to try to help make it do that way.

Then you got somebody like Mo Brooks running against him that has failed in every office he's been in.

He'll go back to the future.

I mean, this is not about politics.

This is about running this state in a manner where we can succeed.

And the last time I looked, the last poll was in Alabama.

Legislature approval rate among the people in the state, 68%.

The last time I looked, Mo Brooks approval rating on his in Congress is 15%.

Brooks fired back at Ledbetter, pointing to his long history of electoral success going back to the 1980s.

In any case, House District 20 is going to be a rac to watch this election season.

We're barely a week after the end of candidate qualifying for the 2026 elections, and there are already challenges filed to those running for governor and lieutenant governor, both over the issue of residency.

Republican Ken MC Theaters, who is running for governor himself, has filed paperwork with the Alabama Republican Party to challenge the candidacy of Tommy Tuberville.

He claims that Tuberville does not meet the residency requirements set in Alabama's constitution because of time live and his for Florida beach home.

Tuberville has repeatedly addressed questions over his residency and pointed to his homestead tax exemption for his home in Auburn as proof that he is eligible to run.

Tuberville called the challenge a PR stunt and said nothing will come of it.

And another challenge was filed this week.

This for the candidacy of John Wall, who is running for lieutenant governor.

Former state Representative Gill is Bill claims that Wall was actually a resident of Tennessee and even had a Tennesse driver's license, which records show he used in a traffic stop in 2023.

Wall said he is not worried about the challenge and has been assured by attorney Before we take a break, a shout out to Alabama's teacher of the year, Katie Collins.

She has been named one of five finalist for National Teacher of the Year, one of the highest nay, one of the nation's highest honors for educators.

That was announced Tuesday by the Council of Chief State School officers and reported by our own Trish Crane.

You may remember Collins for when she appeared on Spotlight on Education last year.

She teaches at Bluff Park Elementary School in Hoover.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey called the nomination awesome and a great representation of Alabama.

When we come back, I'll sit down with State Senator Marika Coleman.

Stay with us.

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 or Education to learn more.

Birmingham nativ Erskine Hawkins was a prominent African-American trumpeter, bandleader and composer during the big band era of the 1930s and forties.

His Erskine Hawkins Orchestra was a popular dance band in New York City, and with it he recorded the hit Tuxedo Junction about a streetcar intersection on the Ensley Fairfield Line that was a center of nightlife for African-Americans.

Hawkin is a member of the Alabama Music and the Alabama Jazz Halls of Fame.

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

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is State Senator Marica Coleman from Pleasant Grove.

Senator thanks for coming on the show.

Glad to be here.

We're done with week three.

Yeah, this legislative session got to go on that pretty quick, going quick.

And so far, so good on the Senate side.

I want to get to that.

I want to get to that smooth sailing.

Kumbaya.

Yeah you say because it won't last.

But I want to get t your bill on driver's license.

Two bills, actually.

But the one that passed both the House and the Senate has to do with invisible disabilities.

Yes.

Okay.

Describe this bill and and what it really does.

Very excited about this legislation.

It's one of those things where you say, how come we hadn't done this already?

But it puts a distinctive marker on the driver's license for someon who has an invisible disability.

And if somebody is on the autism spectrum, someone who has epilepsy and others.

So when an officer stops that person, onc they see that marker, they know.

So like someon that's on the autism spectrum, like I have a map on a sign, E.J., I have to mention him.

Love him.

He's driving.

And so sometimes on the autism spectrum, they stim they do things to comfort themselves so a an officer can see that designation and know that this is not a person that is not disobeying my order.

They're doing things to actually calm themselves down so they can comply.

So very, very excited about it.

In addition to the one on the driver's license, I'm also the Senate sponsor for a distinctive marker on the car tag.

I was thinking about that because obviously the driver's license, if you know, it's a traffic stop, happens driver's license that's a very important thing.

But I was thinking, all right, wouldn't it be wouldn't it make sense before tha officer ever gets to the window?

Yes.

They know this is a person that might react, might react differently than normal to a traffic stop.

Absolutely.

So, again, that that is prior to.

