Transcript Highlights:

• , after school programs, hiring more teaching staff.
• That would certainly fall into the summer learning as well as after school programs.
• programs, well, maybe after school too.
• the schools. schools where you have 75% are higher levels of kids in free and reduced price lunch.
• So he mentioned tutoring and after school programs.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• by the public schools.
• The school district is the school district... District the same line as the county line?
• We had school district cooperative agreement cap funding, which is county material program school bus
• Members, we're going to have a working lunch. Lunch is ready out there.
• Bring our lunches back.

Transcript Highlights:

• And then lunch will be able to be.
• , oil and gas research program, and renewable energy programs.
• That's typically what the lignite research program, oil and gas research program, renewable energy program
• Typically, what the lignite research program, oil and gas research program, and renewable energy program
• The target audience of these activities ranges from middle school to high school to university students

Summary: The committee met in Grand Forks, approved the February 26 minutes by voice vote, and recessed for a tour of Minnkota Power Cooperative before hearing presentations on large energy consumers and related infrastructure issues. The first presentation, from the North Dakota Transmission Authority, focused on the need for better local decision-making tools for counties, townships, and planning and zoning boards facing major projects such as transmission lines, pipelines, data centers, wind, solar, and large-scale agriculture. The speaker urged more objective, data-driven analysis, noted that local officials often have limited time and resources, and said the state should support training and tools through groups like the League of Cities and the Association of Counties. Members asked about proactive outreach, data center ordinances, and how to avoid subsidizing large loads or causing reliability problems. The Division of Air Quality then discussed environmental oversight of data centers, emphasizing that North Dakota’s air remains among the cleanest in the country and that the agency’s role is limited to air, water discharge, stormwater, and waste—not zoning or water use. The presentation explained that data centers generally have low direct emissions but may rely on diesel backup generators when the grid is unavailable, which creates air-quality concerns; the department said it is requiring air monitors at some projects to collect real-world data and guide future decisions. Members asked about generator emissions, misinformation, monitoring costs, and staffing succession, and the agency said permit applicants pay for the monitors while the state handles some QA work. The Department of Water Resources followed with an overview of North Dakota water law and data center water use. The director explained the state’s prior-appropriation system, the public-interest review for permits, and the large overall water supply available from groundwater and the Missouri River. He said most proposed data centers use closed-loop cooling systems and generally request relatively small amounts of water compared with other uses such as power plants, irrigation, and oilfield operations, and that even a worst-case data center scenario would use only a tiny fraction of Missouri River flow. Questions focused on downstream impacts and comparisons to fracking water use, and the director said the state’s use is too small to materially affect downstream users. Later, McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd-Erickson testified online about data center zoning and permitting. He asked the committee to have Legislative Council gather information on how other states handle data center permitting and to keep the topic on the interim agenda. He argued that local zoning should remain local, but said counties lack the technical and legal resources to manage complex reclamation or bonding requirements and that state-level enabling legislation may be more appropriate. He also recommended eliminating tax incentives for data centers. The committee chair said staff would prepare a document on other states’ zoning and permitting approaches. After a lunch recess, the committee reconvened at the EERC, where CEO Charles Gorecki gave an overview of the center’s 75 years of work and its role in oil and gas, carbon management, and other energy technologies, highlighting enhanced oil recovery and carbon dioxide utilization as major opportunities for future production and tax revenue.

Transcript Highlights:

• about this when they're going to school. about this when they're going to school.
• Paul public schools where we stood up what we called care teams in these schools.
• Paul public schools.
• health crisises in schools. Thanks. health crisises in schools. Thanks.
• One last thing, and I want to clarify on the private school or non-public school.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• felt that they could support sending schools' students to those schools.
• schools.
• > if<00:05:08.120> their schools and receiving schools if their schools and receiving schools
• schools students to those those schools schools students to those those schools and<00:06:09.440
• in particular can actually make it work to do a CTE program and get the courses they need. schools have

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:59:57.120> that's yesterday, this is a program that's yesterday, this is a program that's
• because the message they get from school because the message they get from school is<01:03:52.960
• new programs. new programs.
• Um the uh uh within these programs.
• Not just the people on the program.

