From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

Today was the 26th day of the Alabama Legislature's 2026 regular session, leaving just four days lef before they adjourn signee die.

The big news of the day was final passage of a bill to overhaul the public Service Commission in pursui of reining in electricity rates.

Just to catch you up.

Yesterday, a Senate committee approved a substitute version of House bill for 75.

From State Representative Mack Butler of Rainbow City.

The revised version would expand the commission from 3 to 7 members elected by congressional district.

It would also create a ne cabinet level energy secretary and place a temporary freeze on electric rate increases.

But the revised bill also removes a key provision from the House version that would have required full rate case hearings every three years.

Replacing that instead with optional formal hearings triggered by the regulators.

The Senate lead on this bill is State Senator Clyde Chambliss of Prattville.

He explained the details of his revised bill off the floor.

As we went through the process, we realized that requiring formal rate case studies does two things.

It spends 8 to $10 million, and it will almost necessitate that rates be raised.

So we in the Senate pulled the requiremen for the rate case studies out.

However, what we did, in addition to the one public hearin that they have now in December, we added a second public annual hearing.

And then we also added a formal hearing that is, under oath, subject to perjury and with subpoena power.

So we have the meat in ther that we can get the information the public needs and that the PSC needs to make their decisions.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and then went back downstairs to the Hous for their say on those changes.

As the bill came up, Representative Butler made a motion to non concur with the Senate change and form a conference committee between the two chambers to work out the differences.

But members voted to tabl that motion and ultimately voted 72 to 26 to concur and send the bill to the governor.

Here's how that went down.

In the current state, ther is no way I can support the bill and I would move that we non concur and go to conference and hopefully finish the negotiations of what we agreed to before he heard the gentleman's wishes.

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Chilton.

President Smith.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

This time I moved to table the motion to non concur.

Okay, so if you're in favor of tabling the motion to non concur.

Your vote will be yes to table clerk one lock machine as members will vote.

Or clerk machine or court vote 6831.

Nay.

The motion prevails.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

speaker, I now move to concur with the Senate's amended version of HB 475.

And you heard the gentleman's wishes.

He wishes to concur through the amendment on 475 and on the bill.

All those in favor will vote.

Again, that bill passed 72 to 26 and now goes to the governor.

Today, the Education Budge Committee in the Senate advanced a $10.5 billion education trust fund plan for fiscal year 2027.

The proposal closely mirrors both Governor Kay Ivey's recommendation and the version already passed by the House.

It includes a teacher pay raise, more support for school counselors, and an increase in funding for the Choose Act program, along with support for education employee health insurance.

Committee Chairman Arthu Orr of Decatur said cooperation between both chambers informing the budget was key to another successful budget year.

But he also warned that pandemic era revenues are beginning to slow.

Chairman Garrett and I had things pretty well worked out, for the House pass version.

So when he had his bill on the floor, there were a lot of Senate, concerns and issues and requests reflected in that House pass document, along with the House concerns, and that what came up here?

You know, some things get lost in the translation sometimes.

Maybe it s but not a whole lot of changes.

We're in good shape in the 27 budget.

We had a nice $400 million supplemental, but next year's projected supplemental is around 300 million, so.

And that could certainly change.

So we see those, of surplus revenues declining and as they decline things get tighter.

We don't see as much, year over year growth in the K-12 world o in the higher education world.

So it's just we're we're reverting to the mean and trajectory that we used to have before Covid.

Or also sai he expects the Education Trust Fund to be on the Senate floor tomorrow.

And the general fund budget has passed the House today.

The lower chamber took u the record $3.74 billion budget, which varies only slightly from what was originally proposed by Governor Ivey and what was passed by the Senate House General Fund.

Budget Committee Chairman Rex Reynolds said he's pleased with where things ended up.

Some members the governor's recommended budget, for 2027, was three little over 3.6 million.

The Senate came out of the sub, upstairs.

Their budget recommendation was it 3.68 billion?

A difference of $37,100,000.

I will say that that does seem a little high, but, of that, 10 million was for our first, payment due on the on the debt service and operations of the of the state House.

And then, your house, today that I'm recommend you, only is increasing by 12,595,000.

Which brings it to the 3.72 mil a million.

And that was significant.

Well, this is this is only less than a 1% increase over the 2026, budge that we passed here, last year.

And so I think that's significant.

I think it's consistent with what we have said about, a conservative budget.

We do have additional revenues.

