Transcript Highlights:

• I serve as the Chief People Officer with the Human Resource Management Services Division of the Office
• of Management and Budget.
• I serve as the Chief People Officer with the Human Resource Management Services Division of the Office
• In Section 407.0504, notifying Human Resource Management Services, we removed the requirement to submit
• I'm a manager of addiction treatment with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Summary: The Administrative Rules Committee met on June 11 and first approved the March 12, 2026 minutes by voice vote. It then granted the Board of Medicine an extension of time to implement rules tied to recent legislation, including North Dakota’s participation in the physician assistant licensure compact and a new physician nutrition continuing education requirement. The Board said it was waiting on compact rules and fee information before finalizing its own changes. The committee heard a lengthy presentation from the Office of Management and Budget on broad personnel rule revisions, including salary administration, recruitment, leave, sick leave, funeral leave, service awards, appeals, and shared leave. OMB said the changes modernize HR language and implement recent legislation such as enhanced annual leave for hard-to-fill positions and new hire leave. Members questioned the hard-to-fill leave provisions, but OMB and counsel said those standards come from statute, not the rules. The committee also heard and accepted rule packages from the Lottery, the Board of Examiners for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, the State Electrical Board, the Industrial Commission, PERS, and Health and Human Services, with each agency describing mostly technical, clarifying, or statutory-conforming changes and noting the public notice and comment process. The most significant action came during the Gaming Commission rules presentation. After questioning whether the commission had authority to raise the poker tournament buy-in limit from $300 to $1,500, members moved to void Section 99-01.3-09-01 on the ground that the agency lacked statutory authority for that change. The motion passed on a roll call vote. The committee also discussed several gaming-related issues, including online raffles, kiosk use, advertising restrictions, and the broader policy question of whether charities should be allowed to own bars, but took no further formal action on those topics.

Transcript Highlights:

• We already manage most... ...second only to orthopedic physicians for these conditions.
• PT and OT services.
• So we decided to organize a union.
• I've seen it firsthand: we are losing our right to organize in this country.
• While the NLRB is broken, we must maintain a way to organize and protect workers.

Summary: The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee heard testimony on several bills. SB 6152 would add physical and occupational therapists as attending providers in workers’ compensation claims. Supporters said it would reduce delays, improve access to care, and speed return to work; opponents, including the Washington State Medical Association, retail and business groups, and L&I, raised concerns about diagnosis, scope of practice, network enrollment, implementation time, and the $1.9 million fiscal note from accident and medical aid accounts. The committee also heard SB 5437, which would prohibit non-compete agreements and clarify non-solicitation rules. The sponsor and labor and physician groups supported ending non-competes as anti-competitive and harmful to worker mobility, while business, banking, and clinic representatives argued non-competes protect investments, confidential information, and patient/customer relationships and asked for narrower changes. The committee then heard SB 6058, which would give L&I discretion over whether to investigate wage complaints and would toll civil statutes of limitation when a complaint is filed. The sponsor said it would better match agency resources, and testimony was entirely supportive. SB 5944 would require language access provider compensation bargaining to include missed or canceled appointments and make CBAs prevail over conflicting agency policies; the sponsor and union representatives said it would create consistency across agencies, with no opposition testimony. SB 6039 would modernize L&I communications by allowing electronic notices while preserving a non-electronic option; supporters called it a permissive modernization, while worker advocates warned email could be missed and could burden vulnerable workers, though L&I said the bill preserves choice and has no fiscal impact. Finally, the committee heard SB 6117, which would place workers and employers not covered by the NLRA under PERC jurisdiction if federal law no longer applies, with card-check and secret-ballot procedures and interest arbitration provisions. Supporters said it would create a state backstop if federal labor enforcement fails and protect workers’ organizing rights; opponents from agriculture, business, and small business groups warned it was too broad, could sweep in agriculture and small businesses, and could weaken secret-ballot protections and disrupt harvest operations. The sponsor closed by saying the bill is intended to create a clear framework where federal jurisdiction is absent. No votes or executive actions were taken in the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• DCF contracts for case management, out-of-home services, and other services with CBCs.
• , I'm sorry, and that the family requires ongoing case management services.
• the family requires ongoing case management services.
• organizations, to deliver a variety of these services.
• from case management to additional support. ...who provide a variety of services from case management

