Transcript Highlights:

• As Governor Ferguson has shared, his supplemental budget is a down payment on this backlog.
• As Governor Ferguson has shared, his supplemental budget is a down payment on this backlog.
• You all obviously have to manage cash flows and make sure that we have the resources necessary to finish

Bills: HB2306

Committee: House Transportation

Keywords: transportation budget, capital budget, operating budget, appropriations, Washington State Department of Transportation, WSDOT, Washington State Patrol, Department of Licensing, ferry funding, state ferries, highway maintenance, road preservation, bridge replacement, tolling, express toll lanes, traffic safety, speed cameras, ignition interlock, transit grants, public transit

Transcript Highlights:

• As Governor Ferguson has shared, his supplemental budget is a down payment on this backlog.
• As Governor Ferguson has shared, his supplemental budget is a down payment on this backlog.
• You all obviously have to manage cash flows and make sure that we have the resources necessary to finish

Summary: The Transportation Committee heard a presentation from WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith on the agency’s mission, 2025 accomplishments, and 2026 priorities. Meredith emphasized preservation, safety, emergency response, ferry reliability, culvert replacement, and major projects such as the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge work, North Spokane Corridor, Confluence Parkway, and the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program. She highlighted the state’s aging transportation assets, recent storm and flood damage, bridge strikes, and the need for additional preservation funding, including the governor’s proposed $1 billion investment in Washington State Ferries and continued work on the World Cup and future regional growth planning. Members asked about ferry service disruptions, rising IBR costs, staffing needs, aviation assets, and bridge-strike certainty tied to the Coast Guard’s upcoming decision on bridge clearance requirements. The committee then received a briefing on HB 2306, the governor’s supplemental transportation budget, which totals $16.7 billion and increases the enacted budget by about $1.2 billion, with most of the increase directed to WSDOT capital spending. OFM staff said the proposal is driven by preservation, maintenance, and ferry needs, and relies on about $3.1 billion in bonding against transportation revenues, while staying below the Treasurer’s coverage ratio. The proposal includes $2 billion for preservation, $164 million for paving this summer, $756 million for paving over 10 years, $250 million for maintenance, $150 million for preserving existing ferries, $15 million for Lower Columbia River dredging, and smaller investments for WSP communications, DOL access, and local road grants. Committee members asked about debt service, remaining bonding capacity, and the impact of office closures and ferry service reductions. Public testimony was largely supportive of the governor’s budget, especially its preservation and ferry investments. Local officials and associations backed ferry funding, local road grants, pavement and bridge preservation, and the Columbia River dredging match. Several speakers urged more support for cities and counties, while rail and transit advocates asked for more rail capital funding and less highway expansion. One ferry advocate criticized the cost of hybrid-electric vessel maintenance compared with diesel, and another witness warned against a pay-per-mile tax. The hearing ended without a vote, and the chair announced a short caucus before adjournment.

Transcript Highlights:

• The IDR program creates a process process for plans and providers to resolve the payment on those claims
• Prevents us from building up reserves to pay claim payments. All right, who is TWIA?
• So that's what you'd be able to cash into the.

Committee: House Insurance

Transcript Highlights:

• Uh but again calling the cash balances.
• </c><01:08:29.120><c> balances</c> and how do we use this cash balances and how do we use this cash balances
• to be like straight cash that's in I<01:31:13.520><c> mean</c><01:31:13.760><c> a</c><01:31:14.000><
• </c> so they would like to make the payments so they would like to make the payments on<02:18:49.439>
• We've been asking this for 5 years as to this facility, who's going to use it, what the cash flow is

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><01:43:16.840><c> and</c> asset for a state uh without payment and asset for a state uh without payment
• We negotiate payment schedules.
• schedules we we negotiate the payment schedules we we negotiate the amount<01:52:52.159><c> some</c>
• He explained that killing contests are organized competitions in which participants compete for cash
• pleasure prizes um clearly just for cash pleasure prizes um it's<03:49:58.040><c> shameful</c><03:49

Committee: House Fish and Game and Marine Resources

Transcript Highlights:

• Second, it's another crop that we can market to help our farm cash flow and support our family.
• This is a true opportunity across a variety of crops that could be feedstocks to SAF, including cash
• </c><01:03:09.920><c> of</c> makes annual property tax payments of makes annual property tax payments
• Some payers will add the tax onto their payment to the clinic, and others will not.
• payments.

