From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was the 21st day of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session.

And we'll start our coverage in the Alabama Senate, where the state's general fun cleared its first chamber today.

The spending plan totals $3.688 billion, about $37 million more than the governor's proposed budget.

The Senate version also includes several conditional appropriations, with departures from departments like human resources, mental health and corrections facin potential funding consequences if performance guidelines outlined in the budget are not met.

Senate General Fund Budget Chairman Greg Albritton of Atmore spoke with reporters following the passage of that package of General fund bills about the state's budget situation.

I'm pleased.

We've worked closely with with the House and with all the members.

I think of the legislature, in trying to develop a one that's lasting, doable.

And, I think we can lead to a better future.

And in the next couple of years, we are better than we thought we were going to b as far as revenue is concerned.

That's partly because the interest rates have not dropped as much.

But also because the revenues, especially the general fund, is holding up well.

So we're doing pretty well.

We're doing pretty well.

I think the controls that I read of and mentioned are going to be, substantive.

And those priorities, of course, is getting the error rate down.

So we don't have a ris of losing federal money moneys.

That would be significant going forward.

The other is making sur that we're having mental health, that we put millions and millions of moneys into.

And I'm trying to find out if we're having any come back from it.

So those two things, and then the doc will put millions of money into that in construction.

And it's about tim we started finishing these up.

We're watching those things.

This is the legislative responsibility to make sure that what we appropriated are, is getting in the ground and getting accomplished.

So the general fund will now go to the house the education trust Fund budget.

It's starting in the House this year.

And it took a major step forward by advancing through committee.

Today, the budget totals $10.5 billion, which would be a ne spending record for the state.

On top of that, the package includes $520 million in its supplemental appropriations package and a $1 billion advancement and Technology fund.

House Education Budget Committee Chairman Danny Garrett said members have been working hard these last few weeks to craft a budget that works.

So I think the budget was challenging this year because we only have, 5.75% growth, which is about $570 million, and Pip wanted 380 million of that.

And then on top of that, 100 million for teacher raises, that's $480 million.

That would only left about 80 or $90 millio to spread around everybody else.

So we had to deal with that issue.

We also had to look at the state house cost.

We also had to look at the fact that we're picking up some of the children's health care insurance, which we've had passed, but had moved back to the general fund.

We had to pick up the growth portion of that.

So we had to figure out navigate through all of those, issues, which we did.

And then we were also able just to try to prioritize, again, we did some things that within the budget to segregat buckets, pilot project residency programs, teacher recruitment to make sure we're efficient and that those programs are all effective and working as well as we hope we would.

We're also, of course, continuing to prioritize, the local boards because we're increasing the funding there.

I was briefly happy that we overtook we had, which was pretty significant.

We were able to direct toward middle school advisor reduction, which I think is important, and expect the Education Trust Fund budget to be on the House floor tomorrow.

We reported last night on a new bill that would significantly reshape the structure of the Alabama Public Service Commission, which regulates public utilities.

That bill was considered b the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee today, and was the subject of a public hearing.

Senate Bill 360, know as the power to the People Act, would expand the commission from three members to seven, all elected by congressional district.

It would also prohibit energ rate increases for three years and create a cabinet level Secretary of Energy position to oversee the Commission's administrative functions.

But there was still pushback during a public hearing today before lawmakers in 2000.

Alabama was 13th lowes in the nation for power rates, 2024 were 28 headed in the wrong direction.

Another way you can look at it in 2000, there are only tw southern states that were lower than Alabama were near the bottom.

Right now there's only one state higher, one southern state higher than Alabama.

One last data point.

In 2000, we were at 82% of the national average.

Now we'r at 92% of the national average.

We're getting to the point where we're getting close to those states that are typically high energy states.

Here's what SB 360 actually does.

It hands a governor appointed secretary of energy who is unaccountable to any voters, the authority to set every PSC meeting an agenda and control commission personnel.

