Transcript Highlights:

• by our amendments coming up.
• Our funding decisions are going to do great things for our environment and ensure that our departments
• And there's four calculations throughout the school budget that help fund our districts and our schools
• mental health issues in our prisons and in our jails locally and also diversion programs.
• As you know, it impacts our area.

Committee: Senate Appropriations

Summary: The Appropriations Committee heard presentations on the Senate’s proposed 2025-2026 budget, SPB 25-200, totaling $117.4 billion. Chair Hooper and committee chairs highlighted major spending priorities including a 4% raise for state employees, continued health insurance contributions, investments in water quality, transportation, education infrastructure, and workforce development, along with reductions tied to long-vacant positions. Education funding was a major focus, with increases for K-12 public schools and scholarships, higher education workforce programs, nursing initiatives, tutoring, and university performance funding. Health and human services, criminal and civil justice, transportation/economic development, and agriculture/environment budgets were also outlined, including Medicaid, mental health, corrections staffing, affordable housing, beach restoration, citrus recovery, and water projects. Members then questioned several budget choices, especially K-12 funding. Senators Polsky and Smith raised concerns that the Senate’s AP and dual enrollment funding changes could disadvantage public schools, while Burgess argued the budget preserves the money in the FEFP and gives districts more flexibility rather than reducing support. Questions also addressed voucher availability, school stabilization funding, and the My Safe Florida Home program. The committee adopted 171 consent amendments and three late-file amendments, then approved SPB 2500 as a committee bill. It also favorably reported implementing and conforming bills for state employees, retirement, natural resources, judgeships, K-12 education, higher education, and health and human services, along with SB 7022 on Florida Retirement System contribution rates and elected-officer DROP options, CS/SB 1320 on the Resilient Florida Trust Fund, SB 7014 ending the Mediation and Arbitration Trust Fund, SB 7028 on cancer research, CS/CS/SB 170 on nursing home quality and oversight, CS/SB 168 on mental health diversion and behavioral health data, SB 114 creating an insurance and risk management research center at FSU, and SB 180 on emergency preparedness and post-storm recovery. Most bills were reported favorably with little or no opposition, though SB 180 drew discussion about local-government authority after storms and the need to balance recovery speed with local safety and planning concerns.

Transcript Highlights:

• residents and to our our businesses so Madam Chair Representative Legori thank you for the question
• HB 2843 also ...from our utilities.
• And this gas blend, I believe we need to study different methods of our gasoline. Our prices.
• We need to study different methods of our gasoline. Our prices last year were very, very high.
• Our voters are very important, and if our voters get concerned about this threat, we might be able to

Committee: House House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee of Reference

Summary: The committee heard and took action on several water, energy, housing, and natural resources measures. House Bill 2099, as amended, was advanced on a 6-3 vote after testimony from water utilities, CAP, ADWR, Phoenix, and agricultural interests about long-term storage credits, Colorado River shortages, and the need to preserve flexibility in underground storage. House Bill 2263, also amended, passed 6-3 despite concerns from CAP, Colorado River Indian Tribes, and others that it would restrict where Colorado River replenishment water could be stored and reduce operational flexibility. House Bill 2264, requiring the University of Arizona to promote Arizona history and the five Cs through the mining museum effort, passed 9-0. House Bills 2330 and 2341, both relating to power plant and transmission line siting criteria, passed 6-3 after the sponsor argued they would better account for an area’s character and for speculative projects lacking known off-takers. House Bill 2918, ending certain tax breaks for renewable energy and storage equipment after 2026, passed 6-3. House Bill 2889, appropriating $1 million for uranium contamination monitoring and a statewide registry, passed 9-0 after discussion of tribal health impacts and possible amendment to shift implementation to ADEQ. House Concurrent Resolution 2057 supporting geothermal permitting reform passed 9-0, and House Concurrent Resolution 2020 supporting certain housing developments outside designated provider service areas passed 6-2. The committee also heard House Bill 2843 on portable plug-in solar devices, with the sponsor and supporters arguing it would lower bills and expand access for renters and apartment dwellers. Electric co-ops and utilities raised safety, backfeed, inspection, and liability concerns, and the chair held the bill for further work rather than taking a vote. House Bill 2782, dealing with utility rate transparency and regulatory assets, drew testimony from the sponsor and constituents about alleged double-charging in Santan Valley; after a motion to suspend committee rules to consider a late amendment, the amended bill passed 5-3. House Bill 4025, creating a study committee on gasoline and petroleum refineries, passed 6-3 after the sponsor argued Arizona relies heavily on imported gasoline. House Bill 2912, requiring integrated resource plans and independent review for electric utilities, passed 6-2 after amendment. Finally, House Bill 4100, requiring notice to customers about potential rate impacts if CAP water is lost, drew opposition from municipal and private water providers who said the required estimates would be speculative and could not be prepared by the deadline; the bill was discussed with an amendment expanding its scope, but the transcript ends before a final vote is shown.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> be good stewards to the best of our be good stewards to the best of our ability<00:01:05.119><c>
• &gt;&gt; Okay, that was And who is our second? &gt;&gt; Okay, that was And who is our second?
• We want our dollars to go the furthest it will and be very efficient with our money. Thank you.
• </c> all our it's all our tax dollars. all our it's all our tax dollars.
• </c> and be very efficient with our money. and be very efficient with our money.

Summary: The meeting opened with prayer and a quorum call, then the committee approved the prior meeting minutes. Staff reported several informational items, including University of Kentucky medical and research equipment purchases, school district debt issues, leasehold improvements, and Kentucky Community and Technical College System bond allocations. The committee then approved a line-item appropriation increase of $350,000 in federal funds for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ Cumberland Forest Conservation Program, along with two Department of Military Affairs projects: the Ashland Readiness Center window replacement and the MATES HVAC replacement at Fort Knox. It also approved four larger maintenance-pool projects without further action: HVAC and smoke evacuation work at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, HVAC and hot water tank replacements at Oakwood, a Green Bank energy-savings performance project across state facilities, and roof replacement at Lake Barkley Lodge. Members asked about the prison project, the roof procurement process, and whether minority-owned firms receive special bidding preference; staff said capital projects are awarded through open low-bid procurement with qualification and warranty requirements, and that minority participation is preferred but not a bidding criterion. Two lease modifications were approved for Franklin County agencies: an expansion and renovation for the Auditor of Public Accounts and a downsizing and renovation for the Kentucky Workers Compensation Funding Commission. The committee also approved Kentucky Infrastructure Authority items, including a Monticello sewer loan, several Cleaner Water Program grants and reallocations, and a House Bill 1 water grant that required no action. Members questioned engineering costs and were told the KIA board reviews technical details and anomalies before approval. Finally, the committee approved six economic development grants: one EDF grant for V Simple in Jefferson County and five KPDI EDF grants for projects in Breckinridge, Erlanger, Todd, and Washington counties. The last action item was approval of Western Kentucky University’s up-to-$10 million general receipts revenue bond issue for athletic facilities. An informational Kentucky Housing Corporation multifamily bond item prompted concern from members about rising per-unit costs for affordable housing, and they requested further explanation from the housing corporation at a future meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• This is our omnibus bill.
• I want to thank our chairs, our staff, and all the chairs who worked so hard to put this together.
• Our next testifier will be Mr.
• And really, specifically to preserve and share our arts, our culture, our history, and telling these
• Their dollars are our families, ourselves, our neighbors, and they are limited.

Bills: HF2563

Committee: House Legacy Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, so I've spent my career working with community colleges, um, our state institutions, um, and our
• The other is all the research grants that come into our, our 3 main research institutions.
• Um, and I think there's a lot of opportunities in our very near future for our state with quantum and
• universities and our faculty and our ability then into the future to attract additional.
• I, I, we, we, our school districts are hacked all over the state. Our data is out there.

Committee: House Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• And I think OA is looking at our...
• , you know, keeping our schools upgraded and our roads?
• All of our tax revenue. So all of our...
• How many people we can have in our bullpen? Not necessarily.
• We've locked in Company X as our surveyor for the next two years, and that's our survey company because

Committee: House Special Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs

Transcript Highlights:

• What that means for us in terms of our responsibility to our constituents in these very uneasy and unsteady
• We know many of our constituents are suffering right now.
• Aguiar-Curie Cartwright Act, do pass out on a B-roll call.
• AB 706, Aguiar-Curry, forest and wildfire. preservation funds.
• AB 1337, board information practices act.

Committee: House Appropriations

Transcript Highlights:

• our wetlands, our streams and lakes and our wetlands, our streams and in<00:23:46.159><c> particular
• is our our most is our most natural is our our most precious<00:42:25.280><c> resource</c><00:42:25.599
• Like our our rainfall, our rainfall.
• </c> million ash still remain in our million ash still remain in our community<01:22:56.719><c> forests
• </c><01:29:34.080><c> our</c><01:29:34.080><c> our</c> grant awards and then our our our grant awards

Committee: House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Our freedom, our liberty, and our rights.
• And And people in our state had to live with the consequences for a whole year till we got back to fix
• An act relating to crimes and offenses. for our consideration is Senate file for our consideration is
• Um, so what this bill does is just kind of a simple fix in helping solve some problems on our state lands
• Um, and it's just a simple drafting fix that our good staff found and brought it to me.

Transcript Highlights:

• Act. Act. &gt;&gt; Yeah.<00:58:43.280><c> Yeah.
• </c> our economy, uh providing jobs, to our our economy, uh providing jobs, to our way<01:26:10.000><
• our our our regional share it with um our our our regional grid<01:49:59.199><c> which</c><01:49:59.360
• </c> with with our amendment. with with our amendment.
• to in our teen years.

Committee: House Commerce and Consumer Affairs

Transcript Highlights:

• Father, in our work today, we face our own stones, barriers of division.
• Our neighbors couldn't afford to fix their mufflers.
• It's not ours.
• That is expanding government to fix things that need to be fixed.
• Something today because this fixes something for our kids and our grandkids. Please vote yes.

Bills: HB3257 , HB3176 , HB3544 , HB3619 , HB3546 , HB1782 , HB2293 , HB4358 , HB3081 , HB3983 , HB3790 , HJR1023 , HB4139 , HB3297 , HB3041 , HB3673 , HB4105 , HB3338 , HB3048 , SR33 , SCR21 , SCR20 , HB4030 , HB4031 , HB4032 , HB4034 , HB4036 , HB4037 , HB4038 , HB4040 , HB4041 , HB4042 , HB4043 , HB4045 , HB4046 , HB4047 , HB4048 , HB4044 , HB4050 , HB4051 , HB4052 , HB4053 , HB4054 , HB4056 , HB4057 , HB4071 , HB4065 , HB4067 , HB4072 , HB2992 , HB4338 , HB4170

Keywords: veterans, disability benefits, federal law, Oklahoma Statutes, military service, Oklahoma, Gas Hub, artificial intelligence, national laboratory, public-private partnerships, aerospace, high-performance computing, economic development, social AI companions, minors, emotional attachment, safety protocols, civil penalties, parental controls, geographic information

Transcript Highlights:

• I know you all want what's best for this state and for our communities, so please act by supporting the
• I know you all want what's best for this state and for our communities, so please act by supporting the
• And this proposal actually fixes Act 163 from 2023, which increased the amount that taxpayers could claim
• And this proposal actually fixes Act 163 from 2023, which increased the amount that taxpayers could claim
• And this proposal actually fixes Act 163 from 2023, which increased the amount that taxpayers could claim

Bills: HB2459 , HB1616 , HB1799 , HB1604 , HB1732 , HB1736 , HB1931 , HB772 , HB2153 , HB2122 , HB2009 , HB2012 , HB1779 , HB2296 , HB2397 , HB2398 , HB1596 , HB2233 , HB1976 , HB1563 , HB815 , HB1655 , HB1851 , HB1941 , HB2037 , HB1635 , HB2201 , HB1943 , HB1163 , HB2452 , HB2429 , HB2148 , HB2306 , HB2007 , HB2049 , HB2616

Committee: House Finance

Keywords: food innovation, agribusiness, food safety, market access, branding, economic diversification, performance indicators, agriculture, aquaculture, commercial activity, swine production, Korean natural farming, housing development, commercial projects, county authority, public works, construction standards, exemption, zoning, housing

Transcript Highlights:

• efforts in literacy, READ Act support, safety and school behavior, and programming choices that our
• We have been a leader in the READ Act training, nearly almost a thousand of our teachers already, and
• We have been a leader in the READ Act training, nearly almost a thousand of our teachers already, and
• our schools um and fix and how we help our schools um and the<01:24:18.639><c> worst</c><01:24:18.920
• </c><01:42:29.719><c> had</c><01:42:29.840><c> already</c> act became law our district had already act

Committee: Senate Education Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Now we'll take a look at some of our food security programs in our state.
• about our LFC, our budget request for the Income Support Division.
• We do have our ISD Director and Acting Deputy Secretary here, Nikki Kozlowski, who has been working really
• Our FY part of our FY 27 budget request for the Health Care Authority.
• I feel like our committee Our committee staff, our legislative council staff, have some ideas on how

Transcript Highlights:

• We have our first author, which is also great.
• and our hundreds of thousands of workers in our industry in California.
• reduce costs for our facilities.
• Our company, Healthy Baby, proves that. We haven't been limited in our growth.
• Know Act.

Committee: Senate Environmental Quality

Transcript Highlights:

• Um over our guests on the floor today.
• </c> system, ensuring that thousands of our system, ensuring that thousands of our neighbors<00:24:21.200
• The Joint Health and Human Services Committee will be doing our SMART Act hearing 15 minutes upon adjournment
• in the Old State Library. for Northern Colorado and our neighbors. for Northern Colorado and our neighbors
• ><00:30:22.720><c> services</c> appreciate our volunteer and services appreciate our volunteer and services

Summary: The Senate convened, established a quorum, and suspended Senate Rule 1B to allow Senator Sullivan’s granddaughter, daughter, and wife to lead the chamber in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Senate then approved the January 26, 2026 journal as corrected and received routine administrative notices, including that several bills and resolutions were correctly engrossed or revised. Members made a series of announcements and personal privilege remarks recognizing guests and upcoming events. The chamber welcomed representatives from Summit Stone Health Partners, who were praised for their behavioral health and crisis services in Northern Colorado, including crisis intervention, detox, outpatient treatment, mobile crisis response, and peer support. Senators also highlighted an upcoming higher education reception, a Forest Health Council breakfast, a State Affairs Committee hearing on Senate Bill 4, and a Colorado Airport Operators Association reception. Additional announcements noted that the Joint Budget Committee would meet on supplemental budget requests from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and that the Joint Health and Human Services Committee would hold its SMART Act hearing after adjournment. Senator Bridges promoted the Great Colorado Payback and National Unclaimed Property Day. The Senate then adopted a motion to recess until 11 a.m. later that day.

Transcript Highlights:

• So Mary and I are going to tag-team our way through a number of documents this morning.
• I think that is the totality of our comments.
• That was our...
• this point, we are able to maintain significant increases for our K-12 education.
• And that concludes our official business.

Summary: The conference committee met on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5167, the state operating budget, and received a detailed staff briefing on the proposed conference report. Staff explained how to read the comparison documents, the four-year balanced-budget outlook, and the main resource assumptions, including use of the March 2025 revenue forecast, exclusion of the statutory 4.5% growth assumption, revenue legislation totaling about $8.7 billion, numerous fund transfers, and reversion assumptions. They also noted the proposal does not include a temporary salary reduction or furloughs. The briefing highlighted major policy areas and their net five-year impacts, including increases for state and higher education employee compensation, K-12 education, long-term care and developmental disabilities, corrections, information technology, and other policy items. It also described net reductions in behavioral health, children/youth/families, higher education, natural resources, other human services, and health care/public health, with many of the changes tied to delayed programs, rate adjustments, fund shifts, and savings options from Governor Ferguson. The committee then heard member comments, with supporters emphasizing K-12 funding and fiscal responsibility, and Senator Gildon opposing the process and the closed-door nature of the budget development. A motion was made and seconded to recommend adoption of the conference report and pass the bill. The roll call showed one member voting do not recommend, one member excused, and the remaining members recommending adoption. By vote of the committee, the conference report was adopted, and the committee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Why don't we get started with our first bill?
• communities. ...of the profound positive impact that it will have in our communities and our future.
• our views, but so much more when we can offer our opinions and our views, and they match with the leaders
• We know that here in the state of Florida our economy is built around our agricultural communities, our
• But when you're boxed in and you can't grow, and you have national forest, state forests on every corner

Committee: House Commerce Committee

Summary: The Commerce Committee met with a quorum and heard three bills. First, CS/HB 515 on the Uniform Commercial Code was presented as a Florida Bar-backed update creating a new chapter to address digital assets and ledger technologies, including rules for perfection of security interests and lien priorities involving items such as Bitcoin. The bill drew support from the Florida Bar’s business law section and the Florida Bankers Association, had no amendments or opposition, and was reported favorably after a unanimous roll call. The committee then heard HB 1427 on rural communities, a broad package creating an Office of Rural Prosperity, a rural resource directory, a Renaissance grant program, a rural arterial road monetization program, housing and school support measures, and new health care grant programs for telehealth, staffing, training, and mobile units. Sponsors and many local officials, economic development groups, chambers, utilities, and other organizations testified in strong support, emphasizing infrastructure, workforce, housing, and health care needs in rural Florida. Members from both parties praised the bill’s focus on rural counties, and it was reported favorably. Finally, HB 299 on elevator accessibility requirements would allow an additional shorter interior support well in elevators while keeping the existing 42-inch support well requirement, with the goal of improving accessibility and flexibility for building owners. The National Elevator Industry supported the measure, there was no opposition or amendment, and the bill passed unanimously. The committee then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Climate change continues to reshape our oceans, our rivers, and our coastlines.
• , our identity, our economy, and recreation.
• It is our identity, it is the Klamath's way of life, it's our culture, it's our spirituality, it is our
• It is our identity, it is the Klamath's way of life, it's our culture, it's our spirituality, it is our
• It is our identity, it is the Klamath's way of life, it's our culture, it's our spirituality, it is our

Committee: House Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture

Summary: The Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture held its annual Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum, focusing on the state of California fisheries and the environment. Secretary Wade Crowfoot and CDFW Marine Region Manager Dr. Craig Schumann described the sector as economically important but under pressure from drought, climate change, wildfire, warm oceans, and federal uncertainty. They highlighted progress under the state salmon strategy, including barrier removal, habitat restoration, flow protections, hatchery modernization, and technology improvements, while noting that salmon closures in recent years reflected the state’s driest period on record. Schumann reported 2025 commercial landings of about 217 million pounds worth $212 million, led by market squid, Dungeness crab, groundfish, and spiny lobster, and said the state’s marine protected area network had received international recognition. He also discussed salmon season openings, in-season management, hatchery release strategies, parentage-based tagging, kelp restoration planning, domoic acid closures, and expected future opportunities for rebuilt groundfish stocks such as yelloweye rockfish and cow cod. A major portion of the hearing was devoted to the Klamath River dam removal and salmon recovery. CDFW’s Crystal Robinson reviewed the project timeline, from the 2002 fish kill through dam decommissioning and full barrier removal in October 2024, and said fish returned to historic habitat within days. Yurok Chairman Joseph James, Karuk Chairman Russell “Buster” Attebery, and Dr. Craig Tucker described the dam removal as a historic tribal and state partnership and emphasized that salmon are central to tribal culture, food, and sovereignty. They said the river is already showing recovery, including the return of spring-run Chinook above Upper Klamath Lake for the first time in over a century, but stressed that continued restoration, funding, and protection of cold-water tributaries like the Scott and Shasta Rivers are still needed. Speakers also raised concerns about federal efforts to reinterpret the Endangered Species Act and rewrite the Klamath irrigation biological opinion, and urged the state to remain actively involved. The committee discussed AB 263 and AB 2218, which relate to minimum stream flows and Indigenous water rights, respectively. Members also questioned the agencies about Sacramento River salmon management, Shasta Reservoir cold-water releases, enforcement capacity, and federal disaster funding delays. Crowfoot and Schumann said the Sacramento remains the state’s most important salmon river and that the Bay-Delta Plan update and hatchery and flow actions are critical to recovery. They said marine enforcement remains limited, with about 50 officers covering the 1,100-mile coastline, and relies on technology, federal partnerships, and public tips. The committee indicated it would follow up on the federal biological opinion rewrite and on salmon-related policy issues. The final panel addressed the 2026–27 Dungeness crab season outlook. CDFW’s Joanna Grable said the season will be shaped by the “four horsemen” of whales, domoic acid, meat quality, and fleet dynamics, and warned that warm ocean conditions and a possible strong El Niño could increase domoic acid risk and whale entanglement concerns. She said the department will likely take a conservative approach, including possible season delays or gear reductions, while using new tools such as crab evisceration authority. PCFFA Executive Director Lisa Damrosch argued that the fishery has been built too much on fear and litigation, but acknowledged that RAMP now provides a framework to avoid a repeat of the 2016 crisis while still protecting whales and supporting fishing communities.

Transcript Highlights:

• And this resolution stands as a testament to his impact on our state and our young men.
• out there and enjoy our pristine water, wildlife, and the legacy of our ecology.
• This is a bill about our kids.
• it decimated our community.
• It was on our beaches, in our forests, in Walton County, that young Bob Graham spent his summers with

Summary: The Senate opened with prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and several introductions and moments of silence, including tributes to those affected by the Florida State University shooting and recognition of Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, John Thrasher, student advocacy groups, conservation organizations, and visiting school groups. Members also adopted Senate Resolution 1878 honoring Coach Abdur-Rahim. The chamber then moved into special order business and considered a series of bills, many of them with House companions substituted in and passed by wide margins or unanimously. Among the measures passed were bills updating child care and early learning provider regulation, imposing costs on false swatting reports, extending protections against extraordinary hospital collection actions, expanding hazardous walking conditions for schoolchildren, creating young adult housing support for foster and homeless students, clarifying school choice disclosure requirements under the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, adjusting interest rules for trust accounts supporting legal aid, revising transportation and traffic enforcement provisions, expanding public records exemptions for certain judicial and health care investigators and appellate clerks, changing municipal water and sewer utility rates in Miami-Dade, strengthening motor vehicle offenses involving impersonation and obscured plates, increasing trespass penalties at certain law-enforcement-controlled sites and large ticketed events, requiring refunds of patient overpayments, authorizing certain stem cell therapies, allowing relatives and direct support professionals to administer insulin in group homes, addressing rideshare impersonation and transit funding rules, and updating the Uniform Commercial Code for digital assets and emerging technologies. Several bills drew notable debate. The trust fund interest bill prompted extended discussion over legal aid funding, bank participation, and whether the measure would reduce support for legal services; it ultimately passed 28-10. The transportation bill was heavily amended, including removal of speed-limit increases and changes to school bus camera enforcement and micromobility rules, and passed 37-0. The Miami-Dade water and sewer rate bill sparked debate over fairness, fiscal impact, and accusations of racism, but passed 36-2. Public records bills protecting agency investigators and JQC employees also drew questions about accountability and transparency before passing. Most other measures passed with little or no opposition, and a few bills were temporarily postponed or set aside.