Transcript Highlights:

• This is the public exemption for education and assessments including additional record for custodians
• Nix: I want to make sure that we understand the reliability of the assessment and we do not underestimate

Transcript Highlights:

• It says here in the bill that on line 15, in at least one of the three most recent annual threat assessments
• adversaries means a country: A, is one that's on at least one of the three most recent annual threat assessments

Committees: Senate Education , Senate Education K-16

Keywords: 1185, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• These evaluations assess agencies on metrics like student retention, graduation rates, employment outcomes
• Senate Bill 2788 is a very simple bill that adds four letters to the code: PSAT, to the list of assessments

Committee: Senate Education K-16

Summary: The Senate Committee on Education K-16 heard several bills and took no final votes, leaving each measure pending. The first major item, SB 1322 by Senator Hagenbuch, would create a Texas Higher Education Accrediting Commission to evaluate and approve accrediting agencies for public colleges and universities using outcome-based metrics such as retention, graduation, employment, debt, and repayment. Supporters, including Kate Byerley of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, argued the bill would add competition and align accreditation with Texas workforce needs; Senator Menendez questioned the need for a new bureaucracy and noted the $3.6 million fiscal note, suggesting existing reporting and oversight structures could serve the same purpose. The committee then heard SB 1998, which would establish a pediatric subspecialty preceptorship program to encourage medical students to enter pediatric subspecialties. Dr. Lauren Gamble testified in strong support, saying the program would help address shortages and improve access for children, especially in rural and underserved areas. SB 2788, authored by Senator Menendez, would add the PSAT as an accepted assessment for dual credit and Texas Success Initiative purposes; Priscilla Camacho of Alamo Colleges supported the bill, citing strong student outcomes and widespread use of the PSAT as a readiness indicator. Senator Creighton laid out SB 2076, which would remove or modify certain Capitol view corridor restrictions affecting the UT Austin Academic Medical Center project, including the planned specialty hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center expansion. He said the existing corridors are outdated and limit development. The committee also heard SB 1418, a cleanup bill replacing outdated references to ACT Plan with Pre-ACT and removing obsolete SAT subject test language. After brief testimony and no opposition on the later bills, the committee closed public testimony and left SB 1322, SB 1998, SB 2788, SB 2076, and SB 1418 pending before recessing for the floor session.

Transcript Highlights:

• While this bill will increase the maximum assessment cap amount that will be collected by the commission
• , AB 482 does not increase the assessment.

Summary: The Assembly Appropriations Committee met on April 9, 2025, with a large regular-order agenda and a consent calendar. The committee first approved a set of unanimous consent bills, then heard and acted on several measures, generally with authors describing them as having minor or absorbable fiscal effects. Bills discussed included AB 439 on Coastal Act streamlining, AB 322 on school-based health and mental health reimbursement participation, AB 679 on state park land acquisition exemptions, AB 482 updating the California Table Grape Commission law, AB 681 increasing the Dream Loan Program cap, AB 40 clarifying emergency services include reproductive health care, AB 454 making the California Migratory Bird Protection Act permanent, AB 572 creating protections for families of people killed or seriously injured by peace officers, and AB 639 narrowing the definition of dams to avoid extra regulation for certain water operators. Testimony was largely in support of the bills. Supporters included representatives from the University of California, the California Table Grape Commission, Audubon California, Sempervirens Fund, emergency physicians, health equity groups, water districts, and several impacted family members and advocacy organizations on AB 572. AB 572 drew especially emotional testimony from family members describing police-involved deaths and the need for transparency and protection from coercive questioning. No organized opposition was raised on most of the bills heard in committee, though AB 439 drew no-votes from some Republicans, and AB 572 and other measures were framed as low-cost or cost-neutral. The committee reported the bills out on roll calls after motions and seconds, with several measures passing on B-roll calls and AB 482 passing on an A-roll call. After the hearing on presented bills, the committee also approved the suspense calendar and accepted brief public comment on bills not heard that day, including opposition to AB 339 and support for AB 335. The meeting then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Number 4, it incorporates the DLA 20 assessment to an evaluation for children and adolescents to ensure
• to implement and biannually review the Ali 20 to ensure providers are using the most effective assessment

