Transcript Highlights:

• So, um, I'll be right back after this commercial announcement.
• Uh, Representative Stevenson, is there a commercial for Anoka while we're making this move?
• And one of the things that I just want to put aside: commercial, I want to tell you all this bill, I

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• there to talk about more adult topics, such as drinking and driving, being aware of blind spots on commercial
• there to talk about more adult topics, such as drinking and driving, being aware of blind spots on commercial

Committee: All ALC-HIGHWAY COMMISSION REVIEW AND ADVISORY SUBCOMMITTEE

Summary: The committee received a report from Director Wiley of the Arkansas Department of Transportation on a series of routine and quarterly items, including the closeout of the department’s efficiency review. Wiley said all five remaining recommendations from that review had been implemented, highlighted a new public maintenance dashboard on the agency website, and reported four surplus properties sold since the last meeting. He also noted that ARDOT had obligated $3.14 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to date and reviewed the annual expenditure report tied to 2019 revenue changes, which funded $98.7 million in maintenance projects last year. Members asked about the balance between maintenance and new construction, with Wiley saying about 75% of construction dollars go to maintaining the existing system and that ARDOT’s overall spending is overwhelmingly focused on upkeep because of the size of the state highway network. He also discussed major projects and corridor priorities, including Interstate 57 and Highway 5 work in Lonoke County, Interstate 49 public meetings, passing-lane improvements on Highway 412/62 in north central Arkansas, Highway 82 widening in south Arkansas, and long-range plans to widen Interstate 40, possibly including a toll study. On the Toad Suck Bridge flood mitigation project, he said the design had been revised to reduce public impacts and would not require a long-term bridge closure. The committee also discussed safety and enforcement tools in work zones. Wiley said new work-zone cameras and cell phone detection tools were being used on projects such as I-30, I-57, and I-49, mainly to improve safety rather than issue citations. In addition, he said ARDOT spends about $8 million annually on litter control and is expanding anti-litter efforts, including a spring cleanup day involving more than 2,500 operations employees and some office staff. He also announced agency initiatives on human trafficking awareness training for field and office staff and the Street Smart education program for middle school students, with plans to expand it to high school content next year. No votes were taken, and the meeting adjourned after the director’s presentation and member questions.

Transcript Highlights:

• There are some commercially available products that are out there right now.
• But a lot of those commercial models have come down cost-wise significantly.

Keywords: 924, joint, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We've switched that from a URL code, which is kind of a live link, to a QR code, again finding that people
• :51:05.079><c> code</c><01:51:06.079><c> um</c><01:51:06.360><c> again</c><01:51:07.199><c> finding</
• c><01:51:07.800><c> that</c><01:51:08.360><c> uh</c> a QR code um again finding that uh a QR code um
• Code, Title 10, Section 1408, unquote.
• Code 1408, payment of retired or retainer pay in compliance with court orders.

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The meeting began with committee process reminders from the chair, including rules for questioning witnesses, time limits for testimony, and how motions and committee reports are handled. The chair also discussed the committee’s history, emphasized a cooperative approach with agencies and the Judiciary, and noted that a special committee on the Family Division of Circuit Court had previously done useful work; he said a new subcommittee could be appointed later to continue looking at judicial-system issues. He also mentioned that the Speaker’s office was expected to name members to the DHHS oversight committee by Friday at 1. The substantive presentation was from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of Child Support Services. Attorney John Williams introduced the bureau team, and Bureau Chief Lisa Dekowski described the program’s mission: encouraging responsible parenting, family self-sufficiency, and child well-being by locating parents, establishing paternity, setting or modifying support orders, and enforcing court-ordered child and medical support. She said the bureau operates statewide under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, works with courts, employers, and other partners, and serves both in-state and out-of-state cases, with some international and tribal coordination. She also cited program scale, saying the bureau dispersed about $76 million to families in New Hampshire in fiscal year 2023 and that most collections go directly to families. Members asked about enforcement tools, especially passport denial. In response to a question about a case involving a very small shortfall, the bureau said the federal passport-denial threshold is $2,500 in arrears, not a few cents, and that denial remains in place until the balance is resolved or an arrangement is made with the agency, with hardship factors potentially considered. The bureau also explained that either parent can apply for services when a child support order exists and that the bureau can help initiate income withholding orders. No votes or formal actions were taken during this portion of the meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• chilling effect and leave some mental health providers feeling that there is a conflict between the NASW code

Committee: House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And we could identify pandemic-related grants based on some of the resource codes, and what we couldn
• This includes both Medi-Cal and commercial plans.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• businesses, organizations, and individuals who have joined together to promote community, civics, and commercial
• all kind of touched on this issue of how much influence lobbyists have on basically writing the tax code

