Transcript Highlights:

• I'm an executive committee member with Impact Minnesota for the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless,
• </c> matters for Minnesota. matters for Minnesota.
• I know you've heard from Minnesota some Minnesota-specific data.
• I know you've heard from Minnesota some Minnesota-specific data.
• </c> Minnesota some Minnesota specific data. Minnesota some Minnesota specific data.

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> call it Minnesota. call it Minnesota.
• </c> Water in Minnesota.
• </c> of wild rice in Minnesota. of wild rice in Minnesota.
• In<01:15:01.840><c> Minnesota</c><01:15:02.520><c> In</c><01:15:02.720><c> Minnesota</c> In Minnesota
• In Minnesota In Minnesota In Minnesota In<01:15:05.120><c> Minnesota</c> In Minnesota In Minnesota snow

Committee: Senate State and Local Government

Transcript Highlights:

• a a band-aid on a shotgun<02:03:16.280><c> wound.
• a Minnesota license, they've done what they were supposed to do in Minnesota and they're visiting Mississippi
• ><c> come</c><03:50:15.800><c> here</c><03:50:15.960><c> and</c><03:50:16.040><c> they</c> Minnesota
• So, would you agree that if a person has a license from, uh, let's say, Minnesota, Minnesota, that means
• , Minnesota, Minnesota, that<04:01:32.960><c> means</c><04:01:33.160><c> they</c><04:01:33.320><c> had

Transcript Highlights:

• for the special education circuit breaker, both tuition and transportation, $150 minimum per pupil aid
• We've never $50 minimum per pupil aid, which is unprecedented.
• We've never, in my recollection, ever provided that much minimum aid.
• We're also continuing to provide funding through other streams: rural school aid, our transportation
• , minimum aid, reimbursements for regional school transportation, special education circuit breaker.

Summary: The Senate took up a long series of FY26 budget amendments during debate on the Ways and Means budget bill. Early on, an amendment on debt service and the Debt Affordability Committee was rejected. A major education amendment offered by Senator Lewis and supported by Senator Comerford was then adopted; it directs DESE to begin a public process, with $200,000 in funding, to review and recommend updates to the Chapter 70 municipal contribution formula and related school funding structures as the Student Opportunity Act nears full implementation. Senators argued that school districts across the Commonwealth are under severe fiscal strain, citing rising special education, transportation, health insurance, and Proposition 2 1/2 pressures, and that the current formulas are increasingly out of alignment with local needs. The chamber also considered and voted on many other amendments, with several adopted and several rejected. Adopted amendments included measures on public payroll transparency, regional EMS, a small business group purchasing cooperative pilot, simplifying Medicaid eligibility determinations, and early education background checks. Rejected amendments included proposals on first-time homebuyer savings accounts, population change studies, competitiveness studies, emergency contract reform, natural gas cost containment, a $200 per pupil aid increase, regional school reimbursement increases, a Foundation Budget Review Commission-related study, special education service studies, welfare benefit audits, short-term capital gains, and an MBTA sustainability plan. Senator Durant also spoke in support of Amendment 766, which would create a crumbling concrete assistance fund for homeowners affected by pyrrhotite, with tax-exempt aid, federal funding applications, audits, and a stakeholder working group. Near the end of debate, Senator D. DiDomenico praised the Shannon Grant program for gang violence prevention, and the Senate adopted a final corrective amendment containing technical fixes and local earmarks. The bill was then ordered to a third reading and, after a roll call on engrossment, passed to be engrossed by a vote of 38-2. The Senate also approved a motion to adjourn to the following Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. and recessed in memory of Yaron Lashinsky, Sarah Lynn Milgram, and Leslie A. Feeney.

Transcript Highlights:

• House Bill 425, an act to amend Title 14 of the Delaware Code relating to employees and salary supplements
• Votega, Senator Hanson, and others, An Act to amend Title 30 of the Delaware Code relating to state aid
• Delaware Code relating to state aid to municipalities for streets.
• to the Department of Transportation, and it enhances DelDOT's visibility into how municipal street aid
• It also continues oversight of municipal street aid expenditures while reducing redundant processes.

