Transcript Highlights:

• It became the model for the national AmeriCorps program that inspired our own Commonwealth Corps in Massachusetts
• It became the model for the national AmeriCorps program that inspired our own Commonwealth Corps in Massachusetts
• cuts to higher education programs, and signaled a shift toward deregulation and state-level discretion
• Thanks for your testimony.
• Thank you for your testimony.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Higher Education heard testimony on a wide range of bills touching student access, campus safety, and institutional support. Early testimony focused on H. 4544, which would create a state Hispanic-serving institution designation to replace a lost federal designation and potentially allow future funding. Representative Kushmerek and Fitchburg State President Donna Hodge described Fitchburg’s growing Latino student population, the university’s local commitments such as the Fitchburg Promise, and argued the bill would help the institution better serve its community. Committee members asked about how the tuition-free local program is financed, and the bill was described as having no immediate funding request but allowing for future appropriations. The committee also heard support for H. 1421, a proposed John F. Kennedy Service Scholarship Program for Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Commonwealth Corps alumni, with Representative Arena DeRosa arguing that student debt discourages service and that the program would help make citizen service more accessible to lower- and moderate-income students. Members raised questions about cost, take-up, and whether the program should be capped. H. 1449, dealing with transcript withholding, drew support from Representative LeBoeuf and USPyre’s Demi Stoltz, who said withholding transcripts over small balances or non-academic fees traps students and harms workforce participation; members discussed how schools could still collect debts without blocking transcripts. The committee also heard testimony on a bill to improve study-abroad safety reporting, with Carrie Pascarello urging a centralized data system after multiple student deaths and serious incidents abroad, and members asking about how other states handle similar transparency measures. Another major topic was H. 4113 on higher education sexual misconduct. Laura G. and Ashley Freeman supported a proposal aimed at preventing “passing the harasser” by requiring disclosure of substantiated findings or departures during open investigations in hiring processes. They said the bill would improve transparency and campus safety while preserving due process, and noted Washington State has a similar law. Members discussed whether the bill should be expanded to K-12 settings and asked about the Washington model’s effectiveness. The committee also heard from Mike Canavan of AFT Massachusetts in support of a bill to create a grant program for librarians to earn a master’s in library science, noting the credential is required for the profession but is not offered by any public institution in Massachusetts. No votes were taken, and the hearing concluded after all scheduled witnesses testified.

Transcript Highlights:

• , related and supplemental instruction rates for apprenticeships, and the adult education program.
• I know that in past years in K-12 education, we try to reduce the number of categorical programs, but
• programming, educational pathways.
• As noted in the agenda for the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, the Governor's budget
• As access to education programs inside CDCR facilities grows, our need for programming on campuses continues

Summary: The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance held a hearing focused on California Community College budget proposals. Chair Alvarez opened by emphasizing the system’s role in access, transfer, workforce training, and serving more than 2 million students, while also noting persistent challenges in enrollment, persistence, transfer, and graduation. Public commenters and system representatives broadly supported COLA, enrollment growth funding, deferred maintenance, student support block grants, and additional flexibility for districts facing uncertainty. The first major panel covered the student-centered funding formula, COLA, and enrollment growth. The Department of Finance said the Governor proposes a 2.43% COLA ($230.4 million) and 0.5% enrollment growth funding ($30.4 million). The LAO said the COLA was reasonable and recommended funding at least the proposed growth amount, citing uneven enrollment recovery and regional differences. The Chancellor’s Office supported both proposals and asked for additional changes, including using the greater of current-year or three-year average for apportionments and lifting the 10% local enrollment cap, arguing these would better fund growing districts. Members questioned how the formula works, whether SCFF is improving outcomes, and how much additional funding would be needed under different growth scenarios. The committee then reviewed categorical program COLAs, Rising Scholars, career education proposals, IT proposals, and student housing. The Governor proposed a 2.43% COLA for selected categorical programs ($31.9 million). For Rising Scholars, the Governor proposed $30 million ongoing and removal of the cap on participating colleges; the LAO urged waiting for outcome data before doubling funding, while the Chancellor’s Office said the program is serving more students and supports equity for justice-impacted students. On career education, the Governor proposed $50 million for credit for prior learning and $50 million for a career passport; the LAO supported more reporting on credit for prior learning but recommended rejecting the career passport as too undefined, while the Chancellor’s Office supported both. On technology, the Governor proposed $162.5 million for a common cloud data platform and $168 million for a common ERP system; the LAO said both were premature or lacked sufficient planning and recommended rejection, while the Chancellor’s Office argued they would improve real-time data, security, and systemwide efficiency. The committee also heard an update on student housing: the administration said the 2024 shift to a lease-revenue bond model remains in progress for 13 approved projects, with 11 still active, and members asked about withdrawn projects and possible use of any returned funds. No votes were taken, and several items were held open for further discussion and May Revision updates.

