By Sarah Stephens

Elmore Autauga News

The Millbrook Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its second annual Legislative Breakfast this morning, which proved to be very informational, and at times hilarious as the politicians and officials took turns taking friendly jabs at each other.

Present to speak briefly to the large audience were Senator Clyde Chambliss, Senator William Barfoot, Representative Jerry Starnes, and Representative Troy Stubbs.

Chamber President/CEO Brenda Dennis welcomed all to the event.

Millbrook Mayor Al Kelley welcomed everyone as well, and said “Thank you for coming to hear our wonderful people that support us when they are in or out of session. They are all easy to talk to.”

Many city and county officials were present as well as business leaders and residents.

The mayor introduced Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis, who served as moderator for the event.

“(Dennis) wanted me to tell you how handsome he is, and that he is the best superintendent in Elmore County,” Kelley said to claps and laughter. “But Richard does a tremendous job for our school system. It is our pleasure to work with him, not only with the schools but for 17 Springs.”

Dennis said that each legislator would be given five minutes to speak, with questions from the audience after their presentation.

Senator Barfoot was first up. “I am looking forward to the session, which starts next Tuesday.”

He reminded the audience that years ago, Aniah’s law was passed due to her murder in Auburn by a previously convicted felon. Since that time, the law has been expanded to allow no bond on more violent offenses. He said the public can expect to hear about legislation that could expand the parameters even further.

“Not a wholesale expansion, but a few things that were left out that we could have considered years ago.” 

He also expects legislation to be presented that helps municipalities and county governments around the state to recruit and sustain law enforcement. Barfoot said he has several law enforcement officers in his family. “The fear and the realization is that you can wake up and go to work, and not come home. It has always been that way. But I think what we have seen in recent years is that the collective mentality that folks in law enforcement are bad. And that is just not the case.”

He said that it has more of an impact nationwide, rather than counties like Elmore County. But recruiting and retaining officers has become more difficult, he said.

He also spoke on education, mentioning the School Choice Act, which allows families to receive a $7,000 tax credit to send their children to the school of their choice. He praised Elmore County’s school system and does not feel large numbers of students leaving will have a huge impact.

He said that last year, local government was able to keep property taxes at the same rate.

On gambling, he said that is always an issue. “Last year we were right on the cusp of passing something for the people to vote for. I am not a gambling guy. But last year we were in a position, at least in the Senate, we had something palatable for the folks to vote for. We were short on that.”

He said he expects another move to legalize gambling will be seen in the coming year, and years after if it does not pass this year. “This will not go away.”

Senator Chambliss was up next saying having partnerships on local legislation is vitally important. He said Barfoot has had his back on many issues and even stepped in to help during a filibuster.

“My first session, I passed my first bill, and it is a lot of stress,” Chambliss said. “Then it hit me. I have to get this through the house.” He said it is vitally important that there are representatives like Starnes and Stubbs that understand local issues.

He then gave an update on the status of the state. “There is nothing that we deal with that does not come back to funding. Everything has a dollar value and a cost.”

Most important to him is to have a strong fiscal foundation in order get the work done that is needed.

“I am happy to report that we are going into year 14 with no proration,” Chambliss said. “We have been ranked as high at eighth in the nation for financial security. That is a big deal.”

“I have the opportunity to work with Chairman Garrett and others who have done a tremendous job to be fiscally responsible over the last decade and put ourselves in a position where we have sufficient savings. We have the means by which we can advance education in the state.”  

Stubbs said legislators received great news this week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress of the advancements that Alabama has made in both math and reading on a national level. We moved from 52^nd to 32^nd in rankings in readings. And we had a six-point improvement on our score and that was the highest of any state. That is just a reflection of legislation that has been put forth to put our teachers and administration to be successful.”

He said the Literacy Act and the Numeracy Act were passed in the last decade, and the state is in the position where they can make those improvements.

“With Covid, it has been a challenge,” he said. “Many of you have children or grandchildren that went through schooling during Covid. Our school system did a tremendous job of providing access to education through out students during that time, in collaboration with the Elmore County Commission and other partners to improve our internet access and other ways by which our students could continue to learn.”

Now fast forward four years, and he said we see the fruits of the labor in these score improvements. He said that is just one example that where legislation can empower the people, the boots on the ground, to be successful.

When it comes to school funding, he said it has been very complex in the past, as it was based on student count, or how many students are in the school.

“As we see now, that may not be the best way to do that,” he said. “Because students, while we have individual numbers and we can county how many students, we have to respond to the individual needs of those students.”

Schools have students with financial challenges, English as a second language, special education, and gifted students that may not be receiving the resources they need to improve and grow.

“So, we are studying a student needs-based formula to providing funding to educate the students in Alabama,” Stubbs said. “We put in our final public hearing last week with a discussion and there will be a recommendation put forth by the committee likely next week. We will see how that goes. But I do think it will put our school systems in a better position to have the funding that they need to meet the individual student’s needs where that student is, versus just counting the numbers and giving an allocation on those numbers.”

Stubbs said Alabama is one of five states that still do it by the numbers, and this is an opportunity to learn and grow from other states, be it their successes or their failures.

Rep. Starnes was then introduced.

First, he thanked the Chamber for allowing these types of functions where legislators have more chances to talk directly to constituents.

He said that he was aware when he took office that some in Millbrook had doubts about his ability to represent both Autauga and Elmore counties. There has been a lot to learn, but he is proud of the progress that has been made.

Starnes said that Alabama is the number one in the country for car exports and car manufacturing, which is a huge impact on jobs and the economy.

He then referenced Barfoot’s comments early, concerning public safety and law enforcement. Starnes has a background in public safety, and he said without a strong public safety presence in communities, it would be chaos. With safe communities, it draws not only residents who want to live there, but more businesses.

Starnes said there is potential legislation that would recognize probation officers in the state as actual law enforcement officers.

He also referenced possible legislation on a bill concerning overtime for public safety, as well as legislation for National Guard members being tax exempt for the first $5,000 of pay.

The floor was then opened for questions, the first of which dealt with public safety, and the issues that are being faced by municipalities.

Barfoot said that retired officers are a wonderful resource and could potentially be paid to come back and help fill holes.

“Should we have the ability to pay more of the retired law enforcement officers to come back in an area they know and had already worked in? I think so.”

He said in many areas, half of the budget for law enforcement pay is available but finding people willing to serve is becoming more difficult.

Barfoot was asked about gambling, and if the sale of the Birmingham Track to the Poarch Creek Indians will have an effect on the lottery bill.

“I have heard people say that they believe it makes it easier. I am not sure,” Barfoot said.

He said that citizens of Alabama that want to vote on a gaming or lottery bill, often ask why it has not come to a vote. He continued saying there are some folks that will never vote for any type of gambling bill. Others would agree to part of proposed legislation. Also, there are always questions about how the revenue would be used, what type of games would be allowed or the location of the facilities.

“All of those things make it a very complicated piece to pass. We were one vote away last year and probably the closest that it has been in two decades or longer. But that doesn’t mean that we start off there this year.”

He said that a lot of people are set in their views if gambling should or should not be allowed.

A question concerning special needs education students, and about the tremendous increase in cases of autism in recent years. Is there a plan in place to account for the number of autistic children, both in the education side and public safety side.

Barfoot acknowledged that parents and educators are struggling with the challenge of special needs children. The concern for more training in law enforcement was also included.

“That has been an increased effort in training and law enforcement with mental health aspects. My guess is there would be an opportunity there. We are already seeing some of those educational opportunities in law enforcement,” Barfoot said.

Stubbs said there are many angles to approach these challenges.

“We did pass a law last year that required additional training for law enforcement officers to prepare them or better equip them, for situations where they encounter someone who is nonverbal or is not comfortable in that situation and how to handle that. It is certainly not enough. There are problems that will continue to compound over the years that we need to get ahead of.”

For mental health in general, schools are facing significant funding gaps for special needs.

“So, we have got to elevate all those things. My hope is that with the School Choice Act and School Choice, and some of the opportunities for funding to follow students, that the free market will begin to recognize there are subsets of students with specific needs and we can empower people who have the skills to meet those students where they are and put them in a position where they can be successful. We are not there yet, but I see the door opening.”

In other questions, Elmore County is currently seeing construction of a mega-prison that is scheduled to begin operation in 2026 and will staffing be an issue? The unemployment rate for Elmore County is very low, and if employees are pulled from other businesses, it can cause an issue.

Sen. Chambliss said, “Staffing at the Department of Corrections statewide is a real problem. We are about half of the staff of where we need to be. We have increased salaries, provided incentives, totally changed our marketing on how we try to reach people. But we are still barely able to move the need in a positive direction.”

He said that most people think of this prison as a huge building to house 4,000 inmates, but it is more than that.

“That is not what is being built. What is being built is a 54-building campus. We are also building a mental health facility, hospital and community college all on the same campus, along with all of the infrastructure and loading dock that you have to have. The design of those buildings will help us with that staffing. And that is huge.”

He said that housing 300 prisoners in one room is a recipe for disaster. There will be places to separate all prisoners in different areas.

He said some people in prison who are good people, who made a mistake. But it is important to be able to separate them from prisoners who are chronic problems.

Chambliss said the design of this prison will be better and safer for staff.

Many other issues were brought up that we will cover in separate articles. If you made it this far into the article, bravo!