Transcript Highlights:

• First, we built a flexible financial model, grounded in the legislative forecast, to forecast funding
• But what's more important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of costs hit earlier.
• current policy and forecast.
• But what's more important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of cost But what's more
• important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of costs hit earlier.

Committee: Joint Water Topics Overview Committee

Summary: The Water Topics Overview Committee met with a quorum and heard updates from Department of Water Resources Director Reese Haas and Lieutenant Governor/State Water Commission Chair Michelle Strinden on statewide water funding, major projects, and two legislative studies requested in House Bill 1020. Haas reviewed the status of the Northwest Area Water Supply and Southwest Pipeline projects, noting NAWS construction is expected to move water by fall and Southwest’s Hebron-Rugby expansion phase one is in final design with bids expected next month. He also summarized the department’s budget outlook, including Resources Trust Fund and Water Project Stabilization Fund balances, the effect of oil price volatility and stripper well exemptions on revenues, and the status of project buckets, carryover, lines of credit, regionalization, bid trends, and administrative/process updates. Committee members asked about project prioritization, municipal funding demand, maintenance expectations, replacement versus deferred maintenance, and whether the 2025 session may have underfunded municipal water supply needs. Haas said the commission uses the same high/medium/low prioritization process across all buckets, reviews maintenance plans as part of policy, and is seeing strong demand in the municipal bucket. He also explained that the department’s 14-year projection is based on the next seven legislative sessions and that the state faces a projected $1.3 billion shortfall over that period if all planned projects are funded under current assumptions. Deloitte then presented draft findings from the cost-share policy study and the governance/finance study. For cost share, Deloitte said the model shows a roughly $1.3 billion shortfall over 14 years and about $1.8 billion through 2031 under current policy, and offered seven options including tighter eligibility for replacement projects, state funding caps for the Mouse River and Red River Valley projects, a priority-based cost-share scale, timing shifts, use of existing lines of credit, and delayed reimbursement timing. For governance, Deloitte outlined draft options for Southwest, NAWS, and Red River ranging from maintaining current structures with stronger planning to transferring ownership or adding formal oversight, and recommended broader use of performance metrics, long-term financial planning, and clearer decision trees. No votes or formal actions were taken; the commission discussed the scenarios and the studies will return in revised form later in the spring.

Transcript Highlights:

• reliability of our electric industry in this state as we move ahead and kind of lose some of our base load
• ahead and um kind of lose some of our ahead and um kind of lose some of our base<00:04:43.759><c> load
• 45.360><c> uh</c><00:04:46.080><c> want</c><00:04:46.240><c> to</c><00:04:46.400><c> kind</c> base load
• generation and uh want to kind base load generation and uh want to kind of<00:04:47.039><c> we</c><00
• </c> spreadsheet for the November forecast spreadsheet for the November forecast next<00:08:34.680><c

Committee: House Energy Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• example, in January 2025, PG&E finalized a loan from the Department of Energy for $15 billion for load
• Under the legislation, there's a California Energy Commission process called load modification, where
• California's transmission planning process relies on a single forecast, and when that forecast misses
• What this does for load-serving entities like Ava or for other organizations that are building power
• Because we use a 0.1 loss of load expectation as our reliability framework.

Summary: The committee heard several energy-related bills, with AB 1715 drawing the most discussion. That bill would require the CPUC to create a searchable database of utility advice letters, protests, responses, and resolutions going back to 2020, and to require utilities to report state, federal, and other public financing so ratepayer savings from loans, grants, and similar funding can be tracked and passed through. The author and TURN said the bill is aimed at transparency, affordability, and preventing double recovery; committee amendments removed some language, and labor said the amendments would remove its opposition. Senators pressed on how “financial benefits” would be defined and whether the bill would require refunds to ratepayers, and the author said the CPUC would determine the details. The bill was later moved out of committee on a do-pass-as-amended vote to Appropriations. AB 1301, a CPUC/Public Utilities Code cleanup bill, was presented as a housekeeping measure to remove obsolete references, align deadlines, eliminate duplicative requirements, and extend the Energy Conservation Assistance Act sunset. The Public Advocates Office and Golden State Power Cooperatives supported it, and the committee advanced it do-pass as amended to Appropriations. AB 2463, which would require the CPUC to disclose the models and analysis used to set utility authorized return on equity, was described as a transparency measure for a process that is currently a “black box.” EDF and the Utility Wildfire Survivor Coalition supported the bill, while members noted the importance of understanding how utility profits are set; it also passed to Appropriations. AB 1813, on community solar and storage, generated substantial debate. The author said the bill is intended to fix a CPUC program that he argued is unworkable and inconsistent with the Legislature’s earlier direction, while supporters including San Diego Community Power, TURN, and many clean energy, labor, and local-government groups said it would make community solar viable for renters and others who cannot install rooftop solar. Opponents, including the Public Advocates Office, Southern California Edison, SDG&E, and PG&E, argued it would raise rates, create cost shifts to non-participating customers, and conflict with a recently adopted CPUC decision. The bill was moved out on a do-pass-as-amended vote to Appropriations, with some senators indicating support but also concern about affordability and pending amendments. AB 2111, which would require the CPUC to plan transmission using multiple demand and resource scenarios instead of a single forecast, was supported as a way to reduce bottlenecks, improve reliability, and avoid costly under-planning as electrification grows. Supporters said better scenario planning would help avoid transmission constraints that block new generation, while the committee raised questions about cost impacts and the role of current CPUC planning processes. The bill passed to Appropriations. The committee also took up AB 2266, which would consolidate related CPUC compliance reporting, require consistent reliability valuation across programs, and direct an evaluation if CAISO uses backstop procurement; supporters said it would reduce confusion and improve consistency, while opponents warned against forcing one valuation method across different resource types. AB 2266 was also moved to Appropriations. Finally, AB 2175 was taken up on consent and advanced without discussion.

