Transcript Highlights:

• By your votes of 12 ayes and zero noes, you have voted Senate Bill 1119 do pass.

Committee: House General Laws

Keywords: 959, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• With your vote of 12 ayes and zero noes, you have voted 3479 as do pass.

Committee: House Local Government, Elections and Pensions

Summary: The Committee on Pensions was called to order, a roll was taken, and a quorum was present. The committee then went into executive session. In executive session, members considered House Bill 3479. The chair described it as a Kansas City bill making a one-word correction to fix an error from the previous year. A motion was made to recommend the bill do pass, with no discussion offered. The committee voted on the motion and approved House Bill 3479 by a vote of 12 ayes and 0 noes. After the vote, the committee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• With your vote of 12 ayes and zero noes, you have voted 3479 as do pass.

Committee: House Pensions

Keywords: 959, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• There being seven, zero nays, the May 28, 2025 list is certified.

Bills: HCR111 , HB5655 , HB5689 , HB5690 , HCR46 , HCR83 , HCR81 , HCR84

Committee: Senate Administration

Keywords: beekeeping, pollination, agriculture, local economy, Combes, Bee Capital of Texas, water management, eminent domain, bond issuance, Fort Bend County, public infrastructure, special district, government validation, local authority, bonds, Cole Ranch Improvement District, Hunter Ranch Improvement District, property taxes, infrastructure funding, local governance

Summary: The Senate Committee on Administration met with a quorum present to reconsider the local and uncontested calendar for May 28, 2025. Senator Menendez moved to reconsider the prior certification of the calendar, and the committee agreed without objection. Menendez then moved to add HB 4202 to the May 28, 2025 calendar. There was no objection, and the bill was added. He next moved to certify the recommended list for the May 28, 2025 calendar, including HB 4202. The clerk called the roll on certification, and the list was approved unanimously with seven votes and zero nays. With no further business, the committee recessed at the call of the chair.

Transcript Highlights:

• Representative Newton, with a vote of 9 yes, zero nays, I declare your bill to have passed.

Bills: SB1390

Committee: House A&B Transportation Subcommittee

Keywords: gross production tax, oil and gas, natural gas, casinghead gas, oil revenue, tax apportionment, revenue sharing, county highway fund, school funding, average daily attendance, general revenue fund, revenue stabilization fund, county bridge and road improvement, state transportation fund, preserving and advancing county transportation fund, education funding, higher education, student aid, tourism funding, conservation funding

Transcript Highlights:

• By your vote of 13 ayes, zero noes, and one present, you have voted Senate Bill 938 do pass.

Committee: House Agriculture

Keywords: 959, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• By your vote of 13 ayes, zero noes, and one present, you have voted Senate Bill 938 do pass.

Committee: House Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources

Summary: The House Agriculture Committee met, established a quorum, and immediately entered executive session. The only substantive item taken up was Senate Bill 938, described as Senator Burns Gettor’s bill previously presented by Representative Haley. No discussion was offered before the vote. The committee moved to recommend the bill “do pass” and a roll call was taken. The motion passed with 13 ayes, 0 noes, and 1 present. No other business was discussed before adjournment.

Transcript Highlights:

• By your vote of 11 ayes and zero nos, I vote House Bill 1734 due pass.

Committee: House Conservation and Natural Resources

Keywords: 959, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• By your vote of 11 ayes and zero noes, I voted House Bill 1734 due pass.

Committee: House Conservation and Natural Resources

Summary: The Committee on Conservation and Natural Resources met with a quorum present and briefly entered executive session. The main item of business was House Bill 1734, which was described as providing homeowners a low-interest financing option to address serious erosion problems and help prevent future damage. The chair reminded members of the bill’s purpose, and no additional questions or discussion were raised. A motion was made to report House Bill 1734 due pass. The committee then took a roll call vote, with 11 ayes and 0 noes. The bill was approved and reported due pass, and the committee adjourned after completing its business.

Transcript Highlights:

• Members, we’re at six ayes, zero nays, two absent.

