Transcript Highlights:

• and human rights attorney Peru a labor and human rights attorney practitioner<00:58:07.680> and
• People were forced into labor camps. I'm sorry.
• People were forced into labor camps. I'm sorry.
• People were forced into labor camps. I'm sorry.
• My studies in public health taught me more healthy people in the insurance pool will spread the risk

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• To me, this smells like a risk pool.
• don't work, because we've had risk pools that have gone under because of it, and with risk pools that
• risk pools that have had trouble<00:18:59.520> doing<00:18:59.880> it.
• Okay, last but not least, Senate Bill 661, relative to pool risk management programs.
• relative to pool risk management programs.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I have no opposition to ensuring that our laborers get quality training.
• We need skilled and trained labor.
• and UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program.
• I staff the California Labor for Climate Jobs Coalition.
• Our coalition is made up of 16 labor unions across the state.

Summary: The Assembly Higher Education Committee heard a series of bills focused on expanding access to higher education, addressing workforce shortages, student housing, and labor standards on campus projects. AB 662 would create a South County Higher Education Task Force to explore a mixed-use, intersegmental institution in Chula Vista; supporters said South San Diego County is a “college desert,” while the bill passed on a due pass as amended motion to Appropriations. AB 885 would establish a College Access for All Fund to help make CSU and UC attendance more affordable; supporters cited student debt and affordability concerns, and it also passed to Appropriations. AB 730 would provide $15 million to help establish a medical school in the Central Valley to address physician shortages, and it advanced on a due pass motion. AB 1400 would let up to 15 community college districts pilot bachelor’s degrees in nursing; supporters argued it would expand affordable BSN access and keep students local, while CSU, UC, and other higher education groups opposed it as unnecessary and inconsistent with the master plan. The bill passed to Appropriations, with members raising questions about clinical placements, faculty shortages, and possible effects on associate-degree programs. The committee also considered AB 1235, which would require CSU design-build projects to use a skilled and trained workforce, aligning CSU with other public higher education construction standards. Supporters said it would improve safety, training, and local job opportunities, and the bill passed to Appropriations. AB 1247 would restrict contracting out of classified school and community college jobs unless workers meet training and qualification standards and would address pension and training concerns; supporters said it would protect students and classified employees, while school and college groups warned it would disrupt services and add unfunded mandates. The bill passed to Appropriations with one no vote. AB 1470, presented on behalf of Assemblymember Haney, would allow a portion of student housing revolving loan funds to be used for affordable student, faculty, and staff housing in downtown and commercial districts; it was discussed as a housing and downtown revitalization measure, but the committee held off on a motion pending more members. ACA 3, also on behalf of Haney, would require UC to offer limited down payment loans to eligible long-term support staff first-time homebuyers; it drew extensive support from UC workers and unions, while UC and business groups opposed it as costly and outside UC’s mission, and the measure was still under discussion at the end of the transcript.

Transcript Highlights:

• can we better diversify our jury pools can we better diversify our jury pools and<00:26:54.480><
• <00:40:36.680> of money you gave us uh that pool of money you gave us uh that pool of resources
• we're standing there with the jury pool we're standing there with the jury pool in<00:48:36.280>
• We have increased our applicant pools by about a third.
• resignation rates increasing afcan pools resignation rates increasing afcan pools that's<01:36:56.560

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• to a broader commercial coverage pool.
• The broader commercial coverage pool has been covered by the Department of Insurance.
• to labor organizations.
• We also changed employer to labor organization or union.
• between the member of the union and the labor organization, not the employer.

