Transcript Highlights:

• Nope, she’s not on yet, so we will come back to her.
• But we're back again now to a slowing of our economy.
• way to get back to you.
• Farmers would be paying these wages anyway.
• Farmers would be paying these wages anyway.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hybrid public hearing with testimony on a wide range of labor, workforce, unemployment insurance, apprenticeship, disability services, farm labor, hospital staffing, and workplace harassment bills. Chairs Jake Oliveira and Paul McMurtry outlined hearing procedures, limited testimony to two minutes, and noted written testimony would be accepted after the hearing. Committee members and staff were introduced throughout the session as witnesses arrived in person or remotely. A major portion of the hearing focused on unemployment insurance legislation. Greater Boston Legal Services, the AFL-CIO, and Rep. Joan Meschino supported bills to adjust UI eligibility for workers with fluctuating schedules and to streamline waivers and write-offs for non-fault overpayments, arguing the current system unfairly denies benefits or burdens workers who were not at fault. They also backed bills calling for more oversight and resources for the Division of Unemployment Assistance, citing persistent delays in benefit payments. NFIB opposed the UI changes, warning that the trust fund is headed toward insolvency and arguing the bills would worsen the system’s finances. Rep. Meschino and committee members emphasized that the proposals were meant to protect good-faith claimants and did not apply to fraud. Another large set of bills addressed wages, workforce development, and working conditions. Testimony supported raising and modernizing direct care wages to address severe staffing shortages in human services and disability services, with advocates from the Massachusetts Developmental Disability Council, The Arc of Massachusetts, parents of adults with disabilities, and a direct care worker describing how low pay and turnover harm people needing support. The committee also heard support for apprenticeship-related bills from the AFL-CIO and the Carpenters, while Associated Builders and Contractors opposed mandatory apprenticeship ratios and urged changes to align them with licensing laws. Farm worker advocates supported a bill to raise farm labor standards, including minimum wage, paid breaks, and paid time off, while the Farm Bureau opposed parts of it beyond the minimum wage increase. The hearing also featured testimony on workplace harassment training, overtime protections, hospital mandatory overtime, suicide prevention signage on construction sites, and a proposal to update the Massachusetts Medical Society’s mission language from “citizens” to “people.” Labor groups, educators, and compliance trainers strongly supported mandatory annual sexual harassment training, saying it would improve workplace culture and reduce harm. SEIU 1199 supported extending the hospital nurse mandatory overtime ban to the broader hospital workforce. Witnesses on the suicide prevention bill described personal losses in construction and recovery work and urged posting 988 information on job sites. The committee took no votes during the hearing; witnesses repeatedly asked for favorable reports, and members asked follow-up questions on UI calculations, apprenticeship ratios, small-business impacts, and emergency exceptions for hospital staffing.

Transcript Highlights:

• It is going back into health care, and we know that.
• The consumers do not pay PBMs for this service.
• The consumers do not pay PBMs for this service.
• The consumers do not pay PBMs for this service.
• So if they do come back for our work session...

Bills: AB93, AB204, AB414, AB504, AB598

Keywords: public employees, police officers, benefits, appropriation, law enforcement, medical debt, collection agency, healthcare, consumer protection, financial assistance, occupational safety, air quality, greenhouse gases, employee monitoring, safety program, hemp, hemp products, cannabidiol, CBD, cannabis

Transcript Highlights:

• Hansen and I have been exchanging notes back and forth.
• Quite frankly, you start to pay attention to property taxes when you start paying them.
• Because when you go into Walmart, you're paying more than 5.5%; you're usually paying 7.5%.
• And that's going to go right back on property taxes.
• They've gone back to all the deferred maintenance.

