Transcript Highlights:

• Universal free school meals for all of our students.
• The number of students requiring services has increased, and the acuity of the need of those students
• Transportation of all types of students, regional schools, homeless students, vocational school transportation
• This program funds gang violence prevention programs and provides critical support for communities across
• Thank you all for the four of the students.

Keywords: 995, all

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

Transcript Highlights:

• to our Florida traditional programs.
• These programs.
• Once a candidate completes one of those Florida traditional programs, these programs result in the issuance
• Those are our students academic standards.
• Maybe didn't go through what that additional preparation programs or you don't have the alternative program

Transcript Highlights:

• So, this amendment sets express rules for all part-time programs for homeschool students.
• They're not available to private school students, and it requires that programs verify eligibility before
• to operate a part-time program programs to operate a part-time program outside their territory.
• I was the at-risk student, you know, and we had programs and funding that actually helped me get to college
• Energy program.

Keywords: 981, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We've also had a re-entry program.
• program.
• The Crossroads Program is the substance use prevention program that APS uses.
• I met with 3 students who will be medical students.
• The program for uninsured residents is called the coverage expansion program and is a flexible program

Transcript Highlights:

• This program provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students attending Texas colleges
• The program equips those great students with the tools, relationships, and real-world experience they
• University students enrolled in military programs often face challenges when registering for classes
• University students enrolled in military programs often face challenges when registering for classes
• House Bill 102, relating to early registration for students and military-related programs at public institutions

Summary: The Senate met with a quorum, heard an invocation, dispensed with the previous journal, and received a House message. Members also recognized Dr. Namita Bardwaj as doctor of the day. The chamber then adopted Senate Resolution 554 honoring Christopher “Chris” Jake Stone of Santa Fe for his heroism during the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, with several senators and the lieutenant governor offering remarks about his sacrifice and the ongoing impact on his family and community. The Senate also signed a number of bills and resolutions and adopted Senate Resolution 533 recognizing the Texas Legislative Internship Program class, with multiple senators highlighting individual interns and the program’s role in developing future public servants. The floor then took up and passed several bills, often by suspending the regular order and the three-day rule. These included HB 1639 on a study of cancer incidence among female firefighters; HB 102 granting early registration for students in military-related programs; HB 4325 increasing civil penalties for barratry; HB 5342 creating a 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline trust fund and related funding study; HB 3370 allowing late timberland appraisal applications after an owner’s death; HB 3376 requiring certain guardians to complete dementia/Alzheimer’s training; HB 132 extending confidentiality protections to information about hostile acts by foreign adversaries; and HB 1978, which sought to restrict ERCOT interconnections, but its motion to pass to engrossment failed on a 20-11 vote. Additional measures passed included HB 511 on unsolicited voter registration mailings, HB 2187 on nurse staffing, retaliation, and overtime protections, HB 2510 creating offenses for unlicensed assisted living operations, HB 694 on DFPS notification timelines, HB 1893 making license plates in law-enforcement video nonconfidential for public information requests, HB 2733 updating barratry and solicitation laws for digital communications, HB 4506 allowing opt-in electronic zoning notices, HB 3751 transferring a TxDOT property to DPS, HB 3033 creating a grant program for nonprofits supporting injured or killed DPS employees, HB 4273 on Medicaid fraud prevention and eligibility verification, HB 3211 on vision care benefits, HB 4529 exempting certain DoD-certified child care facilities from state licensure, HB 2522 easing fingerprinting requirements for certain vehicle dealers, HB 4219 tightening public information request response requirements, and HB 4783 requiring a report on opioid antagonist programs. The Senate also received a House message noting passage of SB 9, and a nominations committee report was announced for future consideration.

Transcript Highlights:

• make sure that they have the student make sure that they have the student support<00:03:38.040><
• collect so much data on our student collect so much data on our student whether<00:04:48.400>
• and school meal programs.
• Programs like math core and reading core, which directly address student achievement and help put teachers
• stand with us to support our students stand with us to support our students our<00:09:52.360>

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: Minnesota Senate Democrats held an education finance press conference focused on concerns that the Trump administration may dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and freeze or reduce federal education funding. Speakers said such actions could jeopardize Title I, special education, English learner, school meal, transportation, and other programs, and noted that federal education aid is often reimbursed after districts have already spent the money. They argued that even a 10% cut would amount to roughly $1 billion and could leave districts unable to cover costs they have already incurred. Several speakers also raised concerns about broader federal actions, including school vouchers, curriculum restrictions, and access to student and Treasury data by Elon Musk and others, warning about privacy and the possible targeting of DEI, ethnic studies, truth-and-history curriculum, and efforts to recruit and retain teachers of color. They said the instability makes it impossible for districts to plan budgets and maintain staffing, and that the harm is already being felt through frozen aid and other disruptions. The speakers criticized Republican colleagues for downplaying the threat and said Republicans were inconsistent because they had recently highlighted teacher shortages and school infrastructure needs while now minimizing potential cuts. No votes or formal committee actions were taken in the press conference; the event was a call for public pressure on Republican lawmakers to oppose the federal changes and protect Minnesota schools and students.

Transcript Highlights:

• WE HAVE 37 CAMPUSES OPERATING OVER 42 DIFFERENT PROGRAMS.
• THESE ARE OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS WE ARE ABLE TO DELIVER ACROSS THE PROGRAM.
• WE HAVE PEOPLE ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
• THAT ARE EARNED AND ACHIEVED WHILE IN THE PROGRAMS.
• CPR FIRST AID, OSHA TEN, AND EVERY STUDENT IS COMPLETING A READY TO WORK BASICALLY A SKILLS PROGRAM WITH

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• So this is a last dollar program.
• So this is a last dollar program. Okay. So this is a last dollar program.
• program with its implementation. program with its implementation.
• EMS to administer that program. EMS to administer that program.
• <00:30:11.520> that's money and then this program that's money and then this program that's

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Nobody wants to suspend a student or expel a student.
• If you take it by student, it's a cut of $517 per student.
• If you take it by student, it's a cut of $517 per student.
• programs and to do right by the students programs and to do right by the students and<02:51:24.880
• sizes, programs, and student supports. sizes, programs, and student supports. to<02:57:44.080>

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• number of students that would qualify. number of students that would qualify.
• programmatic or part of the program? programmatic or part of the program?
• You may buy a program, but maybe every district doesn't need to buy the program.
• . program. program.
• c> in that students some students need in that students some students need in order<02:34:05.680>

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And now there's a push to improve the program even more by giving students more choices.
• to bring more choice to school students to bring more choice to school students uh<00:18:26.480>
• <00:19:28.080> and for students and for students and lunch<00:19:31.039> school<00:
• So to that end, we have a slight of milks for... students can pick and it benefits students can pick
• as well as school lunch programs as well as encouraging<00:26:54.960> more<00:26:55.200> students

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And, you know, as far as cherry-picking programs, I mean the deal... cherry-picking programs.
• I'm going to get out of the way and let the students take over.
• The student retention council was formed with two goals in mind.
• following graduation. greatest students following graduation.
• We reached a wide range of students from different majors. ...range of students from different majors

Bills: SB278, HB459, HB61

Keywords: SB278, released time, religious instruction, elective credit, public schools, K-12 education, Alabama Released Time Credit Act, church-state separation, First Amendment, school choice, parental consent, elective course, off-campus instruction, private religious entity, State Board of Education, local board of education, attendance credit, core curriculum, religious education, Bible class

Transcript Highlights:

• program.
• Um our program and local bridge program.
• > students,<02:55:50.800> our students, our foster students, our students, our foster students
• This is a program that gave us program.
• And so, the state grant program program.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• H.B. 133 provides for penalties for students who commit attacks on other teachers and students in the
• This student had injured every student in her classroom.
• The student, again, didn't comply.
• This is not a release program.
• This is not a release program.

Keywords: 974, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And so it would be one of the first times in the nation that this program exists where students will
• A lot of student housing in times past has been only reflective or available for students.
• , it was a great program.
• It is modeled after the NMDOT program.
• programs.

Transcript Highlights:

• The prestigious CIF Scholar Award program has been awarded since 1982 and recognizes student-athletes
• Supportive, welcoming, and affirming places for students.
• Students are being taught to hate my children.
• Assembly Bill 323 authorizes Strong Workforce Program funds to be used to provide support to our students
• The Strong Workforce Program was established in 2016 to strengthen the CTE programs in California community

Summary: The Assembly convened after a quorum call, prayer, and Pledge of Allegiance, then moved through a long daily file with numerous guest introductions and recognitions, including tributes to outgoing University of California President Michael Drake, student and community advocates, and visitors connected to foster care, military appreciation, and college savings. The chamber also took up several procedural items, including concurrence in Senate amendments to ACR 75 on California Farm Week, which passed 59-0. Members then adopted AJR 7 on protecting federal special education funding and services for students with disabilities, with broad bipartisan support and a 65-0 vote after 63 co-authors were added. The Assembly also adopted ACR 82 recognizing Foster Care Month and ACR 85 recognizing 529 College Savings Day by voice vote after adding co-authors, and ACR 89 recognizing Military Appreciation Month, also adopted by voice vote after co-authors were added. These resolutions featured testimony and remarks emphasizing support for vulnerable children, foster youth, military families, and access to higher education. On policy bills, the Assembly passed AB 929 on groundwater and managed wetlands (41-14), AB 1026 on utility connection timelines for housing projects (52-0), AB 1332 on direct shipment of medicinal cannabis under specified conditions (55-0), AB 1356 on follow-up reporting in DHCS death investigations at treatment facilities (54-0), and AB 671 on streamlining restaurant openings through self-certification of certain plans (62-0). The chamber also approved AB 715 on anti-Semitism and school climate after extensive debate and cross-caucus support, 64-0, and AB 33 on autonomous vehicle deliveries requiring a human safety operator, 52-6. Later, AB 5 on election ballot-counting timelines passed 66-0, AB 27 and AB 28 addressing the Chiquita Canyon landfill disaster passed 61-0 and 44-6 respectively, and the Assembly began consideration of AB 43 to extend state authority over wild and scenic rivers.

Transcript Highlights:

• Funds that we now aren't able to use in our programming and provide more services.
• specific to the needs of their students and classroom activities.
• I wanted you to have a little understanding of our program and how we operate.
• The students living at or below the federal poverty level—70% of the students economically disadvantaged
• Any program like Safety Summer is engaged with the police.

Summary: The committee heard an interim study on expanding or simplifying sales tax exemptions for Oklahoma nonprofits. Representatives Stark and Schreiber said the issue has been filed repeatedly over several sessions and framed it as a bipartisan effort to keep more charitable dollars in service of communities rather than paying sales tax. Schreiber also suggested broader tax reform or an omnibus approach rather than continuing to add individual exemptions. Marnie Taylor of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits gave an overview of the sector, describing nonprofits as a major part of the state economy and safety net, and argued that many organizations are highly regulated, under-resourced, and facing declining donations and funding. She said the current patchwork of exemptions is uneven and that a blanket or broader exemption would help organizations serving public needs. Committee members asked for sources behind some of the poverty, education, and health rankings cited in her presentation. Several nonprofit leaders testified about how sales tax affects their operations. RG Foods described the cost of opening neighborhood grocery markets in food deserts and said sales tax on a Tulsa project would divert about $85,000 from programming. Jubilee Partners, Skyline Urban Outreach, the Pencil Box, the Tulsa Police Foundation, Blue Rose Ranch, and Legacy Parenting Center each explained how exemption status or the lack of it affects food assistance, school supplies, public safety equipment, animal rescue, and diapers and family support. Members asked follow-up questions about food desert definitions, budgets, and how much sales tax savings would change operations. No vote was taken in the excerpt, but the study concluded with closing remarks emphasizing that the exemption would keep more money in direct services and support the nonprofit sector statewide.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:08:47.200> peers continued to inspire her students peers continued to inspire her students
• general education teacher student general education teacher student services<00:08:55.279> coordinator
• Culture Club advisor esport program Culture Club advisor esport program advisor<00:09:19.640>
• on a personal level has each student on a personal level has inspired<00:12:52.079> students<
• <00:13:58.519> and ability to connect with her students and ability to connect with her students

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• all students, including undocumented students, have access to financial aid and have the ability to
• John’s has a great program.
• to students and families.
• It is what we do in our school lunch programs that are the basis for what students will eat in the future
• Where do those students sleep still?

Summary: The Assembly met after a quorum call and first dealt with a procedural dispute over four amendments to AB 1240. The Speaker ruled the amendments out of order as not germane, and the Assembly sustained that ruling on a 49-16 vote. Members then added co-authors to several consent-calendar resolutions, including measures on the National Conference of State Legislators, Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, ALS Awareness Month, and Men’s Mental Health Month, before adopting the consent calendar. The chamber also heard guest introductions, including a welcome for Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, and took up a motion to bring AB 41 up out of file, which failed 19-48. The bulk of the meeting was floor action on a long series of bills and resolutions, many of which passed with broad bipartisan support. Measures approved included ACR 40 supporting immigrant students and FAFSA privacy; AB 917 on permanent status for certain school employees; AB 985 on anesthesia access; AB 7 and AB 42 on higher education and student services; AB 245 providing property tax relief for wildfire victims; AB 255 allowing funding for drug-free recovery housing; AB 279 updating K-12 library standards; AB 289 creating a pilot for automated speed enforcement in highway construction zones; AB 291 on an educator apprentice program; AB 327 addressing swatting; AB 340 on confidential union communications; AB 341 creating an oral health technical assistance center for people with disabilities; AB 356 on San Diego health care infrastructure; AB 410 on bot disclosure; AB 476 on copper theft enforcement; AB 477 on educator pay targets; AB 485 on stolen wages and business licensing; AB 487, the insurance committee’s technical omnibus bill; AB 573 on tobacco retail license fees; AB 598 on school mapping technology; AB 635 on mobile home law enforcement referrals; AB 651 on remote participation for incarcerated parents in dependency hearings; AB 654 on homelessness hotline assistance in Los Angeles County; AB 662 creating a South County higher education task force; AB 667 on language access in professional licensing; AB 669 limiting early denial of addiction treatment; AB 670 on naturally occurring affordable housing; AB 695 on online continuation of community college for deported students; AB 723 on disclosure for digitally altered real estate images; AB 727 placing Trevor Project information on student IDs; and AB 736, a $10 billion affordable housing bond for the June 2026 ballot, which passed on a 61-11 urgency vote after extensive debate. Debate on AB 736 was the most extensive of the day, with supporters arguing the bond would help address California’s housing crisis and give voters a chance to weigh in, while opponents criticized the state’s bond debt and past spending results. The Assembly then recessed for caucus meetings and later returned to continue the daily file, where additional measures were taken up, including AB 798 adding diapers and wipes to the emergency food bank reserve program, which passed 56-0, and AB 821 on career technical education, which was presented as bipartisan-supported as the transcript continued.

Transcript Highlights:

• like Medicaid, student loans, Pell Grants, food stamps, transportation programs, and more.
• like Medicaid, student loans, Pell Grants, the states from major federal funding programs like Medicaid
• , student loans, Pell Grants, food stamps, transportation programs, and more.
• has made, this is the deficit the student has, and the challenges the student has.
• Students, we work with the university so that they educate the students.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The committee held a hearing on census preparation, focusing first on testimony from U.S. Census Bureau staff James Whitehorn and Andrea Grace Johnson. They described the Bureau’s decade-long geographic and redistricting programs, including the Boundary and Annexation Survey, School District Review Program, Participant Statistical Area Program, and Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA), along with the Block Boundary Suggestion Project and voting district collection. They emphasized that Massachusetts has been a strong partner in these efforts and explained how the Bureau is using updated street data, building footprints, machine learning, and change detection to improve address lists and track new housing. Whitehorn also reviewed the 2030 redistricting data program, the legal basis for it under PL 94-171, the role of state nonpartisan liaisons, and the expected timeline for data delivery. He noted that OMB’s revised race and ethnicity standards will merge those questions into one and add a Middle Eastern/North African category. Committee members asked about the new standards, state contacts, and how boundary updates are submitted, and the witnesses said they would provide the slide deck and contact information. Wendy Underhill and Helen Brewer of NCSL then testified about why census preparation matters for states, stressing its impact on data, federal funding, and political representation. They outlined optional steps states can take before 2030, including staying in touch with Census Bureau staff, identifying state and local personnel involved in census work, supporting local participation in Bureau programs, and creating complete count committees or commissions. They cited Massachusetts’s prior complete count committee and grantmaking efforts as an example and said such efforts can improve self-response and overall accuracy. They also noted that state legislatures can act as conveners and trusted messengers, and they discussed broader issues such as privacy protections, differential privacy, budget uncertainty, and the possibility of future litigation or a citizenship question. Secretary of State William Galvin then gave extended remarks on Massachusetts’s 2020 census experience and the need to prepare early for 2030. He said the state faced major challenges in 2020 from the pandemic, litigation, and rhetoric about citizenship, and that Massachusetts relied heavily on local records, university data, and community outreach to document residents, especially students and non-native-born populations. He argued that the state should strengthen local recordkeeping now through LUCA, annual resident lists, assessors’ and zoning records, and other local data sources, and he urged support for a proposed $500,000 appropriation for census-related grants and technical assistance. Galvin said better preparation is needed because housing patterns, population shifts, and local administrative capacity have changed since 2020, and he emphasized that the goal is to improve the completeness of the records the Census Bureau will use in 2030.