We're breaking down the recently-concluded Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature in this week's episode of "In the Weeds w/ Alabama Daily News."

Caroline Beck and I discuss some of the latest developments, including two bills that received "pocket vetoes" from Gov. Kay Ivey due to legislative drafting errors. We also dive into the details of the Education Trust Fund - what it pays for and how. Plus, we explain how a last-minute revenue transfer from the education budget to the general fund will help pay for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

My guest this week is House Speaker Mac McCutcheon. I'm grateful to the Speaker for sitting down with me to review the session. Ten or twelve days after adjournment allows for a little better perspective on what happened, and Speaker McCutcheon had some interesting thoughts about what passed and what didn't.

In particular, he was proud of the gas tax and infrastructure plan that he has labored on for years. He went back a few years to explain his own history on that, and then back a few decades to talk about the legislative context of the gas tax.

The Speaker talked at length about the problems facing Alabama's prisons and what could be accomplished by a possible special session to address the issue in the fall.

He also addressed some of the procedural problems the House faced this year with a handful of lawmakers acting out and slowing things down. I found his commentary on what it's like to serve in the Speaker's chair interesting, and I think you will, too.

This is a long podcast by our standards. If you want to skip past our commentary to the interview with Speaker McCutcheon, that begins at the 39:00 mark.