Bills: HB3418 , HB3985 , HB3463 , HB3002 , HB4303 , HB3919 , HB3416 , HB3417 , HB3415 , HB2206 , HB3414 , HB3265 , HB3310 , HB3413 , HB4486 , HB1219 , SR39 , SB1177 , HB3298 , HB2696 , HB3941 , HB3970 , HB3264 , HB3321 , HB2650 , HB3497 , HB3980 , HB3981 , HB4421 , HB3177 , HB3322 , HB3499 , HB3500 , HB3845 , HB3742 , HB3622 , HB1250 , HB2710 , HB3831 , HB4408 , HB1002 , HB3008 , HB3086 , HB3595 , HB3678 , HB4107 , HB3695 , HB3315 , HB3590 , HB3006 , HB3151 , HB2959 , HB2398 , HB3026 , HB3467 , HB4268 , HB3372 , HB2210 , HB4359 , HB4427

Keywords: public works, bidding procedures, construction contracts, transparency, public trust, electronic bidding, school districts, property rights, public nuisance, compensation claims, government enforcement, Oklahoma Safe Neighborhoods Act, municipal audit, state auditor, local government, financial transparency, gasoline tax allocations, counties, county officers, education

Summary: The Senate convened with a quorum, offered prayer, and recognized the Doctor and Nurse of the Day, along with several visiting groups in the galleries, including the Goldsby Volunteer Fire Department and families honoring fallen firefighters Todd Pendleton and Brian Jenkins, the Sapulpa Elks Antlers, the Grove Chamber of Commerce, and northeastern Oklahoma cattlemen. The chamber adopted Senate Resolution 39, celebrating the 100th anniversary of U.S. Route 70 and its economic importance to southern Oklahoma communities. The main item of business was the Joint Committee Report for Senate Bill 1177, the General Appropriation Bill for the State of Oklahoma. Senators questioned the budget’s overall size, the use of gross production tax revenues, the new sovereign/endowment trust fund, Medicaid and Health Care Authority funding, mental health appropriations, child care subsidy funding, school security, career tech, tourism, the Commissioners of the Land Office, textbook allocations, and several other agency lines. The chair explained that the budget included about $1.5 billion in cash and sweeps, a $250 million base appropriation for the Health Care Authority, $200 million for the endowment trust fund, $31 million for PREP projects, $25 million for the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund, and other agency-specific appropriations and supplements. Several members debated the report before adoption. Supporters argued the budget addressed agency needs and future savings, while opponents criticized it as a flat or spending-heavy budget that favored special projects and well-connected interests over core services such as child care, mental health, water infrastructure, and county needs. After debate, the Joint Committee Report for SB 1177 was adopted, and the Senate moved through the budget discussion with no recorded roll-call vote in the transcript provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• I invite you to use the QR code on slide 3 to explore our strategic plan.
• the largest and most capable hypersonic wind tunnels in the country that will directly serve the commercial

Committee: House Appropriations - S/C on Article III

Transcript Highlights:

• You know, we asked for your charter commercial travel and we were given a document that I could barely
• travel and we your charter commercial travel and we were<00:10:20.800><c> given</c><00:10:21.760><c>
• </c><00:10:56.880><c> air</c><00:10:57.360><c> football</c> it says football commercial air football
• it says football commercial air football charter<00:10:58.680><c> air</c><00:10:59.680><c> total</c><
• and the charters going the commercials and the charters in<00:13:22.160><c> between.

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Pillar two is infrastructure, supporting commercialization and growth.
• </c><00:23:42.400><c> through</c> the market commercialization through the market commercialization through
• This is the commercialization, so you go from education to commercialization through this transition.
• This is the commercialization, so you go from education to commercialization through this transition.
• Oh, in D... not B 170, so we're responsible for commercial operation, not regulatory.

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Now, here we pass green new deal scams onto the commercial and residential construction which drive up
• </c> green new deal scams onto the commercial green new deal scams onto the commercial and<00:21:38.559
• I know we passed Green New Deal scam requirements on residential and commercial construction last session
• I know we passed Green New Deal scam requirements on residential and commercial construction last session
• </c> commercial construction last session. commercial construction last session.

Committee: Senate Housing and Homelessness Prevention

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> total 27 of those were commercial total 27 of those were commercial premises<00:48:04.079><c> uh
• </c><01:27:48.960><c> kitchen</c><01:27:49.360><c> to</c> do you move from a commercial kitchen to do
• you move from a commercial kitchen to co-manufacturing<01:27:50.480><c> at</c><01:27:50.639><c> an</
• We work with businesses to help commercialize new ideas that create demand and utilization of the crops
• new ideas that create commercialize new ideas that create demand<01:46:08.080><c> and</c><01:46:08.400