Transcript Highlights:

• First, we built a flexible financial model, grounded in the legislative forecast, to forecast funding
• But what's more important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of costs hit earlier.
• current policy and forecast.
• But what's more important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of cost But what's more
• important is that forecast is front-loaded, meaning that a lot of costs hit earlier.

Summary: The Water Topics Overview Committee met with a quorum and received updates from the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Commission, followed by presentations from Deloitte on two legislative studies required by House Bill 1020. Director Reese Haas reviewed major project and budget updates, including the Northwest Area Water Supply and Southwest Pipeline projects, Resources Trust Fund balances, carryover spending, project prioritization, bid conditions, regional water system coverage, and department process improvements. Members also discussed how the commission prioritizes projects, maintenance expectations, and the impact of limited municipal water supply funding. No formal committee action was taken during the DWR update; the commission’s municipal funding decisions were described as pending its April 8 meeting. Deloitte then presented the cost-share policy study, which found that under current policy and forecasted revenues, North Dakota faces an estimated $1.3 billion shortfall over 14 years, with a near-term gap of about $1.8 billion through 2031. The firm outlined seven recommended options, including tighter definitions and a 25% cost share for eligible replacement projects, caps and financing strategies for the Mouse River and Red River Valley projects, aligning cost share with commission priority guidance, delaying lower-priority projects, using available lines of credit, and adjusting reimbursement timing for revolving loan funds. Committee members questioned inflation assumptions, affordability, user fees, and the use of legacy fund earnings for bonding, but no decisions were made. In the governance and finance study, Deloitte said final recommendations are still being refined, with a final report due May 29. The study examined the Southwest Pipeline, NAWS, and Red River Valley systems using governance and finance criteria such as decision authority, transparency, affordability, risk, and access to funding. For Southwest, Deloitte outlined options ranging from improved state-authority coordination to transferring ownership to the Southwest Water Authority; for NAWS, options focused on strengthening the authority’s role and potentially transitioning operations and maintenance; and for Red River, options ranged from enhanced facilitation to formal state oversight or state ownership. Members asked follow-up questions about ownership transfer, capital repayment streams, and why NAWS was not considered for transfer, and Deloitte said NAWS’s limited organizational maturity made that option less viable in the near term.

Transcript Highlights:

• to spend about 24 the November forecast to spend about 24 billion<00:05:48.080><c> on</c><00:05:48.240
• The November 2025 forecast was updated accordingly.
• </c> 2025 forecast was updated accordingly. 2025 forecast was updated accordingly.
• </c><01:15:12.880><c> we</c> needed, we assumed in the forecast we needed, we assumed in the forecast
• a county worker average case load that a county worker has?

Bills: HR1

Committee: House Human Services Finance and Policy

Keywords: January 6 insurrection, pardon, law enforcement, violent crimes, public safety, justice system, political accountability

Transcript Highlights:

• You're all pretty loaded. You’re businessmen; you’re oil magnates, whatever.