Keywords: 981, all

Summary: The Senate convened with a quorum, approved the journal, and received committee and House messages on a large number of bills. Committee reports advanced several measures, including House Bill 1335 from Health and Human Services, House Bills 1281, 1315, and 1255 from Judiciary, House Bills 1345 and 1417 and Senate Bill 139 from Education, Senate Bill 192 from Transportation and Energy, and a number of Appropriations recommendations. The chamber also received House-passed and revisor-transmitted bills, and later laid over the special-order second reading calendar until later in the day. A major floor action was adoption of Senate Resolution 26-009, which proclaimed May 2026 as ALS Awareness Month. The resolution described ALS as a fatal neurodegenerative disease, highlighted the need for research, multidisciplinary care, and support for patients and caregivers, and recognized Colorado ALS advocates and medical professionals. Senators spoke personally about the disease’s impact, including the minority leader’s remarks about his mother’s death from ALS. The resolution passed 35-0, and the current roll call was added as co-sponsors. The Senate then took up third-reading consent calendar bills and passed Senate Bill 186, Senate Bill 188, House Bill 1420, House Bill 1341, House Bill 1015, and House Bill 1423, with recorded no votes on Senate Bill 188 and House Bill 1015. Senate Bill 191, concerning gifts, grants, and donations for nursing-facility reimbursement, was amended on third reading to correct reporting language and then passed 32-3. Senate Bill 125, which would codify disability-rights protections in public schools in response to reduced federal enforcement capacity, generated debate over state responsibility and passed 24-11. Senate Bill 187, creating a commission to study Medicaid and adding managed care entities as stakeholders, passed 31-4 after supporters cited rising Medicaid costs, fraud concerns, and data problems. Senate Bill 189, concerning automated decision-making technology and consequential decisions, was introduced and discussed as an AI-regulation measure, but no final action is shown in the excerpt.

Transcript Highlights:

• to school safely.
• Plain and simple.” the school all not the district but the the school all not the district but the school
• Lunch is provided.
• Lunch is provided.
• Lunch is provided. It is a minerals. Lunch is provided.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• , roads, parks, or programs and services.
• The lunch, breakfast, lunch, and then there is provided. So it had to get easier.
• The program would be entirely voluntary and locally controlled.
• Several other states and cities have programs such as this.
• Seattle have all had successful public financing programs, and I see my colleague Joan Meschino.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The House and Senate Election Laws committees held a hearing focused on campaign finance and several local election-related bills. Office of Campaign and Political Finance Director William Campbell testified in support of H. 848 and S. 515, saying the campaign finance law needs modernization and highlighting proposals for stronger Super PAC disclosure, more timely reporting, improved security for campaign participants, and other reforms. He said the bills would help update a 50-year-old system to reflect legal, economic, and cultural changes. A major portion of the hearing concerned H. 868/S. 507, which would require earlier and more frequent reporting by ballot question committees. Witnesses from Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and others argued that ballot campaigns now involve tens of millions of dollars, much of it raised during periods with no real-time disclosure, and that moving these committees into the depository system would improve transparency without burdening grassroots signature-gathering. The committee also heard support for H. 811 and H. 812, which would allow municipalities to create citizen-funded election programs and require identifying information on political text messages, as well as S. 525/H. 875, which would bar political spending by foreign-influenced corporations. The committee also heard testimony on S. 2605, a Canton home rule petition to move town elections from April to November. Canton residents, a select board member, and a poll worker said the change would increase turnout, better align local elections with the November voting cycle, and give newly elected officials more time to prepare for town meeting. Senator Rausch also testified in support of S. 530, requiring presidential primary candidates to disclose recent tax returns. The hearing ended with no votes taken and the committee adjourning, with a note that the next hearing was tentatively scheduled for January 13.

Transcript Highlights:

• And then we weren't sure that all schools, non-public schools, would be participating schools.
• That the public school—where is that listed? That they—the public... School, where is that listed?
• We wouldn't have this program up and running for 2025-26. Further questions.
• spending for the private schools.
• I think that we would be better off giving the money through a free school lunch program where parents

Keywords: 908, all

Summary: The committee reconvened to work on re-engrossed Senate Bill 2400, which dealt with education savings accounts and related school-choice provisions. Members discussed several amendments already incorporated into version 4.006, including changes affecting the Center for Distance Education, homeschool language, marketplace penalties, and an increase in the ESA amount from $500 to $1,000. The committee first reconsidered its prior action, then adopted the 4.006 amendments unanimously, while noting that an updated fiscal note was still needed. A Department of Public Instruction fiscal officer, Adam Tessier, explained the revised fiscal impact. He estimated the bill would cost roughly $124.4 million in the first year, based on assumptions about student participation and utilization rates. He also clarified that the means test at 500% of poverty applied to non-public students in participating schools, and estimated that the private-school portion of the bill accounted for about $5 million of the total cost. Members asked several questions about the assumptions behind the estimate and the scope of the program. After discussion, Representative Conmy moved a do not pass recommendation, citing concerns that the marketplace structure was administratively cumbersome and that direct aid through another mechanism would be preferable. The committee voted 11-3 to adopt the do not pass motion. Representative Hauck was designated to carry the bill to the floor.

