Transcript Highlights:

• And be it further resolved that the committee have all the powers and duties and operations.
• Currently, what is the Border Security Committee and then the Veterans Affairs Committee would be combined
• into a new Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Bills: SB 2, SB 10, HB27, HB18, HB17, SB 9, SB 7, SB 17, SB 4, HB18, SR 1, SR 2, SR 5, HB18, HB17, SB9, SB7, SB17, SB4, SR1, SR2, SR5, SB2, SB10, HB27

Keywords: HB 18, Texas Legislature, quorum break, quorum-busting, legislative walkout, absent legislators, political contributions, campaign finance, political expenditures, legislative caucus, specific-purpose committee, Texas Ethics Commission, civil penalty, show cause order, district court, Fifteenth Court of Appeals, session fundraising, travel lodging food expenses, legislative session, compelled attendance

Bills: SB 2, SB 5, SB 10, SB 9, SB 7, SB 17, SB 4, HB17, HB7, HB7, HB15, HB15, HB27, HB1, HB7, HB15, HB18, SB9, SB7, SB17, SB4, HB17, HB27, HB1, SB8, HCR13, SB2, SB5, SB10

Keywords: disaster relief, flood preparedness, emergency funding, local government support, meteorological forecasting, school assessment, public education, accountability, transparency, education standards, STAAR, Texas Education Agency, TEA, public school accountability, school ratings, A-F ratings, assessment reform, student testing, benchmark tests, interim assessments

Bills: SB 2, SB 5, SB 10, SB 9, SB 7, SB 17, SB 4, HB17, HB7, HB7, HB15, HB15, HB27, HB1, HB7, HB15, HB18, SB9, SB7, SB17, SB4, HB17, HB27, HB1, SB8, HCR13, SB2, SB5, SB10

Keywords: disaster relief, flood preparedness, emergency funding, local government support, meteorological forecasting, school assessment, public education, accountability, transparency, education standards, STAAR, Texas Education Agency, TEA, public school accountability, school ratings, A-F ratings, assessment reform, student testing, benchmark tests, interim assessments

Transcript Highlights:

• You're familiar with the all-payer insurance claims database; the Ethics and Public Policy Center did
• My concern is that it can still be set up in a way as a sting operation if you have this.
• The policies that are in the Civil Service Code have been there for some time, and some agencies operate
• These mega-wells shouldn't go into place and start operating, or else we could face a real problem.
• When did we decide that public servants funded by our taxpayer dollars should operate in the shadows?

Bills: SB 2, SB 5, SB 10, SB 9, SB 7, SB 17, SB 4, HB17, HB7, HB7, HB15, HB15, HB27, HB1, HB7, HB15, HB18, SB9, SB7, SB17, SB4, HB17, HB27, HB1, SB8, HCR13, SB2, SB5, SB10

Keywords: disaster relief, flood preparedness, emergency funding, local government support, meteorological forecasting, school assessment, public education, accountability, transparency, education standards, STAAR, Texas Education Agency, TEA, public school accountability, school ratings, A-F ratings, assessment reform, student testing, benchmark tests, interim assessments

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm the director of the UCLA Labor Center. Good morning.
• I am with the UCLA Labor Center, and... having us today.
• And Pine I, executive regional director of the Small Business Development Center.
• I grew up in this region.
• I'm the leader of the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network, the LASBDC.

Summary: The Assembly Committee on Economic Development, Growth, and Household Impact held an informational hearing in Paramount as part of its “Pocketbook Tour,” focused on affordability, cost pressures, and household impacts in Los Angeles County. The first panel centered on workers and learners, with testimony from the UCLA Labor Center and the Southeast Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board. Speakers described how rising living costs, tuition, and low wages force many students to work long hours, often in unrelated, low-wage jobs, while struggling with food, rent, bills, anxiety, and limited financial aid. Recommendations included expanding state-funded work study, creating a statewide internship tax credit for small businesses, improving financial aid formulas to reflect regional cost of living, increasing flexibility for students, and strengthening worker-rights education and career pathways. The second panel focused on microbusinesses and small business affordability. Testimony from microenterprise advocates, the Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network, and local business owners described rising commercial rents, labor costs, tariffs, supply chain disruptions, insurance, utilities, and disaster-related pressures as major threats to small businesses. Witnesses emphasized that small businesses are central to local economies and asked the state to expand technical assistance, low-interest financing, disaster support, supply-chain development, and community-based outreach. They also urged more intentional support for microbusinesses and home-based entrepreneurs, including networks that connect them to resources and help them build collective buying power. Committee members asked about possible state actions, including tax credits for hiring local workers or interns, support for trades and apprenticeships, and ways to partner more closely with SBDCs and chambers of commerce. Public comment echoed the hearing themes, with speakers highlighting student hardship, nonprofit mental health funding, renewable energy jobs and internships, and the need for state support for clean-energy incentives. No formal votes were taken; the hearing concluded with closing remarks and adjournment at 11:05 a.m.