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And I went to the, you know, Betsy Pattern, her chairmanship of the assessing standards board.
• </c><03:22:00.479><c> or</c> annually use a statewide assessment or annually use a statewide assessment
• Um, the assessed value divided by numbers of pupils for the extraordinary need grant anyway.
• Um, the assessed value divided by numbers of pupils for the extraordinary need grant anyway.
• Um, the assessed value divided by numbers of pupils for the extraordinary need grant anyway.

Committee: House Education Funding

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• The next three pages, 43, 44, and 45, are for the nursing facility quality assessment.
• This is the state's assessment on these utilities.
• and payable to the local assessing officials.
• </c><02:22:08.040><c> and</c> time of cutting again assessed and time of cutting again assessed and payable
• </c><02:22:09.880><c> officials</c> payable to the local assessing officials payable to the local assessing

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee received an overview from Chris of the Legislative Budget Assistance Office on how it will estimate unrestricted revenues for the General Fund, Education Trust Fund, Highway Fund, and Fish and Game Fund. He explained that the committee’s work is based on current law, not pending bills, and that the estimates will feed into a House resolution and an amendment to House Bill 1, the operating budget. He also described the broader budget process, including how House and Senate estimates are reconciled, how surplus statements account for revenue changes from enacted bills, and how a committee of conference could resolve differences later in the session. No votes were taken. Members then asked about why the Education Trust Fund was running below plan. Chris said the shortfall appeared to be driven largely by business taxes, including differences in the BET/BPT split and improved tax-processing systems that better track where business tax payments belong. Representative Orr also asked about tobacco tax collections and out-of-state sales; Chris said tobacco revenue was likely overestimated in 2023 based on COVID-era patterns, with more people smoking at home, and noted that e-cigarette tax revenue goes to the General Fund while cigarette taxes are split between the General Fund and Education Trust Fund. He said he did not have a specific estimate for cross-border sales. Commissioner Lindsay St. Pierre of the Department of Revenue then began a deeper dive into the department’s role and the taxes it administers. She reviewed the department’s mission, organizational structure, taxpayer services, and the tax policy and legislative analysis staff who prepare fiscal notes and testify on bills. She noted that the department administers about $2.9 billion in revenue across major taxes such as business taxes, meals and rooms, and utility property tax, and that the figures being discussed were preliminary because the annual report had not yet been issued. The discussion was informational only, with no formal action taken.

Transcript Highlights:

• Yeah, it's been a while since I looked at Nucleon's initial siting assessment, but I mean, I do believe
• that at least your contractor's assessment of the state of those seven sites where the main two factors
• Senator Case, I would be interested in your bottom-line assessment.
• Our faculty have been able to build labs within this and do assessments with them on this.
• considerations, including Et cetera, and state and federal regulatory considerations, including assessment

Committee: Joint Advanced Nuclear Energy Committee

Keywords: 908, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We're assessing them.
• One item I want to highlight is when we're discussing a financial assessment... ...of where's the money
• They do both field audits of our work to assess the adequacy of the work we're doing, as well as our
• rebuild their home, given the change in the economic climate for the area, and as they're doing the assessment
• rebuild their home, given the change in the economic climate for the area, and as they're doing the assessment

