Transcript Highlights:

• Please remember to silence your cell phones. If you need to make a phone call, please step outside.
• They've posted a bond in Louisiana to try to make sure we have some protection.
• government were to come in and have a license... ...Louisiana to try to make sure we have some protection
• Members, this is another consumer protection bill around crypto kiosks that builds on a bill previously
• So really just trying to tighten up the regulation and protect consumer interests.

Summary: The House Committee on Commerce met on May 11, 2026, with a quorum present and took up a series of Senate bills, a resolution, and one House bill. The committee reported favorably Senate Bill 79 to recreate Louisiana Economic Development, Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 to establish the Louisiana-Ireland Trade Commission, Senate Bill 375 on firefighting foam with amendments clarifying use in declared emergencies, Senate Bill 398 moving manufactured and modular housing oversight under the Contractors Licensing Board with technical and substantive amendments, Senate Bill 163 on virtual currency business licensing with an amendment providing for federal preemption if Congress enacts a national licensing regime, and Senate Bill 287 on virtual currency kiosks with consumer-protection provisions and technical amendments. The committee also reported favorably House Resolution 197, as amended, urging the Public Service Commission to study distributed energy generation and storage resources with LSU involvement, and Senate Bill 54, which would allow estheticians to blow-dry hair after certain services; that bill drew extensive testimony from supporters and opponents in the cosmetology and aesthetics industries before being reported favorably. Several bills prompted detailed discussion and testimony. On Senate Bill 398, the sponsor and Contractors Licensing Board representatives said the change would improve enforcement and consumer safety for manufactured-home installation, especially tie-downs, leveling, and foundation blocking, while not affecting HUD-regulated construction. On the virtual currency bills, OFI said it currently licenses 37 virtual currency businesses with 33 pending applications, and supporters described the kiosk bill as a response to fraud complaints by requiring clearer disclosures, refund procedures, live customer support, and reporting to OFI. For House Resolution 197, the sponsor, PSC officials, and energy stakeholders said the study would examine the value of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar and battery storage, in light of rising demand and grid reliability concerns; PSC staff and LSU energy experts described the study as focused on market value and avoided-cost benefits. House Bill 744, which would have shifted regulation of certain New Orleans utilities from the city council to the PSC, generated discussion about constitutional history, rate impacts, and utility consolidation. PSC officials and the sponsor said the current city-council regulation is a constitutional exception dating back to 1921, and they argued that PSC regulation could reduce costs and simplify oversight, but the sponsor ultimately moved to defer the bill rather than force a floor fight, and the committee agreed. The committee then began consideration of Senate Bill 386, the Louisiana Data Privacy Act, adopting technical amendments and then a larger amendment package that revised definitions and compliance provisions; the transcript ends while that bill’s amendment process is still underway, with no final action shown in the excerpt.

Transcript Highlights:

• Please silence your cell phones. Wisconsin Eye is here.
• DRC incorporated best practices to protect the credibility of future assessment results and safeguard
• And those folks need to be protected, and that information needs to be redacted.
• relating to exactly what a question was, I think there's a fair argument to make there that that's protected
• In other words, that when applying the balancing test between personnel records that may be protected

Keywords: 970, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I want to remind everybody to please silence your cell phones, pages, computers, whatever you may have
• So how are we protecting our products here? You're recognized.
• Well, the primary point for protection, especially with patients with different conditions, is going
• So sort of explain to me how do we put some parameters in place to protect youngsters?
• And I mentioned they were trying to protect the public, especially children.

