Transcript Highlights:

• So that's just not practically possible. President of Chase. Thank you, Madam Chair.
• So that's just not practically possible. anywhere in the state of Washington.
• So that's just not practically possible. President of Chase. Thank you, Madam Chair.
• In order to sustain democracy, at times, there must be accommodation.
• I mean, that's good civic health in practice right there.

Summary: The committee heard three measures. SB 5892 would clarify that only the Secretary of State may respond to public records requests for data generated by the statewide voter registration database, prohibit county election offices from producing those records in response to PRA requests, and make unauthorized disclosure of certain sensitive voter information a Class C felony. The Secretary of State, the prime sponsor, and the staff all described the bill as a privacy and database-security update reflecting the centralized VoteWA system, while one testifier opposed it, arguing it would not help maintain clean voter rolls. No vote was taken; the hearing was closed. The committee also heard SCR 8406, which reestablishes the Joint Select Committee on Civic Health, expands its membership, and extends its work through January 2029. Staff explained that the prior committee expired after issuing recommendations, and the sponsors and supporters said the measure would continue work on respectful dialogue, common ground, and civic education. Testimony was uniformly supportive, with members and the Lieutenant Governor emphasizing civic health as a way to strengthen democracy and encourage constructive disagreement. No vote was taken; the hearing was closed. Finally, the committee heard SB 5863, which extends the moratorium on destroying Lakeland Village records until fiscal year 2030 and changes the rules for restricted records transferred to State Archives so they become open after 75 years without needing a separate archivist determination. The sponsor and supporters said the bill would preserve important disability history, support family research, and protect records and artifacts tied to the state’s treatment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Testimony from disability advocates and self-advocates was strongly in favor. No vote was taken; the hearing was closed, and the committee adjourned after announcing caucus rooms for later discussion.

Transcript Highlights:

• These guidelines are best management practices and ensure that we do our work sustainably.
• We are all about sustainability.
• We are all about sustainability.
• We are all about sustainability.
• I want to, you know, some of the testifiers said that wood is renewable and sustainable.

Transcript Highlights:

• >> Well, you know that I practiced for about 15 years.
• </c><00:04:35.600><c> all</c><00:04:35.759><c> our</c> Medical Center, but to sustain all our Medical
• Center, but to sustain all our hospitals,<00:04:36.320><c> our</c><00:04:36.560><c> rural</c><00:04:
• </c><00:04:43.360><c> our</c><00:04:43.520><c> hospitals</c><00:04:43.919><c> is</c> that sustaining
• our hospitals is that sustaining our hospitals is essential<00:04:44.479><c> to</c><00:04:44.720><c>

Transcript Highlights:

• Such designation shall be made as soon as practical by the appropriate co-chair after providing notice
• SUCH DESIGNATION SHALL BE MADE AS SOON AS PRACTICAL BY THE APPROPRIATE CO-CHAIR AFTER PROVIDING NOTICE
• of any possible associated Medicaid savings are used in a way that promotes long-term fiscal sustainability
• PROPORTIONAL INCREASE IN EFFORTS TO ADDRESS WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE TO ENSURE THAT PROGRAMS REMAIN SUSTAINABLE
• ANY POSSIBLE THE ASSOCIATED MEDICAID SAVINGS ARE USE IN A WAY THAT PROMOTES LONG-TERM FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY

Summary: The Joint Budget Subcommittee on Health convened as part of the 2026 Annual Budget Committee, with Senate and Assembly co-chairs introducing members, alternates, and the meeting rules. The chairs reviewed subcommittee procedures, including limits on alternates’ voting rights, no proxy participation, germane-topic restrictions, and the requirement that any report receive an affirmative majority vote from each house’s delegation. The co-chairs outlined the main health budget issues under discussion: the global cap, capital funding, hospital and safety-net hospital funding, early intervention, reproductive health, the Medical Indemnity Fund, aging issues, insurance prior authorization, EMS biomarkers, and nursing home funding. The chair emphasized the state’s responsibility to families affected by the Medical Indemnity Fund. Minority members raised support for restoring the full 15 percent capital Medicaid reimbursement for nursing homes, increasing aid for financially distressed hospitals, and addressing home care funding shortfalls. They also urged stronger measures against Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse, warning against budget gimmicks and emphasizing long-term fiscal sustainability, including careful use of any Medicaid savings tied to the federal 1331 health program. The meeting ended with members saying they would continue consultations with each other and staff to work toward a final, on-time budget.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> going to be rolling into the Sustainable going to be rolling into the Sustainable MBA<00:13:01.280
• </c> The member is sustained. The member is sustained.
• </c> effective and more workable in practice. effective and more workable in practice.
• Is the member sustained? The member is sustained. When the vote is taken, it will be taken by roll.
• </c> Follow best practice.

Transcript Highlights:

• Our Office of Suicide Prevention also hosts quarterly communities of practice webinars.
• So it's not enough, but I think there's some promising practices emerging.
• So it's not enough, but I think there's some promising practices emerging.
• Sustaining the system requires ongoing investment, more than staffing, excellence through the best practice
• Sustaining the system requires ongoing investment, more than staffing, excellence through the best practices

Summary: The joint Assembly Health and Select Committee on Native American Affairs held an oversight hearing on AB 988, California’s 988 crisis line and mobile crisis response system, followed by a discussion of suicide prevention and intervention in California Indian communities. Members and witnesses repeatedly emphasized that AB 988 was intended to create a true alternative to 911 for behavioral health crises, with “someone to call, someone to come, and somewhere to go,” and that Native communities continue to face disproportionately high suicide rates and barriers to culturally responsive care. The first panel of call center and stakeholder witnesses largely argued that implementation is falling short of the law’s intent. They said 988 call centers are underfunded, text/chat answer rates remain far below call answer rates, staffing is strained, and the system still lacks meaningful statewide interoperability between 988 and 911. Several witnesses said mobile crisis teams are not being dispatched through 988 as envisioned, and that funding formulas and governance are too opaque. San Joaquin County was presented as a local success story, with integrated 988, access lines, and mobile crisis handoffs that have reduced reliance on emergency departments and involuntary holds. Witnesses also discussed the need for better tribal outreach, the role of CCBHCs, and the importance of culturally competent services. State officials from CalHHS and DHCS described the five-year 988 implementation plan, the current governance structure across multiple agencies, and efforts to support training, public awareness, and referral tools. They reported growth in 988 contacts, ongoing training with the Trevor Project, a statewide resource directory, and a tribal awareness campaign. DHCS also outlined proposed trailer bill language that would create a formal designation process for 988 centers, set statewide standards, and require existing centers to obtain designation by 2029. Officials said current funding includes SAMHSA grants, block grant dollars, and an expected $67.3 million from the 988 fund in the next budget year, with a large share earmarked for Medi-Cal mobile crisis services. No formal vote or committee action was taken in the portion of the hearing provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• At least for me, having practiced emergency medicine for a decade, I saw issues outside of my four walls
• offer it as a frame for my comments: Too many people are unemployed or in low-wage jobs that don't sustain
• Too many people are unemployed or in low-wage jobs that don't sustain their families, while at the same
• Not only is funding needed to sustain them, but a durable structure is needed to align funding across
• It is challenging to be able to sustain that, just given the times that we're in.

Transcript Highlights:

• The issue is how sustainable it is.
• I'm sorry, could you clarify what you mean by sustainability?
• Small arts organizations sustained the workforce behind our major institutions.
• We make the careers sustainable.
• But beyond payroll, the investment by the PAEPF grant sustained something deeper.

Transcript Highlights:

• And the practical effect is a significant narrowing of the bidder pool.
• And the practical effect is a significant narrowing of the bitter pool.
• I practice allergy immunology here in the greater Sacramento area.
• SB 1222 offers a targeted and practical solution.
• Retained staff serve students and responsibly grow toward long-term sustainability.