Bills: HF1669 , HF4709 , HF3531 , HF4048

Committee: House Taxes

Transcript Highlights:

• So, we do sell some of our acres as cash crop as well as feeding our own herd.
• cashed that check and she got it, and cashed that check and she got it, and they<00:27:28.280><c> know
• Then we will talk about down payment assistance, the local food purchasing agreement, Minnesota Grown
• Then we will talk about down payment assistance, the local food purchasing agreement, Minnesota Grown
• </c> then we will talk about down payment then we will talk about down payment assistance,<01:42:58.440

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband, and Rural Development

Transcript Highlights:

• Plus there's benefits: they get insurance through Mayo Clinic and Social Security payments, all that
• <c> Security</c> through mail clinic and Social Security through mail clinic and Social Security payments
• students or officers who have gone through training, getting the money out the door, processing payments
• The witness said that grant administration also includes financial services staff processing payments
• a bit that's allk you for cash a bit that's allk you representative<00:57:05.680><c> cter</c><00:57:

Committee: House Higher Education Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> concerns around funding or payment concerns around funding or payment representative<00:31:10.519
• them commented that the work he has done so far, looking ahead and even looking back, has seen no cash
• flows so far that show a seen no cash flows so far that show a positive<00:34:16.399><c> return</c><
• And if they are not, we make those adjustments on their final payments.
• And if they are not, we make those adjustments on their final payments.

Committee: House Agriculture Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Having the equipment to plant this new winter annual cash cover crop not only allows us to participate
• </c><01:07:35.960><c> cover</c><01:07:36.319><c> crop</c> this new winter annual Cash cover crop this
• How are they going to kind of be eligible for that payment, and who's overseeing that?
• looks like in the language the payment looks like in the language the there'<01:25:58.560><c> be</c>
• The department would then issue a payment based on that.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband, and Rural Development

Transcript Highlights:

• ... ...said, 'You know, with court-ordered behavioral intervention, if you were to take $90,000 in cash
• and hold it... ...accountable to a level that the insurance companies would be satisfied in making payment
• year, at the end of the year we do a reconciliation and refund money back to the agency so that our cash
• We do a reconciliation and refund money back to the agency so that our cash balance at the end of the

Summary: The Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee heard several election, victims’ rights, family court, and probation-related measures. SB 1425, an emergency bill moving Arizona’s primary election date earlier and adjusting related election timelines, was amended to move the primary to the second-to-last Tuesday in July and to remove the proposed compression of cure/ID deadlines; county officials supported it, and it received a do pass recommendation. SB 1289 and SCR 1013/SCR 1014 focused on foreign money in election administration and ballot measure campaigns, with supporters arguing the bills would close loopholes that allow foreign-backed funding to influence elections; some members raised concerns about breadth and enforcement, but both measures advanced. SB 1402 would require probationers on certain sex-offense-related monitoring to pay the cost of electronic monitoring; supporters said it would improve accountability and child safety, while opponents warned it could punish indigent people and divert money from treatment. It also received a do pass recommendation. The committee spent substantial time on family court bills. SB 1330 would allow a parent with less than 35% parenting time or no legal decision-making authority to request a jury trial in custody-related disputes; supporters described severe financial and emotional harm in family court and argued juries would provide a neutral check, while county and legal representatives opposed the bill as costly, slow, and ill-suited to specialized child-welfare decisions. Despite those objections, SB 1330 passed with a do pass recommendation. SB 1328, as amended, declared Arizona public policy to include protecting parents and a child’s right to equal access to both co-parents; supporters said it would clarify legislative intent, while opponents called it duplicative of existing law. It also passed. The committee also heard SB 1329, which would let parents sue court-appointed professionals in custody and parenting-time matters if the professional deviated from licensing ethics or standards. Supporters argued that quasi-judicial immunity and weak oversight have allowed harmful, expensive practices in family court, while opponents said existing malpractice and licensing remedies already exist and warned against expanding litigation. The bill received a do pass recommendation. SB 1326, allowing courts to award attorney fees and costs to victims when a party violates or worsens a victim-rights violation, also passed after supporters said it would help pro bono and victims’ attorneys enforce rights, and opponents said the term “exacerbates” was vague and the need was unclear. The committee approved the minutes and held SB 1285 and SB 1392 without hearing them.