Summary: The Human Services Subcommittee held its first meeting of the term and heard introductory remarks from the chair, vice chair, ranking member, and members, who broadly described their interest in child welfare, mental health, aging services, homelessness, and agency accountability. The chair then outlined the subcommittee’s jurisdiction, including child welfare, mental health and substance abuse safety net services, domestic violence, developmental disabilities, elder services, and child support, and introduced the Department of Children and Families (DCF) as the first agency panel for the term. DCF presented an implementation update on HB 7089, a 2024 law aimed at increasing accountability and transparency for community-based care (CBC) lead agencies that deliver most child welfare services under contract. The department said the bill was prompted by forensic examinations that found problems such as noncompetitive procurement, related-party transactions, excessive executive compensation, and weak financial oversight. DCF described new contract requirements and monitoring tools covering board governance and annual training, conflict-of-interest disclosures, financial penalties for noncompliance, fidelity bond requirements, limits on direct service provision by lead agencies, related-party procurement rules, procurement thresholds, real-property approvals, compensation caps, expanded public reporting, and a new Future of Child Protection and Funding Work Group. DCF reported that some lead agencies had completed required board training, others were still on schedule, and two agencies exceeding the direct-service threshold had been referred to the Auditor General. Members asked DCF about the reasons for the bill, the impact on children, the work group’s regional representation, aging-out youth, the Embrace Families transition, board training requirements, and whether enforcement actions had been taken. DCF said the bill was intended to protect funds for children and families and improve oversight, and clarified that the Central Florida lead agency contract was awarded through competitive procurement rather than an absorption. DCF also said the board training was designed to be meaningful but not overly burdensome, with timing left partly to lead agencies as they implement the new requirements. The committee then heard from two CBC leaders, who generally supported the accountability goals of HB 7089 and said their agencies had already addressed most of the new governance and disclosure requirements. They reported that board training had been completed or was being scheduled, but both agencies said the fidelity bond requirement has been difficult or impossible to obtain in the market as written, though they were able to secure the separate performance bond. The CBC witnesses also warned that recruiting providers is increasingly difficult, especially for higher-acuity children and group-home placements, due to limited provider supply, regulatory burden, insurance costs, and rising risk. They said these pressures are contributing to budget deficits in some areas and urged lawmakers to consider the funding model, insurance and indemnification issues, and the risk of overregulation reducing provider participation.

Transcript Highlights:

• Chair of the Governmental Organization Committee, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
• I'm the Secretary of our Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency.
• We are the state's largest manager of affordable housing, with 35,000 units under management.
• Agency to better deploy homelessness services.
• better deploy homelessness services.

Summary: The joint hearing focused on Governor Newsom’s 2025 reorganization plan to split the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency into two new agencies: a Business and Consumer Services Agency and a California Housing and Homelessness Agency. Secretary Tamika Moss and department leaders from Consumer Affairs, Cannabis Control, DFPI, and Alcoholic Beverage Control said the business-side reorganization would sharpen consumer protection and regulatory oversight without increasing licensee fees or office-space needs. Members generally supported the concept, but several raised concerns about the timing relative to the budget process, the May Revision, and whether the new structure would add costs or disrupt legal and regulatory work. Public commenters from industry groups largely supported the business-side proposal. The second half of the hearing examined the proposed Housing and Homelessness Agency and a new Housing Development and Finance Committee intended to streamline affordable housing funding. Moss, HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez, and CalHFA’s Rebecca Franklin argued the reorganization would reduce fragmentation, speed approvals, improve compliance and asset management, and better coordinate housing, homelessness, and civil rights functions. They said CalHFA’s statutory and financial independence would remain intact, that the proposal would not affect existing homelessness programs administered by HCD, and that the plan would be phased in over several years, with the new agencies and committee expected to become operational by July 2026. Members pressed on whether the plan would truly create a one-stop shop, how it would interact with tax credits and bonds outside the Governor’s control, whether it would include a single application and unified inspections, and how it would address Los Angeles homelessness oversight and federal uncertainties such as tariffs and Section 8 changes. Developer witnesses strongly backed the housing proposal, describing the current system as slow, opaque, and costly. Margaret Miller of the John Stewart Company and Jeffrey Morgan of CHISPA gave examples of projects delayed or lost because multiple funding sources required separate applications, awards, and closings; both said a cabinet-level housing secretary and a consolidated funding process could save time and money and produce more units. Public advocates including Housing California, the California Housing Partnership, and the California Housing Consortium supported the concept but stressed that success would depend on implementation, adequate funding, transparency, and broader coordination with tax credit and bond programs. No formal votes were taken; the hearing was informational, and the committees heard testimony and questions on the proposal.

