Transcript Highlights:

• And the two major programs funded in this budget entity are the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program, or
• VPK, and the School Readiness Program.
• Our largest program is our TEACH program, which is where we come in and walk alongside our workforce.
• The monitoring tool that the school readiness program and/or VPK program does relates specifically to
• Grant?

Summary: The Pre-K through 12 Budget Subcommittee met with a quorum and focused on School Readiness, specifically the new provider reimbursement rates and the School Readiness Plus program. The chair gave an overview of how School Readiness is funded and administered, noting that the Legislature now sets county-based reimbursement rates using market and cost data, and that School Readiness Plus was created to help families who would otherwise fall off the subsidy “cliff” at 85% of state median income by extending assistance up to 100% of state median income. Panelists from the Children’s Forum, the Association of Early Learning Coalitions, and the Division of Early Learning described the programs as major workforce and family-support tools that help parents stay employed and help providers recruit and retain qualified staff. Testimony emphasized that higher reimbursement rates increase parental choice, help providers cover rising child care costs, and support better staffing and lower turnover. The panel also said School Readiness Plus is easing the pressure on families to turn down raises or promotions for fear of losing child care assistance, though uptake is still early because the program only began in late 2024 and is only available to current School Readiness families at redetermination. The Division of Early Learning reported about 275 children enrolled in School Readiness Plus as of March 10, with expenditures of about $161,420 through January 2025, and said participation is increasing. Members asked about the federal-state funding split, wait lists, reverted funds, coalition accountability, county-based rate differences, and whether the entrance eligibility threshold should be raised or shifted to state median income. The panel said roughly 70% of School Readiness funding is federal, about 4% has typically reverted in recent years, and the wait list is around 12,000 children, with reasons including income ineligibility, lack of available seats, and funding limits. They argued that raising the entrance threshold would expand access but would require additional funding, and they also discussed the need to reduce workforce barriers such as in-person testing and training requirements. The meeting ended with no formal action beyond the presentation and member discussion, and the subcommittee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Those grants are run through the ServiceLink program, which is run by the state, and there are other
• To help reduce the burden on caregivers, New Hampshire has the ADRD respite grant program, which can
• With HB 704, we will be increasing the funding to the ADRD respite grant program, and it will not only
• To help reduce the burden on caregivers, New Hampshire has the ADRD respite grant program, which can
• With HB 704, we will be increasing the funding to the ADRD respite grant program.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And that seems to be a reference<00:46:44.319> to<00:46:44.640> grant reference to grant
• are managing the grants, you've got the<00:48:51.440> grant<00:48:51.760> recipients<00
• And if there's people believe it's a fraudulent program, I fear people won't support the program.
• ,<01:51:18.480> I believe it's a fraudulent program, I believe it's a fraudulent program,
• fear people won't support the program. fear people won't support the program.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• We program than we take in right now.
• And [clears throat] grant.
• <00:08:33.680> I programs and foundational support. I programs and foundational support.
• legislature $2.5 million for AI programs legislature $2.5 million for AI programs and<00:15:15.440
• mentioned we do have a lot of programs mentioned we do have a lot of programs in<00:31:24.559>

Bills: SF0025, SF0027, SF0043, SF0066

Keywords: landowner licenses, hunting, wildlife management, quota hunt areas, game and fish commission, game management, hunting regulations, black bear, tracking dogs, wildlife conservation, conservation, contracting, supervisor, funding, districts, hunting licenses, donated licenses, life-threatening illness, vision impairment, nonprofit organizations

Transcript Highlights:

• It removes language that allows up to 50% of the allocation for the improvement of instructional programs
• The first section directs the Department of Human Services to pay licensed child care program subsidy
• The first section directs the Department of Human Services to pay licensed child care program subsidy
• agencies for training, diversion, and other programs focused on crime and addiction.
• All this money that has been accumulated through this program is going to go into general revenue.

Keywords: 994, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• The Minnesota Clearance Grant Program will award grants to law enforcement to investigate and examine
• The grant program is modeled after a successful program here in Ramsey County that attorney Choy has
• The Minnesota Clearance Grant Program will award grants to law enforcement to investigate and examine
• The grant program is modeled after a successful program here in Ramsey County that attorney Choy has
• 03:38:58.880> will Minnesota Clearance Grant Program will Minnesota Clearance Grant Program will

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We have a strong film program, our digital arts program, our Diné material arts, so we've incorporated
• Madam Chair, on the residential program that you have, there's also another residential program, a BIE
• program.
• They, too, are a residential program. They have a residential program.
• And then recreation money because you have programs listed. Do those programs incorporate?