The PSC, which is the body that is supposed to regulate Alabama power and other utilities, would now answer most entirely to the governor's office.

Alabamians just fought to keep their right to elect these commissioners.

This bill dilute the people's vote by immediately appointing four new commissioners this year, as opposed to a phased in election approach.

The bill advanced ou of committee without objection and could be on the Senate floor as soon as tomorrow in the House Committee on Ethics and Campaign Finance today.

Lawmakers discussed a proposal that would take the state to a closed party primary election system.

Right now, Alabama voters don't register by political party.

Anyone can vote in either the Republica or Democratic primary elections.

The only restriction is crossover in the runoffs.

So if you vote in the Democratic primary, you're disqualified from turning around and voting in the Republican runoff.

But House Bill 541 from Stat Representative Ernie Yarborough would go beyond that to require Alabama voters to declare party affiliatio in order to vote in a primary.

Concerns about the bill ranged from increased costs to local election offices to discouraging independents from voting.

And so, in a nutshell, basically the way this bill would work is, as of January the 1st, if the bill passes as it is, January 1st of next year, we would there is no there actually is no officia party registration in our state.

So January 1st of next year we would all be considered unaffiliated.

And so then yo then have the option to register with your party, either through the, the Secretary of State's website, at the board of registrars, or when you go in person to get a ballot for a primary or primary runoff that would register you with the party that you choose.

Ballot that you choose.

And this bill also protects the fact, as we've already had in law, that this doesn't change at all, the fact the parties have the right to set the rules for their membership or their candidates.

Functionally this really doesn't change much, doesn't sto what you're trying to do.

That it just encourages people.

Rather, I'd say discourages people from just participating in the process overall.

And just only showing up in June, which is interesting because what half of what I follow i through the democratic process.

We want to do as much as we can to encourage is bringing people to participate and encourage them also to be as informed as possible.

Aside from somebodies party affiliation.

So again, I, I think me personally, I think this bill is a solution desperately in search of the problem.

Today's meeting was just a public hearing.

So no vote was taken on that bill.

That's expected next wee when the committee reconvenes.

The Hous Education Policy Committee today took up legislation that would allow public school students to leave campus to atten religious instruction courses.

Senate Bill 209 from State Senator Shay Shell Nut of Trussville, has been amended since it came up last year to no longer require loca school boards to adopt policies on religious release time.

That compromise seems to have made a difference with committee members.

State Representative Susan DuBose of Hoover is carrying the bill in the House.

Update existing law to clarify how a place time instruction may operate in our state.

While similar to last year's release time bill.

This bill incorporates refined language developed in collaboration with stakeholders to improve clarity and implement implementation.

And I want to thank all of our stakeholders for working with us, both the superintendent and the School Boards Association.

I think we've got a better bill than we had last year, and I appreciate the opportunity to bring this again.

This bill maintains the previously adopted framework, but strengthens definitions, outlines the responsibilities of sponsoring organizations, and introduces introduces additional safety provisions, including background checks for individuals working directly with participating students.

SB 248 also reaffirms that school systems bear no responsibilit for transportation supervision, funding, or the religious instruction itself.

That bill advanced through committee and is now in position fo final passage in the full House.

We'll take a quick break and be right back with State Representative Donna Givens.

Stay with us.

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

Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state Representative Donna Givens of Loxley.

Representative Thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

It's my pleasure.

We had a bill through the House this week having to do with doxing.

And of course, doxing is publicly identifying whether it's a public official.

Reall anybody with malicious intent.

Is that a good way to describe it?

It certainly is.

Okay.

So what does your bill do?

All right.

What my current law i it has to have criminal intent.

What this bill does, it changes.

If you're sharing that it doesn't matter if someone is harmed, it still will be considered doxing and there will be penalties for it.

Okay.

So right now under because this law is passed back in 23 of the right trying to address doxing, but somebody had to be actually physically harassed.

Right.

Right.