Transcript Highlights:

• Observation number four on page 11 notes that the commission has not properly designed its daily cash
• controls for the NextG system, as the control did not include evidence of the reconciliation of daily cash
• We recommend the commission develop policies and procedures to effectively account for its daily cash
• do have a unique operation with all the sales and all the different outlets and all the different payment

Summary: The committee first approved the June 20, 2025 minutes, with several members abstaining, and then adopted the consent calendar after removing items 223 and 224 under tab five, item 222 under tab six, and item 231 under tab seven. The committee also noted that an old business item related to YDC claims administration would be removed at a future meeting because the fiscal year had closed and no further committee action was needed. The main substantive discussion centered on Department of Health and Human Services requests. Item FIS-223 would fund a shared database between the Department of Education and HHS to identify children eligible for the summer EBT program; members asked whether it could also help with Medicaid or school reimbursement tracking, but the witness said the item was specifically for summer EBT and that broader integration questions would need follow-up with Education and Medicaid staff. The committee then adopted the item, with Representative Mooney voting no. Item FIS-224 concerned the phrase "high quality services" in child care-related funding; HHS said the standards come from the federal Office of Child Care, and the committee adopted the item. Item FIS-222 related to Money Follows the Person; HHS explained it is a 100% federally funded program that supports transitions from institutions to community living with services such as housing navigation, furnishings, and case management. Members questioned the scale and cost of the program, and HHS said the initial federal award was $5 million, with additional federal IT funding later approved; the committee adopted the item, again with Representative Mooney voting no. Under tab seven, the committee discussed item 231 involving ARPA funds and the YDC project. The Department of Administrative Services explained that recent Treasury guidance allows leftover ARPA dollars from approved projects to be repurposed only for additional work on already approved projects, not new projects. Members asked about whether the project was over budget and whether some items had been in the original plan; officials said the work reflected add alternates from the original bid and that the project was on track to meet the deadline. The committee adopted the item. The meeting then moved to the audit presentation on the New Hampshire Liquor Commission’s fiscal year 2024 management letter, which identified 13 internal control comments, including two material weaknesses, largely tied to the new NextG system. Recommendations included strengthening controls, formal risk assessment, reconciliations to New Hampshire First, cash receipt controls, subsidiary ledgers, SOC reports for vendors, internal audit functions, lease accounting, gift card breakage reporting, and IT security and access controls. The Liquor Commission said it concurred with most findings, described the system transition as successful overall, and said remediation would continue; committee members asked for estimated completion dates for audit findings and discussed the need for more regular follow-up on audit issues and budget monitoring.

Transcript Highlights:

• So it's more than just cash, and that's something that I have stated.
• So it's more than just cash, and that's something that I have stated.
• identify people who the Supreme Court... ...will not allow you to do an education program or to give cash
• payments because it would be discriminatory.

