Transcript Highlights:

• Lis Salivia from the Department of Budget and Finance comments. Thank you.
• Lis Salivia from the Department of Budget and Finance comments. Thank you.
• Lis Salivia from the Department of Budget and Finance comments. Thank you.
• Could you even implement that? Good question.
• Could you even implement that? Oh, good question.

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Summary: The Agriculture and Environment hearing on January 27, 2025, took up multiple measures, beginning with a proposed constitutional amendment, HB 559, to recognize a right to clean water and air, a healthful environment, climate, native ecosystems, and beaches. The Attorney General’s Office testified with concerns that the amendment’s broad language could create challenges for future legislatures and environmental enforcement, while the Climate Commission and DLNR supported it. Environmental and advocacy groups, including Climate Protectors Hawaii, 350 Hawaii, Greenpeace Hawaii, and others, strongly supported the measure, arguing it would strengthen decision-making and protect Hawaii’s natural resources. Committee members raised questions about how the amendment would interact with existing constitutional protections and recent litigation, and the AG’s office said the proposal could lead to broad judicial interpretation and possible liability issues. The hearing then moved on without a recorded vote on this bill. The committee next heard SB 552, which would establish a healthy soils program in the Department of Agriculture and require annual reporting and funding. The Climate Change Commission supported the bill, and the Department of Agriculture said it stood on its submitted testimony but noted existing commissions and the greenhouse gas sequestration task force already address similar objectives, suggesting SB 552 may duplicate current efforts. Agricultural and environmental advocates, including the Hawaii Farmers Union, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and others, supported the concept of a consolidated healthy soils program, saying it would better organize existing efforts, improve access for producers, and support conservation practices. The Agribusiness Development Corporation said it would support either DOA or ADC administering the program, and committee discussion focused on implementation, program overlap, and whether the bill should better integrate existing compost reimbursement and related efforts. The final measure discussed in the excerpt was SB 678, which would create an Agricultural Development Food Security Special Fund, dedicate a portion of the environmental response, energy, and food security tax to it, and appropriate funds equal to 3% of the state budget for agriculture. The Department of Agriculture strongly supported the bill, saying the funding would align with its goals and help support farmers and ranchers. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii and the Department of Budget and Finance raised concerns that the proposed special fund may not meet statutory criteria. Farm and industry groups generally supported the measure but suggested changes, including adding uses related to local food sourcing, distribution, and biosecurity. Committee members questioned the scale of the appropriation, noting it could amount to roughly $250 million and a major increase in DOA’s budget, and discussed whether the department could realistically implement such a large program. The hearing ended with testimony counts noted for the measures heard, and the chair indicated the committee would reconvene later for any unfinished business.

Transcript Highlights:

• draft 1, relating to the state budget. draft 1, relating to the state budget.
• Especially our committee clerk Scott Fuji, budget chief Colleen Peros, budget analyst Kristen Hernandez
• Especially our committee clerk Scott Fuji, budget chief Colleen Peros, budget analyst Kristen Hernandez
• . budget. budget.
• Peros, Scott Fuji, budget chief Colleen Peros, budget<00:31:00.559> analyst<00:31:01.520>

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And that was for this budget cycle that we're in currently? Not the current budget cycle.
• This was in the last budget.
• Okay, so it would have been in the budget cycle previous, so 2023-2024 is the budget cycle. Okay.
• And do you recall how big our budget is in the state? The budget? The full budget?
• The majority of the MCO's budget is passed through.

Bills: HR265, HR266, HR267, HR268, HR269, HR270, HR271, HR272, HR273, HCR107, HCR108, HCR109, HCR110, HCR111, HR257, HR258, HR259, HR260, HR261, HR262, HR263, HCR105, HCR106, SCR30, SB57, SB157, SB202, SB237, SB276, SB450, SB465, SB501, SB525, HR3, HR80, HR197, HR243, SCR5, SCR35, HB4, HB623, HB944, HB986, HB1098, HB1222, SB34, SB164, SB172, SB198, SB208, SB232, SB281, SB286, SB317, SB322, SB334, SB380, SB385, SB409, SB417, SB421, SB430, SB439, SB447, SB458, SB510, SB398, HB646, HR84, HR188, HR205, SCR19, SCR3, SCR6, SCR18, SCR11, SCR22, SCR2, SCR20, SCR24, HCR6, HB301, HB359, HB657, HB675, HB680, HB727, HB302, HB819, HB1257, HB1258, SB8, SB10, SB11, SB12, SB13, SB14, SB16, SB17, SB18, SB20, SB21, SB22, SB40, SB48, SB55, SB69, SB75, SB77, SB78, SB85, SB102, SB115, SB133, SB140, SB148, SB151, SB165, SB169, SB170, SB185, SB197, SB200, SB217, SB235, SB278, SB280, SB291, SB300, SB303, SB315, SB324, SB330, SB411, SB416, SB420, SB436, SB438, SB449, SB455, SB456, SB477, SB489, SB521, SB45, SB58, SB71, SB81, SB92, SB100, SB109, SB141, SB156, SB181, SB203, SB204, SB205, SB207, SB213, SB214, SB216, SB229, SB257, SB274, SB290, SB304, SB374, SB379, SB396, SB410, SB425, SB427, SB429, SB479, SB522, HCR72, HB633, HB603, HB940, HB251, HB775, HB998, HB1191, HB625, HB1255, HB901, HR20, HR74, HCR65, HCR71, HB284, HB306, HB341, HB366, HB393, HB458, HB577, HB582, HB605, HB614, HB733, HB752, HB773, HB798, HB911, HB955, HB996, HB1035, HB1069, HB1113, HB1140, HB1180, HB1240, SB82, SB89, HB258, HB842, SB149, SB382, SB441