Summary: The Rules Committee met and was called to order, with attendance noted. House Bill 2931 was added to the agenda without objection, and Vice Chair Carter moved a mass motion covering HB 2931 and a series of other House bills for a constitutional and proper form review. The Rules Office stated that each measure in the mass motion had been reviewed and was considered constitutional and in proper form, and no questions were raised. The committee then voted on the motion. The roll call resulted in six ayes, zero nays, and two members absent. The motion was adopted, meaning the listed bills were recommended as constitutional and in proper form. The meeting then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Members, we're at six ayes, zero nays, two absent.

Committee: House Rules

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• , including building an integrated rail and transit network, investing in bicycle, pedestrian, and zero-emission
• I know some of the bills that I have had in the past in transportation always zero in on safety, and
• All right, we're at six to zero, and the roll is open, and I'd really be remiss—I know she stepped out—but
• Seven-zero remains on call. Next up is file item number 4, AB 1608 by Wilson.

Committee: Senate Transportation

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• restaurants are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to collect money for the state, which adds zero
• restaurants are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to collect money that for the state, which adds zero
• cost to their bottom ...money that for the state, which adds zero cost to their bottom line, and really
• If you're a dry cleaner where everybody walks in, drops their clothes, and picks them up, you have zero

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The committee opened a hearing of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and reviewed a broad agenda including credit card fees, event ticketing, music therapy licensure, senior psychologist licensure, CPA pathways, school mental health licensure, and a bill regulating alternative healing therapies. The chairs explained hearing logistics, including three-minute testimony limits and submission of written testimony, and noted that more than 70 people had signed up to testify. Legislators and advocates were heard out of order throughout the day. A major portion of the hearing focused on credit card surcharge and interchange legislation. Restaurant owners, the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, NFIB, and other small-business witnesses supported bills allowing merchants to add convenience fees and, in one proposal, preventing card companies from charging fees on tax and tip portions of transactions. They argued that swipe fees are a major and growing cost, especially for restaurants, and that Massachusetts is one of only two states that bars surcharges. Opponents from the Cooperative Credit Union Association, the Electronic Payment Coalition, and the Electronic Transactions Association warned that the proposals would create compliance burdens, fragment the payment system, raise legal preemption issues, and disrupt a system they described as efficient and secure. The committee also heard competing testimony on ticket transferability and ticket resale. Supporters, including the National Consumers League and Sports Fans Coalition, said bills on ticket transferability would protect consumers who cannot attend events and would increase competition and savings in the secondary market. Opponents, including United Musicians and Allied Workers and theater owners, argued that mandatory transferability would weaken artists’ and venues’ ability to prevent scalping and predatory resale, and that some ticket sellers should be exempt from the broader ticketing regulations. Separate testimony supported music therapy licensure, senior psychologist licensure, and new CPA education pathways, with witnesses saying these measures would expand access to care and strengthen the workforce while maintaining professional standards. The hearing also drew extensive opposition to S.261 on alternative healing therapies, with practitioners and clients arguing it would overregulate spiritual and holistic practices and was not an effective response to human trafficking concerns.

Transcript Highlights:

• There’s nothing in the operating budget for fiscal 26; that was zeroed out.
• out to be in compliance with Chapter 30B in order to hire a contractor for snow hauling, and we got zero
• out to be in compliance with Chapter 30B in order to hire a contractor for snow hauling, and we got zero
• out to be in compliance with Chapter 30B in order to hire a contractor for snow hauling, and we got zero