If those revenues, reached $300 million at the end of FY 26, 20 million in the back of the budget, we have language that 20 million will go into the general fund reserve and 20 million will go into the Medicaid, reserve.

And certainl based on the numbers we've got, I feel, pretty confident that that, in fact, will occur.

The general fund will now go back to the Senate for its approval.

Member of the House of Representatives step back in history this morning by meeting in the old House chamber of the Alabama State Capitol.

The ceremonial session sets u lawmakers reelected in November to be the only House members to serve in three separate buildings the Capitol, the current state House and the soon to be finished new state House across the street.

The house did not discuss any bills, but passed a ceremonial resolution to designate the new building as the state Hous beginning on January 1st, 2027.

Certainly humbling.

You know, a pro tem Pringle had this idea.

I think it's a great idea, Owen.

Tell them one.

I'd love to do it And so they set everything up.

And, you know, having the members to have the opportunity to return back to serve in three different chambers.

I mean, this is historical moment and certainly awful humbling to be in this chamber with all those, you know, the leaders that we have followed.

So it was a great day for our house, and I think it's certainly a good way to wind up the session.

It's been a great learning experience for me.

I've learned so much and I've grown so much, and I hope that my students, where ever wear, will continue to go where there is no path but to leave a trail.

Long fellow, in closing, said, let us then be up in doing with a heart for any fate.

Still achieving, still pursuing Alabama House.

Let's learn to labor, work toget Former Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl was in the state House today.

He was meeting with lawmaker about House Bill 81 from State Representative Mark Gidley, which would require state official documents to stop referring to the West Bank and instead refer to Judea and Samaria.

Coach Pearl stopped by our studio for an interview to explain his position.

In 1950, the Jordan Army renamed a place that had been name but for 3500 years and started calling it the West Bank, and as everybody else started calling it, the West Bank, except those that know the trut or knows it, know their Bible.

So this legislation i that when the state of Alabama has any business that's referred to that particular part of geography, that land, the land west of the River Jordan, they're going to refer to it by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria.

It sends a very, very strong message, to the, pioneers that are living there, because there are million Arabs and a million Jews that are living there right together, peacefully, having the name be referred that way isn't going to displace anybody, but it's just going to honor the Judeo Christian roots of that land and not honor a terrorist army that committed atrocities and then change the name.

And so Alabam has got a chance to once again lead and do its right.

Tune in this weekend for Capital Journals Weekend Review to see our full conversation.

Which wasn't al just about Middle East politics.

We talked a little ball as well.

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

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Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

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

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Today is Innovation Day here at the state House.

And joining me next to talk about that is State Representative Danny Garrett and Abe Harper founder of Harper Technologies.

Gentlemen thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you very much.

Well, Mr.

Chairman, I'll start with you.

Look, I feel like we've been, you know, from the start covering Innovate Alabama before wasn't a battle.

That was just the commission at the time.

But for our audience members, would you remind them of Innovate Alabama, its origins and really the mission.

Right.

Innovate Alabama is one of the, undone, unknown gem we have in the state right now and needs to have more publicity.

And it's it's gaining traction.

It's the first public private partnership we've had to basically focus on the innovation economy.

When you look at the 21st century economy, which we are core to the 21st century is hard to believe.

But, we, you know, the entrepreneurs, the tech economy, the knowledge based economy, we need to have that develop in Alabama.

We know how to attract outside in manufacturing.

We know how to recruit that type of industry.

But how do we attract this new 20 knowledge based economy, this technology that changes so fast.

And so this Innovate Alabama is focused on number one.

How can we attract retain recruit that talent.

We need more of our college graduates to remain in the state.

Give them these opportunities because a lot of them are seeking this type of work.

And then also, how can we support that, through the state, through incentives similar as we do to with the manufacturing we've been so successful in.

So it's really focused on, on the future and how we can bring people, not only keep them in the state but bring them into the state.

And, it's really exciting right now.

And it gives it really opens the door for a lot of possibilities in rural Alabama.

Yeah, I want to get to that in a minute.

But hey, if you've been on the board from the start at Innovate Alabama, and what is y'all's message to lawmakers today?

Obviously you got the chairman sitting right here.

But well what is y'all's message to lawmakers about the importance of funding innovate Alabama like you saying it's about the future maybe things we haven't even thought of yet.

That's right.

So the first big message is thank you.

Right.

We're not sitting here without the support of the legislature and without the lawmakers and the policymakers across the state.

There's they've been a tremendous, catalyst and resource to help keep this mission moving forward.

