June 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Dr Greg Thompson the director of the Alabama Materials Institute says project ASCENT is propelling innovation from Tuscaloosa into our space program as he collaborates with other learning institutions state wide as well as the Martial Flight Center in Huntsville. Then Josh McLeod the Director of Federal Government Relations at the National Federation of Independent businesses warns of the dangers posed by “Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Tuscaloosa all the way to outer space. Hello, I'm
John mountsin This is Viewpoint, Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network.
University of Alabama researchers are helping the Air Force Research
Labs develop technology for a new, safer and more efficient
satellite fuel. Now what is a satellite fuel we'll find
out in just a minute. This is going to transform
commercial satellites in national security. Joining me now is doctor
(00:23):
Greg Thompson. He's the director of the Alabama Materials Institute.
Doctor Thompson, tell me more about Project Assent and how
is propelling innovation from tuscal Usa all the way into orbit.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, thank you so much, John for the invitation to
be here. Yes, this is a program that's overseeing by
the Air Force Research Laboratory. Roughly about a decade ago
they developed an advanced propellant that had lower toxicity and
the current propellants they use right now is.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The individuals have to use those fuels have to put
based on space suits to protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And with this new propellant, it's green in that sense
that they don't have much lower toxicity, so it's really
to use. But one of the benefits of that fuel
is it actually burns hotter and can allow mission times
to go longer.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So once a satellite runs out of fuel, it's no good.
So having the.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Ability to have longer lasting fuel really is an advantage.
The biggest issue around using this fuel is it needs
a catalyst, something that sparks its chemical reaction, and right
now that is aridium, which is roughly five thousand dollars
in ounce, one of the most expensive metals on Earth.
And so what we're trying to do at Alabama and
working with partners industrial partners in the state and Marshall
(01:32):
Space Flight Center and others under the Air Force umbrella,
is how do we develop new materials that are at
lower cost or improve the way that structure works as
a catalyst to improve the fuel efficiency.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So that's kind of the big.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Goal of the program, and it's really allows the university
to do what it's good and science, working with National
NASA Marshal Space Flight Center to test it, and then
working with a company in Huntsville plasma processes that actually
translates these thrusters into space. So it really allows everybody
to stand in the line, but something takes advantage of everybody's.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Strengths now I'm not a rocket scientist, it sounds like
you're much closer to it than I am. When we
talk about these propellants. Their necessity is that, as I understand,
we have satellites that are all you know, up in space,
in low or even Middle Earth orbit up there so
that we can use them for communication other things like that.
They're floating up there. Essentially they're following, but they're following
(02:27):
in such a way to where they're missing just missing us.
So they're orbiting. But sometimes these satellites they need to
be moved. Is that where the propellant comes in.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Exactly, So, once that satellites in space and you need
to reposition it to be in a certain orbit or
to be in a certain position for imaging or whatever
those needs would be, the propellant allows that satellite to
make that change.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And those propellants, you know, you launched the satellite into space.
It's not like it's going to come back down to refuel,
so you have to put on board all of fuel
that's ever going to need, or you have to go
up and service it, which is probably a very difficult
and expensive proposition.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Absolutely exactly right on.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So the propellant is for the rocket gets in space,
but then we're talking about the propellant that now operates
and moves the satellite around.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And are these satellites are they pretty much autonomous or
do we have to constantly kind of like fidget with
them to tell them what to do to make these
little course corrections and that sort of thing so they
don't fall out of orbit.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And I'm a more of material scientist, so I don't
operate the satellites, but I believe that largely there are
still communication with people on Earth to where they want
to go, and then they stay in with that in
the various orbits.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So they may need some course correction and things of
that nature.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But I don't know for certainty of how they the
mechanics of that, but there is communication Earth to get
them in the right orbits.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
And these satellites they need to be. And these satellites
are used for communication. Are we talking about like say
commercial communication, like say cell phones and that kind of thing,
or are we talking about military application? What are or weather?
I don't know what what are these used for?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, exactly, they're using that whole gambit.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They're used from our cell phones like you said, communications,
but also for imaging, remote sensing, and those things. So
it spans the whole gamut obviously, and they all have
to have some form of propellent. This is war through
the Air Force program, so it has obviously supports national
security interests, but these outcomes also support commercial development things
(04:29):
of that nature as well. But aridium being very expensive
to make it more commercially viable, developing a material that
could replace that or is really critical. So what we're
trying to understand is how does that physics and how
does that chemistry occur? And then can we use computers
and machine learning, all these artificial talents that we talk
about today to find other materials that can work just
(04:50):
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And when we talk about propellant like that, we're in
we're talking outer space, so it's not like anything's going
to burn. There's no oxygen up there, so we have
to provide the the ignition source is even igniting? Is
it just pushing something out? You know, the whole equal
you know, equal action thing. It pushes something this way,
and so the satellite moves that way. How does that work.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Exactly right?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So there's there's no oxygen in space so uh, it's
the and so the iridium so catalyst to burn that fuel,
and then that fuel provides thrust. So imagine a converging,
diverging type of nozzle and so it press it causes pressure,
and then that pressure expands when it goes out of
the thruster, and then that causes the the satellite or
any space orbiting vehicle to move its it's spatial position
(05:39):
in orbit.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So it's just simply like a rocket engine button space.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And it's the same idea that you compress the fluid
and then it expands when it comes out the exhaust,
and that process helps move the move the object.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now this new material, you know, I know a little
something up, say air conditioners and you have an older
air conditioner and it needs free on. They say, oh,
this doesn't use the old R eight, it needs d
R twelve or whatever it is. When you so when
you change the stuff in your air conditioner, you have
to sometimes change out the coils, change out a bunch
of stuff. Can this be Can existing satellites be retrofitted
to use this fuel source or do we have to
(06:14):
completely change the propulsion system to match the new fuel source?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thanks John, So obviously satellites are already in orbit there,
they're set in stone, they're going to operate that way,
and there are current satellites today that use iridium and
these structures.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So what we're doing, we're working with.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Our translation partners and industry and the Air Force, is
how can we take existing architectures that they have and
then put this new material in it. And so, for example,
one of the ideas that we're looking at is can
we build this material through added the manufacturing, So we
could specifically design struts and small areas that would control
how the fuel would flow through the satellite to optimize
(06:54):
the burn. And we're designing not only just the material
that the lattice could be made out of, but how
to manufacture that through out of the manufacturing and that
would then fit in existing.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, thrusters that are put on satellite.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So it's kind of a we want to use existing
technology and integrated into it of how they're already sign
because it would be cost prohibitive to start thinking about
a complete redesign for any satellite.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain. I was speaking with doctor Greg
Thompson at the University of Alabama and doctor Thompson, let's
talk about a project assent because this is Is this
the only thing it works on or are there other
things that you're also involved in with the space program?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Oh? Yeah, no, that's great. Right now.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
This is the first major program for the Alabama Materials Institute.
