Transcript Highlights:

• Specifically, when the trust fund balance is at 50% or below, the fund builder tax kicks in.
• from the trust fund to ...because they're continuing to rely on funds from the trust fund to make sure
• Now, I invoked the unemployment trust fund. The unemployment trust fund is administered by the VEC.
• VEC routinely monitors the balance of the trust fund.
• There was an infusion of cash, one-time funding, that was put into the trust fund.

Transcript Highlights:

• Capital Fund.
• , Behavioral Health Capital Fund, and Child Care Facility Fund.
• The Water Trust Board was named as the entity to vet the projects to be funded ultimately by the Interstate
• We get a water trust fund distribution of $4 million and $200 million for projects authorized in the
• On their review of the New Mexico Unit Fund applications, they're not really partners in the Water Trust

Committee: House New Mexico Finance Authority Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• into the Inland Protection Trust Fund.
• fund to the state court's revenue trust fund and eliminated all statutory references to the mediation
• and arbitration trust fund.
• fund to the state court's revenue trust fund and eliminated all statutory references to the mediation
• and arbitration trust fund.

Summary: The Senate took up the 2026-2027 budget package, beginning with an overview of the $115 billion General Appropriations Bill (SB 2500). Appropriations Chair Hooper said the budget reduces overall spending from the prior year, preserves reserves, and includes a 3% pay raise for state employees and 5% raises for law enforcement, firefighters, correctional officers, and park rangers. Committee chairs then highlighted major spending in their areas, including K-12 education, higher education, health and human services, criminal and civil justice, transportation/economic development, and environmental/agricultural programs. Major items discussed included school funding increases, workforce and university investments, Medicaid and child welfare funding, corrections operating deficits, housing and hurricane recovery, Everglades and water quality projects, and state employee compensation. Members asked detailed questions about several budget items. In education, senators discussed teacher salaries, declining enrollment supplements, scholarship funding growth, and charter school capital outlay. In higher education, they asked about Bright Futures, New College funding, and the EASE grant program. In health and human services, senators focused on the iBudget waiver, Medicaid hospital rate reductions, the ADAP HIV drug program, and the use of opioid settlement funds. In criminal justice, questions centered on DOC deficits, inmate health care and food service costs, public defender and state attorney funding, and whether the budget would prevent the need for National Guard support. In environmental and state agency budgets, senators discussed Florida Forever land acquisition, conservation easements, cultural grants, the Emergency Management Trust Fund, and election security funding. After the budget presentations and questions, the Senate substituted House bills for the Senate budget bills and adopted amendments to place Senate language onto the House vehicles for conference. The chamber passed HB 5001, the appropriations bill, by a 36-0 vote and agreed to conference. It also passed the implementing bill, collective bargaining and state employee bills, retirement legislation, fuel tax and SLERS bills, the court trust fund bill, judicial certification bill, K-12 and higher education conforming bills, and other related measures, generally by unanimous votes. Several motions were adopted to request the House to pass the Senate versions or include them in budget conference.

Transcript Highlights:

• Those funding considerations include public funds.
• And so many community land trusts are seeking funding partners, including through individual donations
• And so many community land trusts are seeking funding partners, including through individual donations
• A lot of it does come from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund.
• Early on, the Housing Trust Fund made low-interest loans available to us, but that is no longer there

Summary: The Senate Housing Committee heard presentations on a range of housing finance, permitting, and affordability tools. Chattanooga described its affordable housing PILOT program, which uses a per-unit property tax abatement tied to the rent loss from providing affordable units, with a 15-year term and annual compliance monitoring. Committee members asked about the program’s structure, whether it had been used elsewhere, and who was participating; the presenter said the first mixed-income project would bring 278 units with 42 affordable units and that the model was attracting private market-rate developers. Shoreline then described its MFTE and inclusionary zoning approach, emphasizing that longer tax exemption periods and station-area zoning changes had helped spur development, with most current pipeline projects concentrated near light rail stations. The committee also heard from the Municipal Research Services Center and the Department of Commerce on tax increment financing, proportional impact fees, and permit timelines. Commerce explained that TIF can fund public improvements such as roads, utilities, broadband, and some affordable housing or child care facilities, while proportional impact fee guidance is intended to help jurisdictions charge fees more closely aligned with actual project impacts. On permit timelines, Commerce presented its first annual report under recent law changes, using 2024 as a baseline year and noting that reported timelines were generally longer than statutory goals; members asked about outliers, paper versus electronic processing, and whether back-and-forth between applicants and staff was driving delays. Commerce said it would follow up with more data, including on CHIP funding and permit reform practices. Several local governments then shared permitting process improvements. Auburn reported relatively short review cycles and described its move to fully electronic permitting, internal performance standards, and a stock plan program that speeds review for repeated home designs. Bellevue described an AI permitting pilot with a local startup to help with pre-application questions, document triage, and plan review, aiming to reduce incomplete applications and revision cycles. Seattle presented a pilot for accessory dwelling unit co-development in which a mission-driven partner would help homeowners split lots, finance, build, and manage ADUs, with the homeowner eventually buying out the partner and retaining ownership; committee members asked about rent setting, management fees, and default risk, and staff said they would follow up. The committee also heard brief overviews of community land trusts and limited equity cooperatives as permanent affordability models, with presenters urging continued state and local funding support and policy recognition for these approaches.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:04:18.519><c> fund</c> through both sides of the UI trust fund through both sides of the UI trust
• c><00:07:43.840><c> you've</c> makes up the trust fund um you um you've makes up the trust fund um you
• ><c> um</c> to the trust fund replenishment law um to the trust fund replenishment law um that<00:10:
• ><c> this</c><00:10:17.120><c> is</c> trust fund replenishment because this is trust fund replenishment
• </c><00:41:00.839><c> fund</c> um of uh trust fund um of uh trust fund balances<00:41:02.880><c> and<

Committee: Senate Jobs and Economic Development

Transcript Highlights:

• It enhances and benefits the trust.
• Well, the trust, we talk a lot about the trust beneficiary as if it's some sort of sacred thing; it's
• , sportsmen and women contribute the vast majority of funds... ...conservation funding.
• So it’s not a big ask for funds.
• So you had funding and then during the budget cuts of legislature cut the funding Thank you. funding

Summary: The committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 5838, which would add a federally recognized tribal representative to the State Board of Natural Resources. The Department of Natural Resources commissioner and tribal leaders said the change would bring Indigenous knowledge and a voting voice to decisions on trust lands, while preserving existing tribal consultation. Some county and economic interests said they were not opposed to tribal participation but stressed the board’s fiduciary duty to trust beneficiaries and asked for more review of the board’s purpose; one witness questioned whether the beneficiaries had been consulted. The prime sponsor, Senator Claudia Kaufman, said the bill is about inclusion and equity and indicated openness to an amendment adding both eastside and westside tribal representation. The hearing closed with 142 written comments reported: 33 pro, 107 con, and 2 other. The committee then heard Senate Bill 5960, which would require Fish and Wildlife to designate at-risk ungulate populations and take predator mitigation actions when populations fall below specified benchmarks. Senator Shelley Short said the bill responds to declining deer and elk numbers and a lack of management, especially in northeast Washington. Supporters argued the bill would codify existing agency plans and restore balance in wildlife management, while opponents—including conservation groups, the Sierra Club, and several scientists and advocates—said the state’s predator-prey study found wolves were not the main driver of ungulate declines, pointing instead to habitat, forage, weather, disease, and vehicle collisions. Ranching and farm groups supported the overall goal but objected to the bill’s in-state wolf translocation provisions. The Department of Fish and Wildlife said it recognized the bill’s intent but opposed it because some directives were impractical, costly, or would require legislative approval. The hearing closed with 1,197 written comments reported: 843 pro, 352 con, and 2 other. The committee then held a work session on Lake Washington salmon predation. Larry Phillips and Muckleshoot Fisheries Director Jason Schaffler described a coalition effort to reduce predation on juvenile salmon in the Lake Washington system, saying invasive and predatory fish such as walleye, rock bass, American shad, northern pike, yellow perch, and smallmouth bass are harming sockeye and Chinook recovery. They said sockeye returns have fallen from hundreds of thousands to about 18,000 in recent years, ending tribal and sport fisheries, and argued that targeted predator removal, supported by prior state and county funding, could help restore runs. Senators asked about the methods and funding, and the presenters said fishing and netting are being used to suppress larger predatory fish and that more sustained investment is needed. Finally, the committee began public hearing on Senate Bill 1697, which would make federally recognized tribes eligible recipients for county conservation futures funds. Testifiers from the Washington Farmland Trust and the Tulalip Tribe said the bill would expand voluntary conservation partnerships, help tribes steward farmland and habitat, and make it easier to leverage county funds with other grants. They described past projects where tribal participation improved conservation outcomes but said tribes could not directly access conservation futures dollars under current law.

Transcript Highlights:

• education trust fund to the general fund education trust fund to the general fund and<03:26:46.920><
• </c> general fund and the education trust general fund and the education trust fund<03:42:38.040><c>
• funds be put... trust fund as I discussed um earlier trust fund as I discussed um earlier when<03:43
• </c> fund and part into the education trust fund and part into the education trust fund<03:46:35.399>
• </c><03:58:52.199><c> the</c> education trust fund again to fund the education trust fund again to fund

Summary: The Finance Committee met to review Division One of a very large budget package, with the chair explaining that the budget was being analyzed in three divisions over multiple days. Members first discussed procedure, including when amendments and line-item votes would be taken, and agreed to proceed with the division’s presentation before questions. Representative Maguire then outlined the division’s approach as a series of tradeoffs to close a large budget gap, emphasizing cuts, some revenue changes, and a focus on overall spending levels as well as individual reductions. The presentation covered a wide range of agencies and policy areas. Major proposed changes included cuts or eliminations to several boards and commissions viewed as costly or duplicative, such as the Housing Appeals Board, Board of Tax and Land Appeals, Human Rights Commission, Commission on Aging, Office of the Child Advocate, and the Personnel Appeals Board, with some functions consolidated into other boards. The division also proposed back-of-the-budget cuts to the Information Technology Department, Judicial Branch, Justice Department, Retirement System, Corrections, and Environmental Services, along with fee increases in several areas. Other notable items included ending marketing for Paid Family Leave, reducing job advertising and tourism promotion, defunding the Arts Council, moving liquor enforcement functions out of the Liquor Commission, and shifting some funds such as the College Savings Commission money to Division Two. Several members questioned specific cuts, especially the elimination of the Council on Aging, the reduction in regional planning commission grants, and the large cut to tourism advertising. Maguire defended the choices as necessary budget tradeoffs, arguing that some programs duplicated work done elsewhere, that regional planning grants were not among the most essential items, and that tourism promotion was a form of spending he viewed skeptically. He also explained that the public defender’s budget was partially restored after a credible claim of a governor’s budget error, and that the committee would continue refining corrections-related cuts because the House was only halfway through the budget process and further changes could still occur in the Senate and conference committee.

Transcript Highlights:

• The largest portion of this goes towards the housing trust fund, where $225 million in funding includes
• In addition to the housing trust fund, Governor Ferguson proposes $5 million for the low-income home
• Housing trust fund expansion, land banking, TOD, zoning and permitting reform, repair, and preservation
• And the Housing Trust Fund is often the last dollars in the door, so those agencies have raised money
• in the Housing Trust Fund.

Summary: The House Capital Budget Committee opened its first hearing of the session on HB 2295 and briefly heard a presentation from OFM Senior Budget Advisor Jen Masterson on Governor Ferguson’s proposed supplemental capital budget. She said the proposal uses about $396 million in new appropriations, leaving roughly $5.4 million in remaining bond authority, and includes major investments in housing, urgent state facility needs, climate-related projects, K-12 school safety and modernization, and higher education minor works. The housing package was the largest share, with $225 million for the Housing Trust Fund, plus funding for homeownership, preservation, manufactured housing communities, and flood-impacted home repair. Committee members asked follow-up questions about Rainier School and juvenile rehabilitation projects, and staff said Rainier School was on the plan and that juvenile rehabilitation funding included flexible capacity funding and facility improvements. Public testimony was largely supportive of the governor’s housing, education, climate, and natural resources proposals, while several speakers urged changes. Housing advocates, Habitat for Humanity, community land trusts, and service providers backed the Housing Trust Fund and homeownership funding, including support for manufactured housing preservation and transit-oriented affordable housing. School and college representatives supported small district modernization, seismic safety, lead remediation, and minor works funding, while some asked for additional support for specific projects such as Cascadia College’s new building, Central Washington University’s feeder line replacement, and WSU Spokane health education renovations. Natural resource and tribal witnesses supported salmon recovery and community forest investments, but asked for more funding for RCO community forest and estuary programs. A major recurring concern was the proposed $75 million transfer from the Public Works Assistance Account, which cities, counties, sewer and water districts, and the Public Works Board said would jeopardize low-interest loans already awarded for local infrastructure projects and shift costs onto distressed communities. Other testimony opposed the budget’s omission of certain projects, including the University of Washington’s power plant decarbonization work and a Spokane cultural hub, while some local governments requested funding for wastewater and flood-control projects. No votes were taken; the chair closed the public hearing after testimony concluded.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:04:00.560><c> Fund,</c><00:04:01.280><c> the</c> Resources Trust Fund, the Resources Trust Fund
• </c><00:05:07.120><c> fund</c> Resources Trust Fund is a permanent fund Resources Trust Fund is a permanent
• the trust fund.
• the trust fund.
• Um are funded through the trust fund.

Bills: HF3426 , HF3428

Committee: House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Pool taxes may be offset by interest earned on the trust fund.
• Specifically, when the trust fund balance is at 50% or below, the fund builder tax kicks in.
• Now, I invoked the unemployment trust fund. The unemployment trust fund is administered by the VEC.
• VEC routinely monitors the balance of the trust fund.
• There was an infusion of one-time funding that was put into the trust fund.

Summary: The Commission on Unemployment Compensation met, established a quorum, and elected Delegate Destiny LeVere Bolling as chair and Senator Mike Jones as vice chair. The commission also adopted its electronic meeting policy and heard introductions from new members, staff, and officials from the Secretary of Labor’s office and the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Secretary Jessica Lumen outlined the administration’s workforce and labor priorities, including supporting workers, employers, and program transparency, while members raised concerns about business climate, job losses, labor participation, and the implementation of paid family and medical leave. Staff provided legislative updates on recent unemployment-related bills. These included increases to the weekly unemployment benefit amount enacted in 2025 and 2026, a bill on labor dispute disqualification that changed how lockouts are treated for benefit eligibility, and a budget item providing $75,000 for actuarial support to the commission. The commission also discussed the 2025 work group on annual adjustments to weekly benefit amounts; staff reported that the work group did not complete its charge, and members agreed to revisit whether to reconstitute it at a future meeting. Delegate Martinez expressed support for continuing the work, and the chair said the issue would be taken up at the next meeting. Deputy Commissioner Joanna Darkus gave a detailed presentation on Virginia’s unemployment insurance system, including current claims data, eligibility rules, employer tax structure, benefit levels, trust fund solvency, fraud prevention, and customer service operations. She reported that Virginia’s unemployment rate remains low, weekly claims are modest, the current weekly benefit range is $160 to $478, and the trust fund balance factor is projected at 50.9 percent, near the threshold for additional employer charges. Members asked about the taxable wage base, trust fund solvency, the effect of benefit increases, fraud controls, and the planned paid family and medical leave program. VEC said it is implementing that program through regulations, staffing, IT procurement, public listening sessions, and consultation with other states. A public commenter from the Virginia Poverty Law Center urged the commission to strengthen state investment in unemployment insurance and warned that federal support is uncertain. The commission then adjourned without taking further action.

Transcript Highlights:

• I also, on that point, want to note my personal appreciation for the Permanent School Trust Fund and
• It will generate revenue for the trust and it does meet the goal of the permanent school fund because
• In the case of trust fund lands, there are other proceedings that need to take place, so you need to
• in administering trust fund pass-through grant appropriations as well as other grant programs. pass-through
• With voters' overwhelming support in 2024 to renew and expand the Trust Fund, Minnesotans clearly signaled

Bills: HF1587 , HF2293 , HF2218 , HF1208 , HF1482

Committee: House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Fund.
• Flood prevention, which is becoming a much larger part of our, uh, water trust board funding.
• uh, Water Trust Fund, and that has a corpus of dollars.
• , the Colonnius Infrastructure Fund, and the Water Trust Board and drought Task Force.
• heard of a role for NMFA or the Water Trust Board in the, the, those funds.

Committee: House New Mexico Finance Authority Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> trust is a qualifying trust under this? trust is a qualifying trust under this?
• A revocable trust and then there's a permanent trust, or an irrevocable trust.
• </c> What the OD fund does, the Oil DD fund What the OD fund does, the Oil DD fund supports<00:53:57.920
• both the ODD fund and the OPC fund.
• pollution control fund odd fund and u pollution control fund odd fund and u prevention<01:12:27.280><

Committee: Senate Ways and Means

Transcript Highlights:

• Back to the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund for that.
• I want to talk about the Medicaid trust fund. I guess that's I-6.
• I want to talk about the Medicaid trust fund. I guess that's I-6.
• to be put into the trust fund sooner or later.
• So the Medicaid trust fund is a compilation of many different funds.

