Transcript Highlights:

• adopt Joint Rule 23, the joint rules of the House and the Senate regarding instruments affecting sales tax
• meet annually to review grant applications submitted from the following eligible applicants: 501(c)(3) tax-exempt

Bills: HR223 , HR224 , HR225 , HR226 , HR227 , HR228 , HR229 , HR230 , HR231 , HR232 , HR233 , HR234 , HR235 , HR236 , HR237 , HR238 , HR239 , HR240 , HR241 , HR242 , HR243 , HCR94 , HCR95 , HCR96 , HCR97 , HCR98 , HCR99 , HCR100 , HR218 , HR219 , HR220 , HR221 , HR222 , HCR91 , HCR92 , HCR93 , SCR41 , SCR42 , SCR43 , SCR44 , SCR45 , SCR46 , SCR47 , SCR48 , SCR49 , SCR50 , SCR51 , SCR52 , SB259 , SB347 , SB398 , SB469 , SB483 , SB518 , HR37 , HCR64 , SCR11 , SCR22 , HB89 , HB341 , HB451 , HB456 , HB541 , HB579 , HB595 , HB621 , HB818 , HB841 , HB1064 , HB1101 , HB1165 , HB1191 , SB1 , SB23 , SB32 , SB42 , SB43 , SB46 , SB51 , SB110 , SB113 , SB150 , SB154 , SB161 , SB218 , SB220 , SB221 , SB253 , SB289 , SB310 , SB351 , SB399 , SB404 , SB502 , SB123 , SB125 , SB387 , SB401 , HB730 , HCR41 , HCR76 , HCR77 , HCR63 , HCR69 , HCR86 , HR171 , HCR49 , HCR65 , HCR72 , SCR19 , SCR3 , SCR6 , SCR18 , HB64 , HB68 , HB92 , HB130 , HB175 , HB198 , HB437 , HB457 , HB488 , HB646 , HB763 , HB909 , HB971 , HB981 , HB1066 , HB1089 , HB1125 , HB1154 , HB1231 , HB1246 , HB1248 , HB1249 , HB276 , HB508 , HB512 , HB599 , HB632 , HB656 , HB998 , HB1052 , HB1084 , HB1171 , HB1193 , HB1194 , HB1204 , HB1209 , HB1250 , SB47 , SB82 , SB106 , SB206 , SB210 , SB248 , SB305 , SB376 , SB397 , SB441 , SB2 , SB19 , SB24 , SB50 , SB70 , SB96 , SB101 , SB103 , SB104 , SB114 , SB122 , SB159 , SB160 , SB173 , SB180 , SB182 , SB260 , SB412 , SB418 , SB424 , SB442 , SB460 , SB476 , HCR32 , HB911 , HB1223 , HB798 , HB824 , HB989 , HB1140 , HB1166 , HB1244 , HB459 , HB617 , HB804 , HB926 , HB225 , HB955 , HB901 , HB79 , HR20 , HR74 , HB59 , HB284 , HB306 , HB366 , HB393 , HB458 , HB577 , HB582 , HB605 , HB614 , HB682 , HB733 , HB752 , HB773 , HB996 , HB1035 , HB1069 , HB1113 , HB1180 , HB1203 , HB1234 , HB1240 , SB89

Keywords: Southern Soul, Shreveport, tourism, economic development, cultural preservation, music history, Paul Hollis, United States Mint, Louisiana House of Representatives, commendation, honorary resolution, ceremonial resolution, public service, State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, BESE, former legislator, Louisiana politics, recognition, tribute, House Resolution 224

Transcript Highlights:

• And then, uh, you can see that we have tax info and that kind of piece.
• And then, uh, you can see that we have tax info and that kind of piece.
• So we report what we've been doing for the quarter, and the USDA then refunds at that point. authority
• /c><01:15:35.120><c> the</c><01:15:35.280><c> USDA</c><01:15:35.760><c> then</c><01:15:36.400><c> refunds
• </c> quarter and and uh the USDA then refunds quarter and and uh the USDA then refunds at<01:15:37.040

Committee: House Agriculture Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• done, and they might bump a tax bracket if they win said money over $100,000.
• I had no clue about taxes. I didn't know what a pay stub was.
• and how we need to pay taxes and how we need to pay bills.
• That also dived into taxes, refunds, and everything, like interest, everything that needed to be gone
• , they don't really know what else happens with their taxes.

Committee: All GIRLS STATE

Transcript Highlights:

• , how does that um actually achieve tax, how does that um actually achieve affordability?
• , metro area sales tax, federal funds, and transit fares.
• ,</c> sales tax, sales tax, metro<01:25:10.600><c> area</c><01:25:10.880><c> sales</c><01:25:11.240><
• sales tax, federal funds and metro area sales tax, federal funds and transit<01:25:13.240><c> fares.
• It will come from their operating account to cover the cost of refund payments. With that, Mr.