And what's what, Innovation Day at the Capitol is, is really our chance to bring the talent and the opportunities that have happened across the state in the last year to the policymakers.

We know they've got a busy schedules.

They've got an active session ongoing.

So what we get to do is we get to come here and share the message, share the mission, and really help connect the dots with the people that are hiring talent, the people that are creating, new innovative methods, that are accessing these resources that we're working so diligently provide and create availability for.

So, you know, the, the, the the objective for us really is to connect the dots so they can see the efforts of that support, but then also to say, you know thank you for what you're doing.

And this is why we're doing it now.

I bet when you were starting your company years ago, you would have loved a resource like this.

But talk about the lessons maybe that you've learned, you know, from founding your own company, everything.

And maybe you know how those lessons apply to innovation.

Yeah.

So I think the last time I got to visit with you, we kind of kind of dug into that story of how Harper Tech got off the ground.

And a resource like Innovate Alabama would have absolutely been transformative at that stage.

Now we're 24 year old company at this point.

So we've we've cut our teeth.

We've learned some, as my granddad called it, some bought sense and some hard knocks lessons along the way.

But this resource is for us to be able to support future businesse that are doing the same thing, people that come along with new, creative, innovative ideas and don't know where to tur to really find either an outlet, an amplifier, or someone that could partner with them for talent, resources or opportunities.

You said you talked about rural and I wanted to dive into that because just the word innovation, I think naturally some of us think urban, you know tech, you know Birmingham, mobile, Huntsville, you know, but it's sometimes we focu too much on those urban centers and not enough on the rural areas of the state, because they can be just as innovative.

So talk about the importance of that to, to reachin the whole state in innovation.

And how is Innovate Alabama doing that?

Well, Innovate Alabama has always been at a statewide focus.

And, you know, the original, chair of the commission was Condoleezza Rice.

And the commission report identified, for important areas.

One was in Alabama for us to participat in this knowledge based economy, we had to close the education gap.

You've seen us in the budget do some things to try to do that, because a lot of those education gaps were in underserved areas of state, rural parts of the state.

And in many instances, we had to figure out what kind of incentives we needed to have to attract people like that.

But the other thing was broadband, because at the time of the innovation report, over half the stat did not have access to broadband and 70% didn't have access to affordable broadband.

So you've seen us, wit the Covid money, make tremendous investment in broadband, which has moved us from number 47 to number 22, 23 today in broadband access in the state.

And that's continuing to grow.

Cannot innovate without internet.

It's absolutely.

And so it's importan I think that is a great example of someone who you said 24 years ago.

It's hard to believe it's that long.

We still dial it back.

But but yeah, but but but you know, there are people like Abe who had that vision.

He's these entrepreneurs.

They have that drive, that spirit.

And in this generation's younger than me and younger than Abe, now you're seeing more and more of that.

And we're giving them an opportunity to to unleash that innovation and, so much less in the rural areas.

And what you're seeing across roll Alabama, when you see that today with Innovation Day, the legislators will get to meet some of these individuals who are taking some of these ideas that sound crazy, but they're they work and they are on the cutting edge.

And, and they're happenin in, in rural areas of the state.

And, it's important because large part of Alabama is rural.

You know, it's a it's a huge potential now that we, we've if we're working to address educational issues, if we're working to address the broadband issues, which is important if we've got Elevate Alabama, which is trying to provide a networ for them to further these ideas.

And the other part the Innovation Commission was, was outdoor recreation.

This this generation want to have a good quality of life.

Alabama is so blessed with natural resources.

Some of the best in the country.

And so now you see us taking a concerted effort to improve the connectivity and the knowledge of and the awareness of all the parks and the water and the mountains and the all the recreational opportunities that happen and where those happen.

A lot of times in rural Alabama.

Right.

And now that remote work is such a thing of the norm.

It's just ripe for this.

It's happened in rural Alabama.

So yeah, and I know plenty of folks who have moved here from other states because, again, they have jobs that really they could work from anywhere, but they like it here.

They like the kind of state it is.

They like the low cost of living and things like that.

I want to follow up on the retention aspect, because I remember talking wit Doctor Rice and Director Poole and a lot of others about it's not just about attracting.

We do want to attract people, but it's about retaining.

This has been an issue for decades.

And you're now, you know, chairman of the Education Budget Committee.

It's been an issue for decades for, you know, losin so much of our homegrown talent.

Once they graduate, they're off, you know, to Atlanta or Washington or New York or Nashville.