Bills: SB6 , SB7 , SB8 , SB11 , SB12 , SB13 , SB15 , SB 6 , SB 7 , SB 8 , SB 11 , SB 12 , SB 13 , SB 15 , SB 17 , SB6 , SB7 , SB8 , SB11 , SB12 , SB13 , SB15 , SB17

Committee: Senate State Affairs

Keywords: SB 6, Woman and Child Protection Act, abortion, abortion-inducing drugs, medication abortion, mifepristone, misoprostol, pro-life, pro-choice, Texas abortion law, civil liability, qui tam, private enforcement, bounty hunter law, attorney general, parens patriae, abortion litigation, anti-SLAPP, Texas Citizens Participation Act, fee shifting

Transcript Highlights:

• terms of actually administering grants so that we’re not a bottleneck, given that we have a large load
• Covered California also maintains a rolling monthly enrollment forecast throughout the fiscal year.
• So even though we're losing enrollment, revenues will still climb throughout the forecast period.
• Working capital would not decline materially throughout the forecast range.
• Inflation is a tough one for us when we're forecasting these numbers.

Transcript Highlights:

• We are starting to see load growth again, and that changes how we think about the electric system."
• But the good news is that if done right, increases in load If done right, increases in load drive down
• We want to protect ourselves from bringing large loads.
• ><c> they</c><00:38:01.359><c> expect</c> January 2026 forecasts say they expect January 2026 forecasts
• Wyoff's presentation talked a lot about that when it comes to load growth.

Committee: House Energy Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• and um as you'll see, large case loads and um as you'll see, well,<00:10:39.000><c> probably</c><00:
• ,</c><00:13:27.720><c> unclear</c> faced with high case loads, unclear faced with high case loads, unclear
• :30.160><c> time,</c> forecast goes up over time, forecast goes up over time, that<00:26:31.920><c> those
• If DHS did a 3-year delay, would that be forecast? Kyle, do you guys know that? Mr.
• If we delay this for 3 years, it's forecasted. No, if DHS... sorry, thank you.

Committee: Senate Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• or could they help with AI facilities or... ...with, or could they help with AI facilities or large load
• customers such as data centers may not be and And that large load customers, such as data centers, may
• Capital investment for the base load generation needs that are coming to our state.
• Capital investment for the base load generation needs that are coming to our state.
• There are only truly two types of base load power. One of those is coal, one of those is nuclear.

Summary: The House first approved the previous day’s journal by roll call vote, 112-2, and then spent time on numerous guest introductions and recognitions. Guests included former Rep. Bill E. Kidd, students and school officials from several districts, pharmacy students, community and labor representatives, Alliance for Life members, Link community partners, and the student who led the Pledge of Allegiance. A personal privilege announcement also recognized a legislator’s son’s birthday. The main floor debate centered on House Committee Substitute for House Bills 21, 22, and 1626, the Missouri Nuclear Clean Power Act. Supporters argued the bill would remove a roadblock to small modular nuclear reactors by allowing construction work in progress (CWIP), lower long-term electricity costs, attract industry, and help Missouri meet future baseload demand, especially for data centers and other large users. Opponents said the measure would shift risk and cost overruns to ratepayers, cited past nuclear cost overruns and safety concerns, and argued Missouri voters had previously rejected such financing. After extended debate and several inquiries, the House adopted the committee substitute and ordered the bills perfected and printed. The chamber then perfected and printed House Bill 1881, which would make xylazine a Schedule III controlled substance. The sponsor and supporters said the drug is a dangerous animal tranquilizer increasingly used in illicit fentanyl mixtures, while the bill preserves legitimate veterinary and agricultural uses. Members from both rural and urban districts supported the measure, and the House adopted an amendment clarifying penalties for knowingly starving an animal and false reporting in animal abuse cases. Finally, the House took up House Bill 2292, which would encourage cross-reporting among agencies handling child, elder, and companion animal abuse. The sponsor said abuse in one area often correlates with abuse in the others and that the bill would use existing agencies rather than create a new department. An amendment was also offered to strengthen elder-abuse investigations by allowing post-certified investigators in the Department of Health and Senior Services to assist law enforcement and obtain records. The discussion emphasized protecting vulnerable Missourians and improving coordination among investigators and local police.

Transcript Highlights:

• purposes, the value of these models comes from the fact that they use data on past construction to forecast
• the The value of these models comes from the fact that they use data on past construction to forecast
• ..for where it's supposed to go, but for some of these areas that we've done general city planning load
• we have adequate services in place: sewer, sanitation, water infrastructure, but we're increasing load
• You know, can we get to that point first prior to just increasing load?

Committee: House Housing and Community Development

Transcript Highlights:

• The December forecast for gross receipts tax is virtually unchanged from the August forecast, with just
• forecast.
• Chairman, even though this forecast is slightly revised downward from the August forecast.
• Moving on to forecast risks...
• So this is not sort of a doom forecast; it is a very sobering forecast, and look...