Committee: House Agriculture Finance and Policy

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> a commercial a commercial standpoint<00:50:58.839><c> and</c><00:50:59.720><c> ultimately</c><00
• Again, well, again, the commercial versus—I'm not sure how much it costs. literally ignoring the people
• </c><01:03:57.839><c> operator</c><01:03:58.839><c> as</c><01:03:59.000><c> chair</c> um um the commercial
• operator as chair um um the commercial operator as chair said<01:03:59.920><c> um</c><01:04:00.039><
• </c><01:04:58.279><c> versus</c> again well again the commercial versus again well again the commercial

Keywords: 910, house, all

Summary: The joint House and Senate agriculture committees met on January 17, 2025, for an informational briefing on biosecurity and invasive species; Chair Kahaloa opened by noting there would be no public testimony. Members introduced themselves, and the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC) program manager Chelsea Arnot outlined the purpose of the briefing and the statewide impacts of invasive species, citing examples such as coconut rhinoceros beetle, little fire ant, coquí frogs, albizia, and mosquito-borne disease. She emphasized that biosecurity requires coordinated action across state departments, counties, federal agencies, universities, and communities, and highlighted HISC’s role in funding interagency projects, island invasive species committees, research, outreach, and early detection efforts. Arnot and HISC representatives described major funding and program needs, including a requested $4.25 million increase to HISC to raise its baseline budget to $10 million, support island committee operations, research, biocontrol, marine biosecurity, surveillance, and staffing. They also requested $500,000 for the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab, saying it is critical to invasive ant research and little fire ant response. The briefing also noted HISC’s leverage of federal dollars, including a $4.6 million REPI award with HISC providing the match, and cited successful collaborative eradications and responses, including veiled chameleons on Maui, axis deer on Hawaiʻi Island, and a 2023 coconut rhinoceros beetle response on Maui that prevented further spread. Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture officials then discussed implementation of updated administrative rules effective January 20, 2025, which permanently restrict movement of coconut rhinoceros beetle host material and give the department stronger authority to stop movement of infested material. They reported 2024 import activity of about 50,000 ship and aircraft arrivals, inspection/clearance of 20 million pieces, and 16,000 interceptions, with additional staffing from Act 231 expected to increase interceptions. They also described Act 231 funding and current spending status: about 65% obligated and 52% encumbered, with some funds tied to contracts for CRB and little fire ant response, plus an $800,000 green-waste hauling RFP that had to be reissued because of a flaw. The department said 580 Oʻahu homes and 290 Hawaiʻi Island homes are slated for little fire ant treatment, while Maui and Kauaʻi will focus on survey and outreach. Members questioned how homes are selected for subsidized treatment, whether HISC and the island invasive species committees received Act 231 support, and whether the state should direct how contracted funds are prioritized. Representative Martin raised concerns that the RFP limited eligibility to private pest control companies and excluded more experienced entities such as the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab. Department officials said they would follow up on prioritization and funding details, and noted that emergency proclamations and procurement flexibility could help with rapid response and hiring during invasive species emergencies.

Transcript Highlights:

• significant</c> Forever Green and have made significant Forever Green and have made significant commercial
• ><c> Investments</c><00:20:47.120><c> to</c><00:20:47.320><c> make</c><00:20:47.919><c> and</c> commercial
• Investments to make and commercial Investments to make and market<00:20:48.960><c> products</c><00:20
• One of the most challenging aspects of commercializing a new food or feed ingredient is fine-tuning the
• There is co-manufacturing work that's going on in terms of how do we look from commercial kitchens to

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Veterans, Broadband, and Rural Development

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• They also build commercial projects, hospitals, schools, and multifamily housing in every quarter of
• also build commercial projects hospitals schools<00:11:58.279><c> and</c><00:11:58.440><c> multif</c
• My day job is I'm a commercial real estate broker.
• And, as I mentioned in my prior testimony, I'm a commercial real estate broker, and so I recognize the
• Senate Bill 91, allowing one-time appraisals of residences located in commercial zones.

Committee: Senate Commerce

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Representative Gant offered the following amendment with title amendment, bar code 277549.
• Bar code 277-549. Remove lines 217 through 235 and insert an amendment.
• Bar code 885139. Remove lines 34 through 102 and insert an amendment.
• Bar code 716683. Remove lines 124 through 125 and insert an amendment.
• Access to health care should never depend on a zip code, and this is the bill.

Summary: The House opened with prayer, a moment of silence for former member Chester Clem, the Pledge of Allegiance, and quorum confirmation. Members then adopted the special order report for the day and approved a Rules and Ethics Committee report amending House Rule 15.3 to allow fundraising under certain circumstances during extended or special sessions. The chamber then took up several bills. HB 1405 on a statewide project for missing persons with special needs passed unanimously. CS/CS/CS/SB 290, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill, passed 94-10 after debate focused on conservation land surplus procedures and agricultural use of state lands. CS/CS/CS/HB 905, the “Fire Act” on foreign influence, foreign gifts, critical infrastructure, sister city agreements, and related restrictions, passed 80-20 after the House adopted an amendment adding a prohibition on certain surrogacy contracts involving citizens or residents of foreign countries of concern. CS/CS/HB 1197, dealing with information technology procurement and contracting, passed 109-0. HB 1103 on local administration of vessel restrictions passed unanimously. The House also debated CS/CS/CS/HB 399 on land use and development regulations. Supporters said it would limit development fees, standardize compatibility rules, allow manufactured homes in RV parks, and lower voting thresholds for comprehensive plan changes to address housing affordability; opponents argued it would preempt local control, weaken voter-approved urban boundary protections, and risk conservation lands. An amendment to preserve Orange County’s boundary rules failed, while a technical amendment on manufactured homes passed. The bill then passed 71-38. The House also passed several local bills, including measures for the Pace Fire Rescue District, Avalon Beach/Mulat Fire Protection District, East Point Water and Sewer District, Fellsmere Water Control District, and Headwaters Water Control District, with votes ranging from 83-27 to unanimous approval. The transcript also included farewell remarks from Representative Angie Nixon before the House returned to remaining business.

Transcript Highlights:

• And the market shows that when it comes to foreign commercial surrogacy, 40% of those contracts are with
• Bar code 885139. Remove lines 34 through 102 and insert an amendment.
• Bar code 716683. Remove lines 124 through 125 and insert an amendment.
• Access to health care should never depend on a zip code, and this is the bill.
• Before I hand it to my prime code to close, I want to thank Senator Yarbril Mr.

Summary: The House opened with prayer, a moment of silence for former member Chester Clem, the Pledge of Allegiance, and quorum verification. Members then adopted the special order report and a Rules and Ethics Committee report amending House Rule 15.3 to allow fundraising under certain circumstances during extended or special sessions. The chamber also recognized Deputy First Class Stefano Gargano as law enforcement officer of the day and several visiting groups in the gallery. On the floor, HB 1405 on a statewide project for missing persons with special needs passed unanimously, 109-0. The House then took up CS/CS/CS/SB 290, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill, which drew questions about surplus conservation lands and oversight by the Acquisition and Restoration Council; it passed 94-10. CS/CS/CS/HB 905, the “Fire Act” on foreign influence, foreign-country-of-concern restrictions, critical infrastructure, gifts, contracts, sister city agreements, and related ethics and criminal provisions, passed 80-20 after debate and a germane amendment was adopted over objections. The House also passed CS/CS/HB 1197 on information technology procurement and contracting, aimed at modernizing oversight of major IT projects, by 109-0. CS/CS/CS/HB 399 on land use development and development regulations passed 71-38 after extensive debate over development fees, manufactured homes, and reducing local supermajority requirements for comprehensive plan changes; an amendment to preserve Orange County’s rural boundary vote failed, and a strike-all amendment was ruled out of order. Members then adopted a technical amendment clarifying manufactured homes language. Several local bills also advanced: HB 1103 on local administration of vessel restrictions passed 109-0; HB 4051 and HB 4053 on Santa Rosa County fire protection district assessments passed 84-25 and 83-27, respectively, after compromise amendments; HB 4081 on the East Point Water and Sewer District passed 110-0; and HB 4093 on the Felsmere Water Control District passed 109-0. The transcript ended as the House moved on to HB 4095, with no final action shown.

Transcript Highlights:

• There is also that provision in the federal code.
• There is also that provision in the federal code.
• There is also that provision in the federal code.
• And a fundamental cornerstone of the bankruptcy code is the homestead protection.
• And a fundamental cornerstone of the bankruptcy code is the homestead protection.

Committee: Senate Ways and Means

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And this prevents the shell nonprofit structures that allow commercial operators to bypass statewide
• It preserves legitimate nonprofit events and forces commercial venues to comply with statewide standards
• 41.440><c> allow</c> shell nonprofit structures that allow shell nonprofit structures that allow commercial
• </c><01:49:56.720><c> venues</c><01:49:57.120><c> to</c><01:49:57.240><c> comply</c> and forces commercial
• venues to comply and forces commercial venues to comply with<01:49:57.840><c> statewide</c><01:49:59.160

Keywords: 981, all

Transcript Highlights:

• the state's natural resources, to provide outdoor recreation opportunities, and to provide for commercial
• unities and provides<00:41:28.720><c> for</c><00:41:28.960><c> sustainable</c><00:41:29.520><c> commercial
• </c> provides for sustainable commercial provides for sustainable commercial commercial<00:41:30.720>
• c> uses</c><00:41:31.240><c> of</c><00:41:31.520><c> Natural</c><00:41:32.079><c> Resources</c> commercial
• uses of Natural Resources commercial uses of Natural Resources this<00:41:33.240><c> also</c><00:41:

Committee: Senate Capital Investment

Keywords: 1187, senate, all