Summary: The committee heard several higher education bills. It first approved the consent calendar, which included SB 67 and SB 619. The main discussion centered on SB 437, which would direct the CSU system to develop a fair, evidence-based process for verifying whether someone is a descendant of a person enslaved in the United States, as part of the state’s reparations work. Supporters said the bill fills a gap left by the Reparations Task Force and would create a transparent, credible lineage-verification process; opponents argued genealogy methods already exist, the bill would waste money and delay action, and some raised constitutional concerns. The committee took a vote on SB 437, but the roll was left open after the initial tally showed three ayes and three noes. The committee then heard SB 790, which would allow California to join the interstate reciprocity agreement for online postsecondary education. The author and supporters said the bill would improve consumer protections for California students taking out-of-state online courses and help California institutions compete more effectively by reducing the burden of seeking separate state approvals. Opponents, including University of Phoenix and other groups, argued the bill conflicted with the existing reciprocity framework, could exclude some institutions, and might not actually secure California’s entry into the agreement. The committee voted 3-1 to pass SB 790 as amended to the Business and Professions Committee, with the roll left open. The committee also heard SB 391, which would authorize the Community College Chancellor’s Office to charge fees for research partners seeking access to data. Supporters said the office is absorbing significant unfunded workload from data requests and that fees would help recover costs; opponents, including the California Teachers Association community college association, warned the fees could create barriers for faculty and smaller researchers. Members discussed possible exemptions and implementation details. The committee voted 5-1 to pass SB 391 as amended to the Appropriations Committee, with the roll left open. Finally, the committee heard SB 685, a pilot program to provide cost-of-attendance assistance at four CSU campuses for students who experienced homelessness in high school. Supporters said it would help students cover housing, food, and transportation costs and reduce dropout risk; members asked about eligibility and implementation, and the author explained the bill would use McKinney-Vento homelessness designations and target students at risk of “summer melt” and college homelessness.

Transcript Highlights:

• This bill clarifies that the payments or reimbursements owed by the Commonwealth to the owner or lien
• The bill clarifies that the payments or reimbursements owed by the Commonwealth to the owner or lien
• There's information about non-claim payments that I'm a little bit concerned about and confused about
• A lot of localities don't have the cash on hand to pay for those projects.
• House Bill 16 relates to community service work in lieu of payment of fines and costs.

Transcript Highlights:

• But what will happen is a judge, if somebody goes back to change the length of the payment of alimony
• </c> road in providing food and cash road in providing food and cash assistance<00:59:40.720><c> and<
• </c><01:10:27.360><c> calculations</c> top you'll see the payment calculations top you'll see the payment
• However, the obligor does make that payment, and that payment comes off the top for the obligor, and
• However, the obligor does make that payment, and that payment comes off the top for the obligor, and

Committee: House Children and Family Law

Transcript Highlights:

• Not one department says we're going to give up cash balances.
• department says we're going to give up department says we're going to give up um<00:19:51.200><c> cash
• So, we haven't even um cash balances.
• So they have sufficient special fund cash in the account.
• </c><02:56:37.080><c> I</c> recently on child support payments I recently on child support payments I

Transcript Highlights:

• not a January payment.
• There's a December payment.
• except for there's not a payments except for there's not a January<01:15:39.280><c> payment.
• There's a December January payment. There's a December payment. payment. payment.
• Uh there was a large payments.

Summary: The meeting focused on preliminary fiscal 2026 revenue estimates and the governor’s office request for an official revision to fiscal 2026, with members reminded that any estimate adopted now would not bind the December official estimates. Staff from S&P Global walked through three forecast scenarios—control, optimistic, and pessimistic—based on recent federal tax changes, tariffs, and other policy developments, emphasizing that the outlook remains highly uncertain. Under the control scenario, the presentation projected below-trend real GDP growth of 1.8% in fiscal 2026, slowing to 1.5% by fiscal 2028, with unemployment peaking around 4.5% and the Federal Reserve cutting rates three times to a long-run range of about 2.75% to 3%. The optimistic scenario assumed lower effective tariffs, stronger growth, and better labor and housing outcomes, while the pessimistic scenario assumed a broader trade war, higher effective tariffs, faster deportations, weaker employment and consumer spending, and unemployment rising to about 6.3%. Speakers also noted that the forecast was prepared before later BLS revisions and that recent data on inventories and AI-related investment made the recent quarters look unusually volatile. Members discussed how the current fiscal 2026 outlook compared with earlier assumptions and noted that the eventual revenue revision may be smaller than the spread between the optimistic and pessimistic economic scenarios. The governor’s office and committee members also reviewed sector-specific impacts, including manufacturing, housing, light vehicle production, exports, and consumer sentiment, with particular concern about Kentucky’s auto and housing-related industries. No votes or formal actions were taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• It also required that counties provide to the state payments known as county facility payments in an
• This fund was made to receive primarily the county facility payments and support facility maintenance
• It has the revenue from the county facility payments, but expenditures of about $200 million.
• And by the time we get down the house payment, we don't have any money for the house payment, so we borrow
• And then the payment for the lease revenue bonds comes out of the existing funds that are depleted.

Transcript Highlights:

• It also required that counties provide to the state payments known as county facility payments in an
• This fund was made to receive primarily the county facility payments and support facility maintenance
• It has the revenue from the county facility payments, but expenditures of about $200 million.
• And by the time we get down to the house payment, we don't have any money for the house payment, so we
• Okay, so we use lease revenue bonds a lot, and then the payment for the lease revenue bonds comes out

Summary: The Senate Budget Subcommittee on Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor, and Transportation held a hearing focused first on courthouse facility funding and then on the Governor’s proposed court facilities budget. Legislative Analyst’s Office staff outlined the state’s court-facilities funding structure, including the 2002 shift of trial court facility responsibility from counties to the state, the main funding accounts, the insolvency of the construction fund, the move to General Fund support, the backlog of deferred maintenance, and the large estimated cost of needed new construction and repairs. Judicial Council representatives and judges from Los Angeles and Mendocino described severe seismic, safety, ADA, security, and maintenance problems, with examples of floods, elevator failures, asbestos-related closures, and long-delayed or underfunded projects. They argued that chronic underinvestment is making facilities less safe and more expensive to maintain, and that courthouse conditions directly affect access to justice and public confidence. Committee members pressed witnesses on how projects are prioritized, whether population and filing volume are adequately reflected, why reassessments have not been updated since 2019, how long acquisitions and construction take, and what level of funding would actually close the gap. Members also questioned the fixed county contribution, the use of General Fund backfills, and whether the state should set a clearer long-term funding target for the judicial branch. LAO staff emphasized that any new General Fund commitment would require tradeoffs with other budget priorities and said the Legislature must decide its appetite for funding. Judicial Council staff said the current prioritization was based on the 2019 reassessment and trailer bill language, that a new reassessment would cost about $14 million, and that acquisition delays are often driven by willing-seller issues and CEQA requirements. The chair asked for written testimony and indicated the committee would consider a future field hearing. In the second panel, Judicial Council and Department of Finance representatives reviewed the Governor’s budget proposals for court facilities. They said the proposal includes continued backfill for the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, several new construction and reappropriation items, relocation of Los Angeles courtrooms from the Spring Federal Building, and completion of a fire/life-safety project in Orange County. A court executive from Ventura testified that courthouse conditions affect public trust, employee morale, and the quality of service, citing roof leaks, elevator breakdowns, and HVAC failures as examples of why sustained facilities funding is needed.

Transcript Highlights:

• The OSI made a decision to eliminate lump sum payments in 2022. There were two concerns.
• There were about 38,000 in payments going out for these patients being actively treated.
• What your current cash flow number should be, and that's sort of all put together.
• Do they have the authority to go To the CAP, and then they commit to payment of future medicals, and
• Several comments were made about lump sum payments and future medical expenses.

Committee: House Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee