From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

The Alabama legislature met today for the 25th day.

And in fact, the Senate is still in session at this very moment.

Wrapping up a long day on the floor before we get to legislative action.

Some breaking news tonight.

Governor Ka Ivey is in a Montgomery hospital after undergoing what her office called a minor procedure to remove fluid in her lung.

Ivey communications Director Jena malone sai a surgeon evaluated the governor after she experienced discomfort on her left side and shortness of breath.

Miller said, quote, while it was not emergent, Governor Ivey wanted to get the procedure done as soon as possible so she can quickly get back to 100% to wrap up the 2026 regular session.

Out of an abundance of caution.

She will be monitored at Baptist South in the coming days.

End quote.

Well, we predicted it would be a spicy day on the Senate floor and it has not disappointed.

As I mentioned at the top the Senate is still in session at this very moment after a marathon day, moving through an agenda of Republican priority bills.

Perhaps the most controversial measure was Senate Bill 298 from State Senator Wil Barfoot of Pike Road.

It would essentially force the city of Montgomery to increase the number of police officers, or risk the police department from being taken over by the state.

Barfoot says his intention i to make the capital city safer, and he says the city has not been transparent in sharing just wha the officer ranks actually are.

But neighboring State Senator Kirk Hatcher, who represents most of Montgomery, said the measure is unnecessary because the city is making progress.

And he expressed disappointment with not having a voice on the legislation.

That motivation is simple.

It's the public safet of the citizens of Montgomery.

Those who live here, those who work here those who own businesses here.

And the safety of those police officers, the men and women of the Montgomery Police Department that go to work every single day to protect us every single day to protect us.

You know, I've gotten calls, more call about this piece of legislation than any other piece of legislation, that I have been a part of or have seen in my eight years here.

And I got to tell you, the number of calls that are in support are dwarf, dwarf, the 15 to 20 texter email that I've gotten in opposition.

Absolutely disappointed that there was no dialog whatsoever, no conversatio whatsoever with my my colleague, representin the city of Montgomery with me that we did not get a chance to have any, talk about any aspect of this bill both prior to its introduction and and even all the way up until this time, right now.

I feel the city of Montgomery has been picked on and singled out, for reasons that are a national crisis.

This is a national crisis in terms of recruitment of police officers.

It's not a local failure.

The bill ultimately passed along party lines and now goes to the House.

What Hatcher was referring t there was the process of cloture or voting to cut off debate.

The Senate has rules that allow for almost unlimited debate, unless two thirds of the body votes to cloture and force a vote on bills.

The Republican majority tonigh invoked cloture on every bill, and also used the procedural power of the chair to keep Democrats from using what time they might have had from filibustering bills.

That obviously frustrated Democrats who were denied the ability to slow things down.

But Republicans said it was necessary to avoid another logjam like last year.

We'll be talking about that more this week.

Let's take a look now at other notable bills passing the Senate today.

Senate Bill 99 from Stat Senator Keith Kelly of Anniston would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public schools.

It now goes to the House.

House Bill 466 from State Representative Alan Treadaway of Birmingham, would require that Parkinson' disease be included in the list of occupational diseases for firefighter firefighters.

Death and disability compensation.

House Bill 95 from State Representative Joe Loven of Auburn would require postelection audit to be conducted in every county that was final passage.

So it now goes to the governor, as does the previous bill about Parkinson's and firefighters and Senate Bill 342 from State Senator Clyde Chambliss of Prattville would mandate that students who receive choose Act ta credits to attend private school to not lose their eligibility for athletics.

That now goes to the house, and the house was also quite busy toda with a full agenda of its own.

One item of particular importance was House Bill 527 from State Representative James Lomax of Huntsville.

It would offer working Alabamians and up to $1,000 tax deduction on overtime wages.

This comes in respons to a law passed four years ago exempting all overtime wages from from state income tax.

But that law was allowed to expire because it far exceeded estimates in its impact on education funding.

HB 527 provides a tax deduction on qualified overtime income.

It allows for individuals to deduct up to $1,000.

That's a cap per individual of qualified overtime compensation from their stat income tax for the taxable years starting in January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2028.

This is sustainable legislatio and it provides relief for the employees that need it.

So basically this would change the amendment of the Cap from 1000 to 2500.

Trying to compromise.

Well, again, represented lands.

You know, this bill is designed to be sustainable.

We've seen what happens when we don't put appropriate safeguards.

This mirrors what is done on a federal level pro-rata, because obviously, the income taxes are higher on a federal leve than they are at a state level.

With that I move to table this amendment.

We've heard the sponsors wishes, Clark, and like seeing the members of.

Our law commission recorded those 73 hours 30 days amendment has been tabled.