It's one of the four research institutes on the campus
of UA, and in this particular programs, it's very, very
focused on the madial development for its satellites, but the
technology and the things that we're learning can easily be
translated to other types of applications.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So, as I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're looking at additive manufacturing, building struts and things that
have mechanical rigidity and control flu flow. Those same principles
that we learn from this program could be applied to
other other technologies that we're we're looking at. So so
the asset is pretty specific to satellites, but the things
that we're learning and teaching our students and teaching with
our partners are translated able to other technologies.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
You mentioned the students are students involved in some of this.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh, absolutely, we have.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So we have five UA faculty on campus that are
working at and each of them have graduate students that
are studying this and that this research is actually part
of their degree and part of their learning process.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Uh. And then that will.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So that the idea is not only to help them
through their degree, but they're learning skills that will make
them employable when they when they graduate, and then they
can point to I worked on this, you know, project
with the national security interest, and that obviously translates to
opportunities for them in the state, for example, in Huntsville
and areas like that. So no, it's a it's a
great mix because it has graduate students, has some under
(09:00):
EDGUI students, has research engineers. The whole gambit is really
involved in trying to make this reality.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And that's one of the things I was also thinking about,
because it's great when we have people who are coming
out of Alabama, but it's even better when we keep
them right here in our state. We don't have the
brain drain. They stay here, they go to places like
Huntsville and they contribute up there at the Marshall Flight
Center or Redstone or any other place like that.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Absolutely, and Abestley, what's really nice too, is this project
has actually been able to.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Recruit students into our states.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So I know some that are working on the computational
modeling actually are from out west and have actually come
to Alabama to work specifically its project because it was
quite exciting to them to have that opportunity. So it's
not only to keep them state, but it actually can
be a draw as well.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And going looking above and beyond after this project is done,
are there other things on the horizon for Alabama to
be involved in outer space stuff?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Absolutely, I think this is just the start of one
of many future projects. Obviously, the Materials Institute Alabama chosen
to UA has been involved in working towards things and
other app applications and extreme environments, for example, hypersonic flight
and how do you make materials survivable in those conditions
and supporting for example, how materials can transmit radio waves
(10:15):
through each other. We're on a radio station right now
at really hypersonic speeds and things of that nature. So yeah,
this is just one project that's launching a bad pun
but launching us into a lot of other areas and
a lot of our even for example, with the future
work of building submarines down a mobile bay, another extreme condition. Right,
These are submarines that are exposed to salt water and corrosion.
(10:37):
So one of the issues with the scent is that
fuel can poison the metal, meaning it won't operate. So
we want to understand if the fuel sits too long
what causes it. Learning the same type of physics and
chemistry and the skills that can be translated looking at
how metals could be corrosive and more of an aqueous
environment like saltwater.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So I think collectively, when you start to see those connections.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Between different projects, it just provides the ability to really
advance anything that.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You work on.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So, doctor Thompson, would you categorize yourself more as a
chemist or as a physicist.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I'm actually somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I did my undergraduate degree in physics, but actually I'm
in what's called material science and engineering, and i am
in the department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, which is
a study of metals. And so I love material science
and engineering because it's basically applied physics and chemistry.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So you think of chemistry and physics.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
A very fundamental science, and then you think of engineering
like mechanical engineering. Material science is like applied science, and
so I'm somewhere in that realm between the two, if
that makes sense. So we have to know a little
bit about physics, a little bit about chemistry, and then
and all of it fits.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Into think of our world.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Everything is materials around us, and how do we make
better materials, whether polymers or ceramics or metals.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So it's in that weird space in between of it.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And you know, I was just thinking about it. It's great
that the University of Alabama, when you bring it up
to people, especially outside of the state, they think about football.
And there's a good reason, because we have a great
football team. But it's all right, it will tide indeed,
unless you're an Auburn fan, in which case warrigal But
it's great. It's great to hear that we're also involved
in something so academically robust and complicated as space travel
(12:17):
and coming up with propellants for satellites. These are the
kind of things a lot of people don't know about.
Where can people go to find out more or to
tell others about projects like this that the University of
Alabama is involved. Is there a website or anything?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
So.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The Alabama Materials Institute is located at AMI dot UA
dot edu, and the institute really crosses camp departments at colleges,
but it's actually made not only to coordinate faculty, but.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Also to engage industry and national labs.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And so one of the things that's really unique or
distinct about our institute it has some of the best
electron microscopes in the world. We have the ability to
characterize materials from the atomic level to a million or
is a magnitude larger in link scale, in three even
four dimensions, meaning we can do experiments and time. And
we also have the ability to make powders and materials
(13:08):
and all this is supporting for example, of the Ascent program.
We can make the materials and we can characterize it.
So if you visit the uh uh AMI's website again
AMI dot u A dot eu, you can see all
the facilities and the ways to engage AMI. Supporting small businesses,
supporting research grants, supporting collaborations between Alabama and Auburn. All
those things is why amis exist and you know, really
(13:32):
provide you know, educational advancement for students, but also economic
development through the state and partnering with like Huntsville companies
on this satellite program we're working with.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This is great. We cover We've covered Mobile, Auburn, Tuscaloosa,
UH Market. The only thing you didn't mention was Birmingham.