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The hearing focused on Governor Healey and Lt. Gov. Driscoll’s Municipal Empowerment Act, with administration officials and municipal leaders broadly supporting the bill as a package of tools to help cities and towns manage rising costs, staffing shortages, and service demands. The administration highlighted procurement reforms, including raising Chapter 30B advertising thresholds, clarifying cooperative purchasing, and removing the Commbuys notice requirement; permanent authority to amortize emergency-related deficits over three years; expanded authority and enforcement for removing double poles; continued flexibility for hybrid and remote public meetings; regionalization options such as regional boards of assessors and intermunicipal agreements; cybersecurity reporting to EOTSS; and several local revenue options and other municipal finance changes. They said the bill was shaped by listening sessions with municipal officials and was intended to increase flexibility, efficiency, and stability without imposing broad mandates. Committee members asked about regionalization, cybersecurity costs, Commbuys, hybrid meetings, and double poles. Administration witnesses said cybersecurity reporting would help the state target resources and that existing Community Compact and capital grant programs, including IT and municipal fiber funding, could support local needs; they said EOTSS would absorb reporting within existing resources. On procurement, they said the Commbuys notice change would be optional and that other public notice methods would remain available. On hybrid meetings, they emphasized flexibility for different types of boards and the burdens a one-size-fits-all mandate could create for small towns and volunteer boards. On double poles, they said the bill’s main change from last session was to give utilities more time and improve the removal process while keeping enforcement mechanisms aimed at speeding removal rather than raising revenue. The Massachusetts Municipal Association, MAPC, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and multiple mayors and town managers testified in support. They described the bill as a practical modernization measure that would help local governments operate more efficiently and respond to fiscal pressure. Witnesses from Northampton, Lynn, Gardner, Cambridge, Franklin, North Andover, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Ashland praised the hybrid meeting provisions, procurement changes, regional service-sharing, and emergency deficit amortization. Several also urged adoption of local revenue tools, including meals and lodging tax options and other local fees, as ways to preserve services and staffing. No votes were taken during the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• The Legislature must work with the next governor to make sure it's clear that getting to functional zero
• and reopened so that important programs that we have supported in the state of California are not zeroed
• California Transit Association, we do want to urge the appropriation of $230 million for the ZETCP Zero
• fight to address the issues with the Tier 3 funding in the capital investment program, as well as the zero-emission

Committee: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• things like dealing with very serious allegations of discrimination against religious organizations, zero
• crisis that we all know will inevitably, at some day, you know, someday it will come, there has been zero
• So, members, by a vote of five ayes, zero nays, you have recommended the confirmation of Charles Bassett
• adjourned. vote today and we'll move you out of committee unanimously so members by vote of five eyes zero

Summary: The Committee on Director Nominations met with four members present and approved the prior minutes without objection. Chair Jay Kaufman outlined the committee’s role in reviewing executive nominations and explained the hearing process for three nominees: Mary Foote for the Office of Economic Opportunity, Debbie Johnston for the Department of Health Services, and Chuck Bassett. Foote did not appear for her hearing, and members discussed her absence and alleged omissions in her disclosure materials, including prior service with Planned Parenthood-related organizations. The committee then moved to reject her nomination, and the motion passed 3-2, recommending that the full Senate reject Mary Foote. Debbie Johnston, nominee to lead the Department of Health Services, appeared and gave an opening statement describing her Arizona background, prior Senate staff work, and more than 20 years with the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association. She said her priorities at ADHS include rebuilding trust in public health licensing, improving stakeholder engagement, standardizing rulemaking communication, addressing alleged religious discrimination and retaliation concerns in licensing, and using technology and AI to improve efficiency. In questioning, senators pressed her on her management style, conflict-of-interest safeguards given her prior industry role, enforcement priorities, budget pressures, behavioral health and assisted living oversight, and the department’s response to COVID-19. Johnston said she would follow statutes, recuse herself from enforcement matters involving former contacts, and resign if directed to carry out an unlawful policy. She also said the department does not regulate therapy itself, only facilities, and that it would rely on legal counsel regarding the governor’s conversion-therapy executive order and related federal civil-rights allegations. Several senators focused on public health trust and the department’s pandemic response, with Johnston acknowledging concerns about closures, data collection, and communication during COVID-19 while saying she would review past after-action materials and be better prepared in the future. Public testimony from stakeholders in aging services and health care strongly supported her confirmation, praising her accessibility, responsiveness, and collaborative approach. After testimony, the vice chair moved to recommend Johnston’s confirmation to the full Senate. The roll call was underway when the transcript ended, with several members voting aye and one member expressing reservations about her not reviewing the pandemic after-action report before another crisis occurs.