Thank you.

Like that bill passed the House and it will now go to the Senate.

Let's take a look at other notable bills passing the House today.

House Bill 580 from State Representative Tro Stubbs of Wetumpka, would limit the authority of facult Senate on university policies.

It goes to the Senate.

Senate Bill 269 from State Senator Bobby Singleton of Greensborough would require health care providers to reimburse rural ambulance services at greater rates.

That's final passage.

So it now goes to the governor.

Senate Bill 24 from State Senator Shay Shell.

None of Trussville would revise state law around offering students time off campus for religious instruction.

It was amende and now goes back to the Senate.

House Bill five 4584 from State Representative Gina Ross of Guntersville would limit screen time for public school students in pre-K through the fifth grade.

It now goes to the Senate and House Bill 169 from State Representative Jamie Kiel of Russellville would change the governance board of the Alabama Department of Archives and History to be appointed by the governo and other legislative leaders.

It now goes to the Senate, Lawmakers in the House and Senate also gave final passage today to a bill aimed at making camps safer for children.

House Bill 381 from state Representative David Faulkner of Birmingham, would require overnigh camps in Alabama to meet higher safety standards.

That would include creating plan for emergencies and evacuations, and procuring emergency preparedness licenses from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

It was filed in the wake o the tragic flood at camp mystic in Texas that claimed the lives of 27 girls, including Alabama's Sarah Marsh.

Sarah's parent gathered with supporters today at the state House urging lawmakers to pass the bill.

This bill is to me, it touches my heart and I know this to you, and I certainly know it is to Patrick and Jill Marsh who stand here with me because this honors their little girl, eight year old Sarah Marsh, and those other 26 young girls that were then tragically passed away in this state last summer.

The Sarah Marsh heavens 27 Cam Safety Act is about protection.

It's about protecting our state's most valuable and treasured asset.

Our children, our future.

It is about ensuring that no parent in Alabama ever has to experienc what our families have endured.

It is about requiring which should have always been required real emergency action plans, serious training, not just paperwork.

Accountability for leadership and the culture for safety is lived, not filed away.

This one's more personal because I think of her, and I think of all the young girls tha that lost their lives out here.

And I do think of how many lives we're going to save.

I'm very invested in this.

And this bill is, you know, my top priority.

So here to get done.

Turning now to Washington for an update on the partial government shutdown for the Department of Homelan Security that remains ongoing.

For that, we go to Alex Angle, a Washington correspondent right there in the middle of things on Capitol Hill.

Alex, thanks for taking the time.

I wanted to ask you, when you reported that the Senate had reached a deal on DHS funding.

I think a lot of folks assumed I assumed that the House would go along and this crisis would be over.

But that didn't happen.

What did happen?

That's right.

Todd.

House Republicans were very unhappy with that Senate deal, including Alabama members, and they quickly rebuffed it.

Now, that deal would have funded most of DHS, except for immigratio enforcement and a Border Patrol.

But the House Republicans wante to fund the entire department.

It's important to note that the Senate passed that deal unanimously, meaning no senator objected to passing that measure.

And so that was seen as an incentive to the House to follow along with that deal, since it did not receive any objections.

Also, the shutdown ha just been going on for so long.

It's now been more than si weeks and thousands of workers have gone without paychecks during that period.

So again, that was also seen as an incentive to get along with this deal, pass it and reopen the department.

But that did not happen.

Instead, on Friday, House Republicans quickly came up with their own plan that would fund the entire department.

They put that on the floor and got it passed on Friday afternoon.

So that leaves two different deals.

One in the House, one in the Senate.

Of course, they would need to pass each others chamber in order to reopen the government.

But both chambers left town after they each passed their own measures.

They're on recess for two weeks for Easter.

So as of now, no agreemen has been taking place and really no negotiations for very much so far because no lawmakers are in town to do so.

And each side just continue to cast blame on the other party for causing this shutdown to continue.

That has now become the longest shutdown in U.S.

history.

Right.

You know, a big issue has been TSA and the long lines at airports due to agents not being paid.

But I understand the president has stepped in with a temporary fix on this.

Yeah, Todd and most of us have seen those long TSA lines o even experienced them ourselves.

So because the deal has not been reached in the House or Senate to end that DHS shutdown, President Trump signed an executive order to pay all TSA agents.

While Congress continue to broker a deal to bring an end to the entire department shutdown.

So those TSA agents have begun to receive some of those paychecks that they have missed during this more than 40 plus day shut down.

And ultimately, that could lea to some relief at the airports as TSA agents go back to work because they're finally getting paid again.

But it's also important to note that, you know, paying these TSA agents could remove leverage point for Republicans, because we know and during the last shutdown, those long TSA line kind of brought some Democrats to the table to end the other shutdown that happened last year.