But I'm sure how you're working with U A B
on something.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Absolutely, no, we have.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I apologize on over side of my colleagues at the
Material Science and Duty Department at U A V.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
But no, we have some very good colleagues at U
A D.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
They work in composits in that space as well, and
we serve on each other's committees. I apologize to them
that I missed them, but yeah, no, cherit's cover the
whole spectrum and we engage with everybody. So thanks Jeff
for making sure I didn't forget.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
We covered the entire state. You didn't messle mentioned muscle shoals,
but that's okay. You can't get everything in there. Doctor
Greg Thompson A at UA B A, Doctor Greg Thompson
at Alabama, thank you so much for joining us on
Viewpoint Alabama, and I hope that we'll see a lot
more out and again for more information Ami dot ua
dot ed U right.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yes, sir, thank you so much John for your time
and up to you to talk about the projects we're
working on.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
It's great you're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs
program from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
The backbone of Alabama's economy is small business. Hello, I'm
John Mount and this is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama
Radio Network. The National Federation of Independent Business, or the
n f i B, warns that every small business, not
just in our state, but in the United States, could
be subject to regulations known as beneficial Ownership Information reporting
(15:06):
or BOI reporting, and according to the NFIB, these are
both unconstitutional and onerous. Joining me now to talk about
this is Josh McLoud. He is the Director of Federal
Government Relations at the NFIB. In this role, Josh oversees
the organization's regulatory portfolio. He comes to the NFIB after
spending nearly twelve years in the Senate working under Senator
(15:27):
Ron Johnson. Josh, welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Under BOI rule, any individual or anybody with substantial control
over the company, they have at least twenty five percent
of the control, they have to report certain things. What
are those things?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Yeah, you're exactly right. So in total, there's about thirty
two point six million small businesses that as of January first,
were required to file with Finsen, which is a part
of Treasury. Those businesses have to provide a driver's license,
their address, a bunch of personal identifiable information for the business.
(16:04):
It's taxpayer ID number, it's the address, it's the business name,
things of that sort. So it is a brand new
mandate on only small businesses under twenty employees and five
million in revenue. Those are the only businesses that have
to file with fence.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
In and small businesses they file taxes every year, in fact,
I guess they file probably quarterly. Isn't a lot of
this information already on the tax forms?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yep, that's exactly right. And many small businesses say, what
the heck? The government already has this information? Why am
I duplicating efforts here and providing it to an additional
government agency. And I would also argue that businesses are
registered at the state level too with the Alabama Secretary
of States, so there's many ways to get this information.
(16:55):
It's just one of the many arguments why small business
owners do not like this new mandate.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
What is a stated purpose? Why do they need an
additional layer of information from small businesses.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Yeah, so the stated purpose, you go back in time,
This was thrown into the twenty twenty one NDAA, which
the NDA funds the military, So this is completely unrelated
to funding the military, paying troops anything like that. The
goal was to eliminate shell companies, money laundering. You'll often hear,
(17:27):
well this, if you seek to repeal this, you're letting
Iranian terrorists and money launders and sex traffickers and all
these really nefarious actors get away with these crimes. We
take a little different perspective. This is a very burdensome
new mandate for small businesses thirty two point six million
(17:48):
small businesses, and.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
This is not a unique thing for government to do. Recently,
I had to finally go down and get my star ID,
and while I was taking four hours of my day
to go through all this RIGAMRO, I realized that, you know,
the every almost every bit of information they have is
on my regular non star ID, except for they got
to look at my birth certificate and that was pretty
(18:10):
much it. But for all of that effort that they
did to do that, I don't feel any safer, and traveling,
I don't feel any safer because everyone's got a star
on their driver license as opposed to not. And I
guess somebody didn't get see or their their birth certificate.
It seems like one of those things where somebody in
government said, we're going to make a rule, We're going
to make everyone do this thing, even though it's going
to be a huge hassle for the entire population. And
(18:30):
this seems like it's just right in line with that.
Here's one more thing that small businesses, who, by the way,
are just barely scraping by. They don't have time to
fiddle around with stuff like this, So why does government
keep trying to do this?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
You're exactly right. I mean, it's just think about alless
small businesses and businesses in general have gone through over
the last five to six years. They've been locked down,
they've had record in near record inflation, they still can't
find people to work in their businesses. It is a
it isn't It's been a night for them. And then
here comes Congress under COVID nobody's paying attention, throws in
(19:04):
this brand new mandate on them. So I'm with you.
I think it's in Congress often you throw words like
national security around and it pretty much greases the skids
to get legislation passed. And that's that's what essentially what
has happened here with the Corporate Transparency Act.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It's the same thing as like they always say when
they want to pass a big tax, it's for the children.
And if you oppose it, you say, well, what you
don't you don't you don't like children. This is for
the children. Will feed the children. They will starve and
die if we don't do this thing, and they'll crumb
up with some sort of huge gloom and doom thing
if we don't do this thing. And I realized legislators
they're there to legislate, so they feel like they need
to constantly pass laws. But it just seems like some
(19:49):
of the laws they pass seem like they they're kind
of irrelevant and in some cases actually counterproductive.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
That's the ironic thing about this is you're putting all
this information in this single database, and we see how
often government databases are hacked, are leaked. This information can
get out there in the public domain. This is no different.
When you look at who is going to be able
to access this information, it's local, state, federal, international law enforcement,
(20:16):
and intelligence agencies that can access this database without a subpoena.
So our small businesses we represent and small businesses across
the country are very, very concerned about the privacy of
their information, and I think it's completely justified.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And it won't necessarily stop here. This could just be
the first of many demands for information, because next what
they're going to want is they're going to want a
complete client list and then the same information on every
client that does business with one of these small businesses.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
It's easy to see where the next where this could go.
We are always concerned about the potential for added new
mandates and red tape for small businesses, so certainly something
to be aware of. But I think just in terms
of the here and the now, you're looking at in Alabama,
specifically five hundred thousand small businesses that would be subject
(21:05):
to this, and if you look at the compliance rates,
as of December twentieth, only fifteen point nine percent of
Alabama small businesses had registered with FINCE, and so you're
looking at almost eighty five percent of small businesses that
were in non compliance. We haven't talked about the penalties
(21:26):
yet if you don't comply with the corporate Transparency Acts.