Summary: The Senate received a large number of House communications and committee reports, including several nominations and many bills and resolutions returned from House committees or passed by the House. Committee reports covered a wide range of topics, including education, health, judiciary, finance, housing, transportation, emergency management, and business/technology. The Senate also assigned several measures to committees for further consideration and noted upcoming committee meetings. The chamber confirmed three nominations by roll call: Michael T. Scuse to the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, J. Eric Firewold to the University of Delaware Board of Trustees, and Joan F. Coker to the University of Delaware Board of Trustees. The Senate also passed Consent Calendar 66, which included Senate Concurrent Resolution 223 on DIA broadcast access for playoff and championship games and House Concurrent Resolution 149 designating June 12, 2026, as Loving Day in Delaware. Members discussed Loving Day and the importance of recognizing interracial marriage rights, with Senator Huxstable, Senator Buckson, and Senator Townsend offering remarks. On the floor, the Senate passed House Bill 141, requiring a firearm responsibilities notice for gun purchasers, after debate over gun safety and industry burden; House Substitute 1 for House Bill 200, as amended, expanding insurance coverage for HIV prevention medications PrEP and PEP; House Bill 426, modernizing municipal street-aid reporting; and Senate Resolution 21, directing a study of portable solar generation devices and related safety and utility issues. The Senate also passed Consent Agenda O, a large package of bills covering topics such as money transmission and stablecoins, nursing advancement, pilot licenses, commerce and trade, subaqueous lands, driver’s license loss due to medical issues, residential speed limits, electronic bidding, family court jurisdiction, agency regulations, technical corrections to multiple local charters, and other measures. The Senate then recessed until June 25, 2026.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:02:19.760><c> Sarah</c><00:02:20.280><c> Thorne</c><00:02:20.599><c> a</c> Mia oata legislative Aid
• Sarah Thorne a Mia oata legislative Aid Sarah Thorne a legislative<00:02:21.160><c> Aid</c><00:02:21.360
• you've</c><00:02:21.519><c> already</c><00:02:21.720><c> met</c><00:02:22.160><c> pton</c> legislative Aid
• you've already met pton legislative Aid you've already met pton Hagood<00:02:22.879><c> and</c><00:02
• Referrals and re-referrals are made in accordance with the supplemental orders of the day that may be

Summary: The Senate convened, called the roll, and approved the previous day’s journal. Members then made several introductions recognizing visitors in the gallery, including staff and guests connected to tourism, a group from the Luso-American Development Foundation from Portugal, and students and administrators from Kahakai Elementary School. Senator Kim also introduced four University of Hawaiʻi Shidler College of Business Travel Industry Management students and their academic advisor and professor. Senator DeCoite spoke about Tourism Day at the Capitol, thanking HTA, HBCB, CNH, and Kilohana for their participation and youth-focused tourism programs, and later introduced the FLAD visitors from Lisbon, Portugal. The clerk reported Governor’s Message Nos. 713 to 717 transmitting nominations to boards and commissions, and Governor’s Message No. 718 withdrawing a nomination to the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund board. The Senate also received Senate Concurrent Resolutions 51 to 67 and Senate Resolutions 33 to 51 for referral to committee, which were ordered referred. The Chair announced that the deadline to file Senate Concurrent Resolutions and Senate Resolutions with the Clerk’s Office was 4:30 p.m. that day. At the close of business, Senator Wai moved that the Senate stand in recess, leaving the journal open until 4:30 p.m. for receipt of resolutions and reconvene at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, March 10. Senator Dort seconded the motion, and the Senate recessed without objection.

Transcript Highlights:

• conduct these procedural reviews of county treasurers' offices, make findings and recommendations, and aid
• conduct these procedural reviews of county treasurer's offices make findings and recommendations and aid
• you the legislature in holding ...make findings and recommendations and aid you, the legislature, in
• next bill that I think would just go through fast and just vote on it basically, the 2500 is a supplemental
• . ...year, but let's get these resources to you as quickly as possible with the supplemental.