Transcript Highlights:

• This section relating to work study grants removes the priority for work study programs given to students
• Uh, Representative Rarick, um, [clears throat] yeah, the fostering independence grant program, um, as
• Um, the fostering independence grant program is fairly unique in that it provides funding for eligible
• Um the fostering independence grant<01:09:22.640> program<01:09:23.120> is<01:09:23.759
• is uh fairly unique in grant program is uh fairly unique in that<01:09:25.359> it<01:09:25.759

Keywords: 918, senate, all

Summary: The conference committee received a nonpartisan walkthrough of the House and Senate side-by-side for higher education-related legislation, with staff identifying Senate-only, House-only, identical, and technical-difference provisions. Topics included paid blood donation leave for Minnesota State employees, a revised higher education attainment goal, athletic fee restrictions, developmental course disclosures, American Indian Scholars Program eligibility, protections and definitions for pregnant and parenting students, online program management contracts, student aid reporting, work-study and dual training grants, private and out-of-state postsecondary education regulation, private career school licensing and data privacy, college savings plan changes, and several University of Minnesota-related provisions. House-only items also included an unemployment insurance aid adjustment, a $1.5 million ongoing appropriation for an identity verification system to combat enrollment fraud, and $5,000 for Bemidji State University reforestation; Senate-only items included Board of Regents appointment language, limits on for-profit control of medical school curriculum, and reporting on for-profit funding in medical education. After the walkthrough, the committee moved to adopt the same and similar provisions and direct staff to make technical corrections. A senator asked about proposed adjustments to the pregnant and parenting student language, and the chair said amendments would be considered after adopting the same and similar provisions. The motion to adopt prevailed. During public testimony, Sydney Spre of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees supported the Senate’s paid blood donation leave language, saying it would create parity for Minnesota State employees and encourage blood and plasma donation. Commissioner Dennis Olsen of the Office of Higher Education thanked the committee for adopting most of the agency’s proposed language and said he was available to help clarify remaining differences. In response to questions, he explained the Senate’s higher education attainment goal proposal, saying it would extend and broaden the existing goal, raise the target from 70% to 75%, expand the age range, and use additional metrics and partner agencies; he also said the overall attainment rate had been 63.5 under the prior goal. The transcript ends as the commissioner was being asked whether the proposal would require additional appropriations.

Transcript Highlights:

• Taxpayer dollars grants received by the program may be used in the following ways.
• So, the grants are to the health care programs. They're not to the individual parents.
• grants are to the health care programs. grants are to the health care programs.
• Um, looking at House Bill 2, it appears that it requires HHS to set up a grant program.
• Is this the M to set up a grant program.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And we make sure it's a voluntary program.
• It's two basic programs: the GI Bill, which is the oldest scholarship program in the United States, and
• Part of the deal for Chapter 35, which is our biggest program, is that to receive that program, you have
• Obviously, the state is offering a variety of different programs. scholarship programs, so the incentive
• When we go down to specifics with veterans, the grant that we have... ...with the SSVF grant, it's rents

Transcript Highlights:

• The program provides grants and loans for acquisition and improvement of manufactured home parks, including
• She said the Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Program provides grants and loans for the acquisition
• Co-ops, nonprofits, and privately owned parks are eligible to receive those grants, and the program has
• The program has been a great success, but demand for grants continues to exceed available funding.
• Did you know the grant opens up funding? I also do homeowner education programs.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Program.
• And this grant program would be available to K-12 schools of all types: public, private, charter, and
• And this supplements and dovetails well with the Homeland Security Emergency Management grant program
• grants or how does that get distributed? grants or how does that get distributed?
• . grants. grants.

Bills: HF4446, HF4066, HF1082

Keywords: public safety officer, survivor benefits, line of duty death, occupational cancer, firefighter, police officer, paramedic, EMT, correctional officer, first responder, workers' compensation, death benefits, occupational exposure, carcinogen, cancer presumption, mesothelioma, leukemia, lung cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD

Transcript Highlights:

• Program to award grants to local governments.
• Multifamily Housing Program and 500 million for the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program
• The bill includes an extension through 2026 of the Golden State Teacher Grant program which provides
• Finally this bill authorizes the creation Instead of a new grant program to improve career technical
• . served by the program that are intended to protect and strengthen the program for future years.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• that is affecting this grant.
• We have the grant.
• We have the grant.
• We have the grant.
• community college and our CTE programs. community college and our CTE programs.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Summary: The subcommittee met to begin work on HB 742, which would require catastrophic special education aid to be drawn from the education trust fund, and more broadly to study special education aid/differentiated aid and related costing issues. The chair said the group was starting early because the issue has been debated for years without resolution, local districts are being forced to absorb prorated costs, and the committee wants to send the Department of Education and HHS Medicaid a clear request for data and recommendations before retained bills return in the fall. A committee clerk was also selected, with Representative Reverend volunteering to take notes for the meeting. Members reviewed background materials on special education enrollment, high-cost students, and possible funding formulas, including data on students in high-cost brackets and prior ideas such as category-based funding and caseload-based approaches. The chair also referenced research on other states, including Arkansas, which uses a different special education funding structure and audits IEPs. The committee emphasized that it was focused on the funding mechanics and costs, not on questioning whether services should be provided. Henry Lipman of HHS explained how Medicaid-to-schools currently works in New Hampshire. He said 172 school districts participate, but utilization dropped during the pandemic and remains below historical levels, in part because districts need the capacity to bill Medicaid. Under the current system, schools receive reimbursement based on half of the Medicaid fee schedule, with the school district effectively providing the state share. He said the federal government is requiring a shift by July 1, 2026, to a true certified public expenditure model based on actual costs, which should allow schools to recover 50% of their true costs and some administrative overhead. The department has received a roughly $2.5 million grant to hire a vendor and support districts through the transition, and an RFP and stakeholder meetings are underway. Committee members asked about how costs would be determined, whether the new system would use actual district-specific costs rather than averages, and how the department would support districts that do not currently participate. Lipman said the cost model would be based on each district’s own reasonable costs, subject to audit standards, and that the department expects to provide templates and technical assistance through the vendor because its staff is limited. He also said about one in four New Hampshire children are enrolled in Medicaid, that child enrollment has been relatively stable, and that continuous coverage rules should reduce churn. No votes or formal actions on HB 742 were taken during the meeting beyond organizing the subcommittee and beginning testimony and discussion.

Transcript Highlights:

• Really important programs.
• So thank you for that program.
• There are two programs here: the elections program and then the administration and operations program
• There are two programs here: the elections program and then the administration and operations program
• Do you get a grant?

Bills: HB1

Keywords: feed bill, legislative appropriations, legislative branch, New Mexico Legislature, general fund, legislative council service, legislative finance committee, legislative education study committee, house chief clerk, senate chief clerk, per diem, mileage, session expenses, interim committees, district staff, capitol complex, capital outlay data system, legislative processing system, redistricting, census redistricting

Transcript Highlights:

• Granted.
• Granted.
• Granted.
• Granted.
• This bill deals with the Delaware Technical Innovation Program, and it allows for supplemental grant

Keywords: 1064, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Orana NASA government relations program Orana NASA government relations program specialist<00:13
• We are willing to run the program.
• Alabama has a highly successful program offering grants for homeowners to put in these really simple
• <00:38:23.720> offering<00:38:24.040> grants<00:38:24.480> for successful program
• offering grants for successful program offering grants for homeowners<00:38:25.160> to<00:38:

Keywords: 910, house, all

Summary: The House Committee on Housing held a public hearing on a wide range of housing-related bills. HB 295 on Hawaiian homelands drew support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and individual testifiers who described long waits for DHHL housing, while the Department of Hawaiian Homelands offered comments noting that lowering the Native Hawaiian blood quantum from 50% to 25% would require multiple legal and federal review steps. The committee also heard testimony on several Hawaii Public Housing Authority measures, including HB 99, HB 1096, HB 1097, HB 1095, HB 1093, and HB 1094, which generally received agency support and little or no public opposition during the hearing. HB 1094 prompted questions about the handling and sale or donation of seized property, and the agency said it lacked capacity to manage that work directly and would need to consult the Attorney General on liability concerns. The committee then heard HB 1056 and HB 1467, both related to a proposed Hawaii Homes or housing resiliency program. DCCA, the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority, the Climate Advisory Team, and Hawaii Realtors supported HB 1056, while the Attorney General requested clarification on fund language. The Insurance Commissioner said DCCA was willing to run the program and that strengthening homes would help keep insurance available in Hawaii. For HB 1467, the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority and Climate Advisory Team also supported the measure, with the Attorney General raising concerns about delegation, the special fund, and extension authority. Testimony on both bills emphasized hurricane retrofits, with some witnesses urging harmonization of the two similar proposals and one witness warning that the bills could conflict with efforts to reduce building-code minimum standards. Other measures included HB 1013 on important agricultural lands, which received support from HHFDC, the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, DBEDT, the Agri-Business Development Corporation, and Purple Maiʻa Foundation, with some agencies offering comments. HB 1294 on agricultural workforce housing drew comments from the Attorney General, who said commissions may be established by law rather than by the department itself, along with support from OHA, a council member, and the Democratic Party of Hawaii Education Caucus. HB 89 on teacher housing received support from OHA and education groups, while the Attorney General said the bill may have constitutional issues and suggested amendments to set standards for voucher applications. HB 276 on condominiums and HB 528 on residential leases also drew support, with no testimony in opposition. HB 415 on public safety and fire sprinklers generated the most clear split in testimony: the State Fire Council, a fire department representative, and an individual supported the bill, arguing sprinklers improve safety and can prevent major losses, while BIA Hawaii, Pacific Home and Appliance Distribution, NAAP Hawaii, Gentry Holmes, and DR Horton Hawaii opposed it, saying the added cost would worsen housing affordability and that existing codes already address safety. No votes or final committee actions were taken during the hearing; the chair repeatedly closed each bill after testimony and questions, and the hearing moved through the agenda without recorded committee votes.

Transcript Highlights:

• the grant cycle that the agency does. the grant cycle that the agency does.
• These sections make changes to the Advanced Practice Provider Clinical Training Expansion Grant Program
• and to the Rural and Underserved Clinical Rotations Grant Program.
• They also make changes to the international medical graduates clinical preparation grant program.
• <00:25:14.040> that<00:25:14.120> was program, which was a program that was program

Bills: HF4401, HF4466

Keywords: HF4401, Minnesota Medical Assistance, dental reimbursement, dental rates, critical access dental providers, Medicaid dental, MinnesotaCare, managed care plans, county-based purchasing plans, fee-for-service, oral health access, safety-net clinics, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, Indian health services, state-operated dental clinics, low-income patients, children's dental care, provider reimbursement, dental access

Transcript Highlights:

• In addition to the $24 million, there was a legislatively directed grant program of $6 million.
• In addition to the $24 million, there was a legislatively directed grant program of $6 million.
• on the program.
• County in implementing this with Grant County in implementing this program<00:53:31.960> um<00
• 1st we signed a grant agreement December 1st we signed a grant agreement with<00:53:49.760> the

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee met on February 6, 2025, for an update on emergency medical services (EMS) policy and implementation. Senator Seberger described the work of the EMS Task Force, which traveled statewide to hear concerns from providers about staffing, reimbursement, and retention. She said the task force led to the Sprint Medic model and two innovation zones in Otter Tail and St. Louis counties, and she urged continued monitoring and possible reconstitution of the task force to evaluate what is working and what could be expanded statewide. She also said future EMS work should continue to explore alternative response models and telemedicine, but that the most immediate need is additional funding, especially to address unpaid non-transport calls. Dylan Ferguson, director of the newly formed Minnesota Office of Emergency Medical Services, gave a detailed update on the office’s structure and priorities after the transition from the Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. He described the office’s three divisions, the appointment of deputy directors, the first meetings of the advisory councils, and work on a statewide EMS strategic plan. He also reviewed the $24 million emergency ambulance aid program, explaining its 40-40-20 formula, the emphasis on rural services, the reporting and spending deadlines, and the positive response from ambulance providers. He noted that the $6 million Sprint paramedic grant program is underway, with Otter Tail County moving forward and St. Louis County still finalizing its application. Ferguson also outlined the office’s budget request for modest staffing and contract-cost increases, two rulemaking efforts to update outdated ambulance vehicle standards and expand medication options for basic life support services, and ongoing data collection on workforce needs, violence against EMS providers, and ambulance crashes. He highlighted the paramedic scholarship program administered by the Office of Higher Education, saying nearly 300 scholarships have been awarded. Members and Senator Seberger praised the EMS reforms and emphasized that non-transport calls create significant unreimbursed costs, especially for rural and volunteer services, but no votes or formal committee actions were taken during the meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• Those are the two largest programs<00:07:33.199> for programs for programs for DMA.<00:07:35.280
• and services program, you'll see the first is reducing the homelessness prevention programs.
• and services uh to the services programs and services uh program.<00:08:04.160> You'll<00:08:
• You'll see the first is program.
• <00:08:50.800> of five items are all one-time grants of five items are all one-time grants

Keywords: 1183, house