From ou statehouse studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey, welcome to Capitol Journal.

Big news out of Washington today as Kristi Noem is out as secretary of Homeland Security.

President Donald Trum announced on social media today that he is removing Noem from her cabinet post and nominating Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen to lead the department.

This comes after a tumultuous few months for Noem, including a heated Senate hearing just this week over her handling of immigration enforcement and department advertising funds.

Alabama Senator Katie Britt chair the appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, and has been leading negotiations to find a funding agreement to reopen that agency.

Over the last three weeks, she said, quote, I thank Secretary Noem for her service to our nation and all the work she did to execute President Trump's agenda to make our southern border and interior safer and more secure than ever before.

I'm excited to congratulate my good friend and colleague, Senator Mullen, on his nomination, and look forwar to supporting his confirmation.

I know from working alongside Mark Twain for years that he is up to the job and will carry out President Trump' agenda to safeguard our homeland and oversee critical agencies like Ice, CPB, FEMA, TSA, CSIR, Secret Service and more.

He will be an incredibl Secretary of Homeland Security.

End quote.

Back here to the state House where the House and Senate met for the 19th day of this 2026 legislative session.

With just one third of the session remaining, lawmakers still have a lot to accomplish in the final 11 meeting days.

At the top of that list are the State Education Trust Fund budget and the general fund budget.

Speaking about the general fund today, Senate Budget Chairman Senator Greg Albritton of Atmore told reporters he is nearly ready to present the spending plan he has been crafting.

All.

Britton says tighter revenue projections have made this year's budget process mor challenging than in years past.

I'm waiting for the, Go ahead.

Thumbs up.

From leadership to proceed.

I think we have, done as best we could with where we are.

This has not been an easy year.

And, but I think we've done as well as we can.

I'll tell you, I can talk about money for a long time.

No one answers.

That occurs very often except when it's theirs.

It was, a little more trying, a little more constraints.

And, and a couple of surprises that that came along.

When pressed for more specifics on a timeline, O'Brien said he hopes that lawmakers will have a copy of the proposed general fund budget by next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Senator Albritton also commented on the debate over the distributio of Alabama's online sales tax.

As negotiations continue on that issue between cities, counties, schools and state leaders, several cities and school systems argue that the formula cost their communities millions of dollars in local tax revenue, and they filed a lawsuit challenging how the money is distributed.

That lawsuit was later withdrawn.

Albritton says lawmakers have reached a compromise proposal that would update the population count used in the simplified seller's use tax formula every five years instead of every ten years.

Abbott says the measure is just the first step in continuing a conversatio to fully resolve the city issue, and he wants to get something passed before the legislative session ends.

We felt like we neede and had to come forward and show that we're actually seriously doing something.

We came to a consensus this morning that we would change the time, of of counting which to have from ten years to 5%.

And that's what we could agree to.

So we're getting a bill drafted.

We're going to file it today.

We've agreed that this is no a vehicle to make changes and, to make any other attempts to bring about, some other vendettas or anything of that nature.

We're going to get this bill as it passed.

We hope, in the spirit of come oratory, so that we can show the public and each other that we're working together.

We've had, representatives in our meetings, including the EPA, includin local school boards, including, the counties, including the cities, and others, to, to discuss what their difficulties were, where we have to go to.

This is complicated.

Everybody has an interest in this, and we've got to make sure that we get this right.

We can't.

This is too valuable for us to screw it up.

The House today too up legislation aimed at boosting funding and improving the programing for career and technical education in Alabama.

House Bill 517 from State Representative James Lomax of Huntsville, was the first bill in the package to be taken up today.

We've had a package for career tech education that's been extremely important to get across the finish line for a couple of reasons.

You know, here in the state of Alabama, we've gotten over 90,000 job that we've brought to our state, here recently.

It's been over 50 billion in economic developmen throughout, the past few years.

We want to make sure we have the workforce.

It is going to align with that for the future and making sure we're taking care of the children, and their opportunitie as they come into the workforce.

You know, only about 34% of kids nowadays are graduating and going and finishing their college degree.

So we got 66% of our kids coming through our schools that we got to really focus on.

And with this package that we've passed today is going to do exactly that.

The bill that we passed today was the very first bill on the calendar.

It does really two, two major things, but it allows industry to loan their certified employees to the school systems, public schools, community colleges, tech schools to allow them to bring their expertise into our our classrooms to to take care of this career tech, education.

And that bill was approved and now heads to the Senate.