Committee: Senate Education

Transcript Highlights:

• And there are your striking advisory committee for immunization practices of the United States.
• What I'm asking is striking the these words here, is this still part of that same practice of trumping
• Could you explain to me what the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is, Mr. President?
• Contribute to the sustainability of every citizen in the United States, folks.
• They need to understand what is the sustainability of what we do. Mr. President.

Transcript Highlights:

• In 1987, this bill brings back balance and sustainability to the program by setting sustainable interest
• Scott Jenkins, banks for sustaining sustainable IOTA program waiving in support showing no other public
• Thanks for sustainable Iota program speaking.
• I represent thank thanks for sustainable.
• And I I just think from a practical standpoint, it would be very challenging to assess practical standpoint

Transcript Highlights:

• That wasn't projected a few years ago and the opposite for the licensed practical nurses.
• How do we sustain that? I just want to give an anecdotal example in our community.
• So that said the funding structure for sustainability. I think it's packaged correctly.
• And I think that that's perhaps where >> a solution for sustainability coming.
• out their best practices that could be adopted for sure.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> resources to implement those practices resources to implement those practices and<00:05:06.520><
• </c><00:18:41.400><c> funding</c> developing sustainable funding developing sustainable funding strategies
• </c> was asking asking would the practicality was asking asking would the practicality of<00:37:00.480
• If they want to go practice in Alexandria, if they want to practice in Brainerd, if they want to practice
• in R Minnesota if they them to practice in R Minnesota if they practice<00:53:03.839><c> that</c><00

Bills: HF2090 , HF982 , HF2229

Committee: House Higher Education Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• We're firm believers that California should lead the world in creating a clean, sustainable economy.
• economy, and a part of that sustainability is environmental protection.
• I'm sustainability director at Amy's Kitchen, a California-based organic food company.
• Recyclability is also not practical in many applications.
• Goals, best practices, and response measures for impacted communities in San Diego County.

Summary: The committee heard several bills, with SB 1350 by Senator McNerney presented first. The measure would expand California’s use of renewable hydrogen in the power sector by allowing renewable portfolio standard credit for power plants using green hydrogen, with supporters emphasizing grid reliability, clean-energy goals, in-state investment, and construction jobs. Support came from labor, clean-energy, municipal utility, and local government representatives; NRDC Action Fund withdrew opposition after amendments, while a few groups remained opposed or neutral. The committee later took a roll call and SB 1350 passed out on a due pass recommendation. The committee also heard SB 1180 by Senator Allen, which would set operational rules for the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund created under SB 54, including clearer eligible uses, transparency, technical assistance, and access for tribes and smaller community groups. Environmental justice, ocean, conservation, and local government groups strongly supported the bill, saying it would ensure the fund addresses plastic pollution’s public health and environmental harms. Industry and manufacturing groups opposed unless amended, arguing the bill should stay tightly tied to plastic waste reduction and not broaden into source-reduction policy. After quorum was established, the committee approved SB 1180 on a due pass recommendation to Appropriations. SB 1326 by Senator Wahab was then heard to strengthen tribal consultation and tribal cultural resource protections under CEQA by recognizing tribal registers and requiring feasible avoidance or mitigation measures when tribes identify resources. Tribal representatives and supporters said the bill would better protect sacred sites and tribal knowledge, while cities, counties, utilities, builders, and rural county groups opposed unless amended, citing implementation concerns, possible litigation, and uncertainty for infrastructure and housing projects. The committee voted the bill out on a due pass recommendation to Appropriations. Finally, SB 954 by Senator Blakespear was presented as a cleanup of last year’s SB 131 advanced-manufacturing CEQA exemption, narrowing eligible projects and adding guardrails such as setbacks, air-quality limits, tribal consultation, labor standards, and habitat protections. Environmental and labor groups supported the bill as a needed correction to an overly broad exemption, while business, manufacturing, housing, and local-government groups opposed, warning it could make the exemption unusable and slow investment. Members debated the balance between environmental protection and manufacturing competitiveness, and the committee voted SB 954 out on a due pass recommendation to the Labor and Employment Committee; the transcript then moved on to SB 1031 on compostable plastics, which was introduced but not acted on in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• We're firm believers that California should lead the world in creating a clean, sustainable economy.
• economy, and a part of that sustainability is environmental protection.
• economy, and a part of that sustainability is environmental protection.
• I'm sustainability director at Amy's Kitchen, a California-based organic food company.
• Recyclability is also not practical in many applications.