So but there's never been anything really done about it until this has come along.

So talk about how that connects because your, your, your job is to help fund these universities and obviously K through 12 as well.

And is this kind of the next step.

How does it connect with those education dollars.

Hoping that we can at least retain a lot of those students that we're educating?

Well, you know, I was a career CFO.

A lot of my experience was in large companies, large industrial companies.

And, you know, we talk about bringing those business to Alabam and how we grow the workforce.

In reality we kind of poached the workforce because we have a stat that doesn't have a whole lot.

We're growing, but we don't have a huge number of workers coming into the state.

So we tend that, like these larger companies will sometimes just take talent away from other areas.

We transfer that talent.

And so this gives us the opportunity to actually, grow and retain talent.

And that's, that's that's critically important to do this type of stuff.

And what we're doing to like in the in this current budget, you know, we're doing we pay we pay an outcome based funding bill.

And that is the focus on the outcomes for higher ed.

And one of the outcomes would be how many of their college people who start their university graduate, how many graduate in high demand fields, how many graduate and remain in the state.

And we also have some incentives in there for innovation, which is a good it's a good term because basically how can we get people through the education pipeline faster, quicker.

And so it's important that we and we're and we're addressing this from a number of areas because we need to recruit talent, but we need to grow the talent and retain the talent.

And even the people that recruit that come in here, we need them to stay remain here.

Right.

And so that's part of our mission.

But I want to ask you specifically about the defense industry, and I guess you could say defense, aerospace, shipbuilding.

Right.

I was thinking, you know, Huntsville where Space Command is coming.

So much going on up there i terms of the defense industry, but also mobile down your way.

You've got shipbuilding about to explode down there with the submarine industry.

How does Innovate Alabama and just innovation in general contribute to our ability to leverage what we have here in Alabama to build defense?

Knowing that we have some really key assets right here in the state.

So Chairman Garrett nailed it.

And when he's talking about the natural resources, that's the first real key, right?

Access to certain resources to be able to develop in these industries.

But then you take resources as kind of a type and shadow and talk about the talent pipeline that we've got here and that resourcing of being able to give those industries creative talent, to give them fertile soil, to be able to plant in and be able to grow their opportunities, to find a good quality of life for their executives, look at quality of life for their employees, a reasonable wage, and then training institutions to the chairman's point that are working across the board now to create program that support those, initiatives.

You know, I won't speak much about Huntsville and the northern part of the state, as I don't have as much experience there.

But in our neck of the woods down in mobile, I mean, it's a it's a concerted effort on all fronts.

All the institutions are playing nicely together.

The municipalities are playing nicely together in an effort to create, development for workforce, to create housing.

You know, it's a challenge.

It's always you know what?

That because we do love it here.

We do have, reasonably priced quality of life in Alabama.

You know, we don't want to call it anything inexpensive, but it's a reasonable price quality of high quality of life.

And in order to grow, you've got to have some, appetite for what that looks like for adding housing, for adding new industry.

So the strategy is being wrapped around how do we do this as a community I don't thin that exists in a lot of places, because you generally have agendas within certain populace that are working together to try and fight for their little.

They're a little quadrant, you know?

So when, a key playe comes to our region of mobile, it's a concerted effort for everybody to get together, say, okay, how can we support them?

How can we make them successful?

How can we give them access to partnerships, to resources, to talen and to, the community as a whole wasn't always that way, wa it has not always been that way.

And, you know, it strikes me about the like the Space Command, the FBI and all that.

Like, of course there's a lot of those are going to be government jobs.

That's right.

But eventuall they're going to either retire or get out of that government job.

And those are your next generation of innovators, right?

They're going to start those companies and things and having those wraparound kind of, I don't know, support and things like that might.

Well, one thing I want to mention too, is in the budget this year as chairman and I put up some a bucket in there for, innovative ideas.

And as we're trying to define the K through 12 system, the art of artificial intelligence, which is going to grow.

So we've got some pilot programs for artificial intelligence targeted toward teachers, towards students.

We have several other kind of out of the box, futuristic type programs.

Number one, to try to educate, to try to identify some of these K-12 students who have this aptitude and then try to bring them into the fold.

So it' kind of a multi-pronged strategy we're doing in that, in the education budget.

That fits very nicely wit the goals of Innovate Alabama.

Okay.

Well, we'll tal more about that in the future.

We're out of time right now.

But congratulations on Innovate Alabama Day.

And thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having us.

We'll be right back.

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That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow night with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature here on ABC for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.