Transcript Highlights:

• Just like the other commemorative plates that the state issues.
• Please state your name, sir, the organization you represent, and your position on the bill.

Bills: HB 1023 , HB2537 , HB3302 , HB3324 , HB3644 , HB3722 , HB3815 , HB4053 , HB4789

Committee: House S/C on Defense & Veterans' Affairs

Keywords: specialty license plates, military honor, Texas Homeland Defense Service Medal, Texas Superior Service Medal, Texas Outstanding Service Medal, Texas Medal of Merit, military honors, Lone Star Distinguished Service Medal, veterans, Texas Homeland Defense Medal, military, commemorative recognition, transportation code, claims assistance, disability benefits, court representation, legal services, naming, commemoration, local honor

Transcript Highlights:

• It's the state grant.
• Please state your name for the record and continue. state in your committee.
• News coverage last week discussed how tuition is going to potentially go up by 18% at Minnesota State
• News coverage last week discussed how tuition is going to potentially go up by 18% at Minnesota State
• </c> the economic driver of the state. the economic driver of the state.

Bills: HF2312

Committee: House Higher Education Finance and Policy

Keywords: higher education, college finance, student aid, financial aid, state grants, North Star Promise, scholarships, tuition relief, Minnesota State, University of Minnesota, Office of Higher Education, work-study, child care grants, Indian scholarships, tribal colleges, Hunger-Free Campus, student parents, pregnant students, parenting students, sexual misconduct

Transcript Highlights:

• and our state.
• It's coming back. they did a ceremony at the Veterans State Home.
• In Texas, we are blessed with beautiful public lands in every region of the state, including state parks
• , historical sites, and state natural areas.
• And I'm particularly happy to see a new subject.

Bills: HCR92 , HB 114 , HB561 , HB 1171 , HB1894 , HB2026 , HB2143 , HB2337 , HB2564 , HB114

Committee: House S/C on Defense & Veterans' Affairs

Keywords: Tuskegee Airmen, commemoration, African American history, civil rights, military recognition, veterans, mental health, Texas Veterans Commission, peer support, suicide prevention, community mental health, grant program, defense, grants, local government, economic support, community development, health and wellness, outdoor recreation, state land use

Transcript Highlights:

• We're a rich state. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. It's Pollack.
• The increase in the state compensatory allotment is a step in the right direction.
• Communities strengthen. expanded and a state that leads this great nation.
• Vasquez stated the surplus is a result of underfunding our public school system.
• To be a member of a regional day school program by the state.

Bills: HB2 , HB2

Committee: House Public Education

Keywords: public education, teacher compensation, certification, funding, school finance, educator rights, education funding, charter schools, staff compensation, state aid, retention allotment, disaster preparedness, emergency management, flooding, mass fatality, mass casualty, fatality tracking, body recovery, autopsy, justice of the peace

Transcript Highlights:

• They're 100% funded by the state.
• In funding from state sources.
• In terms of what the state puts in from state revenue sources.
• No, this is all state program.
• It helped her, it gave her a new life, a new motivation.

Bills: HB2 , HB2

Committee: House Public Education

Keywords: public education, teacher compensation, certification, funding, school finance, educator rights, education funding, charter schools, staff compensation, state aid, retention allotment, disaster preparedness, emergency management, flooding, mass fatality, mass casualty, fatality tracking, body recovery, autopsy, justice of the peace

Transcript Highlights:

• a new teacher who does not have one of those certificates.
• That, to me, is the wrong policy of the state.
• Your willingness to invest in the children of our state strengthens the future of our great state, and
• We're getting new bids, aren't you? Yes, every year.
• All of our non-federal funding comes from the state, which means you, our state legislators, are the

Bills: HB2 , HB2

Committee: House Public Education

Keywords: public education, teacher compensation, certification, funding, school finance, educator rights, education funding, charter schools, staff compensation, state aid, retention allotment, disaster preparedness, emergency management, flooding, mass fatality, mass casualty, fatality tracking, body recovery, autopsy, justice of the peace

Transcript Highlights:

• We filed in the history of the state of Texas.
• allotments and new funding as well.
• This bill contains a lot of new words. Ways to deliver money, I guess you call them new programs.
• How many new programs are in this bill? Well, I had made a list of new grants.
• But I can't say that I've gone back and we're thinking about creating whole new systems or a whole new

Bills: HB2 , HB2

Committee: House Public Education

Keywords: public education, teacher compensation, certification, funding, school finance, educator rights, education funding, charter schools, staff compensation, state aid, retention allotment, disaster preparedness, emergency management, flooding, mass fatality, mass casualty, fatality tracking, body recovery, autopsy, justice of the peace

Transcript Highlights:

• It's not that in New Mexico. This just doesn't seem right and it's not on the up and up.
• Oz, as I shared with you, New Mexico now has 33 people with confirmed cases of measles.
• Cases have now spread to a new county in New Mexico. One New Mexican has died of measles, a child.
• So imagine a rural hospital in central New Mexico, maybe around Mesa Verde, where you actually can have
• My home state, Dr.

Committee: Senate Finance Committee

Keywords: Michael Falkender, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, IRS, taxpayer privacy, nomination process, committee hearing

Summary: The committee convened to discuss critical issues surrounding the nomination of Michael Falkender for the position of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. This meeting included a series of remarks from committee members who expressed divergent views on Falkender's qualifications and the implications of his appointment. Senator Wyden voiced strong opposition, arguing that Falkender represents harmful policies expected to be perpetuated under the current administration, especially concerning taxpayer privacy and IRS tactics. Meanwhile, other members defended Falkender, noting his extensive experience, including a commitment to transparency in government operations if confirmed.

Transcript Highlights:

• Currently in process is in Idaho, Washington, Oregon. ...New Mexico, Hawaii.
• The states that have enacted this, as you'll see from the letter on analysis from the Council on State
• Also, the state insurance brokers are tracked by the state website.
• This is an enormous issue in the state. Fire risk is a huge problem here in our state.
• all the new systems for all the Peterbilt and Kenworth factories in the United States and Canada.

Committee: House Business

Transcript Highlights:

• It is excessively difficult to even create a new unit of housing in the state, nonetheless to buy one
• Representative Penner: ...but it's so new in any state that we haven't even seen how this is going to
• shake out in the Supreme Court of their state or of the United States.
• Despite several other states passing similar laws, those states have ended up in federal court.
• Despite several other states passing similar laws, those states have ended up in federal court.

Bills: HB2689 , SB5420 , SB5868 , SB5877

Committee: House Appropriations

Keywords: Working Connections Child Care, child care subsidy, subsidized child care, Washington DCYF, Department of Children, Youth, and Families, low-income families, child care providers, licensed child care centers, family child care, market rate survey, subsidy rates, income eligibility, state median income, SNAP, Basic Food, collective bargaining, provider reimbursement, daily payment, half-day care, partial-day care

Transcript Highlights:

• to thank you for this day that you've given us the opportunity to serve one another, to serve our state
• I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands
• of America and to the republic States of America and to the republic for<00:04:55.759><c> which</c><
• Uh, being able to help our state be a military-friendly state includes being a veteran-friendly state
• So that the process of getting a certification coming from another state, we're moving that out.

Bills: HB306 , SB149 , SB158 , HB323 , HB362 , HB306 , SB149 , SB158 , HB323 , HB362

Committee: House Military and Veterans Affairs

Keywords: education, patriotism, national anthem, Star-Spangled Banner, K-12 schools, constitutional amendment, public works, sealed bids, bidding requirements, procurement, public notice, newspaper advertisement, advertising failure, publisher liability, civil damages, criminal liability, awarding authority, county government, municipal government, construction contracts

Bills: HB1382 , HB3945 , HB4449 , HB5043 , HB5388 , HB5397 , HB5499

Committee: House Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Keywords: education, funding, student support, financial aid, K-12, higher education, weather modification, prohibition, criminal offense, Texas, agriculture, environmental control, agriculture law, Texas legislation, chemical control, Texas law, massage therapy, regulation, licensing, criminal penalties

Transcript Highlights:

• underground storage sites on state lands in the state.
• And then also in 2021, Storage sites on state lands in the state.
• on state lands in the state.
• I mean, we have a lot of new development out in the rural parts of the state, even in suburban parts
• Happy New Year. Look forward to a successful new year.

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

Summary: The committee heard introductions from members and staff, then took up several water and natural resources bills. House Bill 2024 would expand Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) authority to include snowpack augmentation and related planning and permitting costs. Supporters, including a cloud-seeding company, argued the technology can increase snowpack and water supply at relatively low cost, while opponents raised concerns about weather modification, chemicals such as silver iodide, uncertainty in the science, and potential environmental effects. After debate, the committee passed HB 2024 on a 6-4 vote, with some members explaining they wanted more research but were willing to advance it for further consideration. House Bill 2053 would appropriate $100,000 to the Arizona Department of Water Resources to update stormwater recharge mapping statewide, including private land, and the committee adopted an amendment extending the timeline and revising language about recharge sites and surface-water conflicts. ADWR said it could do the mapping but noted legal concerns about determining appropriable surface water rights. SRP and the Sierra Club opposed parts of the bill, arguing the language could affect existing water rights or exclude nature-based recharge areas. The bill passed as amended on a 6-4 vote. The committee then heard a presentation from WIFA director Chelsea McGuire on the agency’s revolving funds, conservation grants, and long-term augmentation efforts, including seven proposed augmentation projects and a request for no budget cuts. House Bill 2097, which would cap groundwater pumping in irrigation non-expansion areas at six acre-feet per acre and add related reporting, exemptions, and substitution provisions, drew support from the sponsor as a conservation measure but opposition from ADWR and environmental advocates who said the cap was too high or could encourage pumping; it passed 6-4. House Bill 2116, appropriating $1 million to the Colorado River Litigation Fund, passed 8-1 amid comments that it was a precaution in ongoing Colorado River negotiations. Finally, House Bill 2117, a cleanup bill shifting environmental special plate fund authority to the new conservation district board and updating distribution rules, was presented as a technical correction and education-fund update; the transcript ends before a final vote on that measure.

Transcript Highlights:

• And we also note that other states, such as Colorado and New Mexico, have pioneered this model with some
• NIPPC members have built transmission in the West, particularly in New Mexico, by partnering with the
• state.
• NIPPC members have built transmission in the West, particularly in New Mexico, by partnering with the
• state.

Bills: SB6124 , SB5652

Committee: Senate Environment, Energy & Technology

Keywords: appliance affordability, cost index, energy efficiency, consumer protection, Washington state, aviation, airport noise, air pollution, environmental justice, health disparities, public health, ultrafine particulate matter, black carbon, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds, asthma, heart disease, cancer, sleep disruption, hypertension

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:21:39.040><c> to</c><00:21:39.360><c> you</c> screwworm was found in Mexico to you screwworm
• was found in Mexico to you know<00:21:39.680><c> at</c><00:21:39.800><c> the</c> ...know, at the five
• cases, five new cases.
• </c><00:31:29.160><c> lease</c> lessee with on a state lease lessee with on a state lease for<00:31:30.480
• I think we should lean on a lot of experts still around in the state. I'd try to get their input.

Committee: Senate Agriculture and Environment

Summary: The committee heard gubernatorial nominations for the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity. For GM 615, Matthew Liam was nominated to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides. The Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, CGAPS, and the Hawaii Farm Bureau testified in strong support, citing his landscape industry leadership, pesticide training background, and prior service. Members asked about his experience in Australia and his approach to restricted-use pesticides; he said he avoided using restricted-use pesticides in his landscaping business but applied related safety and recordkeeping practices. Testimony was unanimous in support, with no opposition or comments. For GM 616, N. Young was nominated to the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity. Support testimony from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and Hawaii Cattlemen's Council highlighted his experience with Lanai agriculture, Sensei, the Food Basket, Pacific Gateway Center, Kamehameha Schools, and institutional purchasing. In response to questions, he discussed balancing public and private funding, the need for adequate capitalization of agricultural projects, and using financial tools to help farmers and accelerate agricultural income streams. He also said the board should focus on making agricultural land productive and strengthening food security. The nomination drew strong support, with no opposition or comments. For GM 617, Jason Moniz was nominated to the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity. The Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and Hawaii Cattlemen's Council supported him, emphasizing his decades of veterinary and animal disease control experience, ranching background, and knowledge of biosecurity, leases, and livestock issues. Moniz said his priorities would be preserving agricultural land and water resources, improving biosecurity, supporting farmers and ranchers, and increasing food production in Hawaii. He also said he would be willing to speak up for agriculture and not let the department be sidelined. The nomination received 29 written and oral supports, with no opposition or comments.

Transcript Highlights:

• It establishes a process and timeline for mandatory issuance of various state permits.
• This is a very small change in state law that helps clarify...
• of portions of state highway to local jurisdictions and vice versa.
• Two days in a row, even with it being in the news. A little further down, SR 506.
• The cost to the state, the inconvenience to motorists is a really huge issue.

Bills: HB2092 , HB2114 , HB2172 , HB2251 , HB2374 , HB2410 , HB2552 , HB2588 , HB2718 , HB2722 , HB2727

Committee: House Transportation

Keywords: passenger rail, transportation, committee, advisory, infrastructure, defective license plates, vehicle registration, Department of Licensing, state regulations, route jurisdiction, abandonment, local governance, climate change, commitment act, emission reductions, sustainability, environmental policy, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, regulation

Transcript Highlights:

• Association, the thousands of restaurants, hotels, and hospitality businesses we represent across the state
• And I think other states have an independent cannabis board. That's right. Many of them do. Mm-hmm.
• I just don't see the benefit to the state by making it even bigger.
• A fiscal note is available and shows no state costs. The recommendation is to rules.
• A fiscal note is available and shows no state costs. The recommendation is to rules.

Bills: SB6290 , SB6282 , SB5379 , SB6197 , SB6158 , SB6302 , SB5882 , SB6303 , SB6180 , SB6195 , SB6196 , SB6204 , SB6287

Committee: Senate Labor & Commerce

Keywords: liquor regulation, cannabis board, reorganization, state agency, governance, apprenticeship, behavioral health, construction trades, workforce training, wellness, interest arbitration, parks and recreation, public employees, labor relations, employee rights, SB 6197, plumbing contractor, plumber, contractor licensing, licensing enforcement

Transcript Highlights:

• Message from the Secretary of State, excuse me, the Secretary will read.
• Pursuant to Article 2, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution, I hereby declare the initial legislative
• Secretary of State message received. The Secretary of State message received. Senator Ritchey.

Bills: SB5068 , SB5109 , SB5188 , SB5223 , SB5280 , SB5420 , SB5467 , SB5581 , SB5649 , SB5705

Keywords: employment eligibility, firefighters, law enforcement, citizenship, legal authorization, public safety, mortgage lending, fraud, prosecution, financial regulations, consumer protection, broadband, infrastructure, loan assistance, economic development, technology access, criminal offense, fingerprinting, state regulations, SB 5280

Transcript Highlights:

• We are the state association, as I said, for emergency services districts.
• We can see it in Nueces; we can see it all over the state.
• I'm here speaking, as stated, in opposition to House Bill 3671.
• State law ties other bond issues to procedural or financial benchmarks.
• The Commissioner's Court does, if they've got one that’s new within two years.

Bills: HB447 , HB897 , HB993 , HB2673 , HB3671 , HB3680 , HB3897 , HB4506 , HB4753 , HB4812 , HB4894 , HB5148 , HB5437 , HB5650 , HB5652 , HB5654 , HB5656 , HB5661 , HB5665

Committee: House Land & Resource Management

Keywords: traffic impact studies, municipal utility district, bonds, road projects, eminent domain, HB 897, Texas land sale, state property, Austin real estate, Travis County, General Land Office, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, HHSC, Health and Human Services Commission, state records facility, archives building, library funding, capital improvements, lease of state land, public land disposition

Transcript Highlights:

• Again, we don't pull the police into the tobacco police, we try to counsel people.
• In addition, many other states allow this option, so we're not asking Texas to break new ground on this
• So our state ends up paying for it. all their parts.
• So there is some deference to state authority. Thank you.
• There's mental health, there's a compact between different states.

Bills: HB173 , HB184 , HB484 , HB678 , HB 1211 , HB1507 , HB1705 , HB1868 , HB2290 , HB2851 , HB2856 , HB3041 , HB3204 , HB173 , HB184

Committee: House Higher Education

Keywords: foreign donations, higher education, public institutions, national security, funding, prohibition, Texas law, healthcare, insurance, affordability, access, public health, foreign influence, education policy, student loan repayment, prosecuting attorneys, border prosecution unit, financial assistance, tobacco, cigarettes