Bills: LB737, LB753, LB788, LB913, LB1055, LB1195, LB1216, LB1256, LB429, LB721, LB722, LB727, LB743, LB745, LB749, LB778, LB787, LB365A, LB823, LB900, LB903, LB940, LB954, LB1127, LB1127A, LB1205, LB1240, LR293, LR296, LR422, LR505, LR507

Keywords: LB737, Olmstead, developmental disabilities, disability services, community-based services, integrated settings, DHHS, Department of Health and Human Services, stakeholder advisory committee, independent consultant, public hearing, legislative oversight, disability rights, community integration, housing, employment, education, transportation, community supports, self-advocacy

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:03:53.439> career young people to local well-paying career young people to local well-paying
• pay pay um<01:24:07.040> some<01:24:07.199> of<01:24:07.320> the<01:24:07.600><
• So I think if you go back to your districts and say the average pay is $552,000 per person and you say
• You're giving back, you know.
• <01:35:03.040> into corporations do pay into corporations do pay into that<01:35:05.119>

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• If we want to refer back to it, we can.
• school that the district's not paying school that the district's not paying for<00:07:31.520>
• We can go into the weeds about why you don't pay $1.12; you pay something else because you don't pay
• you don't pay an equalized rate because you don't pay an equalized rate you<00:20:50.400> pay
• As far as, first you've got to pay the state, then you've got to pay your local school.

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The Department of Education’s Bureau of School Finance provided an adequacy-funding training for Division II, led by Mark Mello. He walked the committee through the adequacy formula using Albany, Allenstown, and Alton as examples, explaining average daily membership, base adequacy aid, and differential aid for free/reduced-price meals, special education, and English language learners. He also noted a recent change requiring home-education differential aid and emphasized that these aid streams are generally unrestricted district funding rather than money tied to specific students or programs. A major focus was the ongoing litigation over the adequacy base amount and the statewide education property tax, or SWEPT. Mello explained the historical basis of the current base amount, the 2008 legislative report that set the original methodology, and the later court ruling that the adequacy amount should be $7,356, which is now before the Supreme Court. He also described how SWEPT currently raises a fixed statewide amount of $363 million and how that revenue is used to offset the state’s adequacy obligation. For the example towns, Albany and Allenstown receive state adequacy grants because their SWEPT revenue is below their calculated adequacy cost, while Alton is an excess SWEPT community because its local SWEPT revenue exceeds the cost of adequate education. The discussion then turned to the pending “excess SWEPT” issue in the Supreme Court and what would happen if excess collections had to be remitted to the state. Mello said the Department is preparing a hypothetical walkthrough and explained that, if the court upholds the Superior Court ruling, DRA would likely be directed to collect excess SWEPT. Members raised concerns about whether SWEPT must be used for educational purposes and about the cash-flow burden on towns if money had to move from municipalities to the state and then back to districts. Mello and members discussed possible administrative workarounds, such as credits against other state aid distributions, and noted that the committee would continue reviewing the mechanics if the court decision comes down during budget work.

Transcript Highlights:

• Going back to 2021 after Yuri, all of us were having a lot of discussions, particularly with back to
• back customers that $480 million.
• into their rate cases or back into some other recovery method. ...back into their rate cases or back
• And I finally had to go back three generations and pay for the probate and the wills because they were
• back whatever they invest to pay for that zero point two percent interest in order to keep the property

Bills: SB231, SB584, SB600, SB668, SB841, SB986, SB1003, SB1244, SB1625, SB1960, SB1963, SB1964, SB2026, SB2056, SB2368

Keywords: temporary emergency electric energy facility, temporary generation, emergency power, backup generation, mobile generator, portable generator, grid resilience, power outage restoration, transmission and distribution utility, TDU, Public Utility Commission of Texas, PUCT, Utilities Code Section 39.918, competitive bidding, lease authorization, emergency procurement, bulk power system, locational marginal pricing, reliability model, black start