Bills: HF3373 , HF4449 , HF3486 , HF4180 , HF4227 , HF2505

Committee: House Transportation Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• The agency must refund the application fees if it fails to meet its published deadline.
• The agency must refund the application fees if it fails to meet its published deadline.

Summary: The Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections Committee met on January 23, 2026, first taking executive action on several bills. The committee held SB 6035 and SB 5842 for another week, then worked through SB 5973 on initiative and referendum signature gathering rules. Members debated 12 amendments to a proposed substitute and the underlying bill, but none were adopted. The substitute would prohibit pay-per-signature and require 1,000 pre-filing signatures for initiatives; opponents argued it would burden the initiative process, while supporters said it would curb fraud and improve accountability. The committee then advanced SB 5892, SB 6081, SB 5877, SB 5968, and SB 6034, each on a due pass recommendation, with SB 6081 referred to the Transportation Committee and the others sent to Rules or Ways and Means as noted in the motions. During public hearing, the committee heard SB 5888, which would remove Senate confirmation for members of the Washington State Women's Commission. Senator Wellman said the change would align the commission with similar bodies and correct an inconsistency, and commission staff testified in support, saying the appointment process is already thorough and that the governor would retain appointment authority. The committee also heard SB 6123, expanding a public-records exemption for voluntarily supplied demographic information to local government employees; a Pierce County HR director supported the bill, saying it would help build trust while preserving aggregate reporting. The hearing on SB 5853, sponsored by Senator Wilson, drew strong support and no opposition; it would create a statewide emergency notification system for public officials to alert them to targeted threats, with the Secretary of State and Military Department involved in administration. Secretary of State staff said they supported the concept but wanted to work with the sponsor on implementation details, and the sponsor said he was willing to amend the bill to address those concerns.

Bills: HB4274 , HB3076 , HB4358 , HB3312 , HB3288 , HB3885 , HB3147 , HB4299 , HB4265 , HB4266 , HB3011 , HB3143 , HB3144 , HB3881 , HB3519 , HB3522 , HB3530 , HB2976 , HB4459 , HB3142 , HB4316 , HB4338 , HB4230 , HB3985 , HB3883 , HB4335 , HB3416 , HB3417 , HB3418 , HB3619 , HB3624 , HB3463 , HB4423 , HB3342 , HB3645 , HB3647 , HB3887 , HB4430 , HB4431 , HB2964 , HB3834 , HB4193 , HB4272 , HB3277 , HB3148 , HB3651 , HB3323 , HB4287 , HB4105 , HB3304 , HB3345

Keywords: HB4274, Oklahoma schools, interdistrict transfer, open transfer, school enrollment, military families, active duty, National Guard, Reserve orders, military installation, residency requirements, district of choice, public school transfer, student transfer, special education, IEP, Section 504, military housing, base housing, electronic enrollment

Transcript Highlights:

• I mean, we're talking about the gas tax, the motor vehicle fund, and other ways.
• And I guess I'm not on Tax and Revenue, so I don't quite understand this.
• And I guess I'm not on Tax and Revenue, so I don't quite understand this.
• Madam Speaker and generally, no, it's actually a severance tax bond earmark.
• Where would... ...severance tax bond earmark.

Bills: HB111 , HB61 , HB43 , HB156 , HB70 , SB3 , HB103 , HB109 , HB128 , HB247 , HJM2 , HJM3 , HM7 , HM17 , HM4 , HM22 , HM23 , HM24 , HM26 , HM2 , HM16 , HM32 , HM11 , HM14 , HM21 , HM34 , HM50

Keywords: water law, state engineer, civil penalty, compliance order, water rights, overdiversion, illegal diversion, groundwater storage and recovery, well license, permit violation, water enforcement, New Mexico water code, irrigation district, conservancy district, water diversion, unauthorized water sales, measuring device, district court appeal, water resources, water compliance

Transcript Highlights:

• members who cancel within 30 days of enrollment into MoHealthNet, the bill would require a prorated refund

Committees: House Insurance , House Insurance and Banking

Transcript Highlights:

• members who cancel within 30 days of enrollment into MoHealthNet, the bill would require a prorated refund

Committee: House Insurance and Banking

Summary: The House Committee on Insurance met with 12 members present and opened with remarks honoring longtime committee clerk Sherry Anderson, who recently passed away. The committee then took up House Bill 2874, sponsored by Representative Phelps, a consumer protection measure concerning air ambulance membership programs. Representative Phelps explained that the bill would prohibit air ambulance companies from selling memberships to MoHealthNet enrollees, require clear disclosures that the memberships are not insurance and are unnecessary for Medicaid recipients, and allow current members who enroll in MoHealthNet to cancel within 30 days for a prorated refund or transfer to a household member. Committee members asked about the 30-day window, the bill’s unchanged language from last session, and whether future changes to MoHealthNet coverage could require revisiting the bill. Phelps and the chair emphasized that the measure is intended to prevent consumers from buying a product they do not need and to clarify that membership does not guarantee service in all circumstances. Doug Flanders of Air Methods testified in support, saying the bill uses negotiated language from last session and would protect MoHealthNet enrollees from unnecessary purchases. He noted Air Methods’ Missouri operations and said Medicaid patients are already fully covered for emergency air medical transport with no out-of-pocket cost. No one testified in opposition or for informational purposes, and the chair closed the public hearing on HB 2874 with no further business before adjourning.

Transcript Highlights:

• Some states do have an additional state-dollar checkoff that is refundable, but not in ours.

Committee: Senate Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference

Summary: The Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference met to conduct a sunset review of the Arizona Beef Council. Lauren Mailing, the council’s executive director, presented the council’s role in promoting, educating, and researching on behalf of Arizona beef producers, explaining that it is an industry-financed, governor-appointed board funded through the federal beef checkoff program. She described its consumer education, classroom materials, gate-to-plate tours, and social media outreach, and noted that checkoff funds may be used only for promotion, education, and research, not lobbying. Members asked about whether growers can request refunds of checkoff dollars, and she said they cannot under the federal program; one member also recognized the recent passing of former board member Andrew Grissetta and his service to the industry. Committee members spoke in support of the council, emphasizing its educational value, local control of checkoff dollars, and benefits to ranchers, feeders, dairy producers, youth programs, and consumers. The vice chair moved to continue the Arizona Beef Council for eight years, until July 1, 2034. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays, with the recommendation to continue the council approved. The committee then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Some states do have an additional state-dollar checkoff that are refundable, but not in our... we don't

Committee: Senate Senate Natural Resources Committee of Reference

Transcript Highlights:

• This is not a tax.
• Speaker, this is simply the historic tax credit bill that continues the historic tax credit program we've
• 44:39.880><c> tax</c><00:44:40.200><c> credit</c> continues the historic tax credit continues the historic
• Uh, members, this uh would reinstate the income tax refund check-off for victims of crime and leniency
• Speaker, uh, members, this uh would reinstate the income tax refund check-off for victims of crime and

Transcript Highlights:

• It’s about tax restraint. It is not about tax abolition. Taxes, as we know, are coercive by nature.
• </c> tax or not. tax or not.
• c><00:23:22.400><c> are</c> statewide tax or a local tax are statewide tax or a local tax are nevertheless
• SWEPT tax go to zero on their tax bill.
• </c> their tax bill. their tax bill.

Committee: House Ways and Means

Transcript Highlights:

• We are in the PEP program, which is part of the tax credit.
• There is the tax credit side of it in the...
• There is a limit set in statute in the tax credit scholarship program, and last year that tax credit
• This creates a tax program to encourage supporting these programs by offering tax relief.
• It clarifies the Water quality projects may be funded with ad valorem taxes.

Transcript Highlights:

• House Bill 3704 declares the state's intent to opt into the federal income tax credit for individual
• would address is that if you were a typical college student and you decided to drop a class after the refund
• I asked the Tax Commission for some numbers, and I note that under, let's see, our first scholarship
• We put $25 million in potential tax credits into each fund, and we're getting tax returns far below that
• think, between the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, Lindsay Nicole Henry, and the Parental Choice Tax

Committee: House A&B Education Subcommittee

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:31:31.520><c> them</c><00:31:32.480><c> um</c> matter of fact uh were refunding them um matter
• of fact uh were refunding them um many<00:31:33.120><c> of</c><00:31:33.279><c> them</c><00:31:33.600
• He said the labor market, tax base, public health systems, humanity, and sense of community depend on
• Our labor<01:00:27.200><c> market,</c><01:00:27.520><c> our</c><01:00:27.680><c> tax</c><01:00:27.920
• Why is big tax so for his comments.

Committee: Senate State and Local Government

Transcript Highlights:

• administrative expenses and profits exceed these thresholds, the difference must be returned to consumers as refunds
• improve health quality, divided by the health carrier's premium revenue, excluding any state and federal taxes
• Federal policy changes under H.R. 1, combined with the scheduled expiration of enhanced federal premium tax

Bills: HB2261 , HB2283 , HB2425 , HB2110 , HB2113 , HB2122 , HB2152

Committee: House Health Care & Wellness

Keywords: healthcare, transparency, patient communication, credentials, professional standards, medical loss ratio, insurance, health plans, cost management, nursing delegation, registered nurse, RN, home care aide, nursing assistant, certified nursing assistant, CNA, medical assistant, home health, hospice, community-based care

Transcript Highlights:

• administrative expenses and profits exceed these thresholds, the difference must be returned to consumers as refunds
• improve health quality, divided by the health carrier's premium revenue, excluding any state and federal taxes
• Federal policy changes under H.R. 1, combined with the scheduled expiration of enhanced federal premium tax

Summary: The committee held public hearings on House Bill 2261, which would require health care providers to wear badges showing name, credential, and relevant degrees, require similar disclosure in advertising, and restrict use of the title “physician surgeon” to certain physicians and osteopathic physicians. Supporters, including the Washington State Medical Association and patient advocates, said the bill would improve transparency and informed consent. Opponents from nurse, naturopathic, and adult family home groups argued it was overly broad, burdensome, confusing, and could harm access to care or residential home settings; several also said existing disciplinary laws already address misrepresentation. No vote was taken on HB 2261 during the hearing. The committee also heard House Bill 2283, which would raise the medical loss ratio for fully insured individual, small group, and large group health plans to 90 percent. Supporters, including small business, patient, and physician groups, said the bill would push more premium dollars toward patient care and lower costs or increase rebates. Insurers and the Office of the Insurance Commissioner warned it could destabilize the market, reduce flexibility for administrative services, and lead to carrier exits, though OIC said it was working on amendments. The bill was not voted on in the hearing. House Bill 2425, an agency-request bill on nurse delegation, would broaden what tasks registered nurses may delegate, remove some setting and training restrictions, expand emergency medication authority, and adjust liability and retaliation protections. The Board of Nursing, long-term care providers, and skilled nursing/assisted living representatives supported the bill as a modernization that could ease workforce shortages and improve care access, while the Washington State Association for Justice opposed the immunity provisions and raised patient safety concerns. The hearing ended without a vote on HB 2425. In executive session, the committee advanced several bills. HB 2110, with an amendment clarifying ambulance staffing and RN scope, passed 18-0 with one excused. HB 2113 passed 18-0 with one excused. HB 2122, as amended to require hospitals to offer flu vaccines with several flexibility and critical-access-hospital exemptions, passed 15-3 with one excused. HB 2152, as amended to require certain facilities to allow medical cannabis use for qualifying terminal patients and to add related exemptions and protections, passed 17-1 with one excused. The meeting then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• We have grave concerns about the reward in tax impacts of this overly broad bill and call upon the sponsor
• Of course, there's civil issues where whether you get a refund or not, if you if you actually violated
• It's a refund of dollars that you've already that you already paid for your development applications.
• developing areas that no one's interested in the series or gone to the local government have to raise taxes

Transcript Highlights:

• More than a billion dollars was refunded in premium credits to consumers.
• license, and then the new owner finds out a few months later there are several thousand dollars in back taxes

Bills: SB1969 , SB1953 , SB1277 , SB1287 , SB1061 , SB1916 , SB1589 , SB2178 , SB1444 , SB1438 , SB1501 , SB1873 , SB1364

Committee: Senate Business and Insurance

Summary: The Senate Business and Insurance Committee met and first laid over Senate Bills 1969 and 1624 without hearing them. It then considered SB 1953, a health insurance transparency bill requiring third-party administrators to provide employers information on what was spent on employee health benefits; an amendment deleting the word “welfare” was adopted, and the bill passed 7-1. SB 1277, which codifies a three-week work-search requirement for unemployment benefits, passed 8-0. SB 1287, amended to change “may” to “shall,” would bar the Oklahoma Abstractors Board from licensing applicants not legally authorized to work in the U.S.; after questions about the need for the bill and the alleged loophole, it passed 7-2. The committee also passed SB 1061, a cleanup measure on mortgage broker licensing and renewal fees, and SB 1916, which would move the Oklahoma Receivership Office under the Insurance Department and streamline receivership operations. SB 1589, as amended to reference Indian Gaming Regulatory Act authorization, would increase penalties for illegal sweepstakes/gambling operations and expand enforcement against entities profiting from illegal gambling; it passed unanimously. SB 2178, a compromise special-event license bill requiring liability insurance coverage, also passed unanimously. Two major insurance reform bills were debated at length and failed. SB 1444 would shift homeowners insurance rate regulation from a use-and-file system to prior filing with authority for the Insurance Commissioner to declare rates excessive; after testimony from a homeowner about a large premium increase and extensive debate over regulation and market effects, it failed 4-5. SB 1438 would require reporting of underwriting gains and profits, cap average profits at 5% over three years, and require rebates or premium credits if profits exceeded that level; supporters argued it would protect consumers, while opponents warned of market disruption and reduced competition. It failed 2-7. The committee then passed SB 1501, clarifying medical marijuana grow reclamation bond requirements, SB 1873, correcting a drafting error in a prior bill and delaying its effective date, and SB 1364, requiring an affidavit of encumbrances before transferring a medical marijuana business license.