And I guess that's what we're talking about.

So somebody you disagree with politically could be a public official or something putting their home address.

And then people show up and and protest.

I'm thinking like the Supreme Court justices and things like that.

Right.

Is that a good example?

That is a great example.

And so this would say they don' necessarily have to be harassed, just the act of attempting to do it is enough for it to be.

Exactly.

The intent is there when someone shares they're whomever they're targeting their address on social media or wherever, then they the intent is there to cause this person harm, and that's considered doxing.

And there will be penalties and fines for that.

Okay.

Now, there was a pretty healthy discussion on the House floor about it, because any time you're talking about penalties, you know, criminal penalties and laws, were you satisfied o your colleagues satisfied with, the way the penalties are se in, in not going overboard, no unintended consequences for, you know, harmless behavior?

I am and you know, it passed with 105 votes.

So we had unanimous support.

And there was some questions which were great questions.

It gave me an opportunity to clarify, make sure that it was encompassing wha the body wanted it to encompass.

And so I felt real good about it.

Anytime you can get 105 votes, I think it's a good bill.

Yeah.

For sure.

You know, it's just interesting.

We live in interesting times because you go back.

I mean, I grew up when whe everybody was in the phone book.

I mean, I guess you could go out of your way, maybe, and remove your address from the phone book, but everybody knew it.

But we're in this ag of social media and harassment and trying to get people cancel and all that.

It's kind of a shame, honestly, that we even have to address this kind of thing.

It is, and it is the world we live in today.

As you said, the way you grew up.

I grew up the same way you had the phone book and, you know, it would have their address, but you knew all the people anyway, right?

You know, you knew the neighbors and everyone in your town or city and it's so different today.

Our children are not getting to experience what we did.

Yeah.

In the social, the ramifications of social media in our phones, I think, have a lot to do with it.

We're getting late in the session.

Only nine days left.

Do you think you're going to have enough time to get it through the Senate?

Because that' where things tend to slow down.

I know there's a Senate companion.

Yes.

And I really think I will, the senator, Vivian figures Davis was able to get hers passed out of the Senate.

So I really think ther will not be a problem with this.

It's something that's on everyone's mind.

You know, it doesn't seem like a lot of harm intended until they're marching on your lawn or at your church, you know, until they're actually, you know, it's a protest.

That would be scary.

Sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, we'll be keeping a watch on that.

I wanted to ask you two about this issue of energy energy affordability, utilities.

Y'all dealt with this in the, you know, Infrastructure and Transportation Utilities Committee a couple of times because there was the original package that that kind of faded out.

Now you've got a bill upstairs in the Senate.

The senator gutters behind got 35 co-sponsors.

Y'all had a bill in committee today from Representative Butler.

Having to do with right hearings just seems to b a really big issue this session.

So let me ask you, with this limited time left, do you think the legislature is going to take some kind of action on the Public Service Commission on rate hearings?

I mean, is is something goin to get across the finish line?

I think one of these bills will.

Now today, Representative Butler, we heard it in committee last week.

We needed some amendments.

And he was so good to work with all of us, took all of our suggestions and I think he had a pretty good bill today.

So it passed, I think unanimously.

And don't quote me on that.

I don't remember that part, but it passed today and I look for that to be on the House floor next week.

I think it will.

Now it requires rate hearings from.

Yes, it does.

It requires right hearings.

It also is penalties if the chair does not call a right hearing yearly, and if the other two members do not attend, then there's something you know, a penalty there for them for that.

So it's it' just kind of addressing some of what you maybe would call housekeeping with the PSC and now the Senate version is a lot different.

It's a yeah, a lot it's a totally different concept and revamps the whole thing.

It does.

And that's what I'm curious because I mean, there are different approaches to this.

It started out just thinking like, hey, we got to get data centers under control, which I think a lot of people agree with.

But then it just morphed into this conversation about public service, commission and rate hearings and all that.