Transcript Highlights:

• >> Chair: HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE WILL COME TO ORDER.
• A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION.
• WE ARE A HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION, NOT A TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATION.
• EVERYTHING FROM MANAGING WORKFLOWS TO INVOICING.
• THESE ARE ALL THE LEADING ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> complexity that we know how to manage. complexity that we know how to manage.
• So any automation would be in service of speed, but we still would be managing those components carefully
• So any automation would be in service of speed, but we still would be managing those components carefully
• So any automation would be in service of speed, but we still would be managing those components carefully
• </c><01:30:28.800><c> or</c> services is uh business services or services is uh business services or

Committee: Senate Jobs and Economic Development

Transcript Highlights:

• My name is Mesa Sebert, and I am the Neighbor Services Outreach Manager at Second Harvest Heartland Food
• services to the community.
• services to the community.
• services to the community.
• I serve as the manager of food is medicine strategy with Fairview Health Services.

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm the advocacy organizer and volunteer manager at the Aliveness Project.
• The HIV community in Minnesota is anxious. 2024 saw multiple HIV/AIDS service organizations close, leaving
• The HIV community in Minnesota is anxious. 2024 saw multiple HIV/AIDS service organizations close, leaving
• The HIV community in Minnesota is anxious. 2024 saw multiple HIV/AIDS service organizations close, leaving
• </c><00:40:44.560><c> gaps</c> needed to fill major service gaps needed to fill major service gaps organizations

Committees: Senate Health and Human Services , Senate Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:22:01.600><c> service</c><00:22:01.919><c> provider</c> case management service provider case
• These add financial management services, community first services and supports, unlicensed HCBS organizations
• These add financial management services, community first services and supports, unlicensed HCBS organizations
• These add financial management services, community first services and supports, unlicensed HCBS organizations
• Withdrawal management services are medical services, and these provisions would create a new precedent

Transcript Highlights:

• We have managed care and fee for service.
• I think, where programs have been rolled into the managed care service delivery model over time.
• of of our managed care service delivery model.
• under the age of 20 years old, and that's done through some dental managed care organizations and if
• We do have this available on our website, but this outlines our managed care organizations, where they

Committee: House Appropriations

Transcript Highlights:

• That is a management decision. That's a policy decision.
• But I think this helps management, the new management, come in and say, yes, we want to look at the But
• I think this helps management, the new management, come in and say, yes, we want to look at the past
• , diversion programs, and other rehabilitative services.
• So it's not just being self-reported by community-based organizations.

Committee: Senate Joint Legislative Audit

Transcript Highlights:

• So the larger the organization like our Positions that existed in those organizations.
• those organizations.
• It really supports critical activities and services.
• We can't manage what we can't measure.
• More than a dozen of these provide environmental protection services additionally and help manage and

Transcript Highlights:

• , minerals management, water recreation, or parks and management.
• It is also one of the major sources of funding for forest management, along with the Forest Management
• um along with the forest management um along with the forest management<00:09:38.000><c> investment<
• </c><00:19:05.080><c> Minnesota's</c> to protecting and managing Minnesota's to protecting and managing
• </c><01:32:30.560><c> uh</c> various joint Powers organizations uh various joint Powers organizations

Committee: Senate Environment, Climate, and Legacy

Transcript Highlights:

• Water managers are engaged now.
• We have close relationships with our Forest Service partners, our Bureau of Land Management partners,
• and the National Park Service.
• Wildland Fire Service. So let me hit on the first one, which was the United States Forest Service.
• Wildfire Service.