Bills: SB524, SR108, SR109, SCR56, SCR57, SCR12, HB227, HB398, HB689, HB897, HB1029, HB1107, HB1217, HB221, HCR58, HB136, SB162, SB382, SCR33, SCR30, SB112, SB194, SB307, SB341, SB346, SB363, SB495, SB503, SB507, SB509, SB513, SB408, SB131, SB145, SB333, SB464, SB466, SB500, SB283, SB338, SB488, SB35, SB65, SB215, SB228, SB246, SB249, SB268, SB269, SB282, SB296, SB312, SB319, SB323, SB369, SB431, SB474, SB484, SB490, SB492, SB501, HCR14, HB537, HB652, HB653, HB661, HB726, HB756, HB851, HB964, HB966, HB34, HB35, HB48, HB474, HB553, HB758, HB852, HB10, HB16, HB36, HB44, HB46, HB52, HB61, HB78, HB98, HB102, HB124, HB126, HB131, HB135, HB141, HB142, HB164, HB170, HB171, HB179, HB194, HB231, HB245, HB280, HB292, HB294, HB297, HB305, HB336, HB337, HB351, HB436, HB594, HB789, HB956, HB957, HB995, HB1040, HB50, HB117, HB120, HB122, HB139, HB148, HB149, HB185, HB199, HB247, HB271, HB286, HB301, HB358, HB359, HB384, HB413, HB428, HB450, HB462, HB547, HB613, HB631, HB657, HB669, HB675, HB680, HB691, HB712, HB716, HB720, HB723, HB727, HB728, HB735, HB747, HB759, HB825, HB842, HB845, HB846, HB903, HB904, HB907, HB923, HB929, HB941, HB962, HB965, HB1036, HB287, HB370, HB515, HB521, HB570, HB1200, HB29, HB39, HB58, HB67, HB73, HB76, HB77, HB82, HB112, HB121, HB125, HB132, HB134, HB151, HB154, HB155, HB161, HB166, HB187, HB191, HB207, HB211, HB224, HB238, HB241, HB242, HB250, HB260, HB265, HB275, HB300, HB320, HB338, HB339, HB349, HB379, HB399, HB427, HB463, HB464, HB468, HB545, HB550, HB551, HB565, HB588, HB639, HB725, HB782, HB805, HB808, HB834, HB847, HB853, HB858, HB861, HB883, HB916, HB937, HB977, HB1012, HB1027, HB1044, HB1054, HB1071, HB1091, HB1117, HB119, HB129, HB677, HB850, SB68, SB149

Keywords: Jump Start, career and technical education, CTE, career diploma, career pathways, workforce development, high school diploma, career major, individual career and academic plan, ICAP, individual graduation plan, IGP, work-based learning, apprenticeship, internship, dual enrollment, articulation agreement, transfer credit, rural schools, rural LEA

Transcript Highlights:

• Yes, we still have Labor Day; we're not taking away Labor Day.
• If you go to the State Fair on Labor Day weekend, it's very hot.
• Let's start before Labor Day.
• And that makes sense too, because in 2024, Labor Day is September 3rd.
• In 2025, Labor Day is September 2nd.

Transcript Highlights:

• The motion is due pass to the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
• In the 2025-2026 budget, HETAC received $500,000 per recipient out of a $1.5 million pool.
• Motion is do pass to the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
• Motion is do pass to the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
• Motion is do pass to the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Over the past 17 years, the cost of materials, equipment, and labor has risen dramatically.
• As union construction employers, our labor agreements are collectively bargained, and we don't have any
• Yeah, I do have concerns about the ability for our labor partners to be able to dispatch and not being
• Folks are now in the pool for multiple projects. So when we're ...that it's not one project.
• Folks are now in the pool for multiple projects.

Summary: The committee heard several measures focused on economic development, procurement, workforce equity, federal infrastructure funding, and food security. SB 1044 by Senator Reyes would raise and then index to inflation the cap for streamlined state contracts awarded to certified small businesses, microbusinesses, and disabled veteran business enterprises for services and IT work; supporters said the current cap is outdated and limits access, while opponents representing goods suppliers and some small business groups argued the bill could disadvantage goods contractors and should preserve lower thresholds for those contracts. After discussion about the ceiling versus floor effect of the cap and the impact on different types of businesses, the bill was approved as amended and sent to Appropriations. SB 247 by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas would create a bid preference for projects that hire workers from disadvantaged communities; supporters framed it as a way to connect public infrastructure spending to family-sustaining jobs, while union construction employers opposed it because they said they cannot control worker dispatch through hiring halls and the bill would be difficult to implement. The committee advanced the measure to Appropriations despite those concerns. The committee also approved SJR 6 by Senator Cortese, which urges the federal government to honor commitments under the bipartisan infrastructure law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, with supporters emphasizing the importance of certainty for California infrastructure, clean energy, and semiconductor investments. SB 1025 by Senator Hurtado would establish an Office of Food Security and Affordability to coordinate food assistance efforts and develop a statewide food security strategy; supporters from a Kern County food bank and the University of California said the state’s response to hunger is fragmented and needs better coordination, while committee members asked about deliverables and timelines. The bill was sent to Appropriations. The committee also took up consent items SB 700 and SB 1340, which were moved on consent to Appropriations, and the hearing ended with the remaining votes recorded and the bills advanced. Throughout the hearing, members repeatedly discussed the need for clearer implementation details, data on program impacts, and how to balance equity goals with operational realities for state agencies, contractors, and small businesses.