Transcript Highlights:

• And so we are proposing in our bill that we front-load—we do monthly payments, but we front-load and
• You mentioned that it needed to be front-loaded for homeschoolers because they need curriculum and things
• like that, and so they're going to get the first two months front-loaded.
• we think that this will tighten it up a good bit, Senator, in the ways that I described, but we forecast
• , or at least I forecast, that it's not unlikely that we'd be back here next year with the glitch bill

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:

• Engrossed Committee Substitute for House Bill 4481, the West Virginia Load Forecast Accountability Act
• This bill creates the Electric Load Forecast and Accountability Act for the purpose of enhancing transparency
• and accuracy in electric load forecasting.

Summary: The Senate convened with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, approved the journal, and spent much of the day recognizing pages, guests, school groups, and civic organizations visiting the chamber. Several communications from the House and committee reports were received, and a petition on support for new electric transmission lines was referred to the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining. Senate Resolution 61, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell, was referred to the Committee on Rules, while other resolutions and bills were held over or referred as required. The chamber then acted on a large number of measures, including concurrence in House amendments to Senate Bill 137 on parole eligibility for second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, and a conference committee was appointed on House Bill 4026 regarding integrated resource plans. Numerous House bills were advanced or passed after committee reports, covering topics such as industrial access roads, local airport hangar financing, college campus safety, youth and handicapped hunting, missing persons records, driver’s licenses, adjudicatory alternative dispositions, chronic absenteeism, party-switching deadlines for candidates, teacher/school personnel/state police pay raises, election official trainees, political committee filing notices, security personnel for the State Treasurer, post-secondary financial aid, legal practice rules, overseas voting, public officials’ residential information, homestead exemption, military juvenile jurisdiction, military interpersonal violence, kinship care subsidies, statewide prevention planning, contraband smuggling into federal prisons, forestry equipment taxation, microgrid and data center certification, transcript acceptance for students, emeritus medical licenses, higher education rule authorizations, board and commission reforms, managed care organization taxes, and deputy sheriff vacation carryover. Most of these measures passed with little or no opposition, and several received title amendments. The Senate also passed a series of supplemental appropriations, many with immediate-effect motions adopted by the required two-thirds vote. These included funding for the Department of Commerce, Workforce West Virginia, Homeland Security divisions, Health Facilities, Administration, Human Services, the Governor’s Civil Contingent Fund, the Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Senior Services. Votes were overwhelmingly in favor, with only a few measures drawing one or more dissenting votes. One bill on tourism appropriations was referred to the Committee on Rules, and several second-reading bills were advanced, including measures on the West Virginia Collaboratory, business-ready sites, volunteer fire companies, religious organization eminent domain restrictions, electric load forecasting, and funeral service licensure.

Transcript Highlights:

• I mean, just to add to that, as we are looking at bringing on load growth for the first time, honestly
• It encourages growth of load in an as efficient way as possible.
• It encourages growth of load in an as efficient way as possible.
• It's non-base load.
• to the November forecast somewhat close to the November forecast and<01:07:57.319><c> we</c><01:07:57.480

Committee: Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate

Transcript Highlights:

• There's a November forecast and a February forecast.
• world are forecast the education world are forecast programs<00:30:13.360><c> um</c><00:30:14.159><c>
• forecast forecast Horizon<00:31:50.960><c> all</c><00:31:51.159><c> right</c><00:31:51.440><c> so</c
• forecast of basically 91.3.
• </c><01:15:55.120><c> fast</c> forecast to the November forecast fast forecast to the November forecast

Committee: House Education Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• Accessing a weather app to collect your location might make sense to provide the forecast, but it wouldn't
• It would require large load facilities to pay for grid reliability services if they benefit from such
• The first is interconnection of large loads into the interstate transmission system.
• The first is interconnection of large loads into the interstate transmission system.
• So creating new customer classes for data centers or other large loads allows these specific pricing