Summary: The Senate Committee on Business and Commerce met with a quorum and first took up several pending and uncontested bills. It favorably reported SB 1405, SB 1762, SB 1977, SB 2077, SB 2148, and SB 1968, and also moved SB 2321 to the local and uncontested calendar. The committee then heard SB 819, which would change how the Public Utility Commission reviews proposed utility-scale solar and related interconnection projects. The committee substitute would shift the default so interconnection is allowed unless the PUC affirmatively prohibits it within 180 days, limit denial to cases where harm substantially outweighs benefits, remove public meeting requirements, retain setback and financial assurance provisions, add optional application materials such as national security and environmental information, and restore local control over county tax abatements. The substitute was adopted and SB 819 was favorably reported to the full Senate on a 7-3 vote. The committee then took up SB 231, focused on CenterPoint’s use of large emergency generators after Hurricane Beryl. Senator King explained that the original bill was intended to prevent customers from being charged for non-mobile generators that were leased at great cost and did not match the bill’s emergency-response purpose. CenterPoint’s Jason Ryan apologized for the company’s communication failures and said the company would make customers whole through a combination of rate reductions, foregone storm-cost recovery, and a donation of the 15 large generators to ERCOT for about two years to address a San Antonio-area reliability issue, with the company absorbing the associated costs. PUC Executive Director Connie Corona said the commission could enforce the agreement through its contested-case process. Public testimony included consumer and reliability advocates, one of whom argued utility-scale microgrids should be preserved as a policy option. SB 231 was left pending. The committee also heard SB 986, which would create an alternative process for routine Public Information Act requests so local governments can make initial redactions without sending every routine exception to the Attorney General, while preserving an appeal path and training requirements. Supporters said it would reduce backlog and speed access to records; opponents argued it would shift the burden to requesters and encourage delay. The AG’s office testified that the process could improve efficiency and still fit within current timelines if used promptly. SB 986 was left pending. Finally, SB 584 was briefly laid out to require consumer reporting agencies that buy data from others to ensure the information complies with Texas law on excluded items such as bankruptcies, judgments, and tax liens, and SB 600 was heard on heir property. SB 600’s substitute would strengthen notice, require an attorney ad litem, add an heir’s bill of rights, allow settlement conferences, and require fair-market-value sales protections; supporters said it would curb predatory partition practices, while opponents warned some provisions could burden or diminish minority heirs’ property rights. SB 584 and SB 600 were left pending after testimony.

Transcript Highlights:

• Bring it back to the committee. Bring it back to the committee. Any questions or comments?
• We were forced to take a back seat, but no more. We were forced to take a back seat, but no more.
• I pay every single bill.
• I pay every single bill.
• Finally, I did get a call back.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• More<00:23:38.400> pay,<00:23:38.720> less More pay, less More pay, less responsibility
• We are not backing down and we back.
• It pays off needs and services pays off.
• We are also filling<03:00:34.240> back<03:00:34.479> fill filling back fill filling back
• Got to get back in routine. Thank you. Got to get back in routine.

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Who's going to pay for than proven here. Who's going to pay for it?
• this bill back. this bill back.
• this be a luxury for those who can pay this be a luxury for those who can pay out<01:24:06.000> of
• <01:44:24.400> When that pays lifelong dividends. When that pays lifelong dividends.
• And I witness this ability to pay.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Wonderful to be back. I love my time in the legislature. Love coming back.
• back. I love my time in the legislature. back. I love my time in the legislature.
• to go back to playing football. to go back to playing football.
• back to get it going on the right track. back to get it going on the right track.
• Till we come back in. Yeah. So, Yep. in. Till we come back in. Yeah. So, Yep.

Keywords: 916, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It would pay for a hundred and seventy. six full-time employees.
• It would pay for a hundred and thirty-eight classified employees.
• I'm happy to pay the few cents per month that this would add to my bill.
• If you enjoy the service, then you'll have to pay a little bit of the fee.
• Streaming services would now not have to pay the franchise fee.

Bills: HB2838, HB2964, HB3213, SB924

Keywords: broadband, internet access, digital equity, tax reduction, government funding, rural counties, fiber-optic, state funding, infrastructure, digital divide, economic development, fiber-optic cable, excavation, utilities, civil penalties, municipal regulations, video services, regulation, public right-of-way, franchise authority

Transcript Highlights:

• We'll come back next year.
• Good to be back in Austin."
• And how are you going to get back?
• Back to the cost allocation.
• , to the CRES project back from 2010.

Keywords: 1185, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We’re paying them...” “We’re paying them approximately $700,000 a year now, a year.
• Are we paying them more or less in future, like moving forward?
• Are we paying them more annually than we were?
• I think at this time I'm going to yield back, Mr.
• So I guess I'll Going back, but I get the point for sure.