Transcript Highlights:

• like attracting talent in the private sector, you adopt policies that will get you the best talent pool
• Oftentimes that talent pool is asking for diversity, equity, and inclusion because those terms, until
• For human or labor trafficking as well. And so this would actually directly assist them as well.
• They're exploiting them for other labor trafficking reasons as well, such as with unaccompanied minors
• I know most people think that trafficking happens to be in sex, but the biggest problem We have is labor

Bills: SB231, SB667, SB689, SB825, SB965, SB992, SB1059, SB1220, SB2368, SB2601

Keywords: temporary emergency electric energy facility, temporary generation, emergency power, backup generation, mobile generator, portable generator, grid resilience, power outage restoration, transmission and distribution utility, TDU, Public Utility Commission of Texas, PUCT, Utilities Code Section 39.918, competitive bidding, lease authorization, emergency procurement, bulk power system, locational marginal pricing, reliability model, black start

Transcript Highlights:

• of people who can we have a limited pool of people who can provide<00:17:18.079> those<00:17:
• to be expanded don't want the pool to be expanded because<00:17:28.000> that<00:17:28.240>
• of people that and we need a larger pool of people that can<00:19:08.799> serve<00:19:09.039>
• But before we step into that<00:19:10.640> new<00:19:10.880> pool,<00:19:11.200> we<
• specified terms related to labor specified terms related to labor organization<01:15:47.199>

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Now, the first items on the pool list are from the Attorney General's office, and they are numbers two
• Now, the first items on on<00:02:46.720> the<00:02:46.800> pool<00:02:47.040> list
• list are from the Attorney on the pool list are from the Attorney General's<00:02:48.959> office,
• Next items on the >> Next items on the pool Next items on the pool<00:09:03.520> list<00
• Um and Labor Cabinet. and Labor Cabinet.

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The committee first approved a motion and then deferred a large batch of 246 contracts totaling about $187.8 million until the April 2026 meeting. It then moved through the agenda and reviewed several pulled items, beginning with four Attorney General contingent-fee contracts. Committee members questioned why the contracts were new, what the $20 million maximums meant, and how the fees would work; the AG’s office explained they were new awards from a September RFP, that the $20 million was an outside estimate tied to a full recovery, and that one contract would require a $380 million recovery to pay out the maximum. The committee voted to consider those contracts reviewed without objection. The Department of Highways then explained an “alternative delivery support” contract, describing it as a procurement method different from the usual design-bid-build model and noting it can help with innovation, speed, timeliness, or cost reduction. After that explanation, the committee again voted to consider the contract reviewed without objection. The Kentucky Horse Park/Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation presented eight legal services contracts; members focused on differing hourly rates and retroactive approval. The corporation said it had selected four firms through an RFP to maintain flexibility and avoid conflicts, would use in-house counsel first, and did not expect to use the maximum rates. Senator Thomas argued the committee’s statutory hourly rate cap is outdated and should be revisited. The committee then approved the contracts. One Transportation Office of the Secretary contract was deferred to the April meeting, consistent with the agency’s prior request. The committee then reviewed Cabinet for Health and Family Services items from the Department of Community Based Services: three contract amendments and one memorandum of agreement. Members asked about funding sources, service outcomes, and whether the programs reduce future need; the agency said one amendment was a $55,000 increase offset by reductions elsewhere, that the total contract amount with the agency did not change, and that follow-up data show over 90% of children remain in the home after services. The committee approved those items. Finally, the committee reviewed a LIHEAP contract amendment from the Division of Family Support, which the agency said used federal funds, not state general funds, to add newly appropriated federal money for low-income home energy assistance and crisis heating support. Members asked about future funding and were told that continuation depends on Congress. The committee approved that item. It then began reviewing Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities memoranda of agreement tied to Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center staffing; members asked for a count of personnel, and the agency said it would provide that information, after which the discussion continued.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:25:09.919> Um of pool mur management programs. Um of pool mur management programs.
• health pool. health pool.
• :21:06.719> pool,<01:21:07.440> a health pool, property liability pool, a health pool,
• the pool to maintain an extra 4%. the pool to maintain an extra 4%.
• Risk pools are important. As an solveny. Risk pools are important.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Summary: The subcommittee took up the pooled risk management program bill and reviewed a new amendment drafted with input from the Insurance Department and Legislative Services. Department witnesses explained that the proposal would move oversight of pooled risk management programs from the Secretary of State’s office to the Insurance Department, add a licensure requirement, preserve the programs’ non-insurer status, and exempt them from third-party administrator licensure. They also described a series of solvency tools in the draft, including financial reporting, risk-based capital standards, minimum capitalization, investment limits, commissioner examination and enforcement authority, rulemaking authority, merger and affiliate-transaction review, confidentiality protections, and a separability clause. A major theme of the discussion was that pooled risk management programs differ from commercial insurers because the risk remains with the member local governments rather than being backed by a state guarantee fund. Witnesses said the bill is designed to emphasize solvency over return of premium and to give the Insurance Department a regulatory “toolbox” to prevent insolvency, including a proposed $5 million excess or stop-loss coverage benchmark, optional accessible policies, and a requirement that boards vote on dividends or premium returns when capital exceeds 600% of risk-based capital. Members questioned how this approach differed from the original Secretary of State bill and whether assessments on towns would still be possible; the department responded that the new framework would allow more flexible oversight and alternatives to immediate court action. The committee also discussed why the statute should continue to say the programs are not insurers, with the department explaining that this preserves their autonomy and avoids applying unrelated insurance laws and premium taxes. Members asked about the department’s workload and were told the department believed it could absorb the new duties without additional funding. No vote or final committee action was taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• So we just got word that it labor has requested for it to go back to labor. Um I'm not sure.
• go back to labor. Um I'm not sure. go back to labor. Um I'm not sure.
• we will be sending it back to labor. we will be sending it back to labor.
• <02:04:03.480> All labor. All those in favor say I. I. All labor.
• referred to labor. referred to labor.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It's going to bring, you know, expand their pool a little bit more to pass that savings on, but I also
• It's going to bring, you know, expand their pool a little bit more to pass that savings on, but I also
• It's going to bring, you know, expand their pool a little bit more to pass that savings on, but I also
• It's going to bring, you know, expand their pool a little bit more to pass that savings on, but I also
• Labor is separate.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• jobs committee as well as the labor jobs committee as well as the labor committee.<00:04:58.880>
• in the labor force.
• <00:14:32.880> force This slide looks at uh labor force This slide looks at uh labor force
• > grew<00:21:37.679> by force growth or labor force grew by force growth or labor force
• c><01:02:50.720> market labor force or our labor market labor force or our labor market information