Big news for the cit of Birmingham today as new life is coming to the former campu of Birmingham Southern College.

Senator Katie Brit and Congresswoman Terri Sewell announced this week that the U.S.

Coast Guard will set up a new training facility on that campus.

That news was greeted with jubilation here in the legislature.

State Representative Juandalynn Givan represents that area of the city.

We fought the good fight to try to save Birmingham Southern and we fought to no avail.

Ultimately, it closed, and so the campus has been sitting for now, two, two years, almost two years dormant, and had begun a proces of almost looking dilapidated.

So yesterday's announcement wa huge for the state of Alabama.

I just thank Senator Brit and Senator Tuberville for their efforts, as well as Secretary Nome and President Trump.

Because what this means is that 192 acres will no longer sit dormant in the city of Birmingham.

And Birmingham Southern was unique because it set in a residential community, and it takes up over half of the, Bush years community.

And that's a lot of acreage.

So it also brings jobs, over 1000 jobs plus jobs will be created.

It will be a training facility for over 1500, those service men who will come in and who will join the coast Guard.

But most importantly it will give a sense of security to those who are in that area, a storied area just a few stone's throw away from Leadville, as well as some of the other historic civil rights, areas in Syria, in the city of Birmingham.

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

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers with access to free, curriculum aligned videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Media and all the PBS kids programs, parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

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

Mother Angelica was the founde of the Eternal Word Television network, located in Irondale and founder of the shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Handbill.

Born Rita Antoinette Rizzo in Ohio.

She joined the Poor Clares order of nuns and was inspired by the early Civil Rights movement to establish a religious community for southern African Americans.

She established the Franciscan Order in Birmingham, where she initiated a successful series of parlor talks that led to a regular Sunday morning radio broadcas called journey into Scripture.

In 1981, Mother Angelica spearheaded a movement to form the nonprofi Eternal Word Television Network.

Wheaton brought Mother Angelica to a global audience as the host of the highly successful televisio program Mother Angelica Alive.

She also served as chair and CEO of the network.

Mother Angelica died on March 27th, 2016, and is buried in a crypt and a shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state representative Jennife Fiedler and Doctor Mark Stalder.

Thanks for coming on the show.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah.

Thank you for having us.

We'r talking about your legislation having to d with survivors of breast cancer who've gone through mastectomy and reconstruction, having to do with coverage for that.

Tell me what your bill does.

HB 453, talks about educating, women, on their different options.

After they've if they have to go through a mastectomy, we have over 3000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the state of Alabama.

Well over 2000 of those are going to face mastectomy.

So those women, are all over the state of Alabama, and they're going to have to make a choice, usually for two options or just implants or this new option that women rarely know about.

They never hear about it usually.

And that's harvesting your own tissue to rebuild a breast.

It's pretty amazing work.

Work that Doctor Stadler can talk a little bit more about, but really came out of, New Orleans, Louisiana, 30 years ago or so.

Well, doc, you know, you were a plastic surgeon specializing in this work.

Talk about how that science has developed, how that medicine has developed this new technology, which I imagine, is a lot better of an option for those who are facing this horrible, situation.

Sure.

So there's a couple different ways that we reconstruct breasts.

Representative Fiedler touched on that.

Implants.

Most people understand those, understand that procedure have some familiarity with it.

And then the other way that we do it is by transferring your own living tissue.

It's called a free flap operation.

And, you know, to your question, what's different about that than what we used to do, say, 30 years ago?

And, you know, they used t transfer a tissue with muscle.

So you had to sacrific a muscle group to get a breast.

Okay.

That was the choice that you had to make 30 years ago.

And, there was a lot of complications that come along with that for obvious reasons.

Especially when it comes from the abdomen and what we have, since developed a procedures where you can preserve the functional muscle there much more complicated to perform.

They're very technically difficult, and they take a very long time.

And it takes a specialized skill set to do it.

Not everybody does this.

Do these operations.

So what we have now is a procedure where you don't have to, sacrifice functional muscle.

So it has a much lower incidence of major complications, and it offers significant benefits over implant, procedures in certain patients.

If you've been radiated, and you, have only the choice of an implant operation after a mastectomy.

You know, radiation is a common, part of cancer treatment.

It changes the tissue.

And, an implant under radiated tissue has a huge percentage, failure and severe complication, very high percentage, upwards of 50% at times.

And so under those circumstances these tissue transfer procedures are absolutely the medical standard of care.