Bills: HB2352 , HB2388 , HB2418 , HB2499 , HB2500 , HB2579 , HB2584 , HB2804

Committees: House Appropriations , House House Appropriations Committee of Reference

Keywords: funding, auditor general, county treasurer, procedural reviews, state appropriations, HB2388, Arizona Commerce Authority, ACA, small modular reactor, SMR, nuclear energy, advanced nuclear, data center, data centers, economic development, study, appropriation, general fund, jobs, wages

Transcript Highlights:

• And MAGA Republicans in Congress have voted to gut funding for food aid and health care.
• Period when we had the unexpectedly strong revenues, there were some supplemental payments to the, or
• And then, secondly, we have really got to come to the aid of our counties, who are going to bear a lot
• We all remember at the beginning of last year, supplemental DOJ...
• We all remember the beginning of last year: supplemental DOJ funding, of course, the fires, which were

Committee: House Budget

Transcript Highlights:

• The legislation only covers staffing agencies for nurses and nurse aides.
• </c><01:28:27.480><c> nursing</c> the role of the supplemental nursing the role of the supplemental nursing
• Sometimes that happens with nurses, aides.
• </c><02:05:02.239><c> on</c> do you're not just putting Band-Aids on do you're not just putting Band-Aids
• </c> like you said a lot more than Band-Aids like you said a lot more than Band-Aids on<02:05:21.199>

Committee: House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services

Transcript Highlights:

• What we’re doing, we’re supplementing that program.
• We've seen moratoriums with building aid previously.
• But that's not the answer in our school building aid. What have we done?
• Building aid is consolidation. We're going to have to.
• </c><04:19:06.319><c> Louisiana</c> Connecticut Minnesota Louisiana Connecticut Minnesota Louisiana Pennsylvania

Summary: The committee heard testimony on House Bill 362, which would give the Department of Education rulemaking authority over educator licensing and testing requirements, including professional education assessments. Representative Ladd argued the bill is meant to preserve New Hampshire’s higher standards for teacher preparation and to avoid lowering requirements for licensed educators, while also allowing flexibility for career and technical education (CTE) instructors who may have strong industry experience but not traditional classroom credentials. Members discussed whether the bill should preserve industry-recognized credentials and basic academic skills testing while exempting CTE teachers from content exams; DOE Director Steven Appy said an amendment would clarify that the bill applies to initial licenses, exempt CTE teachers from the content-testing requirement, and keep current administrative practice on basic skills and industry credentials in statute. The committee also noted that an executive session would be scheduled later, likely the following week, to act on the bills and amendment. The committee then took up House Bill 90, dealing with the definition of part-time teachers. Representative Ladd explained that the bill is intended to let university and community college faculty teach limited hours in high school concurrent enrollment settings, especially in subjects like math and STEM where some schools cannot find locally certified teachers with a master’s degree. He said the measure is designed to expand student access to college-level courses, not to replace fully certified teachers or reduce standards, and emphasized that the bill is limited to faculty employed or contracted by the University System of New Hampshire or the Community College System of New Hampshire, with criminal background checks and ethics/conduct rules still applying. No votes were taken during the hearing, and the discussion ended with the understanding that further action would come in executive session.

Transcript Highlights:

• The legislature then makes a supplemental appropriation each year to cover the costs that are over that
• And that's in each supplemental, first supplemental and second supplemental funding.
• So what does that mean for supplemental preparation needs in the in the past as well as what might be
• In this case, supplemental budgets can at times be down net. They can at times be up.
• It looks like this time the supplemental budget will be up at the maintenance level.