But now, without TSA agents you know, I kind of in the mix for not getting paid.

That could just prolong the shutdown even more.

Now, I know Congress right now is on recess for Easter, for Passover.

Is there any talk of returning early to resolve this issue?

Todd, we are in that first week of that scheduled two week Easter recess, and as of now, there are no plans for the House or the Senate to come back early to reach a deal on this DHS impasse.

But President Trump is eager for lawmakers to return to Washington to find a deal to end the shutdown.

That's according to his press secretary, Caroline Leavitt.

She even said that lawmakers would be invited to the white House for Easter if they were able to reach an agreement if they returned to D.C.

this week.

But as of now, the Senat and House do not plan to do so because they are still really far apart on what they want to do next.

And in a show of signs that an agreement ha still not been met, and a brief Senate session Monday morning, any Republican senator could have come to the floo and offered the House pass bill that would fund the entir Department of Homeland Security.

But no senator did so.

Instead, the House Republicans say it's up to the Senate to come back and pass their bill, while Senate Republicans believe it's up to the House to pass the Senate bill.

So still lots of divide o what to do to end the shutdown.

And as of now, it's no plans for lawmakers to come back this week or even next week to end the shutdown.

Instead, as of now, they're expected to return the week of April 13th, which could just prolong the shutdow by at least a couple of weeks.

Thank you Alex.

As always, we are so grateful to have you there on the ground reporting from Washington.

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

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Today, more than 50 cance researchers from across Alabama gathered here at the statehouse for Cancer Action Day, an advocacy event put on by the American Cancer Society's Action Network.

And joining me next ar two of those researchers, Doctor Oksana and staff scientist Lynn Mackey, both of UAB friends.

Thanks for coming on Capital Journal.

Thanks for having us.

So for sure, you're making the time.

I know you had a big day upstairs.

We covered a little bit of that.

So what were those conversations like?

You're talking to lawmakers.

You're talkin to folks here in the statehouse.

What's kind of your message?

Doc, I'll start with you.

Sure.

First, I would just say we're really thrilled with how this turned out.

Turnout was amazing.

We actually had almost 65 presentations from, students, postdocs and staff from four universities.

And then several dozens mor people showed up to hear them.

So we had somewhere like 150 plus people.

There was really great.

Legislators were able to come down.

We were able to have people go meet them.

And I think the big picture idea here is, you know, how often does that connection happen?

Probably not often enough.

There are probably some legislators who who may not even have a lot of scientists in their district, depending on where you are in Alabama.

So this is a really convenient way to kind of kill two birds with one stone to have scientists come together and meet each other from four really great Alabama universities.

But at the same time, meet also the legislators who don't necessarily get to have that connection.

So that was the idea of it.

And, we're thrilled with how it went.

Yeah.

How were those interactions?

I ha some really great discussions.

I get to present a poster today, to kind of talk a little bi about my basic science research.

And, I really enjoyed the conversations.

I thought we had good questions.

And I think it's importan for people to kind of understand what what we're doing day to day.

Well, when you were here last time I think it was last fall, maybe last summer we were talking about the cuts from the federal level to those cuts and all that.

Yeah.

Now thankfully, because UAB was going to be absolutely affected by that coming down from the NIH, luckily.

And I think, Senator Britt played a big role in that, that got reversed.

Everybody's thankful for that.

But it's a reminder of of the importance of funding.

So I was going to ask both of y'all talk about the, you know, draw a straight line for us when when you're funded from this, from the state or the feds have a great deal of funding, obviously research funding and how that contributes down the road to breakthrough is particularly when it comes to cancer research.

Sure.

So I am a big fan of analogies, and I like this one about the Colbert River I live right next to.

It's really beautiful and, it's a slow moving river, so it takes a long time for that water to get from its origin to the mouth of the river.

And research that way is also slow.

So what people are generally most aware of are the clinical trials and the newest drug that came out, and that's the mouth of the river downstream.

We're way upstream at the very beginning, and without us if you put a dam in that river, there's no flow downstream to you put even a little bit of a, you know, some tree falls, so you have less flow.

So that's really been the problem is, when yo when you mess with this funding from the federal government, it affects everything.

And sometimes people ask, you know, why can't companies step in?

Well, they don't have the framework and the long term potential to do this because of that slow flow.

They not have any investors.

If you said, oh, wait 20 year to see where this goes, right.

But all the things that peopl are taking today, the treatments that they have, the the things that are extending our lifespans, they came from basic science research, ten, 15, 20, 30 years ago.

And so I always tell people to think today about what you might need 30 years from now, what your kids might need 40, 50 years from now.