Summary: The Health Professions and Program Subcommittee met to receive oversight briefings on Florida’s medical marijuana program from the Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) and from the University of Florida’s Consortium for Medical Marijuana Clinical Outcomes Research. OMMU Director Christopher Kimball outlined the program’s structure, including more than 900,000 active patients, nearly 7,000 caregivers, 27 MMTC licensees, 706 dispensing locations, and nine certified testing labs. He described the state’s pre-approval process for products and advertising, plain packaging requirements, seed-to-sale tracking, registry operations, and compliance efforts such as background checks, inspections, complaint investigations, and lab desk audits. He also said the Bureau of Public Health Laboratories in Jacksonville had been accredited to begin supporting testing. Members asked about telehealth, patient growth, product safety, advertising to children, inspections, and the status of MMTC licensure; Kimball said recertifications by telehealth now make up more than half of recertifications, that patient growth has slowed, and that ongoing litigation is delaying issuance of 22 new MMTC licenses. Kimball also discussed implementation of recent legislation and licensure changes, including licenses issued under HB 387 and SB 1582 to applicants from the original Pigford-related pool, with additional cure opportunities still ongoing. He said the department is monitoring diversion, inversion, and unapproved products, and that it coordinates with law enforcement when needed but does not itself have sworn authority. In response to questions, he said the department does not regulate physicians directly, but may refer concerns to the Division of Medical Quality Assurance, and that caregiver and physician participation requirements are set by statute. Members raised concerns about edibles, child access, and continued use of child-attractive branding; Kimball said the department tries to catch issues through pre-approval and enforcement, and that complaints involving children are treated as serious and investigated using available records and camera footage. Dr. Almond Winterstein then presented the consortium’s research overview. He explained that the consortium was created by statute in 2019, includes 10 universities, and is funded by annual state appropriations. He said its work includes grants, a research repository, a clinical core, outreach, and evidence synthesis, including a recent FDA-supported review of cannabis evidence. He emphasized that the current evidence base is limited and often low quality, with the strongest signals for symptom relief in PTSD-related symptoms, nausea, and some pain outcomes, but with many studies inconclusive or mixed. He also described the consortium’s use of registry data linked to Medicaid, Medicare, death, fetal death, and birth records to study safety and outcomes, including children, pregnancy, driving safety, opioid-sparing effects, and adverse events. Winterstein said adverse event reporting is sparse and likely underreported, with most reports mild but some serious events noted, and he expressed concern about use among young adults because of uncertain benefit-risk and possible effects on the developing brain. The committee discussed the need for better surveillance, more robust adverse event reporting, and the possibility of using linked data to identify harms more quickly. At the end of the meeting, the committee rose without objection.

Transcript Highlights:

• Glutamate-gated chloride channels, the biological mechanism of Ivermectin, only exist in invertebrate cells

Bills: HB25

Keywords: ivermectin, pharmacist authority, prescription-free, healthcare regulation, patient access, 1185, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• glutamate-gated chloride chloride channels, the biological mechanism of ivermectin, only exist in invertebrate cells

Bills: HB25

Keywords: ivermectin, pharmacist authority, prescription-free, healthcare regulation, patient access

Transcript Highlights:

• Please make sure that cell phones and other communication devices are turned off or on silent mode.

Summary: The Higher Education Budget Subcommittee met with a quorum present for what was described as its final committee meeting of the session. Chair Busatta opened the meeting by outlining the upcoming budget conference process, explaining that the House and Senate had both passed their budget bills and that conference negotiations would begin soon, with the Senate serving as the hosting chamber this year. She reviewed how the conference process works, including side-by-side budget documents, chamber offers, subcommittee negotiations, escalation to the chairs and then to the Speaker and President, and the required 72-hour cooling-off period before final budget passage. The main discussion focused on the differences between the House and Senate higher education budgets for fiscal year 2025-2026. The chair noted a total $62.5 million difference, with the Senate budget higher overall. Key differences included House reductions for vacant FTE positions, differing approaches to recurring versus nonrecurring funding in financial aid and workforce programs, the Senate’s larger funding level for workforce development capitalization incentive grants, and differing allocations for colleges and universities. In the university budget, the Senate centralized nurse education funding at the University of South Florida’s Center for Nursing and funded several specific initiatives, while the House proposed additional funding for performance-based metrics, faculty recruitment and retention, and tuition waivers. The chair also highlighted a major proviso difference involving the EASE grant, where the House proposed minimum benchmark metrics for institutional eligibility. No testimony was taken and no votes were held on the budget differences. After the overview and brief explanation of the budget and proviso side-by-side documents, the committee concluded its agenda and adjourned on a motion by Representative Blanco, without objection.

Transcript Highlights:

• Local 509 members show up every day to protect the health and dignity of our neighbors.
• We ask you to protect the resources.
• We ask you to protect the resources that make this work possible. Thank you. Thank you very much.
• And we are in the same business that you are, you know, protecting the people of the Commonwealth.
• Some are job-related, some are not, but we want to make sure these employees are protected.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Revenue held a public hearing on H. 4975, Governor Healey’s bill to manage the impact of the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OB3) on Massachusetts tax law and state revenues. Administration officials, led by Secretary of Administration and Finance Matt Gorowitz, said OB3 would otherwise reduce FY26 revenue by about $442 million and argued for a phased-in conformity approach that would preserve the current-year budget while still adopting selected federal business tax provisions over time. The proposal would phase in the research and experimental expenditure deduction first, delay other major corporate provisions for two years, extend the pass-through entity excise to income subject to the 4% surtax, add a one-year delay mechanism for future federal tax changes over $20 million, limit opportunity zone benefits to Massachusetts investments, and make smaller technical changes to DFML contributions and casino reporting thresholds. Committee members questioned the rationale for phasing in rather than fully decoupling, the effect on the budget if the bill did not pass, and the treatment of opportunity zones, the surtax, and future federal tax changes. Public testimony was split. MassBudget, Progressive Massachusetts, and several labor and public-sector groups urged the committee to permanently decouple from the federal corporate tax changes rather than delay them, arguing that the bill would still send state revenue to corporate tax breaks, often for investments outside Massachusetts, and that the state should protect funding for schools, health care, human services, and other public services. The Massachusetts Society of CPAs supported the administration’s timing and the research-and-development provisions, citing filing deadlines and the importance of certainty for businesses and startups. Business and tax experts also testified that rushed conformity can create revenue losses and that the governor’s review-and-delay framework was a prudent improvement, though some said decoupling should be the default if the Legislature does not act. Unite Here Local 26 testified against sections 3 and 4, which would raise the slot-machine jackpot reporting threshold from $1,200 to $2,000, arguing the current threshold helps with problem-gambling intervention, preserves slot attendant jobs, and generates revenue. Several union leaders, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, AFT Massachusetts, SEIU 509, the Massachusetts Building Trades, the AFL-CIO, and 1199 SEIU, urged permanent decoupling, warning that OB3’s federal tax cuts and related spending reductions would worsen budget pressures, harm public services, and shift costs onto workers, patients, and schools. No votes were taken at the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• This is 2025 if we're going to go after cell phones was car.
• It protects their titles. Are there questions on the amendment?
• If you're a pulmonologist, you're protected as one of them.
• the bill, their titles are the protected titles.
• And so this is why this protection is important for all of us.

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I would like to remind everyone to please silence their cell phones.
• I would just say protecting children and our aging population is definitely a passion of mine.
• Our services include child protection, prevention, and diversion efforts in ensuring that children can
• Florida's child welfare program is dedicated to protect Florida's child welfare system.
• and that we're able, as much as possible, to protect the workforce that provides those services.

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:

• Consumer Protection and Antirust Bureau. Consumer Protection and Antirust Bureau.
• <04:08:39.760> Act the Trafficking Victims Protection Act the Trafficking Victims Protection
• photographs and protects art, protects that type of thing.
• <04:44:39.120> child specifically does not protect child specifically does not protect child
• And there's First Amendment protections.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• So I guess what are the plans to protect, you know, that further?
• Live free or die, protect our rights as the state.
• have been first Live Free or Die protect have been first Live Free or Die protect our<01:40:04.239
• He said that is an extra protection when that purpose is campaign finance, which is a protection that
• <04:14:45.600> phone buying that data from your cell phone buying that data from your cell

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• 21:05.240> distracted<00:21:06.159> driving<00:21:07.159> um<00:21:07.400> cell
• increase in distracted driving um cell increase in distracted driving um cell phones<00:21:08.240
• <00:59:41.559> your convenience and for protecting your convenience and for protecting your
• For over 25 years, our mission has been to protect patient and doctor freedom.
• Privacy rights protect personal control and individual freedom, despite intentions otherwise.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Please silence your cell phones.

Bills: SB116, SB121, SB130, SB407

Keywords: redistricting, congressional districts, Louisiana, 2020 census, elections, precincts, voting, election, political representation, 2026 precincts, demographics, Louisiana congressional map, U.S. House, election districts, precinct shapefiles, Voting Districts, VTD, 2020 Census, 2026 Precinct Shapefiles, apportionment

Transcript Highlights:

• PLEASE MAKE SURE CELL PHONES AND COMMUNICATION DEVICES ARE TURNED OFF OR ON SILENT.

Transcript Highlights:

• Remind everyone to keep those cell phones silent and turn your microphone on and off as we proceed.

Summary: The Judiciary Committee met and considered two bills. HB 145, by Rep. McFarland, would update sovereign immunity financial liability caps for claims against government entities, raising them to $500,000 per person and $1 million per incident, with a future automatic increase, aligning the statute of limitations with private claims, and allowing governments to settle valid claims above the cap without further legislative action. Several local government and related organizations waived in opposition. The bill passed on a 12-2 vote and was reported favorably. The committee then took up CS for HB 199, by Rep. Maney, which makes a short change to veterans treatment court law to align its procedures with mental health and drug courts and emphasize the state attorney’s role in the multidisciplinary review process. An amendment clarifying the state attorney’s role was adopted without objection. Public testimony on the bill was in support, and the committee reported the bill favorably as amended on a 14-0 vote. After completing both measures, the chair thanked members and adjourned the meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• All right, members, everyone in the audience, please silence your cell phones.

Summary: The Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee met with a quorum and heard two member bills. House Bill 313, by Representative Fabricio, would exempt Florida tolls for veterans who received a Purple Heart in combat and have a Purple Heart license plate. The sponsor said there are about 9,000 such plateholders in Florida and noted support from the veteran community; there was no public testimony or debate, and the bill passed unanimously. The committee then heard House Bill 793, by Representative Kendall Kuhl, which creates the Aerospace Innovation Fund to be administered by Space Florida. The sponsor described it as a $0 bill establishing a framework for collaborative aerospace R&D, workforce, commercialization, and international partnerships, with funding potentially coming from state, federal, or private sources. Space Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce appeared in support, and the bill also passed unanimously. After both roll calls, the committee concluded its agenda and adjourned without further business.

Transcript Highlights:

• We're talking about billions of cells.
• And protecting, as my colleague David Case was saying, these are people's movements.
• And I think we're in a good place with California's robust privacy protections. Thanks, John.
• Bonta mentioned, we retain and continue to protect the jobs that you all provide.
• It's important that if I'm in an Uber, I have additional protections.

Summary: The hearing focused on transportation network companies in California, with the chair framing it as an informational hearing on the history, regulation, safety, climate, accessibility, and data issues surrounding Uber, Lyft, and smaller or autonomous TNC services. The CPUC described its decade-long regulatory role, including safety rules, background checks, insurance requirements, reporting obligations, and two major legislative programs from 2018: the Clean Miles Standard and the Access for All program. Members asked about complaint trends, data collection and disclosure, program implementation, and how the CPUC uses annual reports for policymaking, compliance, and program oversight. Uber and Lyft said the statewide framework has supported growth while providing safety and access benefits, but both companies emphasized that insurance is a major cost driver and argued that California’s UM/UIM requirement is unusually high compared with other vehicles. They said the Clean Miles Standard is pushing electrification but faces headwinds from EV affordability and charging infrastructure, while Access for All has expanded wheelchair-accessible service but still needs continued support. They also discussed transit partnerships, wildfire response, and the potential role of autonomous vehicles, with both companies saying human drivers will remain important and that future regulation should account for new technology. The final panel, including the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and UC Berkeley researchers, presented evidence that TNCs have increased congestion and reduced transit ridership, especially in dense urban areas. They described prior research showing TNCs contributed to congestion growth in San Francisco and noted that this work helped spur local taxes on ride-hailing trips to fund safety and transit improvements. The panel also discussed the CPUC’s evolving data-disclosure decisions, arguing that public access to TNC trip data is important for understanding transportation impacts and informing local policy.

Transcript Highlights:

• <01:08:53.440> Last protections of organized labor. Last protections of organized labor.
• supposed to feel safe and protected. supposed to feel safe and protected.
• <04:44:03.120> our support of war fighters to protect our support of war fighters to protect
• protection. With that, I yield my time. protection. With that, I yield my time.
• <05:40:13.920> vehicles capable or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles capable or hydrogen fuel cell

Keywords: U.S. House of Representatives Floor Proceedings on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 1012, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And please ask everyone to silence their cell phones for the duration of the meeting.
• There is no consumer protection that is taking place right now in Kentucky. So that's very serious.
• And so regulation inspection is very important for consumer protection.

Keywords: Meeting Start 00:00:00 Attendance Roll Call 00:00:20 Approval of Minutes 00:00:41 Department of Agriculture 00:01:06, 958, all

Summary: The House Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government met for its third meeting, approved the minutes, and heard a budget presentation from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Department representatives Brandon Reid, Lee Macintosh, and Mark Bolan outlined the agency’s funding mix and requested support for several priorities in House Bill 500, including continuation of existing items, county fair grants, and an additional $5 million for the new economic development fund. They also discussed a capital request to replace two aging scale trucks, noting the vehicles are from 2002 and 2006 and have become unreliable and expensive to repair. The department emphasized several additional needs: funding to begin regulating and inspecting electric vehicle charging stations through the weights and measures division, retention and recruitment funding after losing 108 employees over three years, and a request to pay off tobacco-related debt service so more money can flow through the tobacco formula. They also cited House Bill 417, filed by Speaker Osborne, as supporting farmland preservation, saying the agency has a program ready but needs funding to implement it. Officials said the farm-to-food-banks and rural mental health items in the budget were acceptable as reduced by the tobacco formula. Members asked questions about pump inspection fees and staffing losses. The department said the inspection fee is $100 per station, not per pump, and that the same fee applies even to larger stations. On retention and recruitment, officials said the cost of turnover is significant but they did not have a dollar estimate. No votes were taken beyond the motion to approve the minutes, and the meeting ended with a motion to adjourn.

Transcript Highlights:

• Right, but there's a law from 100 years ago that protects that from happening.
• That technology exists in our cell phones and our laptop computers. Power tools.
• Because one thing we don't want is, in an effort to protect the environment, in an effort to be more