Committee: Senate Ways & Means

Summary: The Ways and Means Committee met for a work session and first heard an economic and revenue forecast update from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. The forecast described moderate U.S. growth, elevated near-term inflation, weak Washington employment growth in 2026, continued personal income growth, and slower housing permit activity. Revenues were revised up about $105 million for the current biennium and down about $185 million for the next biennium, with uncertainty tied largely to tariffs, federal policy, and the recent federal shutdown. Members asked about the outlook for February, income inequality, and housing affordability; the presenter said the forecast does not measure income distribution and that housing permit data does not directly address affordability. The committee then received a caseload forecast update. Most forecasts were unchanged or nearly unchanged, but several programs moved: Washington College Grant caseloads rose, TANF and Working Connections changed due to immigration-related assumptions and updated policy timing, and long-term care caseloads increased. The largest change was in Medicaid low-income adults, where federal H.R. 1 was projected to reduce caseloads significantly through narrower non-citizen eligibility, community engagement requirements, and shorter eligibility periods. Members raised concerns about downstream effects such as uncompensated care and higher premiums, and the presenter noted some effects could be delayed depending on federal implementation guidance. A wildfire funding and 2025 fire season update followed. Staff explained the state’s base wildfire suppression funding and estimated a supplemental need of about $139 million in state funds. DNR reported a busy fire year with lower snowpack, drought, more than 1,100 DNR jurisdictional fires, about 76,000 acres burned, 31 aircraft used, 690 DNR firefighters, and 350 out-of-state resources brought in; the agency said its suppression effectiveness improved to 94.1% of fires kept under 10 acres. Questions focused on National Guard use, aircraft counts, and the higher number of residences lost in complex fires. The committee then heard a budget preview showing the near general fund outlook worsening to about a $4.3 billion ending balance by fiscal year 2029 after maintenance-level costs, while noting that policy items such as wildfire costs and liability account decisions were not yet built in. The final major topic was the state’s tort liability and self-insurance account, where the Risk Manager reported a sharp rise in indemnity costs, from $223 million in fiscal year 2023 to nearly $500 million in fiscal year 2025, driven largely by DCYF claims, especially sex abuse cases. Defense costs also rose as the Attorney General’s Office relied more on special assistant attorneys general to handle volume. Members asked about older claims, comparisons with other states, insurance coverage, and whether costs might decline if the AG’s office hires more attorneys. The committee then shifted to water policy, hearing from tribal leaders, Ecology, and the Washington Water Trust about statewide water shortages, declining snowpack, drought, overappropriated basins, and the need for more storage, recharge, conservation, and enforcement. Tribal witnesses emphasized water sovereignty, salmon habitat, and the need for tribes to be involved early in legislation, while Ecology described major projects in the Odessa and Yakima basins and the challenges of climate change and legal constraints. No votes were taken during the work session.

Transcript Highlights:

• Their heroes remain in Minnesota. Stories are fading.
• We expanded our services to rural Minnesota.
• Power, Minnesota National Guard, CBSO's, U.S.
• We seek continued support of the Minnesota legislature.
• within Minnesota.

Committee: House Veterans and Military Affairs Division

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm Minnesota State Susan Brower.
• </c> aids in the, um, recruitment of workers. aids in the, um, recruitment of workers.
• Minnesota. Minnesota.
• </c> to the state of Minnesota. to the state of Minnesota.
• </c> spending to the state of Minnesota. spending to the state of Minnesota.

Bills: HF3004 , HF3663

Committee: House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Human Services reported instances of improper benefit payments to employees from the Disaster Supplemental
• documented business purpose for items such as power tools and batteries, night vision goggles, first aid
• Thank you. night vision goggles, first aid supplies, home decor, camping supplies, clothing, and grocery

Committee: All LEGISLATIVE JOINT AUDITING

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:09:53.760><c> High</c> storage protections to Minnesota High storage protections to Minnesota
• for Minnesota to protect Minnesota.
• </c> Minnesota for Minnesota to protect Minnesota for Minnesota to protect Minnesota.
• Minnesota. Minnesota.
• Um we also have here in Minnesota.