Transcript Highlights:

• I appreciate your thoughts, your testing, your allowing me to provide testimony.
• Thank you for your time for sharing your story.
• I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. I'm so sorry for your loss.
• So Miro was diagnosed in 2023 via your state's newborn screening pilot program, and he is now two years
• And I'll be speaking to you a little bit about education and training of podiatrists as well as my own

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Public Health heard testimony on a wide range of bills focused on children’s health, tobacco control, newborn screening, pediatric cancer, palliative care, and professional licensure. Early testimony highlighted Senate bills to expand newborn screening for pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency, lysosomal storage disorders, and congenital CMV, with families and clinicians describing severe diagnostic delays, missed treatment windows, and the benefits of early detection. Speakers also supported a bill to improve pediatric cancer research through a dedicated trust fund, and a bill to extend pediatric palliative care services to age 22, with parents and providers emphasizing continuity of care for seriously ill young people. Several witnesses gave personal accounts in support of the newborn screening measures. Families described children who endured years of misdiagnosis before receiving diagnoses such as Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, Niemann-Pick disease, and CMV, often after irreversible damage had already occurred. Medical and advocacy witnesses said Massachusetts already collects some of the relevant screening data and argued that results should be reported to families, while others urged the committee to add conditions to the state panel because effective treatments already exist. The committee also heard support for a bill to establish a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder program and training for providers. On tobacco and youth health, testimony supported bills to ban internet tobacco sales, strengthen youth protections, and reduce lung cancer deaths through point-of-sale information and quit-line access. A student testified about easily purchasing flavored nicotine products online without meaningful age verification, and public health advocates backed measures to keep tobacco out of children’s environments. The committee also heard testimony on a bill to ensure parents have access to their children’s medical records through age 16, with exceptions for sensitive services already protected by law. The committee additionally took testimony on an optometry licensure bill, where ophthalmologists opposed language they said could broaden scope of practice and allow optometrists to use the title “optometric physician,” while optometry educators and students supported the bill as a modernization measure with no scope expansion. No votes were taken during the hearing; the chair repeatedly reminded speakers of time limits and noted that written testimony could be submitted for additional comments.

Transcript Highlights:

• educators and many of you who send your educators and many of you who send your kiddos<01:08:41.199
• Think about that for your own child. I wouldn't accept it.
• Think about that for your own child. I wouldn't accept it.
• Think about that for your own child. I wouldn't accept it.
• Think about that for your own child. I wouldn't accept it.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Gardening and growing your own food are activities that are environmentally friendly and enable Vermonters
• tradition of growing our own food. tradition of growing our own food.
• > own<00:09:09.560> food<00:09:09.960> are Gardening and growing your own food are
• Gardening and growing your own food are activities<00:09:10.880> that<00:09:11.000> are
• /c><00:09:21.720> because<00:09:22.120> they growing their own food just because they growing