Okay.

What we found in, Alabama is that there's really only two surgeons who are performing these procedures, with any regularity, myself, in South Alabama and then a, a surgeon at UAB, doctor Jobe Fix.

And we tried to figure out why that was happening, why was this stuff not available.

And basically we uncovered it's reimbursement, but it goes far beyond that.

And so there's a you know, these are all federally required, procedures.

You know, the federal government, passed a law in 1998, Wicker of the Women's Health, a cancer Rights Act, and that made all breast reconstruction services, federally required to be covered under commercial insurance.

And the problem is, though that there's no teeth to that.

There's no way to enforce that.

And so, what we're trying to do at the state level is to make it functionally applicable.

Right?

So we're really just tryin to fill the gaps of the federal, legislatio that already covers the services and make sure that they are functionally available to the women of Alabama.

So your bill would require insurance carriers here in Alabama make this, you know, a part of their reimbursement schedule and and require that to be, that' already required by federal law that they, women to do have these choices.

But the problem is it's not been very accessible or either the authorization, we haven't been able to know that we can get pre author authorization to do the procedure here, or we haven't had the, the surgeons here to do the surgeries.

They're not here to do the surgeries because we don't have an environment for them to be able to survive.

The but yeah, they should already be hearing about these surgeries.

When I talked to one of my colleagues in the Senate, he said, oh, yeah, we already have that.

But I knew we didn't because the plastic surgeons, there's only two, like, Doctor Stadler said.

So, you know, this this bill will help educate women on what their, their, choices are and make it more accessible so that maybe we'll have more doctors her that want to come to this state.

To be able to provide this, you have to have the specialized training in microsurgery.

The other important thing to note is that this procedure, year 2 or 3, really, costs less in the long run than the implant procedure.

It costs less for, fo our insurers to insure, women.

So that's important to note on the business side of things is actually a lower cost in the long run.

So it's not really a it's a better choice for women.

The quality of life is so much better that women are finding they're much happier with this type of procedure.

So it's just a it's a choice they need to be knowledgeable about in case they choose for their life and their quality of life, if that's something they want to do.

And, can I just interject?

Yeah.

I want to point out, you know, we're focusing on the more complicated procedures for obvious reasons, because they're more scarce and difficult.

But this really applies globally to all breast cancer reconstruction.

So even implants even other smaller procedures, patients are not finding that they have access to i Montgomery is a perfect example.

You know, the, plastic surgeons in this city no longer perform any form of breast reconstruction.

As I understand it, they pulled out of that service entirely because of the the environment in which they exis from an insurance perspective.

And, and so I wanted to poin that out because it's very it's, it's an important thing to understand the, the, the complicated procedures that are, very difficult fo patients to even get access to.

But it's even the simple ones.

It's even the simple ones too.

So where's your bill in the process?

It has yet to come to committee.

Where?

Lsa still, they're working on fiscal note for it.

And we've got to get it to committee and then we'll have a public hearing.

Okay.

Yeah.

Because we're getting close to late into the session, so it's time to get moving.

I hope you'll keep us updated o this bill as it moves forward.

And thank yo both for coming and explaining.

This is an important issue.

It is important for our women.

I'm proud to carry this bill.

HB 453.

Well thank you.

We'll be looking out for it.

Thanks again.

Yeah, 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.

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

Sequoia was one of the most influential men in Cherokee history.

His greatest legacy was his invention of a written version of the Cherokee spoken language, created largely during his time i what is now northeast Alabama.

The Cherokee leadership approved its dissemination in 1821, and within a matter of months, the Cherokee Nation was mostly literate.

By 1828.

The tribe established the Cherokee Phoenix, a newspaper printed in both Cherokee and English.

Welcome back to Capital Journal.

Do you want to be next is state Representativ Susan to boast and Miss Alabama.

Emma Terry.

Ladies thanks for coming on the show.

Hey, thank you for having us.

Absolutely.

What a treat.

What a treat.

Well, you're in town talking about this bill that you've brought representative making Miss Alabama an official ambassador for the state.

Talk about why this, why you've brought this bill.

This was so much fun on the House floor today.

But I will have to give all th credit to Miss Alabama.

Terry.

It was totally her idea.

She had seen in other states where they have an official ambassador.

Miss Alabama, which leads on to the Miss America program, is official ambassador in other states and she brought it to me and I said, let's do it.

Great.

You're already acting in that role.

Anyway.