Committee: Senate Judiciary and Public Safety

Transcript Highlights:

• critical factors are, and what we need to do to actually fix it, as opposed to coming up with a Band-Aid
• critical factors are, and what we need to do to actually fix it, as opposed to coming up with a Band-Aid
• critical factors, and what do we need to do to actually fix it, as opposed to coming up with a Band-Aid
• It's SNAP, food assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• First, in the food assistance, main food assistance program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Committee: All ALC-HOSPITAL, MEDICAID, & DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES STUDY SUBCOMMITTEE

Summary: The committee first heard from Arkansas Workforce Connections and the Department of Commerce about a package of nine federal waivers submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor under WIOA and Perkins. The officials said the waivers would give Arkansas more flexibility over governance, funding, affiliate centers, and program rules, and that the state expects a response by August 29. They said the package is modeled more closely on Louisiana’s approved waivers than on states with more denials, and outlined a possible transition plan if approved, including a transition committee, policy changes, board training, staffing, and follow-up legislation. Members asked about whether the waivers would affect services for people with disabilities; the officials said not directly, because the waivers focus on WIOA Titles I and III rather than vocational rehabilitation under Title IV. The committee then focused on “benefit cliffs” and work disincentives in safety-net programs. Researchers from the Georgia Center for Opportunity and the Alliance for Opportunity explained how earnings loss rates from taxes and benefit phaseouts can exceed 50%, 75%, or even 100%, making additional work or promotions financially unattractive. They presented Arkansas-specific modeling showing multiple cliffs and stacking effects across SNAP, Medicaid/CHIP, LIHEAP, WIC, reduced-price lunches, child care, and housing assistance, and argued that child care and health coverage create some of the largest disincentives. They suggested policy options including SNAP demonstration waivers, child care subsidy redesign, TANF outcome-based funding, Medicaid premium assistance and health savings accounts, and a possible small-scale pilot to test a more integrated safety net. Heather Webb of Arkansas Family Alliance and Molly Palmer of the Heart of Arkansas United Way added testimony from families, employers, and nonprofits. Webb described a working mother who lost Medicaid and a housing subsidy as her income rose, saying the cliff left her stressed despite earning more. Palmer said Arkansas’s ALICE population often works multiple jobs and still cannot meet basic living costs, and that employers report recruitment and retention problems when workers face benefit cliffs. Members asked for more data on savings and program impacts, and the witnesses said they could provide Arkansas-specific modeling and scenario analysis. The meeting ended with discussion of public-private partnerships, employer-sponsored insurance premium assistance, marriage penalties, and the need to coordinate or consolidate fragmented programs before adjourning.

Transcript Highlights:

• This hospital is the highest recipient of Medi-Cal supplemental payments.
• The hospital is the highest recipient of Medi-Cal supplemental payments.
• And was this enough, even for the Band-Aid solution?
• It will continue this kind of emergency stopgap measure and the one-time band-aid kind of aid.

Committee: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review

Transcript Highlights:

• Welcome very much to the Minnesota Senate Labor Committee.
• </c><00:05:24.000><c> We're</c> Minnesota Senate Labor Committee.
• We're Minnesota Senate Labor Committee.
• And we're talking more than a Minnesota.
• Travis Berth, who is here with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa.

Committee: Senate Labor

Transcript Highlights:

• It highlights those differences between DFA and it also includes our capital outlay and supplemental
• What LFC did as a supplemental, they put that needed funding into that supplemental for them and also
• You took some money out of something that was a supplemental appropriation.
• Basically, the LFC recommendation as a supplemental for FY25 to get them whole in that category.
• We need that supplemental to be whole, to operate for the remainder of the fiscal year, for sure.

Committee: House House Appropriations & Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• [Music] Good morning and welcome to the inaugural meeting of the Minnesota House Commerce and Policy
• </c> happens here in the state of Minnesota happens here in the state of Minnesota and<00:11:47.480><
• I represent Blaine, Ham Lake, and Columbus in the Minnesota House.
• Minnesota, I think, well, I know they didn't do those things.
• </c><01:06:07.359><c> will</c> the compacts but I think Minnesota will the compacts but I think Minnesota

Committee: House Commerce Finance and Policy