Summary: The Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy held a hearing on the California Earthquake Authority’s SB 254 report and broader options for reforming California’s utility wildfire recovery system. The chair framed the discussion around the Palisades and Eaton fires, the scale of wildfire-related costs on utility bills, and the need to weigh trade-offs among survivors, ratepayers, utilities, insurers, and taxpayers. The first panel featured wildfire survivors William Abrams and Joy Chen, who described long delays in compensation, housing insecurity, and what they viewed as a system that protects utility shareholders more than victims. They urged greater transparency, clearer accountability for utility spending and safety performance, faster and fuller compensation for survivors, and reforms such as independent audits and better alignment of utility incentives with wildfire prevention and restitution. The second panel began with Tom Welsh of the California Earthquake Authority, who explained that the SB 254 report was intended as a broad inventory of policy pathways rather than recommendations. He described the report’s process, including stakeholder submissions, workstreams, and a convergence process, and outlined the current wildfire fund structure: utilities remain liable, the fund reimburses eligible claims after a covered wildfire, and the CPUC later determines prudency and possible reimbursement back to the fund. RAND’s Lloyd Dixon summarized compensation data, saying utilities paid about $38 billion between 2017 and 2024, with major shares going to injured parties, insurers, and public entities, while litigation costs and survivors’ own losses remain substantial. He noted that legal fees and delays reduce the amount survivors ultimately receive. Utility and public-interest witnesses offered differing views on the report’s pathways. PG&E’s Tyson Smith said the report shows inaction is the worst outcome and argued for community wildfire risk reduction, equitable allocation of catastrophe costs, and state-led resilience tools. LADWP’s Fernando Valero emphasized the vulnerability of municipal utilities and cities, and supported inverse condemnation reform, a state-sponsored liability insurance framework, damages and subrogation limits, and stronger insurance access. Consumer Attorneys of California’s John Fisk argued that IOU-caused fires are not natural disasters but the result of negligence and sometimes criminal conduct, and opposed reducing utility liability while supporting stronger oversight and audits. The Public Advocates Office’s Nathaniel Skinner focused on affordability, saying ratepayers already bear large and growing wildfire costs and warning against shifting more costs onto bills without measurable risk reduction and tighter accountability. Committee members then began questioning witnesses about what counts as measurable mitigation, how to define full and fair compensation, and how any fast-pay process should work.

Transcript Highlights:

• We're assessing them.
• One item I want to highlight is that when we're discussing a financial assessment of where the money
• impacts of the wildland-urban interface, again, that's more of a Cal Fire or local fire agency-driven assessment
• Assessment. It's a blend of looking at the probability of an ignition.
• And as they're doing the assessment, which then prevents them from being able to settle with their insurance

Committee: House Utilities and Energy

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• spread the costs when and if they occur through using a temporary sales tax or other broad-based assessments
• requiring potential increases in policyholder premiums and also significant capital or post-event assessments
• Finally, Or post-event assessments that are detailed more in our report.
• And then we have a small layer of risk transfer to our participating insurers through assessments.
• We could have wildfire bonds, second-home assessments, tax assessments.

Summary: The hearing focused on the SB 254 Natural Catastrophe Resiliency Study and its recommendations for addressing California’s wildfire risk, utility liability, and the financing of catastrophic losses. Committee members and presenters discussed the history of the wildfire fund created after the 2018 fire crisis and PG&E bankruptcy, the role of the California Earthquake Authority as fund administrator, and the report’s three broad policy pathways: continuing mitigation investments, more equitably allocating catastrophe costs, and considering expanded state involvement in catastrophe financing. Presenters emphasized that the report was intended as a neutral, stakeholder-informed analysis rather than an advocacy document, and that the status quo is not working well for survivors, ratepayers, insurers, or utilities. CEA, CPUC, and the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety each described their contributions and recommendations. CEA outlined options such as risk-tolerance standards for utilities, preserving safety certificate accountability, tying executive compensation more directly to safety, confidential near-miss reporting, liability reforms, and a fast-pay facility for survivors. CPUC stressed that wildfire mitigation and liability costs are a major driver of electricity affordability problems, and said the state should broaden how wildfire recovery and mitigation are funded beyond ratepayers alone. Energy Safety highlighted its wildfire mitigation plan oversight and recommended stronger safety reporting and stronger safety weighting in utility executive compensation. The modeling portion of the report estimated that a more durable wildfire fund could require about $36 billion in capitalization, with lower initial capital needs if risk transfer or liability reforms are used, but potentially higher ongoing premium or assessment costs. The report also examined state-backed insurer or backstop models, post-event funding mechanisms, and targeted community wildfire mitigation, which could reduce overall funding needs. Members raised concerns about the cost burden on ratepayers, the financial stability of utilities, the fairness of asking communities outside high-risk areas to pay, the role of local governments and home hardening, and whether broader climate-related liability or insurance reforms should be considered. No votes were taken; the hearing was informational and ended with plans for further committee hearings and stakeholder discussion.