Transcript Highlights:

• , and security licenses.
• I need more of that, you know, we need more of that regionally.
• Their security upgrades and technology improvements would include physical security, security cameras
• And I have a question about the security upgrades.
• The study done by the National Center didn't really look at the numbers.

Summary: The Appropriations Committee first reviewed the Department of Justice FY 2027 budget, which was presented at $117.8 million, with most funding coming from statutory dedications and the largest program areas being criminal law/Medicaid fraud and civil law. The Attorney General described major work in Troop NOLA, Medicaid fraud, opioid and PBM litigation, and especially child exploitation and online predator investigations. She said ICAC tips are rising sharply, local law enforcement partnerships have expanded, and her office needs more analysts, more permanent positions, and more expenditure authority for the legal support fund and related programs. Members asked about case backlogs, staffing, settlement funds, and whether more resources could be directed toward outreach, mental health, and technology; the Attorney General said she wants to expand cyber capacity, training, and prevention efforts, and that some settlement recoveries are being used to support existing programs and fraud enforcement. Committee members also focused heavily on child safety, truancy, and mental health. Several representatives described local concerns about online exploitation, trafficking, self-harm, and the need for school-based training and community outreach. The Attorney General said she wants a broader prevention strategy involving parents, schools, and behavioral health resources, and she discussed using outreach models such as anti-vaping campaigns and town halls. On opioid settlement oversight, members raised concerns about the size of the funds and the need for stronger state oversight; the Attorney General agreed more structure and compliance monitoring would be useful and said drug courts and treatment programs are effective investments. The committee then moved to the judicial branch budget presentation. The judiciary requested $229.6 million in FY 2027, plus $5.6 million in one-time funding, with most of the budget coming from state general fund. The presentation highlighted increases for judge salaries, staff pay adjustments, health insurance, operating costs, and 17 unfunded positions, along with one-time requests for security and technology upgrades. Chief Justice John Weimer and other justices said the budget would help core court functions and statewide programs such as CASA, drug courts, and FINS, and they emphasized the need for better staffing and technology in the courts. A major discussion centered on truancy and the FINS program. Justice Griffin said statewide collaboration with education officials had reduced truancy and that FINS officers are trained to identify children who may be runaways or trafficking victims. The justices and members supported expanding FINS so every judicial district has coverage, and they said the program helps keep children out of deeper system involvement. Members also asked about security funding, technology improvements, and the 17 unfunded positions, which were described as mostly clerical, IT, and support roles in appellate and district courts. No votes were taken in the portion of the meeting provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• . center. center.
• operating? operating?
• And how much did you get in operating? operating? operating?
• Obviously, we have staff working, and we hire security and elevator operators, all of those things, so
• </c> security or PII or social security security or PII or social security numbers<02:58:35.439><c> in

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It's regionally responsive. It's regionally responsive and protective of current rates.
• Our members here in California operate 463 centers with the capacity to serve over 67,000 children.
• Supplemental Security Income, or SSI.
• Supplemental Security Income, or SSI.
• , stay in our region, and be part of that region because they're committed to that work.