Transcript Highlights:

• failing schools.
• , Sometimes in CSI or TSI schools, Sometimes in CSI or TSI schools, uh<01:28:08.040> there
• are obviously fail because these schools are obviously fail failing<01:28:12.600> schools.
• And what this would failing schools.
• That group, we had several lunches.

Keywords: 958, all

Transcript Highlights:

• at lunch? This is not hypothetical. at lunch? This is not hypothetical.
• our school libraries. Pretty clear. our school libraries. Pretty clear.
• no pornography in public schools? no pornography in public schools?
• as part of the school breakfast and lunch meal programs.
• as part of the school breakfast and lunch meal programs.

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• 01:24:25.120> School Association of Secondary School Association of Secondary School Principles
• Uh, House File 2201 is a bill that caps the universal free lunch program at 500%. appreciate your uh
• <02:10:22.079> in<02:10:22.400> schools<02:10:22.639> for for their own lunches
• in schools for for their own lunches in schools for their<02:10:23.040> families<02:10:23.280
• a bill that caps the universal free lunch program at 500% of the federal poverty guideline.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• SB 1427, E-Verify Program License Penalties Employment.
• SB 1507, School Districts Receivership Mandatory Consolidation. Education.
• SB 1471, School Mapping Data Requirements Accessibility.
• SB 1505, Transitional Housing Grant Program Appropriation.
• SB 1505, Transitional Housing Grant Program Appropriation.

Keywords: 1182, all

Summary: The Senate convened with prayer and the pledge, recorded attendance, and approved the prior day’s journal. The chamber recognized Lucid Motors Day at the Capitol, highlighting the company’s Arizona operations, investment, and job creation, and also welcomed county officials and noted a temporary committee replacement appointment and a governor’s nomination for the State Liquor Board, which was referred to the appropriate committee. The main floor business was the introduction and first reading of a large slate of bills and resolutions covering commerce, elections, immigration, education, water, transportation, public safety, labor, housing, taxation, and appropriations. One measure, SB 1429, was further referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate then proceeded through second reading of numerous bills, including measures on roads, collective bargaining, tax relief, school mapping, assisted living, crime-free lease addenda, utility disclosures, public pensions, and several local appropriations and tribal-related items. No substantive votes on the listed bills were taken in the transcript beyond referral and placement on the calendar. The majority leader used a personal privilege statement to criticize the Attorney General’s recent remarks, saying they were inappropriate and should be retracted, and then moved to adjourn. The Senate adjourned until Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at 1:15 p.m.

Transcript Highlights:

• We must protect programs and people from Donald Trump, and we must resist attempts to roll back progress
• and people from Donald protect programs and people from Donald Trump<00:02:20.480> and<00:02:
• My son, who goes to school in elementary, has been told that he needs to go back to his country.
• Education so if you have a kid in school Education so if you have a kid in school it<00:14:47.000
• Head Start programs haven't received their funding yet.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: Senate POCI caucus members held a press event outlining their priorities for the session and framing them as a response to federal actions and rhetoric they described as harmful to Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant, and other marginalized communities. Senator Zaynab Mohamed said the caucus would not be silent and emphasized goals including culturally responsive and accessible health care, protection from discrimination, fully funded education from cradle to college, an equitable bonding bill, and safe, dignified housing. Senator Erin Maye Quade said the caucus would fight efforts to “resegregate” society and highlighted support for strengthening the READ Act and advancing the Minnesota Building Families Act to cover infertility care through insurance. Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten pointed to recent DFL accomplishments such as the CROWN Act, restoring the vote, and the African-American Family Preservation Act, and urged colleagues to consider how legislation and budgets affect communities of color. She also said she would champion Minnesota Connecting Families, a proposal to make communication free for incarcerated people, along with a ban on legacy admissions and legislation preventing housing discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders. Senator Mary Kunesh reviewed education investments made over the past two years, including increased school funding, free lunches, library funding, pre-K expansion, the READ Act, and the Teachers of Color and Indigenous Act, and said her top priority is advancing an Equal Rights Amendment and protecting tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Senator Susan Pha said the caucus remains necessary because people of color and immigrants still face discrimination, including her own family, and said the group would continue fighting for equality and opportunity. In response to questions, caucus members said they hoped for bipartisan support on some proposals but were prepared to use their majority if needed. They said they were not intimidated by the new federal administration or Republican control in Washington, argued that Minnesota should protect residents from federal harm, and criticized GOP efforts they characterized as attacks on DEI and racial equity. No votes or formal committee actions were taken in the meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:14:11.360> um the ergonomic safety grant program um the ergonomic safety grant program
• and the operating engineers high school pathways<00:32:28.000> program<00:32:28.559> being
• didn't stop to get lunch or anything. didn't stop to get lunch or anything.
• It basically says that, in terms of a school, the school board would have to vote to accept the ESST
• <00:47:30.720> would<00:47:31.040> have school that the school board would have school