Transcript Highlights:

• Less time-sensitive organs, organs on perfusion... ...to use lights and sirens.
• Organ donation is on the rise...
• Organ transport is a secondary mission behind 9-1-1 emergencies, as it should be.
• to transport organs through the recent license as outlined in this legislation.
• Our organization is contracted with weekly donor services.

Bills: H4796 , H4838

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Public Health

Keywords: organ transplant, emergency vehicle, transportation, medical personnel, regulation, organs, menopause, perimenopause, healthcare access, female health, public health, medical education, workplace policies, discrimination, accommodation

Transcript Highlights:

• For us to be effective, we need to be outside of an organization and looking.
• These service plazas are a long-term public asset.
• All of those things, past performance... ...or replacing a service plaza.
• plazas had traditionally been managed was centralized.
• Megan is the program manager.

Committee: Senate Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight

Transcript Highlights:

• Act quite clearly requires that even in states that have managed care, if the managed care organization
• managed care organization quite clearly requires that even in states that have managed care if the managed
• So the managed care organizations were never paid for these changes in scope, and we owed it regardless
• And so when you move claims, when you move services from fee-for-service into managed care, there's no
• Primary care case management is a common service in other states.

Summary: The committee heard a budget presentation on the Division of Medicaid within the Department of Health and Welfare, including an overview of the division’s five programs, staffing, spending trends, and the large share of the budget that goes to trust and benefit payments. Ms. Williamson explained the difference between ongoing and one-time enhancements, the role of population forecast adjustments, and why the fiscal year 2026 and 2027 numbers change significantly. Members asked about the growth in the budget, the FMAP match rate, the impact of provider rate changes, and the shift of some positions into Medicaid from other divisions after last year’s reorganization. A major topic was House Bill 345 and related budget changes, including the hospital assessment fund alignment, the 4% provider rate reduction, and the effect on Medicaid expansion and other populations. The committee discussed the decline in expansion enrollment, rising costs in traditional Medicaid populations, and the governor’s recommendation to offset part of the 2027 increase with additional reductions. Members raised concerns about access to care, especially for dental, behavioral health, developmental disability, and home- and community-based services, while the deputy director said the department is trying to contain costs through prior authorization, fraud and abuse work, and policy changes. The committee also focused on the MMIS replacement project, which is in year four of a five-year procurement and is funded through dedicated and federal dollars tied to milestones. Another significant item was estate recovery, where the department requested funding to replace an outdated case management system and add contractor support to address a backlog of roughly 20,000 cases; members questioned the return on investment and asked for more detail on the software and staffing split. The deputy director also explained the federally qualified health center reconciliation issue, saying the state had not been properly paying change-in-scope amounts and is now using a new process with interim payments and later reconciliation. In addition, lawmakers asked about program integrity staffing, the use of AI, and whether the department could better target fraud, waste, and abuse investigations. The deputy director said the department is reviewing AI use cautiously and sees opportunities for it in claims review and anomaly detection, but emphasized that the current request is for dedicated receipt authority rather than general funds. No formal votes were taken in the excerpt, but the committee received the presentation, asked extensive questions, and was told that some follow-up information would be provided later.

Transcript Highlights:

• . organizations. organizations.
• </c> service or who received the services. service or who received the services.
• Services. Services.
• </c><01:04:25.600><c> That</c> add a service, to manage a grant.
• That add a service, to manage a grant.

Committee: House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Practitioner development disability service president, organized advocate person, development, to the
• organization, a person, mental health organization, advocate's person, brain injuries area, or agency
• services required by law, be such a special service to be sufficient to the minimum standards determined
• The section lists emergency functions and services, including fire service, police service, medical and
• health service, search and rescue service, logistics, public welfare, public utilities, debris removal

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

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:04:27.280><c> organization</c><00:04:27.960><c> for</c><00:04:28.199><c> those</c> management organization
• for those management organization for those smaller<00:04:29.560><c> um</c><00:04:29.759><c> um</c><
• </c> creation of a central management creation of a central management organization<00:30:12.480><c>
• </c> is and then the central management is and then the central management organization<00:47:36.119>
• organization works on Central management organization works on and<00:47:49.359><c> that</c><00:47:49.520

Committee: House Energy Finance and Policy