Let's make it official.

And y'all can the state can ask Miss Alabama to appear at official events.

And, it fits in Miss Alabama schedule.

She can do it.

This is nonpartisan.

This is just promoting the state of Alabama.

And what better person could we have than the talented, beautiful, intellectual, articulate Miss Alabama's that represent our state?

You said at all.

Well, what's that like?

What's that like to be the ambassador for the state?

It's it's really an incredible opportunity.

You have no ide just how many incredible people you're going to meet and interact with and the opportunities and the doors that this will open for you.

So it's a dream come true.

It's an amazing opportunity, and it's an amazing opportunity to give back to my community something that I'm really excited about is the opportunit to emphasize community service and volunteerism in thi official state ambassador role.

So I'm really, really looking forward to it and just so, so grateful you were shared with me off camera a little bit about your platform as Miss Alabama focusing on ALS.

Yes.

Talk about that, advocacy that you've done.

Yes, yes.

So ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

It's Lou Gehrig's disease, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

So my grandfather ha ALS for 22 years, and I served as one of his caregivers, which is why I'm so passionate about the cause.

And I had such a front row seat to seeing how terrible this disease is.

And then I had this opportunity through the Miss America and Miss Alabama programs to select a community service initiative and and use the platform of this organization to increase awareness of ALS and really emphasize how important funding is for the ALS community, not just for research to find a cure for ALS in the future, but to help ALS community and address their current needs as well.

So having this title and being able to speak about that not just on a statewide level, but on a national level, ha been a really great opportunity.

You recently competed at the national level like the Miss America.

Yeah, as you mentioned, did very well, by the way.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

But what was that like?

I'm always intrigued about what that because it's a long period of time you'll go through a lot.

What's it take us behind the scenes a little bit of what that's like to because, you know, 50 girls from around or from around the country.

What's that like?

So it is it's a whirlwind.

I think the best way to describe it is it is a whirlwind while you're there.

But then looking back on it, it was one of the most enriching experiences of my life.

I met these incredible young women from across the country and got to foster that sisterhood at the Miss America competition, and it was so incredible.

But I didn't have that moment of realization like, oh my gosh, I'm at Miss America until the lights came up on stage.

So it was a little bit of a delayed reaction on my part, but it was it was really incredible.

And I will never forget that opening night of competition when we had our preliminaries doing the opening number, the lights coming up, and I was like, wow, I've made it to the Miss America stage and I'm so grateful for the Miss Alabama organization for preparing me for that moment and just for the opportunity to represent my state.

Yeah.

Well congratulations again.

Thank you.

Representative, you've made a point during your time in office to involve young women and get them involved in government.

Talk about why you've made that such a priority.

Because it's been noticed, right.

And it's been notice and you've made that a priority.

Talk about why.

Yeah, I really felt it's important to mentor young people.

And, I've been attracted to the Miss America, Miss Alabama, Miss Teen organization because I know how hard those girls work and how smart they are.

And as smart and accomplished as Emma is, there's many more girl like this throughout the state.

And I'm also working with our university.

So I've been working wit the OB, lobby board at Auburn.

Yes.

And, asking those kids to come in and shadow me.

I must always have somebody shadowing me.

I just I love that it's mutually beneficial.

I can see the spark in their eyes and it's invigorating for me.

And if I can just give them th opportunity to see their future and and, you know, for young women to see other women as leaders in the state and, you know, to give them a goal or something, to wish for an aspiration for them, it's a privileg for me to be in that position.

As a former Auburn lobby boarder, I really appreciated the all they asked the sharpest group of kids.

We spoke on the panel with them, and now we're going to have hopefully a more official program where they can come up and shadow legislators.

Oh, that's really great.

Yeah.

And so last weekend we had the youth legislature in town after y'all left town.

Yeah.

Their desks were occupied by the youth legislature.

I'm telling you, you talk abou smart and involved, and I mean, they were competitive.

And all of that was.

It was a lot of fun.

Well, look, we're out of time.

Thank you so much for your time and coming and sharing all of this.

And again, congratulations.

Thank you for being an ambassador for Alabama.

Thank you so much for having us.

Thanks, Todd.

We'll be right back.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers with access to free, curriculum aligned videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Media and all the PBS kids programs, parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

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

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.

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

That's our show for tonight.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back tomorrow night with more coverage of the Alabama Legislature here on APD.

But our Weekend review episode will air at 9:00 tomorrow instead of the normal 730 for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.