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Chair, our question: what is the non-public school scholarship program? Does it have a name? Mr.
• Chair, our question: what is the non-public school scholarship program? Does it have a name?
• Chair, our question: what is the non-public school scholarship program? Does it have a name?
• He wants to up the number of kids on free and reduced lunch, but it wasn't his goal to open up a program
• He wants to up the number of kids on free and reduced lunch, but it wasn't his goal to open up a program

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• school in our community. school in our community.
• new program new program for<00:22:49.040> fraud.
• failed housing stabilization program failed housing stabilization program from<00:22:57.040>
• another housing spending program through another housing spending program at<00:23:06.440> a<00
• rush through another $40 million program rush through another $40 million program without<00:24:

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Madewell in Putnam City North High School with just Putnam City North High School students, but a vision
• dreamed where this program would be.
• Madewell in Putnam City North High School with just Putnam City North High School students, but a vision
• And it's open to all three schools in the Putnam City School District.
• Thank you. a neglected middle school technology program, introducing students to STEM subjects such as

Bills: HB1411, HB3143, HB3144, HB3901, HCR1019, HB3981, HB4248, HB3194, HB3849, HB4095, HB4302, HB3342, HB3344, HB3287, HB3645, HB3647, HB3930, HB3931, HB1818, HB4454, HB4336

Keywords: True Grit Trail, Oklahoma, tourism, signage, Department of Transportation, state parks, historical sites, economic development, medical marijuana, license transfer, Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, moratorium, business regulation, commercial grower licenses, licensing restrictions, agriculture, psychological autopsy, mental health, suicide prevention, state health department

Transcript Highlights:

• So it doesn't seem like a very good program, but even if you like the school building aid program, this
• /c> the school building aid program, this the school building aid program, this particular<03:16:28.520
• The federal school meals program requires that students in need be fed at district expense.
• program, only to Medicaid to schools program, only to take<06:13:30.920> precious<06:13:31.480
• This says that the Medicaid to schools This says that the Medicaid to schools program<06:14:39.520

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Again, we're only talking about public school lunches.
• We're only talking about public school lunches or breakfast or whatever they're serving kids during the
• school day.
• We're not talking about after-school programs.
• time school starts to the time school ends.

Summary: The Committee on Agriculture met with a quorum present and first heard SB 1826 by Senator Martin, which would restrict ultra-processed foods served to public school students during the school day. Senator Martin said the bill is aimed only at government-purchased food in public schools, not parents’ lunches or after-school sales, and argued it is intended to protect children’s health and school performance. Members questioned the bill’s definition of ultra-processed food, its scope during the school day, and possible cost and compliance issues. Senator Rouson offered a friendly amendment extending the compliance date from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2026, and the committee adopted it. Several industry groups and associations spoke against the bill, citing lack of a clear definition, FDA preemption concerns, costs, and the risk of a state-by-state patchwork; Moms for Liberty waived in support. Senator Martin then temporarily postponed the bill for further work. The committee next took up CS for SB 1132 by Senator Truenow on consumers’ right to repair certain equipment, including agricultural equipment and portable digital devices. An amendment by Senator Boyd was adopted to exclude security and life-safety systems and remove automobile-related provisions. Public testimony included opposition from TechNet, which said the bill is unnecessary because repair parts, tools, and manuals are already available and asked for changes to make the bill prospective and remove the private right of action. Agricultural equipment dealers and manufacturers testified against the bill, arguing that current repair resources and a memorandum of understanding with the Farm Bureau already address repair access, while warning that the bill could undermine dealer margins, parts inventory, training programs, safety, cybersecurity, and emissions compliance. Some members supported the concept but noted the bill still needed work. The committee voted 4-0 to report CS for SB 1132 favorably. The meeting concluded with a presentation from Florida 4-H youth leaders on the organization’s impact and goals. The presenters described 4-H’s role in leadership, agriculture, STEM, and healthy living, highlighted statewide participation and camp programs, and asked for continued support for camp improvements, especially the Camp Cherry Lake revitalization effort. Senators praised the students’ presentations and the value of 4-H before the committee adjourned.