Small businesses could face up to ten thousand dollars fine
and two years in prison. It's not or it's and
so just insane penalties for a law that most small
businesses have never heard of, and to be completely honest,
most members of Congress have never heard of. So it's
(21:49):
it's a problem, there's awareness problem. Eighty three percent of
our members when we surveyed them said I have no
idea what the heck you're talking about. I've never heard
of this thing. So a whole lot of small businesses
could be facing the brunt of this pretty burdensome new mandate.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, Josh, that does bring up a question about the enforcement.
How they're actually going to carry out those punishments for
failure to comply with this thing. Is this something that
would fall under Is this a state thing a federal thing?
Do they use the irs? How are they going to
use their powers the long arm of the law to
make sure that businesses do comply.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Finncon actually is a pretty small federal agency, so I
think they would utilize those law enforcement and intelligence officials
that are at the local, state, federal, international level pretty
extensively to help fight these criminal actors.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain. I'm speaking with Josh McLoud. He
is the director of Federal Government Relations at the NFIB. Josh,
we're talking about this beneficial ownership information reporting, and it's
so funny because it always sounds like a good thing. Yeah,
it's beneficial and it's just the ownership reporting, but it
does have these undertones. I know that President Trump he
(23:07):
is not a big fan of government regulations. As somebody
who's been involved in the private sector all his life,
he sees how government gets involved and usually messes things up.
So I'm sure he's not a fan of this legislation.
Is he recommending its repeal?
Speaker 5 (23:21):
He came out on March second with a truth social post.
He called beneficial ownership requirements egregious, invasive. To be completely honest,
we couldn't put it any better. That was spot on.
So he directed Treasury to only require foreign businesses to
file with FINCENT. We are really appreciative of that effort,
(23:46):
but I think our biggest fear is what happens in
four or eight years with the new administration and they
come in and say, hey, we found this dormant statute here,
and we're gonna really revive it and expand it. And
now you have this whole regulatory pendulum where every four
to eight years things swing back and forth. We want
(24:07):
to make sure that that can't happen. So our goal
is to repeal the entire requirement. If we can't repeal,
we're willing to codify what the Trump administration has done
to only require foreign businesses to file. But we want
to make sure that those roughly eleven million small businesses
that had filed with Fence and out of thirty two
(24:29):
point six million projected filers, we want to make sure
those eleven million filers that their information is wiped from
the system since they're no longer required to file.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
You know, the way the federal government works, it's never
wiped from the system. They'll claim us wipe, but oh
it's in that big remember in the end of Raiders
of the Lost Arc where it was being inspected by
top men. It all goes in that same place with
the Ark of the Covenant. They never lose any stuff.
But at least maybe we can we can at least
stop the encroachment. I didn't pay real close attention during
the whole How a bill becomes a law thing when
(25:00):
it comes to repeal the law, is that the same
thing a congress person would introduce a piece of legislation
that would undo the existing legislation.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
That's correct, So we would have to repeal the entire statute.
We do have legislation in Congress to do just that.
It's called the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act. It's in
the House. It's HR four two five, sponsored by Warren
Davidson from Ohio. We've got Congressman more Palmer and Strong
on that from Alabama.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Those people who are everybody out there who's listening to this,
who cares about this issue. If you're living in one
of those districts for one of those congress people, you
should reach out to their office, I guess any no
matter who your congressman is, you should reach out to
their office on bill House Bill four two five or
in the Senate.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
In the Senate, it's S one hundred and that is
actually led by Senator Tubbertville. So he's he's our Senate
champion on the issue, and we would love to have
Senator Britt co sponsor as well. So that's another person
to contact.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
And or Tuberville is not going to be there. You know,
he's said he's not going to run again. So whoever
takes it takes up the mantle. Hopefully this gets the
resolved before he leaves to be the governor of Alabama,
but whoever takes over for him, hopefully will continue the
continue to push this through because I agree with you, Josh,
that small businesses have an awful lot on their plates
and they're just barely getting by in so many different ways.
(26:21):
I know some small business owners and the last thing
they need is one more rule that they have to
comply with, one more rule that doesn't actually do anything
other than just make well, more paperwork and more trouble
for business owners.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Yeah, you're exactly right. And any changes that have let's
say you file and let's say you get a new
driver's license, or you move your address changes, or you
get a new employee that has quote unquote substantial control
of the business, you have to file an updated report.
So it's constant record keeping for the business owner to say, oh,
(26:54):
oh jeez, it's day twenty nine and I haven't submitted
this to fence, and I could face those penalties tomorrow
if I don't get this information, and so it is
you can see where the compliance nightmare begins for the
small business owner. And you're right, it's on top of
everything else that they are trying to do.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And another thing. Whenever you have a law like this,
even a well meaning one. I don't know this one
is melt well meaning. But even when it's well meaning,
what this does is it introduces one more reason for
the government to get involved, to start looking around and
finding other things. It's sort of like the seatbout law,
where it was a well meaning thing, make sure everyonehere's
their seatbout. But while they're pulling you over for your
seat out, let's just check your insurance, let's just check this,
(27:35):
that and the other end. So it creates one more
reason for them to go digging, and they'll find something.
If they're intent on finding something, they will find something.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Yeah, I think we want to make sure that there
are as little creative ways for government to expand these
requirements as possible. So in our mind, the best way
to do that, let's get rid of the entire statue
a statute to make sure that this is this is
no longer a problem that we have to continue to
(28:04):
worry about and that small business have to continue to
contact their their representatives in Congress, and you know, let's
let's just let's let's create create some certainty for small businesses.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Josh McCloud, the director of Federal Government Relations at the NFIB.
What does real quickly, Josh, what does the nfi BE
do for independent businesses?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
We do a whole lot. We've got state representation as well,
so for for our nearly three hundred thousand small businesses
we represent, we've got a whole grassroots department where we
when we need people to testify before Congress, we can
get activate our grassroots folks. They are they are so
(28:48):
important to what we do because just like we're doing now,
small businesses hear about these issues and they contact Congress.
That helps us at the federal level to get co
sponsors or support for our priority issues. So we do
lobbying at the state level, We do advocacy at the
state level and also at the federal level. So it's
(29:11):
a pretty good bang for the buck, if I could
say so.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
So for more information about the NFIB, you've got a website.
What's that website?
Speaker 5 (29:19):
It's NFIB dot Org easy enough to find.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Josh McLeod, thank you so much for joining us this
week on Viewpoint Alabama. For a lot of people probably
didn't even know about this regulation. But if you want
to get involved, contact your congressman or senator from our
beloved state of Alabama. Josh McCleod, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
From Tuscaloosa all the way to outer space. Hello, I'm
John mountsin This is Viewpoint, Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network.
University of Alabama researchers are helping the Air Force Research
Labs develop technology for a new, safer and more efficient
satellite fuel. Now what is a satellite fuel we'll find
out in just a minute. This is going to transform
commercial satellites in national security. Joining me now is doctor
(00:23):
Greg Thompson. He's the director of the Alabama Materials Institute.
Doctor Thompson, tell me more about Project Assent and how
is propelling innovation from tuscal Usa all the way into orbit.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, thank you so much, John for the invitation to
be here. Yes, this is a program that's overseeing by
the Air Force Research Laboratory. Roughly about a decade ago
they developed an advanced propellant that had lower toxicity and
the current propellants they use right now is.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The individuals have to use those fuels have to put
based on space suits to protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And with this new propellant, it's green in that sense
that they don't have much lower toxicity, so it's really
to use. But one of the benefits of that fuel
is it actually burns hotter and can allow mission times
to go longer.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So once a satellite runs out of fuel, it's no good.
So having the.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Ability to have longer lasting fuel really is an advantage.
The biggest issue around using this fuel is it needs
a catalyst, something that sparks its chemical reaction, and right
now that is aridium, which is roughly five thousand dollars
in ounce, one of the most expensive metals on Earth.
And so what we're trying to do at Alabama and
working with partners industrial partners in the state and Marshall
(01:32):
Space Flight Center and others under the Air Force umbrella,
is how do we develop new materials that are at
lower cost or improve the way that structure works as
a catalyst to improve the fuel efficiency.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So that's kind of the big.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Goal of the program, and it's really allows the university
to do what it's good and science, working with National
NASA Marshal Space Flight Center to test it, and then
working with a company in Huntsville plasma processes that actually
translates these thrusters into space. So it really allows everybody
to stand in the line, but something takes advantage of everybody's.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Strengths now I'm not a rocket scientist, it sounds like
you're much closer to it than I am. When we
talk about these propellants. Their necessity is that, as I understand,
we have satellites that are all you know, up in space,
in low or even Middle Earth orbit up there so
that we can use them for communication other things like that.
They're floating up there. Essentially they're following, but they're following
(02:27):
in such a way to where they're missing just missing us.
So they're orbiting. But sometimes these satellites they need to
be moved. Is that where the propellant comes in.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Exactly, So, once that satellites in space and you need
to reposition it to be in a certain orbit or
to be in a certain position for imaging or whatever
those needs would be, the propellant allows that satellite to
make that change.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And those propellants, you know, you launched the satellite into space.
It's not like it's going to come back down to refuel,
so you have to put on board all of fuel
that's ever going to need, or you have to go
up and service it, which is probably a very difficult
and expensive proposition.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Absolutely exactly right on.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So the propellant is for the rocket gets in space,
but then we're talking about the propellant that now operates
and moves the satellite around.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
And are these satellites are they pretty much autonomous or
do we have to constantly kind of like fidget with
them to tell them what to do to make these
little course corrections and that sort of thing so they
don't fall out of orbit.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And I'm a more of material scientist, so I don't
operate the satellites, but I believe that largely there are
still communication with people on Earth to where they want
to go, and then they stay in with that in
the various orbits.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So they may need some course correction and things of
that nature.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But I don't know for certainty of how they the
mechanics of that, but there is communication Earth to get
them in the right orbits.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
And these satellites they need to be. And these satellites
are used for communication. Are we talking about like say
commercial communication, like say cell phones and that kind of thing,
or are we talking about military application? What are or weather?
I don't know what what are these used for?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, exactly, they're using that whole gambit.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They're used from our cell phones like you said, communications,
but also for imaging, remote sensing, and those things. So
it spans the whole gamut obviously, and they all have
to have some form of propellent. This is war through
the Air Force program, so it has obviously supports national
security interests, but these outcomes also support commercial development things
(04:29):
of that nature as well. But aridium being very expensive
to make it more commercially viable, developing a material that
could replace that or is really critical. So what we're
trying to understand is how does that physics and how
does that chemistry occur? And then can we use computers
and machine learning, all these artificial talents that we talk
about today to find other materials that can work just
(04:50):
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And when we talk about propellant like that, we're in
we're talking outer space, so it's not like anything's going
to burn. There's no oxygen up there, so we have
to provide the the ignition source is even igniting? Is
it just pushing something out? You know, the whole equal
you know, equal action thing. It pushes something this way,
and so the satellite moves that way. How does that work.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Exactly right?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So there's there's no oxygen in space so uh, it's
the and so the iridium so catalyst to burn that fuel,
and then that fuel provides thrust. So imagine a converging,
diverging type of nozzle and so it press it causes pressure,
and then that pressure expands when it goes out of
the thruster, and then that causes the the satellite or
any space orbiting vehicle to move its it's spatial position
(05:39):
in orbit.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So it's just simply like a rocket engine button space.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And it's the same idea that you compress the fluid
and then it expands when it comes out the exhaust,
and that process helps move the move the object.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now this new material, you know, I know a little
something up, say air conditioners and you have an older
air conditioner and it needs free on. They say, oh,
this doesn't use the old R eight, it needs d
R twelve or whatever it is. When you so when
you change the stuff in your air conditioner, you have
to sometimes change out the coils, change out a bunch
of stuff. Can this be Can existing satellites be retrofitted
to use this fuel source or do we have to
(06:14):
completely change the propulsion system to match the new fuel source?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thanks John, So obviously satellites are already in orbit there,
they're set in stone, they're going to operate that way,
and there are current satellites today that use iridium and
these structures.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So what we're doing, we're working with.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Our translation partners and industry and the Air Force, is
how can we take existing architectures that they have and
then put this new material in it. And so, for example,
one of the ideas that we're looking at is can
we build this material through added the manufacturing, So we
could specifically design struts and small areas that would control
how the fuel would flow through the satellite to optimize
(06:54):
the burn. And we're designing not only just the material
that the lattice could be made out of, but how
to manufacture that through out of the manufacturing and that
would then fit in existing.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, thrusters that are put on satellite.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So it's kind of a we want to use existing
technology and integrated into it of how they're already sign
because it would be cost prohibitive to start thinking about
a complete redesign for any satellite.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain. I was speaking with doctor Greg
Thompson at the University of Alabama and doctor Thompson, let's
talk about a project assent because this is Is this
the only thing it works on or are there other
things that you're also involved in with the space program?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Oh? Yeah, no, that's great. Right now.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
This is the first major program for the Alabama Materials Institute.
It's one of the four research institutes on the campus
of UA, and in this particular programs, it's very, very
focused on the madial development for its satellites, but the
technology and the things that we're learning can easily be
translated to other types of applications.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So, as I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're looking at additive manufacturing, building struts and things that
have mechanical rigidity and control flu flow. Those same principles
that we learn from this program could be applied to
other other technologies that we're we're looking at. So so
the asset is pretty specific to satellites, but the things
that we're learning and teaching our students and teaching with
our partners are translated able to other technologies.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
You mentioned the students are students involved in some of this.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh, absolutely, we have.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So we have five UA faculty on campus that are
working at and each of them have graduate students that
are studying this and that this research is actually part
of their degree and part of their learning process.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Uh. And then that will.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So that the idea is not only to help them
through their degree, but they're learning skills that will make
them employable when they when they graduate, and then they
can point to I worked on this, you know, project
with the national security interest, and that obviously translates to
opportunities for them in the state, for example, in Huntsville
and areas like that. So no, it's a it's a
great mix because it has graduate students, has some under
(09:00):
EDGUI students, has research engineers. The whole gambit is really
involved in trying to make this reality.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And that's one of the things I was also thinking about,
because it's great when we have people who are coming
out of Alabama, but it's even better when we keep
them right here in our state. We don't have the
brain drain. They stay here, they go to places like
Huntsville and they contribute up there at the Marshall Flight
Center or Redstone or any other place like that.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Absolutely, and Abestley, what's really nice too, is this project
has actually been able to.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Recruit students into our states.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So I know some that are working on the computational
modeling actually are from out west and have actually come
to Alabama to work specifically its project because it was
quite exciting to them to have that opportunity. So it's
not only to keep them state, but it actually can
be a draw as well.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And going looking above and beyond after this project is done,
are there other things on the horizon for Alabama to
be involved in outer space stuff?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Absolutely, I think this is just the start of one
of many future projects. Obviously, the Materials Institute Alabama chosen
to UA has been involved in working towards things and
other app applications and extreme environments, for example, hypersonic flight
and how do you make materials survivable in those conditions
and supporting for example, how materials can transmit radio waves
(10:15):
through each other. We're on a radio station right now
at really hypersonic speeds and things of that nature. So yeah,
this is just one project that's launching a bad pun
but launching us into a lot of other areas and
a lot of our even for example, with the future
work of building submarines down a mobile bay, another extreme condition. Right,
These are submarines that are exposed to salt water and corrosion.
(10:37):
So one of the issues with the scent is that
fuel can poison the metal, meaning it won't operate. So
we want to understand if the fuel sits too long
what causes it. Learning the same type of physics and
chemistry and the skills that can be translated looking at
how metals could be corrosive and more of an aqueous
environment like saltwater.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So I think collectively, when you start to see those connections.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Between different projects, it just provides the ability to really
advance anything that.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You work on.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So, doctor Thompson, would you categorize yourself more as a
chemist or as a physicist.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I'm actually somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I did my undergraduate degree in physics, but actually I'm
in what's called material science and engineering, and i am
in the department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, which is
a study of metals. And so I love material science
and engineering because it's basically applied physics and chemistry.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So you think of chemistry and physics.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
A very fundamental science, and then you think of engineering
like mechanical engineering. Material science is like applied science, and
so I'm somewhere in that realm between the two, if
that makes sense. So we have to know a little
bit about physics, a little bit about chemistry, and then
and all of it fits.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Into think of our world.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Everything is materials around us, and how do we make
better materials, whether polymers or ceramics or metals.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So it's in that weird space in between of it.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And you know, I was just thinking about it. It's great
that the University of Alabama, when you bring it up
to people, especially outside of the state, they think about football.
And there's a good reason, because we have a great
football team. But it's all right, it will tide indeed,
unless you're an Auburn fan, in which case warrigal But
it's great. It's great to hear that we're also involved
in something so academically robust and complicated as space travel
(12:17):
and coming up with propellants for satellites. These are the
kind of things a lot of people don't know about.
Where can people go to find out more or to
tell others about projects like this that the University of
Alabama is involved. Is there a website or anything?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
So.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
The Alabama Materials Institute is located at AMI dot UA
dot edu, and the institute really crosses camp departments at colleges,
but it's actually made not only to coordinate faculty, but.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Also to engage industry and national labs.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And so one of the things that's really unique or
distinct about our institute it has some of the best
electron microscopes in the world. We have the ability to
characterize materials from the atomic level to a million or
is a magnitude larger in link scale, in three even
four dimensions, meaning we can do experiments and time. And
we also have the ability to make powders and materials
(13:08):
and all this is supporting for example, of the Ascent program.
We can make the materials and we can characterize it.
So if you visit the uh uh AMI's website again
AMI dot u A dot eu, you can see all
the facilities and the ways to engage AMI. Supporting small businesses,
supporting research grants, supporting collaborations between Alabama and Auburn. All
those things is why amis exist and you know, really
(13:32):
provide you know, educational advancement for students, but also economic
development through the state and partnering with like Huntsville companies
on this satellite program we're working with.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
This is great. We cover We've covered Mobile, Auburn, Tuscaloosa,
UH Market. The only thing you didn't mention was Birmingham.
But I'm sure how you're working with U A B
on something.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Absolutely, no, we have.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I apologize on over side of my colleagues at the
Material Science and Duty Department at U A V.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
But no, we have some very good colleagues at U
A D.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
They work in composits in that space as well, and
we serve on each other's committees. I apologize to them
that I missed them, but yeah, no, cherit's cover the
whole spectrum and we engage with everybody. So thanks Jeff
for making sure I didn't forget.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
We covered the entire state. You didn't messle mentioned muscle shoals,
but that's okay. You can't get everything in there. Doctor
Greg Thompson A at UA B A, Doctor Greg Thompson
at Alabama, thank you so much for joining us on
Viewpoint Alabama, and I hope that we'll see a lot
more out and again for more information Ami dot ua
dot ed U right.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yes, sir, thank you so much John for your time
and up to you to talk about the projects we're
working on.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
It's great you're listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs
program from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
The backbone of Alabama's economy is small business. Hello, I'm
John Mount and this is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama
Radio Network. The National Federation of Independent Business, or the
n f i B, warns that every small business, not
just in our state, but in the United States, could
be subject to regulations known as beneficial Ownership Information reporting
(15:06):
or BOI reporting, and according to the NFIB, these are
both unconstitutional and onerous. Joining me now to talk about
this is Josh McLoud. He is the Director of Federal
Government Relations at the NFIB. In this role, Josh oversees
the organization's regulatory portfolio. He comes to the NFIB after
spending nearly twelve years in the Senate working under Senator
(15:27):
Ron Johnson. Josh, welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Under BOI rule, any individual or anybody with substantial control
over the company, they have at least twenty five percent
of the control, they have to report certain things. What
are those things?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Yeah, you're exactly right. So in total, there's about thirty
two point six million small businesses that as of January first,
were required to file with Finsen, which is a part
of Treasury. Those businesses have to provide a driver's license,
their address, a bunch of personal identifiable information for the business.
(16:04):
It's taxpayer ID number, it's the address, it's the business name,
things of that sort. So it is a brand new
mandate on only small businesses under twenty employees and five
million in revenue. Those are the only businesses that have
to file with fence.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
In and small businesses they file taxes every year, in fact,
I guess they file probably quarterly. Isn't a lot of
this information already on the tax forms?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yep, that's exactly right. And many small businesses say, what
the heck? The government already has this information? Why am
I duplicating efforts here and providing it to an additional
government agency. And I would also argue that businesses are
registered at the state level too with the Alabama Secretary
of States, so there's many ways to get this information.
(16:55):
It's just one of the many arguments why small business
owners do not like this new mandate.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
What is a stated purpose? Why do they need an
additional layer of information from small businesses.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Yeah, so the stated purpose, you go back in time,
This was thrown into the twenty twenty one NDAA, which
the NDA funds the military, So this is completely unrelated
to funding the military, paying troops anything like that. The
goal was to eliminate shell companies, money laundering. You'll often hear,
(17:27):
well this, if you seek to repeal this, you're letting
Iranian terrorists and money launders and sex traffickers and all
these really nefarious actors get away with these crimes. We
take a little different perspective. This is a very burdensome
new mandate for small businesses thirty two point six million
(17:48):
small businesses, and.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
This is not a unique thing for government to do. Recently,
I had to finally go down and get my star ID,
and while I was taking four hours of my day
to go through all this RIGAMRO, I realized that, you know,
the every almost every bit of information they have is
on my regular non star ID, except for they got
to look at my birth certificate and that was pretty
(18:10):
much it. But for all of that effort that they
did to do that, I don't feel any safer, and traveling,
I don't feel any safer because everyone's got a star
on their driver license as opposed to not. And I
guess somebody didn't get see or their their birth certificate.
It seems like one of those things where somebody in
government said, we're going to make a rule, We're going
to make everyone do this thing, even though it's going
to be a huge hassle for the entire population. And
(18:30):
this seems like it's just right in line with that.
Here's one more thing that small businesses, who, by the way,
are just barely scraping by. They don't have time to
fiddle around with stuff like this, So why does government
keep trying to do this?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
You're exactly right. I mean, it's just think about alless
small businesses and businesses in general have gone through over
the last five to six years. They've been locked down,
they've had record in near record inflation, they still can't
find people to work in their businesses. It is a
it isn't It's been a night for them. And then
here comes Congress under COVID nobody's paying attention, throws in
(19:04):
this brand new mandate on them. So I'm with you.
I think it's in Congress often you throw words like
national security around and it pretty much greases the skids
to get legislation passed. And that's that's what essentially what
has happened here with the Corporate Transparency Act.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It's the same thing as like they always say when
they want to pass a big tax, it's for the children.
And if you oppose it, you say, well, what you
don't you don't you don't like children. This is for
the children. Will feed the children. They will starve and
die if we don't do this thing, and they'll crumb
up with some sort of huge gloom and doom thing
if we don't do this thing. And I realized legislators
they're there to legislate, so they feel like they need
to constantly pass laws. But it just seems like some
(19:49):
of the laws they pass seem like they they're kind
of irrelevant and in some cases actually counterproductive.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
That's the ironic thing about this is you're putting all
this information in this single database, and we see how
often government databases are hacked, are leaked. This information can
get out there in the public domain. This is no different.
When you look at who is going to be able
to access this information, it's local, state, federal, international law enforcement,
(20:16):
and intelligence agencies that can access this database without a subpoena.
So our small businesses we represent and small businesses across
the country are very, very concerned about the privacy of
their information, and I think it's completely justified.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And it won't necessarily stop here. This could just be
the first of many demands for information, because next what
they're going to want is they're going to want a
complete client list and then the same information on every
client that does business with one of these small businesses.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
It's easy to see where the next where this could go.
We are always concerned about the potential for added new
mandates and red tape for small businesses, so certainly something
to be aware of. But I think just in terms
of the here and the now, you're looking at in Alabama,
specifically five hundred thousand small businesses that would be subject
(21:05):
to this, and if you look at the compliance rates,
as of December twentieth, only fifteen point nine percent of
Alabama small businesses had registered with FINCE, and so you're
looking at almost eighty five percent of small businesses that
were in non compliance. We haven't talked about the penalties
(21:26):
yet if you don't comply with the corporate Transparency Acts.
Small businesses could face up to ten thousand dollars fine
and two years in prison. It's not or it's and
so just insane penalties for a law that most small
businesses have never heard of, and to be completely honest,
most members of Congress have never heard of. So it's
(21:49):
it's a problem, there's awareness problem. Eighty three percent of
our members when we surveyed them said I have no
idea what the heck you're talking about. I've never heard
of this thing. So a whole lot of small businesses
could be facing the brunt of this pretty burdensome new mandate.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, Josh, that does bring up a question about the enforcement.
How they're actually going to carry out those punishments for
failure to comply with this thing. Is this something that
would fall under Is this a state thing a federal thing?
Do they use the irs? How are they going to
use their powers the long arm of the law to
make sure that businesses do comply.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Finncon actually is a pretty small federal agency, so I
think they would utilize those law enforcement and intelligence officials
that are at the local, state, federal, international level pretty
extensively to help fight these criminal actors.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain. I'm speaking with Josh McLoud. He
is the director of Federal Government Relations at the NFIB. Josh,
we're talking about this beneficial ownership information reporting, and it's
so funny because it always sounds like a good thing. Yeah,
it's beneficial and it's just the ownership reporting, but it
does have these undertones. I know that President Trump he
(23:07):
is not a big fan of government regulations. As somebody
who's been involved in the private sector all his life,
he sees how government gets involved and usually messes things up.
So I'm sure he's not a fan of this legislation.
Is he recommending its repeal?
Speaker 5 (23:21):
He came out on March second with a truth social post.
He called beneficial ownership requirements egregious, invasive. To be completely honest,
we couldn't put it any better. That was spot on.
So he directed Treasury to only require foreign businesses to
file with FINCENT. We are really appreciative of that effort,
(23:46):
but I think our biggest fear is what happens in
four or eight years with the new administration and they
come in and say, hey, we found this dormant statute here,
and we're gonna really revive it and expand it. And
now you have this whole regulatory pendulum where every four
to eight years things swing back and forth. We want
(24:07):
to make sure that that can't happen. So our goal
is to repeal the entire requirement. If we can't repeal,
we're willing to codify what the Trump administration has done
to only require foreign businesses to file. But we want
to make sure that those roughly eleven million small businesses
that had filed with Fence and out of thirty two
(24:29):
point six million projected filers, we want to make sure
those eleven million filers that their information is wiped from
the system since they're no longer required to file.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
You know, the way the federal government works, it's never
wiped from the system. They'll claim us wipe, but oh
it's in that big remember in the end of Raiders
of the Lost Arc where it was being inspected by
top men. It all goes in that same place with
the Ark of the Covenant. They never lose any stuff.
But at least maybe we can we can at least
stop the encroachment. I didn't pay real close attention during
the whole How a bill becomes a law thing when
(25:00):
it comes to repeal the law, is that the same
thing a congress person would introduce a piece of legislation
that would undo the existing legislation.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
That's correct, So we would have to repeal the entire statute.
We do have legislation in Congress to do just that.
It's called the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act. It's in
the House. It's HR four two five, sponsored by Warren
Davidson from Ohio. We've got Congressman more Palmer and Strong
on that from Alabama.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Those people who are everybody out there who's listening to this,
who cares about this issue. If you're living in one
of those districts for one of those congress people, you
should reach out to their office, I guess any no
matter who your congressman is, you should reach out to
their office on bill House Bill four two five or
in the Senate.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
In the Senate, it's S one hundred and that is
actually led by Senator Tubbertville. So he's he's our Senate
champion on the issue, and we would love to have
Senator Britt co sponsor as well. So that's another person
to contact.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
And or Tuberville is not going to be there. You know,
he's said he's not going to run again. So whoever
takes it takes up the mantle. Hopefully this gets the
resolved before he leaves to be the governor of Alabama,
but whoever takes over for him, hopefully will continue the
continue to push this through because I agree with you, Josh,
that small businesses have an awful lot on their plates
and they're just barely getting by in so many different ways.
(26:21):
I know some small business owners and the last thing
they need is one more rule that they have to
comply with, one more rule that doesn't actually do anything
other than just make well, more paperwork and more trouble
for business owners.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Yeah, you're exactly right. And any changes that have let's
say you file and let's say you get a new
driver's license, or you move your address changes, or you
get a new employee that has quote unquote substantial control
of the business, you have to file an updated report.
So it's constant record keeping for the business owner to say, oh,
(26:54):
oh jeez, it's day twenty nine and I haven't submitted
this to fence, and I could face those penalties tomorrow
if I don't get this information, and so it is
you can see where the compliance nightmare begins for the
small business owner. And you're right, it's on top of
everything else that they are trying to do.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And another thing. Whenever you have a law like this,
even a well meaning one. I don't know this one
is melt well meaning. But even when it's well meaning,
what this does is it introduces one more reason for
the government to get involved, to start looking around and
finding other things. It's sort of like the seatbout law,
where it was a well meaning thing, make sure everyonehere's
their seatbout. But while they're pulling you over for your
seat out, let's just check your insurance, let's just check this,
(27:35):
that and the other end. So it creates one more
reason for them to go digging, and they'll find something.
If they're intent on finding something, they will find something.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Yeah, I think we want to make sure that there
are as little creative ways for government to expand these
requirements as possible. So in our mind, the best way
to do that, let's get rid of the entire statue
a statute to make sure that this is this is
no longer a problem that we have to continue to
(28:04):
worry about and that small business have to continue to
contact their their representatives in Congress, and you know, let's
let's just let's let's create create some certainty for small businesses.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Josh McCloud, the director of Federal Government Relations at the NFIB.
What does real quickly, Josh, what does the nfi BE
do for independent businesses?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
We do a whole lot. We've got state representation as well,
so for for our nearly three hundred thousand small businesses
we represent, we've got a whole grassroots department where we
when we need people to testify before Congress, we can
get activate our grassroots folks. They are they are so
(28:48):
important to what we do because just like we're doing now,
small businesses hear about these issues and they contact Congress.
That helps us at the federal level to get co
sponsors or support for our priority issues. So we do
lobbying at the state level, We do advocacy at the
state level and also at the federal level. So it's
(29:11):
a pretty good bang for the buck, if I could
say so.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
So for more information about the NFIB, you've got a website.
What's that website?
Speaker 5 (29:19):
It's NFIB dot Org easy enough to find.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Josh McLeod, thank you so much for joining us this
week on Viewpoint Alabama. For a lot of people probably
didn't even know about this regulation. But if you want
to get involved, contact your congressman or senator from our
beloved state of Alabama. Josh McCleod, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
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