So they know right away.

I'm very excited of the training that law enforcement officers are getting now to deal with people who have mental health issues, along with other invisibl disabilities and sensory issues.

And so with that car tag, they would know prior to right within the driver's license, you may have a driver's license and trying to get a home or something else, because we'll put that distinctive marker on your driver's license and non driver's license, state I.D.. So we just think this is a way and I'll tell you why.

In my heart in committee, when some of the former law enforcement officers that serve in the Senate say, you know, you'r going to save lives with this.

So I have to shout out Representative Ontario to old man who filed the House version first.

And on one last night, I had seen a report of a young man in Marylan and was going to file the bill.

He filed his fires, and it's wonderful to be able to work with a house sponsor that is just as passionate about this issue, just like working with Representative Lee, hustling in the on the House side for the distinctive driver's license.

So we have a bipartisan effor to get this done this session.

I remember it was a few years ago, it could've been four or five years ago when Alia announced that they were putting their trooper through that sensory training.

And, you know, I didn't really fully comprehend it at the time, but this seems to mirror with that.

I mean, to be proactive, to put into place policies and training to avoid escalation.

Absolutely.

And I was going to say that's exactly what it it will do to avoid those situations.

There have been some heartbreaking situations, especially on the mental health side, where a family member may have been calling for someone who had a mental health issue was in a crisis.

Someone may not have ha the training needed at the time and the response might not have been what folks would have wanted it to be.

But the training on the sensory issues and other invisible disabilities.

We're so excited about that.

And so this is just another tool in the toolbox to be able to be proactive and make sure that we protect these folks that are vulnerable, but also amazing people that are citizens, that are our state and are, you know, you know, living and thriving and doing well.

And we want to make sure those folks are protected.

These bills seem to be moving.

I hope you'll keep us updated.

I will go through any othe legislation you're working on.

So I have a child sex assault bill that we've been trying to get passed for several years now to allow those folks that have been victims and now survivors of child sex assault that we have, they have a civil recourse.

So we've been trying to work on we've been working on that for several years.

And we we were movin this session is a little quicker than we have in previous sessions.

But, I mean, I have a clean lottery bill that I'm very, very excited about.

It's lottery and gaming.

I think the people of the state of Alabama should have th opportunity to vote yes or no.

Do we want this in the state of Alabama mean?

Oh, look, I'm tired of all of this money going across the state lines to fund public education and to find scholarships in Georgia an all of our surrounding states.

We are engulfed with state that are either gaming states or gaming and lottery states.

And so Alabama, money is going out of the state.

So I think we've always gotten caught up in the details.

Where do these facilities go?

I mean, is it going to, you know, get ri of the constitutional amendments we already have in place for those place that do have electronic bingo and some others?

This is simply about allowing the very smart, intelligent people of the state of Alabama to say yes or no.

Do we want this in our state?

So I'm excited about it.

You just made some news.

Hey, I'm very excited about it.

I have talked to several of the the budget chairman about it.

We had budget hearings today on the general fund side.

We found we have some major deficits and it's going to be worse next year.

So we need to be proactive also as a legislature to come up with some revenue.

That is not a tax on the people of the state of Alabama.

Now, I remember Senator Gudger, the pro-tem saying last year because Senator Albright had his big heartbreaking last year, one vote.

Well, but good year came in and said, all right, we're not doing thi for the rest of the quadrennial.

So, I mean, do you expect this based on that that includes this year.

So do you expect any kind of.

Well, let me let me say that, you know, I may upset my colleagues a little bit.

I have to work with these folks as well on both sides of the aisle.

But at the end of the day, we serve at the pleasure of the people.

So if the public says, hey, we want the opportunity to vote on this issue, if they were smart enough to put us in office, they are smart enough to determin if they want gaming or lottery in the state of Alabama for the revenue.

Now, I know that there's some people that don't, you know, believe in it, the religious, the religious, the religion that believe it or philosophically, they don't believe in it, social ills, social, whatever that is.

But there are people in ou state that are already doing it.

And the revenue that is generated for Medicaid, public education, we need those dollars in the state of Alabama.

If you don't believe in a you don't do it Well, we will definitely be following that.

Again, we have been kind of quiet on the gambling front.

So, so far.

But I look forward to seeing that bill filed.

And I think you're going to get a lot of questions.

Yes.

Yes.

And we look forward to all of those.

Absolutely.

Well, I wanted to ask yo just about the session so far.

You mentioned smooth sailing.

Yeah.

Y'all on the Senate floo all getting along, high fiving and hugging, but singing Kumbaya goodbye.

Absolutely.

And so that's great.

You know, we love to see that, bu we know that the bigger issues are coming down the pike.

Thinking about immigration with the Lincoln rally.

Yeah, I'm thinking about this library boards, Bill.

I'm thinking about the death penalty for child rape and sodomy.

Yeah, those are controversial issues that will eventually come to the Senate floor.

What should we expect from the Democratic caucus?

Yeah, you'll do have the power of the filibuster to really slow things down.

And I'm glad that you said that.

So about the power of the filibuster.

I'm the the minority party.

The only power that they have is the opportunity to speak and talk with their position and represent their constituency.

So there are some people that get upset about that and say they're delaying well through that.

That gives all of us an opportunity to to actually negotiate with this should look like.

So, sure, they're going to be some issues that come up that we're going to not agree on.

And so they'll be some longer late nights, especially the issues that you just mentioned.

But toda we had a young man to pray today that was from the Alabama instituted the death and one and his prayer was for these gentlemen and gentle lady that are in this room that they will make decision based on the people in the state of Alabama based on merit and not divisiveness.

What a prayer I said.

We need that young man every single day.

I think that all of us both Democrats and Republicans, we want to do what we feel like, what is right for the state of Alabama and the constituents and the people that we just don't agree on how to get there.

But if we keep that young man's prayer in mind we make we're making decisions.

Maybe we can keep Washington, D.C., where it is and we can stay focused on the people of the state of Alabama, because those divisive issues are coming out of Washington, D.C.

That's where they're coming from.

And if we focus on the kitchen table issues, economic development, creating jobs, making this a safe and fun community, and a place where people want to come and visit and wor and invest in if we stay there and keep Washington where it is, that'll be good for all of th people of the state of Alabama.

I agree.

And I feel like a broken record sometimes because I always say like, we don't want what happened in Washington to happen in Montgomery.

That's right.

It's a mantr throughout this election year.

Look, everybody's going to be campaigning.

Anybody's going to be running hard and appealing to their bases and things like that.

And thank God I don't have to do that.

Thank you to the census an no primary or general election.

Yeah, good for you.

But yeah, I mean, we we saw what happened in Washington just really make the place ineffective and That's right.

That's the word.

Yeah.

And.

Right.

And Montgomery, like you said, there are times when you're really go deep on on disagreeing over issues.

But at the end of the day, things tend to happen her in a mostly bipartisan manner.

And we want to keep that.

That's what we want.

The hyperpartisanship of DC and SEC.

MONTGOMERY Yeah, and the public has to make us accountable to that too.

If they'll if they wan to be able to vote on a lottery, if they want to be able to talk about economic development and not those divisive issues those social issues at the top of the calendars, they've got to let their elected officials know because, again, we serve at their pleasure.

That's how it should be.

Well, we'll be watching all this going forward.

Senator, thank you for your.

Thank you.

You got to hit the road, but we appreciate it.

And we'll be following up on all these.

Thank you so much.

Always good to be here.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Mary Ivey Burks was a leading force behind the founding of the Alabama Conservancy, the state's first independent environmental organization.

She served as its first president, its first executive director and chair of its Wilderness Committee, overseeing the group's successful campaign for the creation of the Shipley Wilderness area, now known as the Alabama Environmental Council.

The organization still exists today.

You can watch past episodes of Capitol Journal Online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website app TV.

Dawg.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Joining me next is State Representative Gina Ross of Guntersville.

Representative thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

We've had a big week this week advancing legislation in the House.

And it's I guess moving over to the Senate has to do with limiting screen time, especially in the early grades for licensed daycares for our obviously our pre-K program and kindergarten.

So talk about where this bill came from and what it does.

Well, we know now, based on the research, the newest science, that excessive screen use for youn children is not good for them.

It's causing some difficulties, such as language delays, self-control, impulse control.

You get some behavioral concerns out of that and that it was just time to look into this and dig dee and see what is really going on with the screens in that child's brain.

Because that first few years of life, birth to five, that's the most critical period of brain development a child will ever experience.

We know that 90% of the brains develop by age five.

So there's a lot going on.

Another statistic I like to use is that there is a million neurologic connections per second, particularly when you birth those children birth to age five.

So we've got to be very careful and make sure that we do end in providing children the environments and experiences that will best make that brain development like it should be and not have anything that's going to cause any developmental delays.

So what are these limits?

What would it if I'm a local school board or if I run a licensed daycare, what limits would I expect?

Well, the only particular limit in the bil is that children two years old and younger will have no screen time, no background noise.

We want to train their caregivers that to avoid at all cost using those cell phone when they're caring for children because they're missing ou on that adult child interaction, particularly at that young age.

You have this thing what we call serve in return.

And even if it's a newborn or baby in a child care facility, they're paying very close attentio to a person's facial expressions and how they're interacting with them and getting their attention.

Even if if you're constantly turned away from that child, they are actually go into distress.

We have a brain imaging where Dr.

Patricia Cooper has some of the best.

If people want to go and look at her, some of the little short videos that she has where they show exactly what is going on in that brain with brain imaging that's not hurting the children.

It's just these little helmet things.

But they can actually se what's firing up in the brain.

And when a child, when the mother turns away, the distress or the caregiver the distress child has, that really is going to impact them.

Now, as far as from after age to there's going to be a group working with the Department of Early Childhood Education, the Department of Human Resources in State Department of Education.

So this is going to be a collaboration where they'll choose people or find people throughout the state that are experts, maybe from the universities.

I know the Departmen of Early Childhood as a research and evaluation team o just some really great experts and people within thei departments as well as parents.

I think parents need to be involved in thi so that they can have some input and greate understanding of what's going on during the day in their child's setting.

child care setting.

So they're going to put together standards and these standards will be hopefully in place by January of next year once the bill passes.

And there will be ways to ensure that these standards are being followed, just like we do for everything else.

Reading standards.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Well, look, I don't know a single parent of young children, that is it, struggling with this screen time problem at home.

Right.

Whether it's a cell phone or tablet, because we've just got you know, it's almost getting out of ahea of us as that technology goes.

But I also heard you talking about on the House floor about reading and abou how learning to read on a tablet is very differen than learning to read in a book.

Talk about I found that fascinating.

It makes sense, but it' something I'd never thought of.

Well, again, it is just the new science that we have.

We haven't always known this.

I can remember when I was an administrator and I was in school systems and had been a classroom teacher.

What are we going to do i get a pad in every child's hand.

We thought that was the best thing to do or a Chromebook.

But now we know based on what we're seeing and the outcomes, the children are not.

Well, one of the things that it's impacting is the comprehension.

First of all, when they've had too much screen time, excessive screen time, you know, birth to five, that's to impact their language development.

So in the vocabulary so we're seeing delays in that is early is three and four years old.

So with those language delays, you know, of course that's vocabulary and that impacts reading as well.

But the comprehension is very interesting.

One of the studies that I read said that what happens in adults, this happens with adults as well, that whe you start reading on a screen, you know, you're supposed to read left t right and what you start doing, you start reading in a Z pattern.

So you're actually scanning, so you're not actually absorbing the text like you would on a with a book.

Mm hmm.

And to have that concrete book in your hand as far as and again, this is goes as far as pencil and paper going back to actually using pencil and paper and the impact that has on learning because of the way the brain interprets and how it interprets with the child's doing.

Now, that makes a lot of sense.

And, you know, with so much focus that we've had over the years on reading and trying to get back, you know, and then so much progress has been made, we don't want that to slip away.

It is funny you mention technology because I'm of the generation that it was, I don't know, fifth or sixth grade when getting computers in th classroom was a really big deal for the right for a good reason.