Keywords: Pineville High School, Lady Rebels, softball, LHSAA, Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Class 5A, state championship, high school sports, student athletes, commendation, resolution, athletics, girls softball, championship team, Pineville, school recognition, sportsmanship, coach Allison Frye, Louisiana legislature, House Resolution

Transcript Highlights:

• This will equip you all in your 2026 budgeting and investments.
• This will equip you all in your 2026 budgeting and investments.
• When preschoolers leave, it destabilizes the entire center budget.
• We've already cut food budgets, eliminated admin tools, laid off support staff.
• We know that our priorities are reflected in our budget and we know that you are with us.

Summary: The California State Assembly Select Committee on Child Care Costs held its first hearing to examine the state of child care access, affordability, and provider compensation. Chair Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and other members described child care as essential infrastructure for working families and the economy, noting that costs are unaffordable for many households and that providers are underpaid. Early testimony came from a San Francisco parent, Quinn Chung, who described the difficulty of finding safe care and the financial and career sacrifices caused by lack of child care, and from Tuolumne County provider Anita Viscini, who detailed her monthly costs, low margins, and the need to work weekends and teach CPR classes to make ends meet. Assemblymembers also emphasized the crisis in rural communities and the need for a long-term strategy. The first policy panel featured Jennifer Troia of the California Department of Social Services, Laura Pryor of the California Budget and Policy Center, and Alexa Frankenberg of Child Care Providers United. Troia said the state has nearly doubled child care funding in five years, expanded subsidy slots, and reached a new tentative three-year agreement with providers that includes cost-of-living adjustments, stabilization payments, and continued work on an alternative rate methodology and single rate structure. Pryor argued that despite funding gains, child care remains too expensive, only a fraction of eligible children receive subsidies, and provider wages remain far below comparable jobs, worsening racial and gender inequities. Frankenberg said the tentative agreement is progress but not enough, calling for a true cost-of-care system, fair wages, paid time off, better support for emergency and nontraditional care, and stronger integration of family child care into the mixed-delivery system. Members asked about why the crisis persists, how the alternative methodology will work, how family fees and sliding-scale help are being used, and why middle-income families still struggle. The panel said the problem reflects long-term underinvestment, a broken market, and a system that still leaves many families without access. The committee also heard an economic panel from Ashley Hoffman of the California Chamber of Commerce and Sarah Bone of the Public Policy Institute of California. Hoffman described employer child care benefits and public-private partnership models in other states, including shared-cost programs and local chamber efforts. Bone said child care costs reduce family financial security and labor force participation, especially for mothers of young children, and estimated that if mothers of young children worked at the same rate as mothers of older children, more than 80,000 additional women could be in the workforce each year. In the final panel, parent and provider advocates, including Jennifer Greppie and Black Californians United for Early Care and Education co-founder Keisha Doyle, argued for fully funding child care, ending waiting lists, protecting culturally affirming care, and addressing racial inequities and private equity’s role in the sector.

Transcript Highlights:

• So, we're already implementing this new framework and it allowed us to create this roster and have a
• :16:37.040> new we're already implementing this new we're already implementing this new framework
• We lived on a very limited budget. We had about $600 that was supposed to cover our rent, food.
• So, we'll separate those two items from this budget.
• We'll just focus on the this budget.