And I'm just wondering if this is an issue that can be wrangled in time, understanding that the time is limited.

So we'll be watching that bill.

We watching the right hearing.

Bill this is something I mean, again, I don't think this is going away until it's addressed, right?

I don't think so either.

And I really don't kno if we have enough time to get, either bill across the finish line.

I know the speaker wants to.

And, you know, I understand that Senator Garland judge or does as well, I think I think, Senator Bill, I mean, when you have all 35 senators sign off on it, that is a powerful statement, right.

So it'll be interesting to se what his bill does in the House.

It could be one of these year that on the last couple of days, we're going bac and forth conference committee and we'll see what comes out of conference committee, that kind of thing.

So who knew that this was going to be kind of the defining issue of the session?

Certainly that we did.

And no, I did not either.

I don't think anyone was prepared for that.

Well, look, again, congrats on your bill getting through the House We'll be keeping an eye on it.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you for being with you.

We'll be right back.

Russell Cave is located in northeast Alabama in Jackson County.

It is a significant archeological site with deep deposits that are a result of frequent use by Native Americans for thousands of years and offer a glimpse of lifeways from the archaic to the historic period.

Russell Cave was named a National monument in 1961.

Today, the cave is part of the National Park system.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

This week, Governor Ka Ivey signed into law legislation that would require commercial truck drivers to demonstrate proficiency in the English language, along with other measures.

And joining me to talk abou that is Mark Colson, president and CEO of the Alabama Trucking Association.

Mark thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me, Todd.

All right.

English proficienc among commercial truck drivers.

I mentioned other forms.

Can you walk me through?

Senate Bill 242.

What does this bill.

It's really simple, Todd.

English language proficiency for professional drivers has been a standard since the 1930s.

However, in the past decade, there's been different administrations in Washington that kind of dictate what gets enforced and what doesn't.

And there was slippage.

And then post 2020, in the, in the, Covid recovery years, there was a there was a surge of new entrants into the trucking industry.

Alabama, fortunately, does a fantastic job wit oversight of our CDL programs.

The training programs and how we issue CDL to individuals to make sure they meet all the standards that have been longstanding.

However, there were other states that did not do that.

And we've seen some tragi accidents in Alabama involving those unsafe and nonprofessional and untrained drivers, some of which were even illegal aliens.

And so, this legislation codifie in the federal in the state law, the federal standar for English language proficiency and what is required for cross-border drivers, drivers coming into the country from Canada and Mexico.

And it codifies what's in federal law already that makes sur they have their proper documents on, you know, with them that that meaning they've entered the country legally.

And then it gives law enforcement additional capabilities at the roadside to hold those bad actors to account if they're violating those standards.

So, like towing the vehicl and imposing fines on the driver and the company.

So, it doesn't create any new law.

It just codifies in state law, the federal standard so that there's uniformity across all, law enforcement agencies in the state.

The Alabama law Enforcemen Agency does a fantastic job in, maintaining highway safety in Alabama.

And this is just another tool in our tool belt.

You mentioned, accidents.

There was that tragic accident, I think, in Thomasville involving I think it was somebody who spoke Russian, Ukrainian to individuals tha that, should have never been in behind the wheel of the truck They weren't properly trained.

They didn't meet the minimum standards.

And, two people lost their life, and that should have never happened.

And so, fortunately, at the federal level, where most of the solutions t get bad actors out of trucking are taking place, Secretary a US fDOT secretary, Sean Duffy, under him Administrator Barr, Derek Barrs, who runs the Federal Moto Carrier Safety Administration, that's the agency within us, fDOT, responsible for regulations for for commercial trucks.

They're doing a fantastic job.

They've addressed about five of seven major issues that are regulatory gaps and enforcement gaps that have allowed bad actors, chameleon carriers, cargo thieves, people to enter the trucking industr that are going to break the law because we represent the rule followers, the good guys that are, you know, employing a 130,000 people in the state, 1 in 13 jobs that mov 86% of everything in the state depending on trucking.