Exactly.

But, you know, it's there's almost the mentalit that every technological advance we've got to got to embrace, that's fine.

But I also heard you say on the House floor, like it's okay to acknowledge that what we thought was a good idea ten years ago.

Chromebooks, iPads, everywhere, this new technology, it's okay to look back and say, hey, we were wrong about that and acknowledge that which is a mature, responsible thing to do.

Well, and not being totally wrong, it's just that it's happened so fast and snowball so that it's excessive.

And it's like Governor Ivey said in her state of the state, that too much of a good thing, you know, is just excessive.

And now we know that, you know, a lot of things that we do to excess is not good for us.

And this particularly is not particularly in young children, but even with adults.

One of th books I read was still in Focus, and the author was saying that when you are working on something and you're truly focused and you know that will sound, your phone will make one text message concern that if you think, oh I'll just take a peek at that.

So somebody says, Hey, you want to meet for dinner and you answer it, okay.

Just that short interaction.

It takes you 23 minutes to go back to the same level of focus you had befor you took the text.

Oh, goodness.

Yeah.

There's just a lot.

It's totally guilty.

Yeah.

Well, we're going to be following this bill.

Get it passed.

The House will probably see some movement in the Senate as soon as next week.

So keep us up to date.

Sure.

You mentioned pre-K.

You were the secretary of early childhood Education for how many years?

I'm okay with now.

Towards eight years.

Eight years?

Yeah, but I mean, just really help build tha to the success that it is today.

How do we do it?

I mean, it just seems to be one of these really success stories.

But of course, we want to continue growing in the right way.

Now that you're a lawmaker and on the Education Policy Committee.

How how would you say we're we're doing in terms of giving that department the support that it needs?

Well, I think that our secretary, Amy Brooks, is doing a great job.

Yeah, we've had her on the show.

She's she's doing a great job.

And she's got a deep understanding of exactly how young children learn and the correct instructional practices and things that makes the be able to have great success.

So, you know, I think pre-K as other grades took a hit during COVID, and it's taken a while to get over that.

But I think tha they have rebounded beautifully.

I know that they're also doing a great job with our pre-K to third grade initiative, which is creating these model programs throughout the state that has that transition of the type of learning experiences children have in environments all through third grade.

So they already have I know that child care, pre-K and Headstart, they've got some guidelines as far as screen use.

And but this is going to create a more cohesive, coordinated continuum of birth through kindergarten.

And I hope someday to take it on up.

But we'll see.

But pre-K, when I look and see a lot of the reading gains that we've made in the state, I feel certain that pre-K had a big part of that because we had the research that children that had that high quality pre-K program were more likely to score proficient on state tests.

They just own up through the eighth grade, which is, you know, really good information to have because there's no fadeout.

It really has a great impact on them.

Right.

And that wa the concern on was like, look, we we don't want it to fade out after pre-K.

So that that third grade pre-K to third grade is really important.

Well, look, we're out of time.

Thanks for coming on and sharing some of this.

We'll be watching this bill as it moves through, because just like the cell phone ban, I think you see a lot of heads nod and saying, oh, yeah, this makes sense.

So we'll we'll we'll follow.

Thanks again for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

We'll be right back.

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James Withers started the Slums Furnace Company in 1880 to take advantage of the mineral wealth of the Jones Valley.

He built it, lost his first blast furnace the following year.

A second furnace soon followed, and Sloss furnaces produced 24,000 tons of iro in its first year of operation.

Sloss Furnaces was an industr leader in innovation and design.

Its superintendent of construction, James Pickering, developed led Sloss through a period of modernization in the 1920s that resulted in Sloss becoming the second largest producer of pig iron in the Birmingham district.

A slump in the iro market took shape in the 1950s.

Business began to decline and pig iron was basically obsolete by the 1960s.

Higher pollution standards finally closed the furnaces in 1970.

In 1981, Sloss furnaces was designated a national historic landmark and today hosts events, concerts and a metal arts program.

The site continues to stand as a testament to Birmingham's industrial past.

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

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back on Monday with our daily 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.