Summary: The committee held a series of informational briefings on information management and technology issues. It first heard from ACLU representatives on data privacy, who argued that Oregon should strengthen protections against private data brokers, government purchases of personal data, reverse warrants, automatic license plate readers, and local police surveillance. They urged data minimization, limits on data sales and retention, and broader transparency and accountability measures. Members asked about practical uses of license plate readers, state sales of data, and how Oregon’s approach compares with other states; the presenters said similar proposals have been adopted elsewhere, including data minimization in Maryland and a state version of the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act in Montana. The committee then received a detailed update from the Department of Administrative Services and Enterprise Information Services on licensing system modernization for 14 boards and commissions with the most immediate need. DAS said it is seeking a shared procurement approach through an RFP that would create either one scalable system or two tiers of systems, depending on agency needs and security requirements, with contracts expected by September. Committee members emphasized the need for a more unified, user-friendly statewide login and service experience for businesses and residents, and raised concerns about small agencies “figuring it out on their own” without sufficient cybersecurity or technical expertise. EIS said it is overseeing the investment review, security and architecture review, and future implementation planning, and noted that multiple agency requests may still come back to the legislature in the next session. The committee also discussed a revised cybersecurity incident notification concept. Staff explained that the earlier bill had raised stakeholder concerns, so the co-chairs directed further interim work with the Oregon Cybersecurity Advisory Council and other local government and K-12 stakeholders. The goal is a narrower, voluntary “911-style” notification process that would let public bodies alert peers and potentially receive assistance after cyber incidents; a temporary voluntary process is being tested now, with a work group developing language for possible 2027 consideration. Finally, the committee heard updates from the new state chief data officer on data governance, data sharing, geospatial work, and the state transparency website, followed by a briefing on data centers from NCSL and the Technology Association of Oregon. The data officer described efforts to expand data inventories, data governance plans, data literacy, and interagency sharing, along with statewide aerial imagery, geospatial standards, and the open data portal. The data center discussion focused on national and state trends, including rapid growth in data centers, rising electricity and water demand, and legislative responses such as new rate classes, reporting requirements, and cost-allocation rules to protect ratepayers. No votes were taken; the meeting was informational only.

Transcript Highlights:

• their updated forecast.
• We subscribe to forecasts from Moody's as well as S&P Global, and locally we subscribe to a forecast
• Chairman, that the consensus revenue forecast forecasters... ...also projecting that we will have approximately
• To our forecast. And then finally, Mr.
• By the consensus revenue forecasters on the previous slide, we do stress testing of our forecasts.

Committee: House House Appropriations & Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:18:06.039><c> that</c> sensitive to the Future forecasts that sensitive to the Future forecasts
• We've all seen the forecast, and we understand that.
• We've all seen the forecast, and we understand that.
• We've all seen the forecast, and we understand that.
• We've all seen the forecast, and we understand that.

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• there any regulations or requirements that deal with the locations where school buses can stop and load
• It's been flat the last three years, and it's forecast to be flat for the next three years.
• It's been flat the last three years, and it's forecast to be flat for the next three years.
• It's been flat the last three years, and it's forecast to be flat for the next three years.
• So we had to begin forecasting and doing all that research.

Committee: Senate Transportation

Summary: The Committee on Transportation received a presentation from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles on Florida’s camera-based traffic enforcement programs: red light cameras, school bus stop-arm cameras, and school zone speed cameras. The department explained how each program works, the distinction between a civil notice of violation and a uniform traffic citation, and the fee distribution for each type of violation. It also reported preliminary data showing 42 jurisdictions operating red light cameras, with 496 cameras at 302 intersections and 923,133 notices of violation in fiscal year 2024-2025; for the newer school bus and school zone programs, the department said preliminary figures showed five active school bus programs and 40 active school zone programs, with prior-year totals of 61,150 school bus notices and 26,300 school zone notices. Senators asked about camera placement, school zone requirements, review procedures, and whether law enforcement or third parties are involved in reviewing violations. The committee then received an update from FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue on the Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative, which used $4 billion in general revenue to advance a $7 billion package of 20 major congestion-relief projects. He said the department has used innovative delivery methods, including modified phased design-build, voluntary acceleration, and structured acceleration, to move projects forward faster and control costs. He highlighted progress on projects including I-4 congestion relief lanes, the Golden Glades Interchange, I-95 at US-1, I-75 auxiliary lanes, I-75 at Pine Ridge Road, and I-275 in Tampa, and said 80% of the plan is expected to be underway by the end of 2026, with four projects remaining in 2027. Members asked about temporary traffic patterns at Golden Glades, subcontractor opportunities, public transportation planning, contractor safety and OSHA issues, bridge strikes, logistics hubs near airports and seaports, aggregate and material supply, local government coordination, and federal transportation funding. Secretary Perdue said FDOT continuously reevaluates traffic management plans, works with small businesses and local subs, and monitors contractor safety closely, including corrective action plans after incidents. He emphasized that Florida’s transportation revenues are flat, that the state remains largely state-funded, and that additional resources are the main thing the Legislature can provide to support future infrastructure delivery. The committee adjourned after the chair requested FDOT staff provide senators with district-specific project updates.