Summary: The committee heard a lengthy budget hearing focused on child care, child welfare, and immigration-related services, with most of the discussion centered on child care funding, slot utilization, and rate reform. Department of Social Services officials said the Governor’s budget would provide $6.8 billion for child care programs in 2026-27, including $11.5 million in Prop. 64 funds for mini-grants to licensed facilities affected by 2025 disasters. They also described federal CCDF and Prop. 64 revenue reductions that would reduce general child care funding by about 4,176 slots, while emphasizing that the cuts should not affect currently enrolled children. The LAO supported aligning spending with lower revenues and asked for more detail on the disaster grant program. Members questioned why so many awarded slots remain uncontracted or unfilled, and DSS said delays are largely due to providers building new infrastructure, licensing, staffing, and enrollment work. One senator criticized the repeated explanation, argued unspent funds revert to the General Fund instead of being redirected to child care, and urged shifting more funding from contract slots to vouchers and increasing flexibility for infrastructure and expansion costs. DSS said it is exploring more flexibility, better readiness screening, and quicker redistribution of relinquished slots. The committee also discussed the Emergency Child Care Bridge program, with DSS saying it can redistribute funds among counties to avoid disenrolling children. A second panel addressed the state’s broader commitment to expand child care and move toward a single rate structure. DSS reported that since 2021-22 nearly 125,000 new slots have been awarded across CCTR, CAPP, CMAP, and the Emergency Child Care Bridge program, bringing monthly service levels to more than 366,700 children. The department and CDE described progress on rate reform, including completion of the alternative methodology and joint recommendations from the labor-management committee on a single-rate framework. County and provider testimony emphasized persistent unmet need, especially for infant and toddler care, and argued that current reimbursement disparities between CDSS-funded programs and state preschool create inequities and discourage expansion. Stanislaus County Office of Education said rate differences can materially affect local program revenue and staffing, while Parent Voices California described the child care system as difficult to navigate and inequitable, especially for Black families and survivors of domestic violence. The California Budget and Policy Center argued that only a small share of eligible children are served, that Universal TK has concentrated investment in school-based settings, and that providers are still paid far below the cost of care. Members pressed the administration for deadlines on automation and implementation of the single-rate structure, and DSS said some work can proceed before collective bargaining concludes, though policy decisions are still needed. The committee also reviewed several trailer bill proposals. For the COLA, DSS proposed applying the 2026-27 increase through cost-of-care-plus payments, but acknowledged it had inadvertently excluded CalWORKs Child Care and the Emergency Child Care Bridge from the initial calculation; the LAO recommended making the COLA increase uniform across child care and state preschool programs. On the alternative methodology survey, DSS proposed replacing the market rate survey with the federally approved alternative methodology and aligning the timing with the federal CCDF state plan cycle. On licensed family child care homes, DSS proposed limiting temporary absences to 20% of monthly care hours and allowing more flexibility for medical appointments, jury duty, training, and union activities. On excessive unexplained absences, DSS proposed a statutory definition to align state policy with federal rules allowing disenrollment after 30 days of unexplained absences. The committee also discussed a proposal to require contractors to collect family fees directly so the full voucher value reaches providers, with DSS saying it is working with Riverside County on implementation and CDE asking that the same policy apply to state preschool. Finally, the committee reviewed an Early Childhood Policy Council reappropriation and reporting proposal, with DSS explaining that prior funds were underused because participation costs are hard to estimate and that additional staffing and contractor support would be needed for the expanded annual report requirements.

Transcript Highlights:

• And whereas Bernalillo County operates the Metropolitan.
• To further their initiatives in the Central Region.
• National security.
• Senate Bill 257, an act relating to border security, creating the Office of Border Security, providing
• of federally qualified health care centers.

Transcript Highlights:

• We have the master operator for that entire site and everything.
• We have the master operator for that entire site and everything.
• And I'm aware, ...operator for that entire site and everything.
• Well, our Social Security benefits aren't rounded up.
• Why, our Social Security benefits aren't rounded up.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Nobody is losing regional center services as a result of anything that we've talked about today.
• But I would reiterate as well, we intend to provide regional center master files for this match.
• For us, we've always operated on a match scenario.
• to deliver culturally and responsive prevention and intervention regional region to deliver culturally
• The Center of Sierra Health Foundation has a privilege of serving as one of the five regional leads in

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• On 27, line 27, Missouri River Correctional Center planning.
• We have on line 11 a diversion and deflection center grant of $5 million.
• It's not an ongoing operation that DOCR will oversee.
• You can see we go to Section 4, the Hart River Correctional Center project.
• Is it all minimum, or is there a medium-security component in that?

Keywords: 908, all

Summary: The committee reconvened in the afternoon and took up only Senate Bill 2015, the Department of Corrections budget. Representative Steeman explained that the budget reflected major changes from the Senate version because bed contracts with Grand Forks and Burleigh-Morton were still unresolved when the Senate acted. He described rising inmate populations, added county/regional jail payments, deferred maintenance and repair funding, planning money for a new Missouri River Correctional Center, software and equipment upgrades, victims of crime grants, and a one-time diversion/deflection center grant for Fargo funded through the Community Health Trust Fund. He also outlined funding for body cameras, tasers, and protective vests, and a Native American reentry program/report provision, along with a legislative management study on sentencing, corrections, and parole oversight. Members asked about the possibility of private or design-build alternatives for the new Missouri River Correctional Center. After discussion, the committee adopted language directing the steering committee to oversee design and construction and to explore other options. There was also discussion of the importance of maintaining North Dakota’s correctional rehabilitation culture, the cost and availability of out-of-state placements, and the current number of inmates housed in regional, county, and interstate facilities. The committee adopted the amendment to engrossed Senate Bill 2015 and then approved the bill as amended on a 21-0 vote, with two members absent and not voting. Representative Steeman was designated as the carrier. The chair then thanked members for their work and announced the committee would reconvene the next morning to continue with remaining bills and budget work before adjourning.

Transcript Highlights:

• aid to some of our regional school districts.
• for North Middlesex Regional School District.
• I won't get started on regional transportation. ...I won't get started on regional transportation and
• Unlike many other operational expenses, Unlike many other operational expenses, these costs are not discretionary
• We urge full funding of regional transportation and support for non-regional districts.

Summary: The Joint Committee on Ways and Means held a public hearing in Lawrence focused on the governor’s proposed FY27 budget for education and local aid. Opening remarks from Senator Pavel Payano, Representative Pat Duffy, and local leaders emphasized the importance of education funding for Lawrence and other Gateway Cities, with Acting Mayor Giovanni Rodriguez and Superintendent Ralph Carrero highlighting the city’s high-need student population, Chapter 70 and Student Opportunity Act funding, early college and career pathways, and the need for sustained support to close achievement gaps. The Education Secretariat testified in support of the budget, with Acting Secretary Amy Kershaw outlining investments in early literacy, universal pre-K, student mental health, school meals, high school redesign, higher education affordability, and early childhood systems. Commissioner Noi Ortega described higher education proposals including expanded free community college, continued free tuition at public four-year institutions, student success funding, early college and dual enrollment investments, and the Bright Act and Drive Act. Commissioner Pedro Martinez detailed K-12 proposals such as full Student Opportunity Act funding, increased Chapter 70 aid, special education circuit breaker funding, transportation aid, literacy initiatives, and a new Accelerating Achievement Initiative aimed at schools with the greatest needs. Commissioner Kershaw also described early education proposals including funding for C3, child care financial assistance, CPPI, workforce supports, and administrative funding restoration. Committee members questioned the administration about the pending local contribution formula study, the final year of Student Opportunity Act implementation, and the need to address health care and other cost drivers in school funding. Officials said the local contribution report is expected by the end of June and that a draft will be shared for public comment after data analysis is complete. Members also raised concerns about Chapter 70 disparities between districts and urged a broader review of the formula. In response, the commissioners said the Student Opportunity Act narrowed funding gaps but further work is needed, and they pointed to the new achievement initiative, literacy efforts, and early college expansion as ways to improve outcomes. No votes were taken at the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• It keeps the grants that are in operating the same.
• In fiscal year 2028, there's no impact to operating.
• We were able to secure equipment and expand facilities with their help.
• My son, Jesse, is the third generation to help operate GC's.
• My son Jesse is the third generation to help operate GC's.

Summary: The committee took up executive action on the capital budget, Proposed Substitute Senate Bill 6003, and several policy bills. Staff described amendments to the capital budget that shifted funding among behavioral health, local/community projects, irrigation projects, and juvenile rehabilitation capacity, plus a technical fix to the water pollution control revolving program. The committee adopted Senator Dozier’s budget-neutral amendment and a technical amendment, then advanced the amended capital budget to the Rules Committee. It also moved House Bills 2441, 2124, 2471, 2133, 2610, and 2338 forward with due-pass recommendations, and advanced Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 2251 on Climate Commitment Act accounts to the Transportation Committee after adopting two amendments and withdrawing three others. A major public hearing focused on Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 2034, which would terminate and restate LEOFF Plan 1 in 2029, transfer surplus assets, and direct portions to the Climate Commitment Account and the pension funding stabilization account. Staff said the plan is currently about 160% funded and explained the bill’s IRS-review process, statute of limitations, and estimated implementation costs. Testimony was sharply divided: some retirees, firefighters, counties, and cities opposed the bill as an improper use of pension assets and urged benefit enhancements or protection of local medical obligations, while others supported using the surplus for broader public purposes. No vote was taken on the bill during the hearing. The committee also heard House Bill 2179 on PERS coverage for certain port workers, with ports and the Washington Public Ports Association supporting clarification for railroad employees covered by the federal railroad retirement system. House Bill 1069, allowing Department of Corrections employees to bargain over supplemental retirement benefits, drew support from Teamsters and corrections workers, while House Bill 2091, expanding employee-information sharing with bargaining representatives, drew union support and privacy objections from Washington Policy Center. Finally, Second Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1210 on targeted urban area tax preferences drew support from labor, local governments, and project proponents, and opposition from contractor groups and environmental advocates over project labor agreement requirements and nuclear-related concerns; Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1408 on community preservation and development authorities and Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1974 on land bank authorities for affordable housing were also heard, with both receiving supportive testimony from community and housing advocates.