Committee: House Natural Resources

Transcript Highlights:

• over the preceding period, indicating a necessary intervention to ensure our employment pipeline can sustain
• Those dollars sustained small businesses, restaurants, ferries, and cultural attractions in the year-round
• As an evidence-based best practice in alcohol policy, our work group recommended increasing the alcohol
• As an evidence-based best practice in alcohol policy, our work group recommended increasing the alcohol
• I have practiced public health informally and formally for most of my life.

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Revenue

Summary: The Joint Committee on Revenue held a hybrid hearing on a large slate of bills related to advertising, economic development, tourism, digital advertising, delivery taxes, and alcohol taxation. The first panel supported H. 3249, which would create a high school trade partnership program linking public schools with private employers, especially in manufacturing, and would offer employers a tax credit for participation. Representative Soder, Uxbridge High School leaders, and others argued the bill would strengthen career pathways, build a skilled workforce, and keep students and jobs in Massachusetts. The committee then heard testimony on H. 3031 and S. 2003 to modernize the Massachusetts Tourism Trust Fund by dedicating an additional share of hotel occupancy tax revenue to tourism promotion. Tourism and hospitality representatives from Cape Cod, Southwick Zoo, and Indian Ranch said the proposal would not raise taxes but would reinvest existing visitor-generated revenue into marketing that supports jobs, local businesses, and municipal tax receipts. A tech-industry coalition opposed several digital advertising tax bills and a delivery tax bill, warning they would raise costs, create uncertainty, and burden consumers, small businesses, and delivery workers. The largest portion of the hearing focused on S. 2029, which would raise the alcohol excise tax by 10 cents per drink and dedicate the revenue to public health programs. Public health experts, advocates, a student prevention leader, and representatives from Jane Doe, Inc. argued the tax would reduce alcohol-related harms, address decades of inflation-driven erosion in the tax, and generate substantial new funding for prevention, treatment, domestic violence services, and community schools. Committee members asked questions about the current tax structure, inflation, and how the proposal compares with neighboring states. No votes were taken during the hearing, and the chair adjourned after public testimony concluded.

Transcript Highlights:

• Greater Minnesota cities and rural communities, where ATVs are not just for recreation but also a practical
• Greater Minnesota cities and rural communities, where ATVs are not just for recreation but also a practical
• ATV tourism supports jobs and sustains businesses that rely on steady outdoor traffic.
• ATV tourism supports jobs and sustains businesses that rely on steady outdoor traffic.
• </c><00:03:51.239><c> businesses</c> supports jobs and sustains businesses supports jobs and sustains

Transcript Highlights:

• Without a regulated cap on these fees, consumers are not protected from potentially abusive practices
• My practice is only representing groundwater conservation districts.
• My least favorite part of that practice is having to go to court. I try to work out deals.
• One of them is practical, I mean, and I guess they're both practical, but the... the end of the day what
• The district will help provide resources necessary to sustain responsible growth.

Bills: HB1520 , HB1525 , HB1530 , HB1535 , HB2068 , HB2091 , HB2347 , HB2372 , HB2805 , HB2815 , HB2867 , HB3154 , HB3482 , HB3483 , HB3663 , HB3781 , HB3901 , HB3915 , HB4135 , HB4153 , HB4158 , HB4329 , HB4331

Committee: House Natural Resources

Keywords: Angelina and Neches River Authority, river authority, Sunset Advisory Commission, Texas Sunset Act, Special District Local Laws Code, local government, natural resources, board of directors, director training, board governance, public testimony, open meetings, public information, conflict of interest, ethics, complaint system, general manager, board president, staggered terms, removal of director

Transcript Highlights:

• We should do the research and see what is sustainable. And we've are... Science-based.
• We should do the research and see what is sustainable.
• and risk unsustainable practices, and not to mention it is unlawful.
• I, you know, in practice, in real practice, real-life living stuff outside of all of these policies that
• I, uh, the ranchers and those that are living out there I you know in practice in real practice real

Committee: House House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee of Reference

Summary: The committee heard and acted on several wildlife-related bills. HB 2197, concerning camping near watering facilities, was amended to change the distance standard and remove language tied to domestic stock access; supporters said it would help protect ranch and wildlife water sources, while one member opposed it over expanded criminal penalties. The committee adopted the amendment and then gave the bill a do pass recommendation by a 6-1 vote. HB 2497 would establish a statutory right to lawfully hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife and limit restrictions on those activities. Supporters described it as an affirmation of existing rights and wildlife heritage, while opponents argued it would weaken Game and Fish authority and conflict with the 2010 voter rejection of similar language. After a technical amendment, the committee approved the bill 5-3. The committee also advanced HB 2147, which requires landowner deer permits under certain conditions to address crop damage and wildlife conflicts; Game and Fish said population management hunts are already being used, while opponents warned against privatizing wildlife. HB 2158, which would classify bears, cougars, mountain lions, and wolves as predatory animals, drew strong opposition from Game and Fish and conservation groups over science-based management and endangered species concerns, but was still recommended do pass 5-3. HB 2159, allowing landowner permits for Mexican gray wolves and a compensated trapping program, was likewise opposed as conflicting with federal law and the Endangered Species Act, but was approved 5-3. The committee then began HB 2162, which would require at least one Game and Fish commissioner to be a cattleman or rancher; Game and Fish opposed it, saying ranchers already have representation through the appointment process, and testimony continued as the transcript ended.

Transcript Highlights:

• With me today is Eric Massanette, Mellenchamp, Chair of Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies
• It's just not sustainable for a restaurant. $60,000.
• Alliance, Sustainable Mill Valley, and Vote Solar, all in support. Thank you so much.
• So with all of that, I'll be supporting the bill today. that's the case because I practiced before the
• And maybe, I guess I would say, practicing using that muscle.

Summary: The Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy heard several bills focused on grid reliability, affordability, clean energy infrastructure, and industrial decarbonization. AB 222, by Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan, would require more data reporting on data centers and aim to prevent ratepayers from bearing related grid costs; supporters said better information is needed to plan for rapidly growing electricity demand from AI and data centers, while opponents warned about privacy, security, trade-secret, and cost-shifting concerns. The bill passed the committee on a 13-4 vote, with the roll left open for absent members. AB 941, by Assemblymember Bonta, would impose a 270-day timeline for CPUC review of priority transmission projects to speed clean-energy infrastructure buildout. Supporters argued that transmission delays are slowing California’s climate goals and raising costs, while opponents raised concerns about CEQA process, staffing, and prioritization. The bill passed 15-0. AB 1191, by Assemblymember Tangipa, would make existing large hydroelectric facilities eligible for the Renewable Portfolio Standard; supporters framed it as a way to lower rates and ease affordability pressures, while opponents said it would undermine the purpose of the RPS by substituting existing resources for new renewable development. That bill failed on a 4-11 vote. AB 1280, by Assemblymember Garcia, would expand state grant programs to support thermal energy storage projects for industrial decarbonization. Supporters said it would help modernize manufacturing, cut pollution in disadvantaged communities, and preserve jobs, with broad support from environmental and clean manufacturing groups and no opposition testimony. The bill passed 17-0. AB 1117, by Assemblymember Schultz, would require the CPUC to offer optional dynamic electricity rate tariffs for customers to shift usage away from peak periods; supporters said it could lower bills and improve grid efficiency, while utilities said they were not opposed to the concept but wanted more flexibility and time in the regulatory process. That bill passed 14-0. The committee also approved its consent calendar and other noncontroversial items, with several measures moving forward unanimously.