Keywords: 910, house, all

Summary: The committee heard SB 3263 SD2, which would create a University of Hawaii NIL (name, image, and likeness) endowment trust fund, require UH to establish an NIL program and distribution criteria, allow student athletes to be compensated through registered athlete agents, permit parents or guardians to assist in some areas by agreement, require annual reporting to the legislature, and appropriate funds. UH Athletics Director Matt Helliot testified in strong support, saying NIL funding is critical to recruit and retain athletes and keep UH competitive, especially as the program moves into the Mountain West Conference. He cited the men’s basketball team’s success and said UH had already raised private NIL money for that team. The Iron Workers Stabilization Fund also supported the bill, calling it a modest but important investment in UH athletics and a way to help keep local talent in Hawaii. One supporter said the bill would help UH compete with larger schools and retain athletes amid rising costs and large NIL deals elsewhere. Another supporter, Cliff LaBoy, said the current NIL environment makes funding essential and argued UH needs more money than the bill’s structure provides. A testifier noted the Senate version’s corpus may be insufficient and said they preferred the House version. During questioning, Helliot said UH’s private fundraising target for the current year was $3 million and that the department was already more than two-thirds of the way there. In decision-making, the chair said the committee would move the bill forward as an HD1 replacing the contents with the House version, remove the blank appropriation section because $5 million had already been inserted into the UH budget through HB 1800, and focus the bill on the framework rather than the funding amount. The committee then voted to pass SB 3263 SD2 with amendments, with all voting members present voting in favor and one member excused.

Transcript Highlights:

• But I notice on the actual budget performance, you also have BIAD funds.
• I'll mention AI implementation again. We are rolling out AI technology in 40 agencies.
• We were budgeted for about 1,000 FTEs.
• On the budgeted full-time equivalent employees.
• That's just the number that we had from our budgeted amount from 1,000 before.

Keywords: 914, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And so I would just like to hear from you all a little bit more about what you've done to implement to
• That accounts for my budget team, which is three to four people.
• That accounts includes budget, my budget team, which is three to four people.
• At that time, we were just about to implement phase three of our compensation adjustments that we've
• Yeah, so we, in July of '25, we implemented phase three.

Summary: The meeting opened with prayer and approval of the January 8 minutes, then moved to review of education audit reports. The first report concerned Northwest Arkansas Community College, which had three findings, including repeat internal control deficiencies that caused financial statement misstatements and a tuition revenue loss tied to a new student information system. College officials said the issues were largely misclassification and process problems, not missing money, and described corrective steps such as monthly closing checklists, approval controls for journal entries, cross-training, and efforts to address staffing turnover and fill finance vacancies. Members asked about the tuition issue, whether students were notified or billed, and whether the software problem affected other institutions; audit staff said they were not aware of the same scenario elsewhere. The committee then filed the report as reviewed. The next report was Cedarville School District, which had one finding involving $794 in improper credit card charges by a resigned elementary teacher. The district was reimbursed, a police report was filed, and the matter was referred to the Professional Licensure Standards Board; members asked whether any further action or license-related consequences were known, but staff said they were not aware of additional action. The report was filed as reviewed. The final finding was for West Memphis School District, where auditors reported repeat capital asset issues, including failure to capitalize about $851,000 in construction costs for a baseball-softball complex and problems with inventory and asset inspection. The superintendent said the district had recently begun using Legislative Audit after prior private audits, and described new controls such as multi-level purchase approvals, separation of duties, tagging of equipment, and a cleanup of old inventory records. Members also discussed the relationship between private audits and Legislative Audit reviews, with staff explaining that private audit reports for public school districts still come before the committee and that the executive committee determines when Legislative Audit performs an audit. The committee filed the West Memphis report as reviewed and noted that 28 school districts had no findings before adjourning.

Transcript Highlights:

• The state has a daunting task to monitor, manage, and implement a cybersecurity program while the threats
• a cyber or monitor manage and Implement a cyber or a<00:05:25.639> security<00:05:26.400>
• I did mention the Minnesota IT implemented state and local cybersecurity grant program, which was funded
• This program is critical, but it will generally be utilized to implement Minnesota IT cybersecurity task
• I did mention the Minnesota IT implemented state and local cybersecurity grant program, which was funded

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Okay, let’s go to the water quality budget. Thank you. Okay, let’s go to the water quality budget.
• So if you’re here to make comments on the budget, you can do that. No amendments on the bill.
• comments about the budget. 168.
• comments about the budget.
• Budget and opening it up to the public for anybody wishing to testify or make comments about the budget