What your family members will need.

That's what we have to invest in right now.

And so that's where these cuts have been a problem.

I will also add real fast that, while we are thankful to Senator Britt and others for getting Congress to, put that money forward for this fiscal year, there is still the Office of Management and Budget that has been incredibly slow in disbursing those funds.

And so there is still a problem that needs to be solved.

Well, I could see that.

We'll talk about that frustration.

I mean, is it frustrating?

Is it does it lead to frustratio in the field where you're really largely dependen on some of those funding sources to do critical research that, you know, we would all be disappointed i that research wasn't happening?

Yes, I think that's true.

You know, basic science research finds new therapeutic targets to, you know, to kind of look into more deeply.

It's lays the foundation for clinical trials and, new drugs coming out.

And if you don't have that, that background knowledge, then we don't know what the next steps might be.

Well, I'm curious about what's happening lately.

I mean I'm fascinated by cancer research.

Just the complexity, the really the miracles that are happening in your field.

So Clu, is that a little bit about what's happening at UAB at your center?

About maybe some areas of research that are exciting right now?

Sure.

Well, there's many so.

And I don't want to, you know, Boyer veers too much, but the first thing that comes to mind is right now, we historically we do chemo and other treatment, radiation, where we're looking to kill off the cancer cells.

And in the process, you damage healthy cells.

And that's really painful and difficult for patients.

And sometimes it doesn't work so well.

The next big thing is targeted therapies.

How can you kill off or damage the cancer cells and not the healthy cells?

And there's a lot of approaches to that that people are taking at UAB and elsewhere.

That's just one o the many areas related to that.

I'll tell you.

One thing we do in my lab is we, you know, again, historically in trying to kill the cancer cells.

But the problem is that is that they evolve resistance really quickly.

So if you give them drugs, try and kill them off.

Some of them will become resistant to that therapy to some extent and can lead to remission.

Instead, we have found way to turn some of these pediatric cancer cells into nerve cells and to not cancer cells, and they don't die.

And what's exciting about that is it's harder for the cancer to evolve resistance to this change in what it is as opposed to killing it.

So we think there's some new, opportunities for therapies down the road there if we can find the targets that make that happen.

That's one of the thing we're working on.

Interesting.

Does that apply to cancers across the board or are only specific types of cancers?

I think it can definitely apply to more than one type of cancer.

I mean, cancer tends to be, a type of a cell typ that just makes more of itself.

And if we can figure out how to push it to be more mature, s it's not making more of itself, then it's eventually going to die off.

Oh that's fascinating.

We'll talk about the difference it makes to be there in Birmingham.

You mentioned the other universities and I absolutely need to shout them out as well.

But there's there's something special about Birmingham and the researc that y'all are able to do there, supported by a just, thriving medical community.

So talk about UAB, brag on yourselves a little bit and the work that the center is doing.

Well, you know, it's not quite the answer to your question, but the thing that first comes to my mind, and I actually talked about it at the symposium, is moving down here.

How often in the community I meet people who are really grateful for things that UAB has done for them clinical, clinical trials, care, research.

It's a small enough town that when people find out I'm at, you want need to get excite and they want to talk about it.

And that's been a very rewarding thing.

I've been thanked for my service more times in two years in Birmingham than I have in the rest of my career.

And I tell people, no, no, no, I am a researcher.

And like, yeah, I know, and thank you so much for what you do.

So that connection between the community and the university is really great to see.

And so I think that's one thing that's wonderful.

I, you know, in terms of other exciting things that are going on, I do want to brag on Lin for that.

And it is, by the way, Women's History Month, at three people from my lab present today, all women.

And you know, a lot of th presentations were from women.

So I just want to shout out to women in science there.

Lin has a really cool projec where she looks at Alzheimer's disease, and you might wonder why I'm bringing that up.

Well, it turns out that there's a correlation where Alzheimer's disease i found a little bit less often.

I believe in cancer patients and there's and vice versa.

And then talk about that.

Yeah.

Please.

Yeah.

There's an inverse relationshi between Alzheimer's and cancer.

And it's kind of fascinating to think that, you know, again, cancer cell are they make more of themselves and they proliferate.

Whereas Alzheimer's disease kind of pushed the cells to, age and to mature.

And so if we can figure out the mechanism that Alzheimer's disease is using to mature cells, then we could maybe appl that mechanism to figuring out how to push cancer to mature and die off as well.

Wow.

That is.

That is fascinating.

Look I hate that we're out of time.

We could talk about this all day, but thank you both so much for your work in cancer research and for coming on Capital Journa to share that with our audience.

Look forward to having you back.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow nigh for another long day of coverage from here in the Alabama Legislature for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.