Transcript Highlights:

• We operate a little over 100 acres of tree fruit and alfalfa.
• We operate a little over 100 acres of tree fruit and alfalfa.
• distribution centers.
• , and has regional distribution organizations.
• and regional distribution centers.

Summary: The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee heard public testimony on House Bill 2279, which would require the Department of Agriculture to create a program and criteria to evaluate PFAS chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides. The prime sponsor argued PFAS are persistent “forever chemicals” that are entering soil, water, wildlife, and people, and said Washington should begin acting now rather than waiting for federal action. WSDA said the bill is implementable but would require rulemaking, ongoing staff resources, and likely a 12-month extension to complete stakeholder engagement; it also noted the bill should be clarified to address all pesticides, not just new ones. Agricultural and industry witnesses opposed the bill as duplicative of EPA review and warned it could reduce product availability and put Washington farmers at a competitive disadvantage, while environmental advocates supported it as a needed food-safety and environmental measure. No vote was taken on the bill during the hearing. The committee then heard House Bill 2463, which would expand the Washington Commodity Donation Program and create a Farm to Food Pantry Program to help hunger-relief organizations buy Washington-grown food directly from farmers. The sponsor said the bill is part of a broader state response to reduced federal food-security support and is intended to keep families fed by strengthening local food purchasing. Testimony was largely supportive from food banks, food hubs, farmers, AARP, and hunger-relief groups, who said the programs help move surplus produce, dairy, protein, and other products to people in need while supporting local farms and reducing waste. Several witnesses, however, raised concerns about language limiting participation to organizations that “solely” function for food sourcing, saying it could exclude many existing regional organizations and reduce resilience; one tribal representative also requested an amendment to include tribally owned small-scale farms. No action was taken on HB 2463 during the hearing. After the hearings, the committee went into caucus and then held executive session only on House Bill 1941, which authorizes licensed cannabis producers to form agricultural associations for collective processing, handling, and marketing. Supporters said it would help smaller cannabis producers cooperate and prepare for possible federal changes, while opponents argued it was premature given marijuana’s federal status and too broad in scope. The committee approved HB 1941 on a 6-5 vote and reported it out of committee with a do-pass recommendation. House Bill 2238 was deferred to the following day for further review of amendments.

Transcript Highlights:

• So it's a matter of security. resources. So it's a matter of security.
• system or considered a operational system or considered a secure<00:15:02.880><c> system,</c><00:15:
• judicial center.
• The Hall of Justice, judicial center, and old jail that we operate out of also.
• </c> existing operations in Kentucky. existing operations in Kentucky.

Keywords: Meeting Start 00:00:00 Attendance Roll Call 00:00:11 Approval of Minutes 00:02:00 Information Items 00:02:25 CPE Special Report 00:03:26 Review of Executive Branch Agency Plans 00:31:48 A. Attorney General 00:32:10 B. Court of Justice 00:36:41 C. Cabinet for Economic Development 00:50:44 D. Kentucky Public Pensions Authority 00:56:06 E. Board Discussion of Planning Issues 01:05:12, 958, all

Summary: The Capital Planning Advisory Board opened its fourth meeting, confirmed a quorum, approved the prior meeting’s minutes by unanimous voice vote, and then heard information items and agency presentations. The main substantive presentation came from the Council on Postsecondary Education, which outlined its capital planning recommendations for the 2026–28 biennium. CPE staff described the role of Kentucky’s research and education network (Kron), including connectivity to cloud services, Internet2, identity services, and new local AI/inferencing capacity, and argued that the network is now essential to higher education, health care, and extension services. They said the network’s recent upgrades were driven by privacy, security, redundancy, and the need to support modern research and AI workloads at lower cost than commercial providers. CPE also presented its broader higher-education capital request: $700 million for asset preservation and $1.73 billion for new construction, for a total recommendation of about $2.4 billion. Staff said they do not plan to recommend IT projects or equipment in this cycle, despite reviewing 48 IT submissions totaling nearly $1.4 billion and equipment requests totaling $322.6 million. For asset preservation, they said the recommended allocation method would remain based on each institution’s share of Category 1 and 2 square footage, and they noted that the state’s prior facility assessment is now 12 years old, with deferred maintenance still estimated in the $7–9 billion range. For new construction, they said the requests are heavily focused on STEM and health-related facilities that are difficult to retrofit into older buildings. Board members asked about how asset-preservation amounts were determined, including why Northern Kentucky University’s request was much larger than its prior allocation. CPE staff responded that campus size, building age, and institutional prioritization affect the requests, and that schools are asked to submit more projects than are likely to be funded. The board then moved on to an Attorney General capital plan overview, where senior counsel Will Schroeder began describing the office’s technology needs and the office’s prior reliance on a 2020 appropriation to replace legacy systems and improve security.

Transcript Highlights:

• In engrossed substitute House Bill 2238, concerns statewide food security.
• It directs WSDA to develop a statewide food security strategy and to monitor food system performance,
• And our regional markets program, in particular, has become well-versed in administering a variety of
• That research was conducted by the WSU Impact Center in just last week.
• You know, our regional markets team is really thoughtful and methodical.

Bills: HB2104, HB2223, HB2348, HB2554, HB2619

Keywords: aviation, wildland fires, funding, disaster relief, emergency response, irrigation, district director, contracts, beneficial interests, agriculture, timber sales, land sales, process efficiency, legislation, department language, tribal rights, fishing rights, salmon management, state-tribal agreements, natural resources

Transcript Highlights:

• This bill implements the following proposals: It strengthens regional center governance, oversight, and
• There's a lot of changes to the competency requirements for the regional center governing boards.
• and oversight of the resources that flow to the regional center governing boards and to the regional
• So the intent behind the proposal is really to... ...boards and to the regional centers.
• Just the resource allocation and the way that the regional center is actually functioning.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We're providing $125 million for food security infrastructure to help... $125 million for food security
• of Regional Planning Agencies and the Rural Policy Advisory Commission.
• In the MAPC region, we have supported communities in all of our sub-regions, about 50 of our 101 communities
• , in both local and regional projects.
• We're the only fixed farm store in an urban center in the Commonwealth.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The hearing focused on the Healey-Driscoll administration’s Mass Ready Act, a $3 billion environmental bond bill. Administration officials said the bill would fund climate resilience, clean water, land conservation, parks, PFAS remediation, food security infrastructure, and coastal and inland flood protection, while also streamlining permitting for housing, restoration, and other resilience projects. They emphasized that the bond authorizes spending but does not itself obligate it, and said the proposal includes deauthorizations as housekeeping. Committee members asked about the new Resilience Revolving Fund, flood and drought management, MVP funding, land acquisition, Chapter 61 right-of-first-refusal changes, salt marsh carbon sequestration, and how the bill would help smaller municipalities and offset expected federal funding losses. Officials said the revolving fund would be managed through EEA and the Clean Water Trust, with criteria aimed at directing aid to communities most in need, and noted that drought issues would continue to be handled through existing DEP and drought commission tools. Several committee members and witnesses discussed specific policy provisions, including flood disclosure requirements for homebuyers and renters, expanded authority for regional planning and small-town access to grants, and permitting reforms that would exempt or expedite certain environmental restoration and priority housing projects from more time-consuming review processes. Administration witnesses defended the reforms as a way to achieve the same environmental outcomes faster and with more certainty, while some advocates argued the bill should go further, especially on Chapter 91 and restoration permitting. The administration also described investments in DCR facilities, water and wastewater systems, open space, agricultural easements, and a new focus on blue carbon and salt marsh restoration. Public testimony largely supported the bill. Mass Audubon, the Trustees of Reservations, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, The Nature Conservancy, MAPC, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, municipal officials, and others praised the bill’s resilience, conservation, and water infrastructure investments. Some witnesses urged additional funding for land protection, coastal resilience, buyouts, and restoration, and several called for stronger or simpler permitting reforms. Municipal witnesses from Boston, Beckett, Beverly, Conway, and regional planning organizations stressed the need for flexible financing, especially for small and rural communities facing costly infrastructure and climate adaptation projects. No votes were taken during the portion of the hearing provided; the committee heard testimony and asked questions before moving on to additional panels.

Transcript Highlights:

• The center point of each of those bubbles represents the plan's funding level.
• 6.2% toward their Social Security.
• They don't get a Social Security benefit unless they return to work after.
• This is going to be a government operation before anything else.
• The data centers you're seeing have thousands and hundreds of thousands of chips.