Summary: The Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government heard and reported favorably several bills. CS/SB 800 would increase penalties for repeated unlicensed engineering practice and create an engineering student loan assistance program funded by licensure fees and fines; Senator Sharif asked about restitution for victims, and the sponsor said the bill does not create a reimbursement mechanism. CS/SB 576 would create a local government cybersecurity protection program administered by Florida Digital Service, with state purchasing support, grant access, and data-sharing requirements; local government and cybersecurity groups waived in support. CS/SB 1078 would establish transition procedures between gubernatorial administrations, including liaisons, briefing books, office space, IT access, and access to agency records under a signed confidentiality agreement. The committee also reported favorably CS/SB 314 on payment stablecoin issuers, CS/SB 530 updating lottery operations and security rules, CS/SB 1614 giving JAC/LAC-related audit findings more enforcement effect for local governments seeking state funds, SB 990 authorizing protective cell captive insurance companies, SB 1588 beginning implementation of the prior gold-and-silver legal tender law, CS/SB 1440 adding cybersecurity-related exemptions and reporting provisions for financial institutions, and CS/SB 1568 creating a stablecoin pilot program for DFS fee payments. Several bills had support testimony from state agencies and industry groups, and some included technical or guardrail amendments that were adopted without objection. The committee also received a budget overview highlighting major funding items, including more than $350 million for Florida Forever, $738 million for Everglades restoration, more than $500 million for water quality projects outside the Everglades, $60 million for Farmers Feeding Florida, and more than $250 million for citrus recovery. Members asked questions about school lunch funding, state park improvements, land acquisition, water quality funding, gaming enforcement offices, and staffing for PERC. After the bills and budget discussion, members recorded a few affirmative votes on selected tabs, and the committee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Further, California has budgeted billions of dollars to be invested in broadband infrastructure projects
• an opportunity to hear from the California Public Utilities Commission to provide an update on implementation
• The CPUC is tasked with developing and implementing policies and programs that deliver access to this
• On its efforts coordinating the implementation of the state's broadband for all program.
• But I do want to point out that our budget agreement is still December 31st, 2026.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• AB 49, being an urgency bill, is still being fully implemented.
• do you implement it?
• do you implement it?
• We're operating extremely tight budgets. We cannot sustain this.
• We are also a member of the ECE Budget Coalition.

Summary: The hearing focused first on how wildfires and other disasters affect child care providers, families, and early education infrastructure. State officials from the Department of Social Services and Department of Education described disaster response and preparedness efforts, including shelter coordination, licensing outreach, emergency waivers, distribution of supplies, and the statewide child care disaster plan. Testimony from providers and advocates emphasized major gaps in recovery funding, insurance coverage, rebuilding support, mental health services, and coordination with local rebuild plans. Several witnesses urged more dedicated disaster-recovery funding for child care facilities and suggested statutory changes, including allowing greater flexibility for rebuilding costs and requiring early childhood programs to be included in local disaster planning. The second panel addressed immigration enforcement and its impact on child care. Advocates from the Children's Partnership, Every Child California, and CHIRLA said enforcement activity is causing families to keep children home, disrupting continuity of care, reducing enrollment, and creating fear and trauma for children and providers. They argued that immigrant and mixed-status families need clearer protections, privacy safeguards, legal support, trauma-informed guidance, and safe-haven policies for child care settings. Speakers also stressed that the child care workforce is heavily immigrant and that recent state laws such as AB 49 and AB 495 will require funding, training, and technical assistance to implement effectively. Public commenters, including child care providers, described personal experiences with fire damage, displacement, permit delays, lost income, and the emotional toll of serving families during crises. Others described how immigration enforcement has made parents afraid to attend events, drop off children, or remain connected to providers. Committee members repeatedly noted that child care is often overlooked in emergencies and asked state officials how child care systems are being integrated into disaster planning and how local and state agencies can better coordinate. No formal votes were taken during the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• Now, moving on to the overall budget.
• If it's higher education, it's asking for the budget.
• I am requesting a flat budget with. no additional FTE members.
• So, no flat budget, no new FTE.
• So, no budget increases, but language is equally important to me.

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• bill, which contains our bienial budget bill, which contains our bienial budget request<00:50:02.720
• was included in our banial budget was included in our banial budget request.<00:53:34.400> Um
• be implemented and could be implemented be implemented and could be implemented effectively<01:03
• very vague law but we have implemented very vague law but we have implemented that<01:42:01.199>
• <01:42:21.040> in<01:42:21.360> implementing been extremely helpful. in implementing

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Item G1, a budget classification transfer of $250,000 for Commissioner of State Lands.
• So the Human Development Centers are allocated 1,880 budgeted positions.
• And is that contract, whatever it is that implements ACEs, expired or about to expire?
• As you know, we recently implemented the pay plan, which raised the rates.
• Is it budget constraints? Is it federal funding being cut? Yes.