Transcript Highlights:

• Things like dealing with very serious allegations of discrimination against religious organizations, zero
• the next public health crisis that we all know will inevitably, at some day, come, there has been zero
• So members, by vote of five ayes, zero nays, you have recommended the confirmation of Charles Bassett
• adjourned. vote today and we'll move you out of committee unanimously so members by vote of five eyes zero

Committee: Senate Director Nominations

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• to leave you with as a food for thought, maybe you asked a question about it: California also has zero-emission
• Can heavy-duty AVs accelerate heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles?
• Here, the department claimed that the deployment of heavy-duty autonomous vehicles would result in zero
• The notion that removing drivers from commercial trucks at scale produces zero employment impact defies

Summary: The Assembly Transportation Committee heard an informational hearing on California’s newly finalized autonomous vehicle regulations, with DMV and CHP officials describing the updated framework and committee members pressing them on safety, enforcement, and first-responder impacts. DMV said the rules, effective April 28, 2026, expand reporting, create a phased permitting system from testing to deployment, add requirements for safety cases, remote operations, and first-responder coordination, and open a path for heavy-duty AV testing and deployment while still prohibiting oversized loads and hazardous materials. CHP said it worked with DMV on enforcement tools, first-responder interaction plans, and training local agencies on the new notice of noncompliance process. Members asked about crash data, immobilizations, freeway and construction-zone safety, weigh-station enforcement, and whether foreign licenses can qualify for remote assistants or drivers; DMV and CHP said the rules are intended to keep AVs accountable and that heavy-duty AVs will be held to the same roadway standards as human-driven commercial vehicles. A second panel focused on data collection and enforcement. Consumer attorneys argued the prior rules were too limited because DMV stopped collecting meaningful data once AVs moved from testing to deployment, making it difficult for the public and litigants to understand incidents; they supported the new regulations but urged that the collected information be made public. The industry association said California now has the nation’s most robust AV oversight, with monthly or quarterly reporting of collisions, system failures, immobilizations, harsh braking, vehicle miles traveled, and notices of noncompliance, plus broad DMV authority to restrict or suspend operations. In response to questions, the industry said it generally supports the new framework, believes the regulations are clear, and does not favor full federal preemption of state AV rules, though it wants federal standards for design, construction, and performance. A third panel addressed first-responder interaction and remote operations. The San Francisco Fire Department described repeated AV interference with emergency scenes and said AVs have generated hundreds of “sleeper calls,” where passengers fall asleep and trigger 911 responses; the department said these incidents consume significant staff time and it wants better protocols to reduce unnecessary dispatches. Waymo said it has trained thousands of public-safety personnel, maintains a 24/7 emergency line, uses geofencing/avoid-the-area messages, and can allow first responders to manually override or move vehicles when needed. Committee members asked about sleeper-call prevention, remote assistant licensing and drug testing, communication redundancies during outages, and how manual overrides work for vehicles without traditional controls; Waymo said it is collaborating with responders and that its vehicles are designed to reach a safe stop if connectivity is lost. The final panel began with testimony on heavy-duty autonomous vehicles. A transportation researcher said freight is essential to California’s economy and that heavy-duty AVs pose distinct safety risks because of their weight, stopping distance, and the potentially severe consequences of crashes or immobilizations on highways. He said the new regulations are important because they create a regulated pathway for heavy-duty AV deployment, require a safety case, set mileage thresholds, and add reporting categories that can serve as leading safety indicators. The hearing was still in progress when the transcript ended, with additional testimony expected from labor and industry witnesses on heavy-duty AV deployment.

Transcript Highlights:

• So they had zero revenue off of speeding or other traffic fines.
• And I've actually been looking for a trailer that would haul my zero-turn mower. deals with in advertising
• And I've actually been looking for a trailer that would haul my zero-turn mower. ...a trailer that would
• haul my zero-turn mower, and most of them that would even fit on that are old and maybe need tires and

Committee: All LEGISLATIVE JOINT AUDITING-COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES

Keywords: 1204, all

Transcript Highlights:

• units are... ...generally speaking, those units are substantially less size-wise, let's say three zeros
• If you read Peter Thiel's book, *Zero to One*, he states, “It's all tech.”
• If you read Peter Thiel's book, *Zero to One*, he states that all tech companies strive to create monopolistic
• recovery project going on there, which has lifted the production in the Red River formation from nearly zero

Committee: Joint Energy Development and Transmission Committee

Keywords: 908, all