Summary: The committee reviewed three DHS out-of-state service contracts: a $690,000-plus sole-source contract for DCFS with Evident Change for maintenance and operation of the Child Welfare Structured Decision-Making practice hub; a $1.2 million sole-source contract for County Operations with Sifter Solutions to support a SNAP waiver compliance solution; and a $156,000 contract for Developmental Disabilities with Samaritan Integrative Services for psychiatric services at the Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center. The chair and staff explained the contracts and noted that the Evident Change and Sifter contracts were sole-source due to the proprietary nature of the systems or services involved. Most of the discussion focused on the Evident Change contract. Members questioned DCFS about long-term dependence on the vendor, the lack of a competitive bid, the absence of a clear off-ramp, and whether the state was paying more overall as the work was split into multiple contracts. DCFS said the contract before the committee was only for maintenance and operations of a web-based platform used daily for safety assessments and case planning, while a separate Evident Change contract covers case reviews, CQI work, and data management. The vendor said it was continuing to reduce its role and had begun off-ramp discussions, but members remained concerned that the state was too reliant on the vendor. Staff said the contract had to be approved by May 31 or the system could be turned off. The committee also discussed the Sifter Solutions contract, which supports Arkansas’s SNAP waiver pilot by providing a dynamic list of excluded products and a consumer app that scans barcodes and provides nutrition information. DHS said the waiver is intended to improve the nutritional value of SNAP benefits, that the contract is funded with remaining federal SNAP Nutrition Education dollars that would otherwise be returned, and that the University of Pennsylvania will conduct the evaluation at no cost. Members asked about the benefit to Arkansas, whether the app would include nutrition and budgeting information, and whether the state would own the application or need future renewals. DHS said the two-year term was intentionally aligned with the waiver period and that future procurement options could change. After discussion, the committee noted the items as reviewed and adjourned without objections or votes recorded in the transcript.

Transcript Highlights:

• Schools in our community, which back then was no small thing.
• The queue is still open; you can get back in the queue.
• We were paying an additional percentage on top of the employee contribution, so we were paying about
• Pay for recurring expenses. Hold on one second before I answer that question.
• Okay, as for are we using one-time dollars, we are using cash positions to pay.

Bills: SB1177, HB3705, SB1942, SB2026, SB1533, SB1327, SB2065, SB2155, SB2159

Keywords: education funding, mental health services, public safety, housing, state budget, tax credit, parental choice, private school, income tax, dental insurance, health care, medical necessity, insurance claims, dentist rights, military discharge, veterans, DD Form 214, confidentiality, grandchildren access, veteran burial

Transcript Highlights:

• yield back. yield back.
• They just can't pay for it. Hospitals are cutting back services.
• With that, I yield back. back. back.
• . back. back.
• I yield back. back. back. >> I<04:56:09.200> reserve.

Keywords: U.S. House of Representatives Floor Proceedings on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 1012, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• paying.
• <00:31:22.560> to<00:31:22.720> pay to pay to pay to pay to pay the<00:31:24.040>
• Yeah, we want them to pay that.
• And we can either pay now, or we can pay And we can either pay now, or we can pay later<00:33:11.360
• the ERISA's are going to refuse to pay the ERISA's are going to refuse to pay it. it. it.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Then, so in at one point in time, we received back in.
• I know that you use them probably in your back office.
• , would go back to This old system.
• We see the prices they're paying on some of these services.
• We're operating environment we're in today kind of back to challenges.

Keywords: 914, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I pay a mortgage, home insurance, and done significant upgrades. I pay insurance and taxes.
• Yeah, so the vote happened, right, back in 2020 for the tax rate election.
• Yeah, so the vote happened, right, back in 2020 for the tax rate election.
• They have to pay it. And so that's why they are separated.
• I would have to go back and check on that to be sure.

Bills: SB1331, SB1375, SB1443, SB1578, SB2251, SB2519, SB2553, SB2655, SB2764, SB2907, SB3030, SB3033, SB3035, SB3036, SB3037, SB3043, SB3047, SB3050, SB3051, SB3056, SB3057, SB3063, HB9, HB467, HB331, HB 1244, HB1399, HB2559, HB2730, HB3307, HJR1, HJR99, SB3048, SB3052, SB3053, SJR78, HB1327, HB2723

Keywords: civil service, firefighters, police officers, municipalities, local government, repeal, voter petition, health care, provider participation, continuation programs, population-based regulation, health care provider participation, Medicaid, hospital funding, voluntary compliance, mandatory payments, public health, healthcare program, county participation, nonpublic hospitals

Summary: The Committee on Local Government heard a series of local bills and public testimony focused on hospital districts, municipal management districts, local provider participation funds, manufactured housing, transit financing, development moratoriums, and property tax procedures. Early items included House Bill 467, which would help dissolve the defunct Maybank Kemp Hospital District and establish an Andrew Gibbs Memorial Nursing Endowment, and Senate Bill 3063, creating the Bio Bell Municipal Management District in Liberty County; both drew no public opposition and were left pending subject to call. The committee also heard House Bill 1327, extending the Harris County local provider participation fund through 2027, and Senate Bill 1375, extending Collin County’s LPPF authority, both presented as mechanisms to draw federal Medicaid matching funds for hospitals. A major portion of the meeting centered on Senate Bill 2764, which would require earlier notice to buyers of manufactured homes about how to convert a home from personal property to real property. Senator Cook described the bill as a consumer-information measure tied to displacement concerns at a mobile home park in her district, and a resident testified in support, saying the notice would help families make informed decisions. The committee also discussed Senate Bill 2519, a bill by Senator Bettencourt aimed at preventing local governments from shifting maintenance-and-operations tax revenue into debt-like uses and from changing the purpose of tax rate elections after voters approve them. Supporters argued it would protect taxpayers and preserve the separation between M&O and debt service, while opponents tied the bill to Austin’s Project Connect transit financing and warned it would disrupt an approved project and invite litigation. The committee heard and left pending several other bills, including House Bill 1244 on agricultural land ownership changes without reapplying for an ag exemption, House Bill 2559 on development moratoriums, and Senate Bill 2063 on unequal appraisal protests. Testimony on House Bill 2559 came from developers and builders who said moratoriums in Conroe had delayed projects and harmed buyers, while supporters of the bill said it would impose clearer limits and notice requirements. On Senate Bill 2063, the sponsor explained a committee substitute narrowing how market value evidence may be used in unequal appraisal appeals. The committee also considered multiple local district bills, including new MUDs and management districts in Montgomery, Denton, Fannin, Travis, Hays, and Williamson counties. At the end of the meeting, the committee took up pending business and voted out several measures, including House Bill 1244, House Bill 2559, House Bill 467, House Bill 1327, House Bill 1399, House Bill 2723, House Bill 2730, House Bill 3307, House Joint Resolution 99, and multiple district bills such as Senate Bills 3037, 3043, 3047, 3048, 3050, 3052, 3053, 3056, 3057, 3063, and others. Most were reported favorably, often with committee substitutes, and many were recommended for the local and uncontested calendar. Several bills, including the transit-related SB 2519 and the manufactured housing bill SB 2764, remained pending subject to call after testimony closed.

Transcript Highlights:

• That would drive you from New York City straight to San Francisco and back to New York City and back
• Our members have to pay to fix it. It's not the pole attacher that pays to fix it.
• It comes down to who pays and what do we pay.
• Welcome back.
• We have to pay our bills, we have to pay our utility, our employees.

Transcript Highlights:

• Senator Carla Nelson. these pensions in my back in my in my these pensions in my back in my in my portfolio
• to pay current sufficient contributions to pay current and<00:21:11.600> future<00:21:12.080><
• And that costs about 0.95% of pay.
• <00:25:26.640> so 1.75% that cost is about 1% of pay so 1.75% that cost is about 1% of pay
• 1.9 and that costs about 0.95% to pay 1.9 and that costs about 0.95% to pay and<00:25:50.200>

Keywords: 1187, senate, all