Committee: All ALC-PEER

Transcript Highlights:

• And while it is common practice in New Mexico for institutions to request construction fund funding when
• There are two different funds that fund projects. The primary fund is the Water Project Fund.
• It's held within the Finance Authority, and then there is a water trust fund that's managed as a trust
• sources, and one of those funding sources is local funding.
• So tell me how the local funding is, how you raise that local funding. Got it. Thank you, Mr.

Transcript Highlights:

• The Water Trust Board has taken a number of steps to increase access to the fund for small systems in
• I wear two hats, whether it be on the leak side, the fund side, the water trust board side.
• Distribution that comes from the Water Trust Fund, which is held at the State Investment Council.
• The Water Trust Board will still make the recommendations on which projects to fund. No.
• The Water Trust Board will still make the recommendations on which projects to fund.

Committee: Senate Senate Conservation

Transcript Highlights:

• fund to the education trust fund to the general fund.
• </c> in the trust fund. Okay. in the trust fund. Okay.
• trust fund, in the trust fund, out of the trust fund, in the trust fund, out of the trust fund.
• trust fund, in the trust fund, out of the trust fund, in the trust fund, out of the trust fund.
• :13.760><c> fund</c> the remaining education trust fund the remaining education trust fund programs<04

Summary: The committee met with Lottery Director Charlie McIntyre and Charitable Gaming Chief Compliance Officer Kulie Aoyo to review proposed changes in HB 2 and related amendments affecting video lottery terminals, historic horse racing, charitable gaming, and scratch tickets. McIntyre said the late-arriving amendment made revenue estimates difficult, especially because the bill would allow operators to decide when to convert from HHR to VLTs and would change the floor-space rules. He explained that the existing 70/30 floor-space split between machines and table games was negotiated to protect charity revenue, and warned that moving to a 90/10 split could reduce charity revenue, potentially by as much as $17 million, while also changing the character of the facilities. Committee members discussed whether to keep the 70/30 split, and McIntyre said he could provide updated estimates later that day, including net impacts after any offsetting gains or losses under current law. Members also asked about the governor’s proposed operator share versus the Sweeney amendment’s higher operator share. McIntyre said the governor’s 45% figure was based on his own estimate and on comparable rates in other states, and he supported it as a way to maximize revenue for the state and charities. He also described a change to high-stakes tournaments: after speaking with Rep. Sweeney, he said the amendment was clarified to apply only to those tournaments and would lower the house take from 10% to 5% to encourage participation in rare, high-buy-in events. The committee also discussed a separate proposal to raise the maximum scratch ticket price from $30 to $50; McIntyre said the change would take time to implement, would likely increase net state revenue by about $1 million in year two, and was consistent with pricing in neighboring states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. Additional questions covered sports betting and a separate Kino-related estimate. McIntyre said March Madness is the busiest period for sports betting and that the state’s sports betting revenue has exceeded initial expectations. He also said he had estimated that removing a municipal-vote restriction for Kino could cost about $12 million total, with $2 million in the first year and $10 million thereafter. No formal votes were taken during the discussion; the chair indicated the committee would revisit the VLT amendment and other sections later, and McIntyre agreed to send updated revenue estimates to committee members.

Transcript Highlights:

• Authorize a 25-year loan from the unclaimed property trust fund to the cash fund.
• already, that we had to pull from the unclaimed trust fund last year.
• You know, the tie-in between workman's comp when somebody was talking about the trust fund, somebody
• was talking about workman's comp, it got very confusing, and then so trust fund leads into workman's
• So the trust fund that we already have is what we need to continue.

Transcript Highlights:

• helps to increase long-term revenue, improve our asset performance, and then protect the trust fund
• </c> performance, and then protect the trust performance, and then protect the trust fund<00:10:40.040
• Mark White from the Office of School Trust Fund and uh Mr.
• Mark White from the Office of School Trust Fund and uh Mr.
• </c> School Fund Commission. School Fund Commission.

Committee: Senate Environment, Climate, and Legacy

Transcript Highlights:

• LAST POINT, COURT REVENUES REMITTING TO ALMOST 40 DIFFERENT STATE TRUST FUNDS.
• FUNDS AND THE EXACT AMOUNT OF THE TRUST FUND FROM THE LAST FISCAL YEAR.
• TRUST FUND. THERE ARE 40 TRUST FUNDS GENERATED FROM TRAFFIC, PARKING TICKETS, AND FILING FEES.
• WATER QUALITY ASSURANCE TRUST FUNDS. ARE THESE BEING USED AS INTENDED?
• A LOT OF THESE TRUST FUNDS ARE TRUST FUNDS THAT COME THROUGH ON CIVIL TRAFFIC CASES.