Sen. Lance Bell (R-Dist. 11) is settling into his first year in the Senate.

“I’ve learned the pitfalls between passing bills and enacting them. I’ve also learned how hard people try to work together on issues. I’m small government, more power to the people. Some are the opposite. But we all want to do what’s best for the citizens of Alabama.”

During a Monday, June 19 interview with The News-Aegis, Bell touted the legislature’s accomplishments in the past year including: A tax cut on groceries, $59.9 million repaid to the Alabama Trust Fund, $40 million allocated for school safety and $360 million for schools to offset inflation. A bill was also passed making organized retail theft an aggravated class B felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

An immediate priority for the Senator is the Moody landfill fire.

“The government has failed the surrounding citizens horribly,” Bell said. “They’re prepared for hurricanes and tornadoes, but not for something like this on private property and they should have been.”

Bell praised the Moody Fire Department for its handling of the situation even though it’s not technically part of their jurisdiction.

“We need more monitors there communicating with the people and immediate action from people in high places,” he said.

His other priority is part of the platform on which he ran: A wall securing Alabama’s borders.

Bell visited the border with, among others, Pell City Police Chief Clay Morris, a former supervisory agent for the DEA.

The senator calls the situation “pitiful.”

“It’s amazing how many undocumented aliens cross onto Alabama soil every day, mostly Chinese males. and I don’t think they’re coming for their health.”

Bell says he has seen drones at the border, sent to find penetrable areas on borders.

And that’s a problem for Alabama, he said.

“Areas that have their walls up don’t have this problem,” he said.