Transcript Highlights:

• We also, because we are an assessment-forward competency-based education, We measure time and velocity
• So each of our courses has a series of modules and assessments that are aligned to it.
• We'll wait for the actual letter then to understand their assessment. We'll hold the issue open.
• Do you have any assessment as to how the districts deployed these dollars to serve students?
• Can you give me an assessment from the Chancellor's Office on what your view on that is, on what's being

Summary: The committee heard an overview of the California Community Colleges budget proposal, including Proposition 98 funding, a 2.41% COLA for apportionments, enrollment growth funding, repayment of an apportionment deferral, and one-time investments for a student support block grant and deferred maintenance. The Department of Finance described the Governor’s package as providing significant new resources, while the LAO recommended prioritizing COLA and enrollment growth within available funds but raised concerns about some smaller proposals, including making the Healthy School Food Pathways Program ongoing and adding more funding for credit for prior learning before outcomes are known. The Chancellor’s Office supported the COLA, enrollment growth, and one-time investments, and said current projections suggest enrollment growth closer to 3%, with about $85 million to $90 million in ongoing costs if fully funded. Members focused heavily on enrollment growth, the 10% district cap, and whether the state should continue funding growth in the current year and budget year. The Chancellor’s Office said some districts, especially in the Inland Empire and Central Valley, are growing rapidly and that about seven districts are above the cap, with roughly 1,563 FTES and about $30 million in ongoing costs tied to that issue. Members also discussed hold-harmless districts and whether declining campuses should be required to produce turnaround or right-sizing plans. The Chancellor’s Office said districts are already having local conversations and that state funding provides time to adjust, but no formal plan requirement was proposed. The committee then took up common course numbering, where the Chancellor’s Office said all 115 community colleges have implemented the first phase and more than 550,000 students enrolled in the first six commonly numbered courses. The office argued that CCN improves clarity but does not yet guarantee that credits will transfer with full value across UC and CSU, because articulation is still handled campus by campus and can require more than 3,500 separate reviews. Members expressed concern that students can still be forced to retake courses such as calculus or ethnic studies even when they have the same common number, and urged the systems to develop a stronger statewide articulation mechanism tied to outcomes and transparency. The item was left open. Finally, the committee heard the Governor’s proposal to make Calbright College’s funding ongoing at $53.1 million. The LAO recommended instead transitioning Calbright to the student-centered funding formula, with one-time bridge funding in the meantime, arguing the Governor’s proposal lacks a clear enrollment-based rationale and performance expectations. Calbright’s leadership defended the college’s competency-based, flexible model for adult learners, citing more than 6,800 students served, over 2,200 certificates awarded, and wage gains for graduates; they said enrollment is expected to grow from about 7,000 students now to roughly 8,000 to 9,000 next year and around 10,000 over the next couple of years. Members pressed for clearer enrollment and funding data before deciding how Calbright should be funded going forward.