Keywords: 926, house, all

Summary: The House began with routine business, including referral of Senate Bill 211 on motor vehicle inspections to the Transportation Committee and Senate Bill 298 creating the Vermont Voting Rights Act to the Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs. The chamber also referred House bills reported by Ways and Means to Appropriations, including H. 211 on data brokers and personal information and H. 931 on miscellaneous education law changes. JRH9, a joint resolution urging the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to reconsider its opposition to rapid prompting method communication instruction for students with apraxia of speech or autism, was read and referred to Human Services. Several announcements followed, including a welcome to members of the Vermont chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, a reminder about an education reform meeting, and a correction regarding a prior reference to S. 138 of 2023 and the working group on student protections from harassment and discrimination in schools. The House also recognized guests in the gallery, including Donnie Kanovsky, who was described as a proponent of JRH9. The Speaker announced that H. 606 on firearms procedures, H. 642 on youthful offender proceedings, and later H. 585 would be bumped to later in the calendar. The House then took up H. 537, the right to grow vegetable gardens. The committee explained the bill would protect vegetable gardening in common interest communities and rental housing, while allowing reasonable restrictions and landlord or association oversight; witnesses included a South Burlington resident, HOA and landlord representatives, and legislative counsel. The committee reported an 8-0-0 vote, the House adopted the committee amendment, and ordered third reading. The chamber then passed H. 171 on Attorney General investigations into a law enforcement officer’s use of a firearm and H. 519 allowing Randolph police officers to enroll in Group C of the state retirement system. The House also passed H. 536 on toxic heavy metals in baby food products after extended debate over whether infant formula should be included. Supporters said the bill would help parents make informed choices and noted the amendment was intended to align with federal action; opponents argued formula-specific federal work was still underway and urged waiting. The chamber then passed H. 550 on gender equity in correctional facilities, H. 733 on franchise agreements, H. 775 on housing production tools, H. 887 on crime victim status under the Fair Employment Practices Act, H. 917 on military affairs, and H. 921 on alcoholic beverages. Action on H. 930 addressing chronic absenteeism was postponed one legislative day, and H. 942 on miscellaneous agricultural subjects began second reading with the committee outlining sections on water quality training, non-sewage waste management, and unit pricing.

Transcript Highlights:

• loan repayment programs care education loan repayment programs to<01:13:16.400> help<01:13:16.800
• program or EIP individualized education program or EIP or<01:32:05.199> section<01:32:05.840>
• And as we advance food sovereignty, the right to grow and to prepare food in our own values, this is
• and to prepare food in our right to grow and to prepare food in our own<02:32:34.640> values,
• May I adopt the words of the vice chair of the committee on education as if they were my own.

Keywords: 910, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Producers who grow outdoors are reliant on the natural environment to grow cannabis.
• program outcomes.
• Senator Gaynor, to get to your question, and to get to your original question...
• Programs and services include Things like education, vocational training, substance abuse treatment,
• So I will say thank you for your presentation today. Good luck with your work.

Summary: At the May 14, 2025 JLARC meeting, members approved the January 9 minutes and adopted the 2025–27 biennial work plan with a minor typo correction. Staff reviewed the new work plan studies, including a drug take-back program fee/expenditure review due in December 2025 and a state energy performance standard compliance review due in June 2027, and noted JLARC’s recent session activity, including several bills passed related to JLARC work and recommendations. The committee then heard a preliminary cannabis market study showing Washington businesses likely produced two to three times more cannabis than retailers sold in 2023. Staff and RAND said LCB’s data systems are incomplete and unreliable, limiting regulation, tax verification, and diversion tracking; they recommended that LCB submit a plan by year-end for collecting accurate data by the end of 2026. Members and LCB discussed the long timeline for a new traceability system, the causes of missing sales and weight data, overproduction, diversion, and the social equity program’s effect on producer licenses. JLARC also presented a preliminary hospital oversight report concluding that the Department of Health is late on many hospital inspections, does not verify third-party inspection standards, does not review adverse health event correction plans, and could make hospital data more accessible. The committee discussed fee funding, language access, and inspection timing, and DOH said it would work on a strategic plan and continue coordinating with JLARC. Members also heard a preliminary report on the public records survivor exemption, which found agencies are using it but need more guidance; JLARC recommended keeping the exemption and having the Attorney General provide additional training. Finally, the committee approved the DDA processes and staffing final report for distribution, which recommended performance metrics, stronger data quality controls, and workforce planning; DDA concurred. JLARC also introduced proposed study questions for a future DCYF juvenile rehabilitation review focused on safety, security, programs, staffing, education, and contraband, and the meeting adjourned after members asked about scope and facility conditions.

Transcript Highlights:

• Thank you both for your time and your testimony and your patience. Thank you.
• for Grow Native Massachusetts.
• Thank you for your testimony. I see no questions. Thank you for your testimony.
• First, I want to thank all of you, and my own state Representative Margaret Scarsdale, for your attention
• Okay, folks, thank you for your patience and your cooperation. We are adjourned.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources held a hybrid hearing on a large slate of bills focused on pesticides, pollinators, rodenticides, mosquito control, invasive species, and local authority over pesticide regulation. Chair Becca Rausch set strict two-minute testimony limits due to the very large number of speakers. Early testimony from Senator Moore and Representative Hawkins strongly supported a bill to restrict second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, citing harms to wildlife, pets, and public health, and noting that California has already adopted a similar model. Testimony also supported a Lowell home rule petition to allow the city to prohibit or restrict these rodenticides, with local officials describing documented raptor poisonings and municipal efforts to phase out use on city property. A major portion of the hearing focused on pollinator protection and neonicotinoid-treated seeds. Witnesses from environmental groups, conservation organizations, academics, and beekeepers argued that neonics harm bees and other beneficial insects, contaminate soil and water, and provide little or no economic benefit in most corn and soybean fields. Several speakers pointed to New York, Vermont, and Quebec as models for restricting treated seeds, and one panel cited research showing only a small percentage of fields benefit economically from the treatments. Support was also voiced for a bill establishing an ecologically based mosquito management program, with advocates criticizing aerial and truck spraying and urging non-chemical, locally tailored approaches. Other testimony supported bills to reform the pesticide board and pesticide regulation process, to give vulnerable municipalities more local control over pesticide use, to protect schoolchildren from pesticides on school grounds, and to respond to invasive species through a centralized state office, coordinator, strategic plan, and trust fund. Many speakers, including representatives from Mass Audubon, MSPCA, the Xerces Society, the Sierra Club, watershed groups, and local wildlife rehabilitators, described impacts on hawks, owls, pets, fish, and broader ecosystems. No votes were taken during the hearing, and committee members generally asked few questions, with the hearing remaining in testimony mode throughout.

Transcript Highlights:

• people to come into the education field. people to come into the education field.
• <00:16:28.800> field attract people to the education field attract people to the education
• whether it's nursing assistant programs whether it's nursing assistant programs to<00:20:00.320>
• apprenticeship programs for teachers. apprenticeship programs for teachers.
• work in the early childhood education work in the early childhood education field,<00:37:49.040>

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• And whereas the Higher Education Department, in partnership with 26 adult education programs and 18 adult
• And whereas during the 2024-2025 program year, Higher Education Department-funded adult education and
• the 2024-2025 program year, Higher Education Department...
• And whereas during the 2024-2025 program year, Higher Education Department-funded adult education and
• training program, nearly 800 learners... ...participated in integrated education and training programs

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And your bleach hair looks okay, and I also want to say good luck to your team.
• State your name for the record and provide your two minutes of testimony.
• Chair, you’ve got a number of programs in your district.
• Chair, you’ve got a number of programs in your district.
• your uh your name proposes please State your uh your name for<01:08:21.080> the<01:08:21.239>

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• programs.
• They will get kind of like an IEP for the program. ...behavior program.
• , in your early intervention program, to be detained in detention.
• in your early intervention program, to be detained in detention.
• What role do you see incarceration around that as it relates to your early intervention program, which

Summary: The committee began with a work session on juvenile rehabilitation institution capacity, services, and staffing. DCYF Assistant Secretary Jennifer Redmond described overcrowding at Green Hill School and Echo Glen, driven by longer adult-style sentences extending past age 25, limited community placements, and small facility sizes. She said Green Hill remains above safe operating capacity, but staffing, injuries, large-scale aggression, and use-of-force incidents have improved over the past year. She also discussed Harbor Heights, a new 46-bed flex facility that had opened with 22 youth and would expand once a medical trailer arrives, as well as community transition services, vocational programming, behavior management reforms, and a request for more resources for mental health-focused facilities and staffing. Members asked about success metrics, developmental disability screening and supports, college access at Echo Glen, Mission Creek planning, and gender-responsive programming; Redmond said JR uses assessments, family involvement, and specialized living units, and that some requested funding had already been secured for returning a girls’ program at Echo Glen. The committee then heard from Team Child and the Youth Action Coalition. Greta Schultz said youth perspectives should guide system reforms and identified key concerns: overuse of sentence extensions, underuse of community transition services, continued criminal referrals from Green Hill to Lewis County, limited family contact, inadequate mental health access, and unequal education opportunities, especially for young women at Echo Glen. Justella Gonzalez, a former system-involved youth, said her time in county and state facilities was harmful, with staff mistreatment, poor education, limited therapy access, and humiliating restraint practices; she also said girls at Echo Glen lacked the same college opportunities as boys at Green Hill. Committee members asked for follow-up on county versus state experiences and on telehealth mental health services. The next presentation covered county-level services for youth involved or at risk of involvement with the justice system, led by juvenile court administrators Christine Simon-Smeyer and Judge Rachel Anderson. They outlined the juvenile court continuum from prevention and truancy work through diversion, detention alternatives, community supervision, and disposition alternatives, emphasizing evidence-based, trauma-informed, and restorative practices. Clark County was used as an example of a court that partners closely with schools and community providers, uses risk assessments and wraparound behavioral health probation, and offers detention alternatives without electronic home monitoring. They said most courts do not use detention for status offenses, but instead use court involvement to connect youth to services. They also described funding, noting that courts rely on a mix of state block grant and local dollars, and that recent cuts to early intervention funding reduced programming and staff hours. Members asked about detention for truancy, developmental disability identification, restorative justice practices, and the juvenile block grant. Finally, DCYF Assistant Secretary Nicole Rose and Katie Warren of the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECAP discussed child care and early learning impacts from recent policy and budget changes. Rose said Fair Start for Kids investments had increased child care access, provider participation, and kindergarten readiness, with more than 60,000 children in Working Connections care and rising ECAP enrollment and provider capacity. She said recent reductions will raise most family copays in 2026, delay eligibility expansions, eliminate some expanded eligibility categories, reduce ECAP slots by about 3,000, delay entitlement timelines, and cut provider supports such as rate increases for centers, complex-needs grants, trauma-informed and dual-language incentives, and infant/early childhood mental health consultation. Warren emphasized ECAP’s role in family stability, workforce participation, and reducing poverty, and noted its two-generation approach to supporting both children and parents.

Transcript Highlights:

• Take your shoes off, your feet off. You know, and connect your feet to the land.
• Take your shoes off, your feet off. You know, and connect your feet to the land.
• <01:38:36.000> open programs each county has its own open programs each county has its own
• <03:04:07.040> question program does that answer your question program does that answer your
• The funds appropriated for this program could be better utilized for pressing public needs such as education

Keywords: 910, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Members, Assembly Bill 291 seeks to establish a credentialing educator apprentice program to address
• worth, your opportunities, or your future.
• And it is easy to criticize solutions and to throw stones when you don't have any solutions of your own
• And it is easy to criticize solutions and to throw stones when you don't have any solutions of your own
• . stones when you don't have any solutions of your own to contribute is this a perfect solution no but

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:

• Glenn, "bring your own power"—I love that concept.
• So my question is, how can your model, "bring your own power," change that dynamic from your perspective
• Bring Your Own Power (BYOP) is one way to do that.
• You can't kill a deer on your own land.
• You have your own water. What are the impediments today?

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I want to continue to grow this program. It is proven to change young people's lives.
• Education Foundation appropriation funding<00:52:48.960> proart<00:52:49.520> programs
• The ProStart program is far more than just a class; it is a comprehensive environment where your students
• through prart this is a of CTE education through prart this is a program<00:58:51.200> that<00
• program and the fact that it's growing program and the fact that it's growing and<01:09:22.759><

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• the PCA program.
• and present your and present your testimony<00:03:02.280> thank<00:03:02.440> you<
• for the two-year programs.
• for the two-year programs.
• for the two-year programs.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• ... ...placed in a certain place here, education, that they do two or three programs over the next months
• joy to have your mom as your principal joy to have your mom as your principal um<00:53:37.119>
• I urge your continued support of this program to ensure that all Minnesota students, regardless of background
• in Austin I urge your continued support of<00:59:53.599> this<00:59:53.799> program<00
• your time and your Bill thank you for your time and your service<01:03:57.599> to<01:03:57.720

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• So, I do like the model, and I think a start would be to open up our own education office right here
• It sounds like education is on top of your both of your list.
• It sounds like education is on top of your both of your list.
• <01:32:26.560> not<01:32:26.800> take<01:32:27.199> in your own tribal family
• will not take in your own tribal family will not take in one<01:32:27.679> of<01:32:27.840>

Keywords: 916, all

Transcript Highlights:

• this program thank you David for your this program thank you David for your work<01:40:32.360>
• to share your stories and amplify your to share your stories and amplify your voices<01:55:09.239
• <01:55:54.679> their<01:55:54.840> own community members to grow their own community
• members to grow their own crops<01:55:55.520> so<01:55:55.679> that<01:55:55.840> their
• insurance year after year after you've built your own house and lived there with your family, and somebody

Keywords: U.S. House of Representatives Floor Proceedings on Thursday, February 27, 2025, 1012, house, all