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• just for some context, my connection with the subject of this bill is I spent a dozen years on House Labor
• , and I was on House Labor during the terms that this program was put together.
• You've got your business pool, and then you've got your individual pool.
• It's the individual pool where, from an insurance perspective, there was concern when we were designing
• <00:51:22.160> department, insurance department, labor department, insurance department, labor

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We have a therapy pool.
• after they're out of the pool.
• if we look at the zero-gravity pool.
• Oh, it's a walk-in pool, so the wheelchairs don't require a lift to get into the pool.
• <01:29:33.320> does into the zero level gradual pool does into the zero level gradual pool

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• “This report is just on the activities of the pool.
• This report is being provided at a time when the structure and operations of public entity risk pools
• A lot of it is moving to the Department of Labor.
• A lot of it is moving to the Department of Labor.
• A lot of it is moving to the Department of Labor.

Keywords: 908, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Sarah Flachs, California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.
• There is a limited pool of cash, and a federal judge is required by federal bankruptcy law to equally
• The proposal is supported by utility labor unions and publicly owned utilities.
• We are very pleased to co-sponsor AB 825 alongside our labor partners.
• Sarah Flox, California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.

Summary: The Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy convened with a quorum and first heard SB 254, a major utility affordability and wildfire package authored by Senator Becker and coauthored by Assemblymember Petrie-Norris. The bill was described as combining wildfire mitigation reforms, $6 billion in securitized financing for future fire-mitigation capital spending, a public ownership/transmission financing program, tighter scrutiny of utility profits, clean energy permitting streamlining, stronger customer connection timelines, and a successor wildfire fund/continuation account to replace the current fund. Supporters, including the Governor’s office, TURN, labor, clean energy groups, utilities, and public advocates, said the measure would lower bills, stabilize utilities, protect fire victims, and reduce wildfire-related bankruptcy risk. Opponents and some local government groups raised concerns about affordability impacts, the volumetric wildfire fee, strict liability, and provisions they said could affect local control. After discussion, the committee approved SB 254 on a 16-0 vote and sent it to the floor. The committee then held an informational hearing on AB 825, which would enable California to participate in a West-wide electricity market. The authors said the proposal could save ratepayers up to $1 billion annually, improve reliability by allowing California to draw on a larger regional supply, reduce curtailment of renewable power, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Support came from environmental organizations, labor, utilities, community choice aggregators, large energy users, and the Public Advocates Office, all emphasizing cost savings, reliability, and cleaner energy integration. TURN opposed the measure, warning that last-minute amendments removed safeguards against subsidizing out-of-state fossil generation and could expose California ratepayers to unwanted costs. Members questioned governance, exit rights, CPUC oversight, and local control, and the authors responded that the bill includes multiple safeguards, legislative reporting, the ability to exit without penalty, and continued local consultation. No vote was taken because the hearing was informational only.

Transcript Highlights:

• I have a background in labor and organizing, and I have a ton of small businesses.
• I have a history of being a labor organizer and a community organizer. So, that's the labor.
• A 33% increase in attorneys' fees is going to put pressure on the pool.
• The system is built to try to minimize the amount of time in labor.
• Again, my name is Stephen Curtis; I am a labor attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico.