For many of us, smartphones are our connection to the world, whether it’s messaging friends, watching videos or catching up on the news. That connection gets a little more fraught, though, when the person using the phone is a minor. An Alabama Senate committee this week passed a bill that would put in place new rules around apps and children. We get details now from Todd Stacy, host of Capital Journal on Alabama Public Television. He spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
This bill regarding apps and children, what specifically does it lay out?
This bill’s been around for a few years. They came close to passing it last year, but got caught up in that filibuster. But it would require that app stores, whether it’s the Apple app store or the Android app store, those app stores verify a user’s age. And if that user is a minor under 18, then it will be required that they link the account to a parent for approval of downloads and purchases.
This obviously comes from concerns about what kids are doing on cell phones, and some kind of predatory nature of online activity. So it has passed the House. It was in a Senate committee this week. And so I think it’s heading to the Senate floor pretty soon.
Now we know children can be sneaky, not to mention the fact that in this system you’re trusting that the user is being truthful with what information they reveal. How enforceable is this?
That’s kind of the question that people are asking. What enforcement apparatus is gonna be out there? And it remains a little unclear. This legislation is supported actually by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. That’s significant. But while it’s not official, the opposition is rumored to be coming from Google and Apple that manage their app stores.
So the question’s about how exactly it’s enforced really remain out there. And I expect whenever it goes to the Senate floor, that’s going to be a real point of debate. Because as Senator Figures said, we don’t want to just pass a feel-good bill. We want it to actually work.
An Alabama Senate committee passed a bill Wednesday which allows local governments to remove members of a library board. Now this bill has gotten a lot of attention in part because of disputes over books at the Fairhope Public Library in South Alabama. So put some context around this bill and how these arguments have been laid out.
Right. And that is actually the state senator from that area, Chris Elliott of Baldwin County, who’s sponsoring this bill. He actually sponsored it last year. It passed the Senate and did not end up passing the House. But it would allow local governments, cities, counties, the authority to remove members of the local library board. Whether it’s a county board or a city board, that authority doesn’t exist now. And so it would empower those local governments to remove members of a library board for whatever reason.
You’re right. It obviously comes as this debate has raged about content, whether it’s in the children’s section or moving that content to other sections. There’s huge disagreements still going on. And Fairhope has kind of been ground zero for that. No way to know if this is going to pass. Again, that broke down last year. But if it gets some traction, expect it to be a big point of debate here as we near the legislature’s second quarter.
Finally, state lawmakers and governors are prominent people. But all those officials in Montgomery were arguably upstaged on Wednesday. That’s because former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and his wife, Miss Terry, came to the Capitol. Todd, what were the Sabans doing there?
It’s a really big deal when Nick Saban comes to town and Miss Terry, as you mentioned. But this wasn’t just a social visit. They were in town to promote the Saban Center, which has been in development for about five years now. This is a first-of-its-kind campus based in Tuscaloosa that will blend STEM education, the arts, hands-on learning. They really want this to be a hub for not just student learning, but teacher training and workforce development. They say that there’s really not a place like this anywhere in the country.
They’ve put a lot of their own resources into it. They’ve raised millions of dollars. And so they’re asking for some state buy-in as well. It’s slated to open in 2027. The renderings look amazing, frankly. And you can’t find anybody that doesn’t think this is a good idea, not just because it’s Nick Saban and Terry Saban. But because it is such an innovative way to approach not just student learning, but teacher training and retraining. And that’s so important to what the state is trying to do.
So we caught up with Coach Saban. It was funny that they were parked out back outside of our studio and we noticed his car. They did not do a press conference or anything like that, but he was kind enough and Miss Terry was kind enough to come and speak with us and share what they shared with lawmakers. They met with the House. They met with a Senate. They met the governor to try to build support for this. And they seem really passionate about it. Anytime you’ve heard Nick Saban on TV or wherever, he gets into that passionate kind of coaching mindset. So it was a real treat for us and you’ll hear that interview tonight on Capital Journal.