Transcript Highlights:

• We also, because we are an assessment-forward, competency-based education model, measure time and velocity
• Each of our courses has a series of modules and assessments that are aligned to it.
• We'll wait for the actual letter then to understand their assessment. We'll hold the issue open.
• Do you have any assessment as to how the districts deployed these dollars to serve students?
• Can you give me an assessment from the Chancellor's Office on what your view on that is, on what's being

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• SB 1294, property tax assessment. SB 1308, foreign adversary fraud office.
• evaluating prevention measures that promote school safety adopting guidelines for threat vulnerability assessments
• rather than threat prevention and vulnerability mitigation so expanding the the threat mitigation assessments
• for them to keep up with the emergency operations plan, making sure it's up to date, any threat assessments
• Amending Section 42-14155, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to valuation of centrally assessed property

Summary: The House opened with prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, approval of the prior journal, and a series of guest introductions, including the day’s Doctor of the Day and many school board members and students visiting for Arizona School Board Association Advocacy Day. Members repeatedly highlighted concerns about school facilities funding and welcomed local education leaders from across the state. The chamber then moved through attendance, committee assignments, and a large number of Senate and House bill readings and referrals. A major portion of the day was spent in Committee of the Whole considering numerous bills and amendments. Among the most notable was SCR 1054, a memorial resolution honoring former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, which was unanimously adopted after remarks praising his public service and consumer-protection work. The House also considered HB 2728 on Department of Economic Security continuation and policy changes; after divided-question debate and a recorded division vote, the amended bill received a do-pass recommendation by 32-25. Other bills receiving do-pass recommendations in committee included measures on school safety center funding and governance (HB 2142), school board training (HB 2379), HOA disclosure reforms (HB 2397), credit freezes for foster youth (HB 2321), and several health and human services and judiciary measures. The House then took up third-reading votes on several bills. HB 2053, appropriating money to the Department of Water Resources, passed 32-24; HB 2175, on sentencing, failed 25-31; HB 2327, on records confidentiality, passed 54-2; HB 2416, appropriating money to the Department of Public Safety, passed 33-23 after debate over immigration enforcement funding; HB 2492, relating to urban growth boundaries and initiative/referendum effects, failed 27-29; and HB 2805, making school board races partisan, passed 31-25 despite strong opposition from members who argued school boards should remain nonpartisan. The transcript ends with the House continuing through additional business and votes.

Transcript Highlights:

• concept of the—not contact tracing, but basically looking randomly at some of the cases—was just to assess
• concept of the, not contact tracing, but basically looking randomly at some of the cases was just to assess
• Then my belief would be that all the plans would send in their cost assessments to the Department of
• How do your plans assess when something is covered that then results in savings in health care costs?
• It's unfair and it's an undue burden in the same way that I don't do medical assessments or I don't do

Committee: House Health and Mental Health

Keywords: 959, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Chair, this would—there's an agency for the Office of the Governor that assesses liability insurance
• And then the Department of Environment, line 274, again clarification to identify and assess.
• linguistically relevant questions for the New Mexico Student Success Achievement to New Mexico Assessment
• and Science Readiness Student Assessments, so they're asking for $500...
• readiness types... ...of assessments.

Committee: House House Appropriations & Finance

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• would much rather the judge be able to would much rather the judge be able to look at that person and assess
• them look at that person and assess them look at that person and assess them versus two people who are
• here that based on Senator Or is not here that based on Senator Or is not here that based on that assessment
• that I announced that assessment that I announced that assessment that I announced earlier, Senator

Bills: HB265 , HB146 , SB254 , HB202 , HB3 , HB42 , SB18

Committee: Senate Judiciary

Keywords: resisting arrest, penalties, criminal justice, law enforcement, public safety, youthful offender, capital murder, victims' rights, SB254, Alabama, statute of limitations, civil procedure, civil action, sex offense, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, survivor rights, tolling, disability, minor plaintiff

Transcript Highlights:

• Anybody was welcome to attend, and they could hear firsthand, see firsthand this voter testimony, and assess
• She does what every judge and every jury in Minnesota does in a trial, which is to assess the credibility
• Anybody was welcome to attend, and they could hear firsthand, see firsthand this voter testimony, and assess
• She does what every judge and every jury in Minnesota does in a trial, which is to assess the credibility
• She does what every judge and every jury in Minnesota does in a trial, which is to assess the credibility

Committee: House Ethics

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• one-to-one self-sufficiency counseling, weekly workshop series that focus on life skills, needs assessments
• And so our goal is for them to do some assessments around what are my strengths, what are my abilities
• </c><00:49:15.160><c> around</c><00:49:15.440><c> what</c> them to do some assessments around what them
• to do some assessments around what are<00:49:15.680><c> my</c><00:49:15.880><c> strengths</c><00:49:
• Representative Mahamoud, just so I understand, are you saying then you do this assessment with them and

Bills: HF1027 , HF101 , HF1021

Committee: House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law

Keywords: mortgage foreclosure, redemption, foreclosure surplus, sheriff's sale, junior lienholder, mortgagor, homeowner protections, loss mitigation, dual tracking, foreclosure redemption period, certificate of redemption, certificate of sale, sheriff, county recorder, registrar of titles, homeownership center, lien priority, real property, foreclosure by advertisement, surplus funds

Transcript Highlights:

• want to say, around October or so, but it was based on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment
• , one of the assessments that they take.
• c><00:21:03.240><c> level</c> demonstrated on a national level demonstrated on a national level assessment
• c> hiring</c><00:21:05.159><c> entities</c><00:21:05.640><c> are</c><00:21:05.919><c> often</c> assessment
• hiring entities are often assessment hiring entities are often confused<00:21:06.840><c> by</c><00:21

Keywords: Call to Order 00:00 Roll Call 00:05 HB 566 Discussion 01:34 HB 566 Vote 16:42 HB 39 Discussion 19:15 HB 39 Vote 23:10 HB 70 Discussion 24:48 HB 70 Vote 27:36 HB 72 Discussion 28:58 HB 72 Vote 39:45 HB 79 Discussion 41:45 HB 79 Vote 42:58 HB 223 Discussion 45:34 HB 223 Vote 46:24 Adjournment 47:38, 958, all

Summary: The committee first took up House Bill 566, which would implement the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation created last year. Chairman Cook described major provisions affecting charitable gaming, horse racing, sports wagering, and quarter horse racing, including locking charitable gaming fees in statute at a slightly lower rate, expanding charitable gaming board representation, preserving existing gaming technology, allowing school districts to hold charitable gaming licenses, and setting up self-funding for the new corporation through administrative set-asides from gaming-related funds. The bill also addresses uncashed vouchers, cross-training of investigators, ethics and employment provisions, and a three-year quarter horse breeding incentive intended to grow the industry. A committee substitute made two technical changes: clarifying voucher money stays with the track facility and making the school district itself the license holder. The substitute and then the bill both passed favorably, with several members noting concerns from last year but supporting the revised structure. The committee then heard House Bill 70, an interstate compact for dietitians. Sponsor Representative Vanessa Grossl and witnesses said the measure would allow reciprocity with other compact states, improve workforce mobility, help military families, expand patient access and telehealth, and reduce administrative burden on the licensing board. The committee substitute created a third license category for educational interpreters, but that language actually belonged to the next bill; for HB 70, the committee voted the bill favorably without reported amendments. The bill passed unanimously or near-unanimously and was sent to the House floor. Next, House Bill 72 was presented by Representative DJ Johnson to amend the law governing limited x-ray machine operators. The sponsor explained that current law effectively prevents limited x-ray operators from working in the same facility as other imaging equipment, which he said creates compliance problems, disrupts training, and can force practices to move equipment or lose employees. The bill would allow limited x-ray technicians to operate in the same facility as other imaging equipment. During discussion, some members noted opposition from students and others in the field, and the sponsor invited industry witnesses to explain their concerns. The transcript cuts off before final action on HB 72 is completed.