Keywords: 1204, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, [clears throat] this amendment is about making budget. That's why I'm here.
• ><00:02:33.680> is<00:02:33.920> about<00:02:34.160> making<00:02:34.560> budget
• this amendment is about making budget. this amendment is about making budget.
• Uh, certainly in things that these departments are trying to do to accommodate the budget, uh, we need
• cut that was imposed by the budget.

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• today so in light of very tough budget today so in light of very tough budget times<00:10:12.200
• the governor's uh Governor's budget the governor's uh budget<00:10:48.920> um<00:10:49.480>
• <00:39:55.040> proposal Governor Wall's budget proposal Governor Wall's budget proposal regarding
• in the program based on past budget in the program based on past budget recommendations<01:02:25.599
• would thank the governor for his budget would thank the governor for his budget proposal<01:47:03.080

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• So that's about a third of their budget.
• Because a lot of these implementation programs, or the implementation of these programs, require training
• It may not come out of your budget, but it's coming out of somebody's budget in the state, usually the
• mental health budget.
• I sat in the budget presentation yesterday about the community-based care agencies that provide The budget

Summary: The committee met to hear an overview of the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice budget area and then received performance-measure presentations from the Department of Corrections, the Commission on Offender Review, and the Department of Juvenile Justice. Staff reviewed the roughly $7.4 billion criminal justice and judiciary budget, noting major funding areas such as corrections, law enforcement, victim services, courts, and due process, along with recent investments in prison health care, security equipment, fentanyl enforcement, court staffing, and juvenile justice salaries and education programs. Secretary Dixon of the Department of Corrections described staffing and population pressures, including growth in inmate population, overtime-driven deficits, and the opening of additional housing units. He emphasized the department’s use of performance measures and highlighted reforms such as incentivized prisons, administrative management units, reentry planning, faith-based programs, and expanded education and vocational training. Members asked about teacher hiring, public defender pay parity, fentanyl funding, staffing capacity, and the role of the National Guard; Dixon said teacher vacancies had improved, public defenders had received comparable pay increases, fentanyl funding would be addressed further by FDLE, and the Guard had helped stabilize staffing. The Commission on Offender Review reported on parole, conditional release, addiction recovery supervision, and revocations, saying its recidivism/success rates had improved over a three-year measurement period. Senator Rouson pressed the commission on clemency and pardons, saying that work was omitted from the presentation and asking for backlog and case data; the commission said it did not have those figures on hand and would follow up. The committee also discussed a conditional medical release pilot study, and members questioned the report’s conclusion that no suitable elderly inmate population could be identified, asking what criteria were used and whether stakeholders were consulted. Secretary Hall of the Department of Juvenile Justice outlined the agency’s prevention-to-residential continuum and its emphasis on education, data-driven decision-making, and evidence-based programming. He said salary increases had reduced vacancies, juvenile arrests and residential commitments had fallen sharply over time, and tools such as civil citations, risk assessments, and quality-improvement reviews were being used to guide placements and services. Hall also described the department’s use of dashboards, monthly data check-ins, and the dispositional matrix to improve outcomes and reduce recidivism.

Transcript Highlights:

• On slide nine, you see 3% budget growth.
• The scenario of a 3% budget growth versus a 14% budget growth is concerning.
• Of what we need to think about as a Budgeting Committee.
• go to more than 10 percent of the state budget.
• an FY30 budget impact.

Transcript Highlights:

• . implementation. implementation.
• governments and having to implement governments and having to implement these<00:37:26.480> these
• <01:15:21.120> Um the state budget. Um the state budget.
• proposal on say how we would implement proposal on say how we would implement cost<01:15:32.719>
• <01:15:34.800> um cost sharing, how we would implement um cost sharing, how we would implement

Bills: HR1

Keywords: January 6 insurrection, pardon, law enforcement, violent crimes, public safety, justice system, political accountability, 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• I would love to shop Whole Foods every day, but unfortunately my budget doesn't allow for it.
• What would the process be for implementing something like this, and what would it mean for the future
• You know, during the Senate hearing, Senator Hughes was asked about, you know, the implementation and
• However, when implemented in 2023, we realized that a key funding tier was. missing.
• So our seven campuses, we currently are sitting at around a $14 million budget. A year? A year.

Bills: HB367, HB497, HB549, HB983, HB 1188, HB 1290, HB1368, HB2243, HB2310, HB2849, HB3099, HB3546, HB3629, HB3627

Keywords: education, absences, severe illness, life-threatening, school policy, verification, healthcare, insurance, affordability, coverage, patient rights, school health, respiratory distress, airway clearance devices, medication training, public health, HB 983, Texas Education Agency, TEA, educator privacy