Those are the good guys.

And, when you've got a group of, of of rule breakers, you got to have standards that are met across the board in uniform.

And that's happening at th federal level in this state bill that was passed complements those efforts.

I was going to say, because, you know, you can only control here what happens here, right?

What the people getting their commercial licenses.

But other states may have more lax rules.

And so how do we deal with that?

Because if somebody across in state lines gets all these all these trucks cross state lines, it does that have to happen from the federal level.

Like if California for example maybe they're a little more lax on their immigration laws and things like that.

How do we prevent those from out of state, you know, causing accidents?

And even though we're beefing up our laws here in Alabama, well, it's happening in real time.

Secretary Duffey has, withheld federal funding highway funding from California because they're not enforcin those laws now that's shifting.

Other states are shifting.

And I don't mean to make it a political thing or red purple or blue state because I think anyone would agree that if you look at a truck driver behind the wheel of a truck, you need to you need to have confidence that they're the most highly trained driver on the road.

We have confidence in that here in Alabama.

But you're right those that where there was not proper oversight or those standards weren't being held, they drive across our state.

And, this this bill once again gives our law enforcement officials the, you know, tool to hold, hold them to account.

But the perfect place to handle that is on the front end.

They should have never gotten a license in the first place.

And, you know, I think that I think it's important that, at the federal level, these issues are being addressed.

There's several pieces of legislation in Congress that would also give tools, the trucking industry.

I'm part of a 50 state trucking federation that's endorsed an action plan called Trucking Resurgence.

You can go to Trucking resurgence.com.

And it it identifies all these different areas and the steps needed.

And most of them today don't require legislation or new rulemaking.

It's just a focus of enforcement.

The saying we're going to go tackle that problem.

And you're seeing a lot of that out of this administration and the U.S.

Department of Transportation.

Well, I wanted to ask you jus about the industry in general.

You've come on this program for years.

We've talked about Covid, you know, going back and that impact on the trucking industry.

We're seeing right now rising energy prices, at least temporarily, from this action in the Middle East.

How is that affecting your industry and just in general, how is the trucking industry now?

During Covid, my line was that, crisis or Christmas, trucker are going to deliver the goods and they're going to do that with rising, oil prices.

They're going to do their jobs.

We're going to get the stuff where it needs to go.

There's going to be some pain.

But, you know we this is a resilient industry.

It's one of the reasons I am super proud to be a part of it.

We're problem solvers, an we're good teammates to people.

I will say some of the other challenges in the industry.

The cost of insurance is at a major crisis.

Frivolous litigation that impacts insurance, but also just impacts the daily operations of of the law abiding trucking companies that are out there.

I wish that for those frivolous lawsuits were targeted at the bad actors, but oftentimes those are targeted at people with deep pockets.

And so, that's caused a number of pressures.

And then just the overall economy, we've had about a 30 or 40 month, economic strain on this industry.

We see some bright spots, though, and, but but, I'm just really proud of how the industry is responding to the current moment.

We're taking on our own problems.

We're talking about them.

We're also celebrating the awesome people that are in the industry.

I think that's something in trucking in many industries forget to do.

We're taking on our problems, but we also got to celebrate the people doing the work the right way.

And, we were part of releasing a song, last fall called Highway Dreaming.

It was laid it right.

Yeah.

It was a great it was a great tribute to the trucking industry.

And telling those individua stories about the men and women.

When people see that, they're like, oh, I may want to be a part o this is an essential industry.

Our country doesn't run without it.

And, that's something I know in our association and around the country.

We're really proud of highway dreaming.

Highway dream.

Yeah.

Well, I know that tort issue is going to be something we talk about.

So I want to have you back on sometime soon to talk about that.

Maybe not this session, bu in the coming years, more calls.

Appreciate your time.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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

aptv.. org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow night at the same time, with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature right here on AP for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.