Transcript Highlights:

• Slide 4 covers funding increases in the FSP that are included in House Bill 1.
• Section D is, of course, the contingency funding provided in House Bill 1.
• We have down that, uh, we've appropriated in House Bill 1, what was it, 8?
• Those are also included in House Bill 1 as filed. They total about $1.2 billion.
• So House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 30 in the 88th legislature are authorized.

Committee: House Appropriations

Keywords: infrastructure, water supply, flood mitigation, Texas Water Fund, community projects, funding allocations

Summary: During this committee meeting, the focus was on discussing critical infrastructure funding, especially related to water supply and flood mitigation projects. Chairwoman Stepney and the Water Development Board presented extensive details regarding the Texas Water Fund, which included $1 billion appropriated to assist various financial programs and tackle pressing water and wastewater issues. Additionally, funding allocations aimed at compromising the state's flood risk and improving water conservation were hotly debated, emphasizing collaboration among committee members and the necessity of addressing community needs in such projects.

Transcript Highlights:

• The Obama White House launched an initiative on Big Data.
• </c> it was 2012 uh the the Obama White House it was 2012 uh the the Obama White House launched<00:21
• I attended several of them, one at the White House Conference Center, that sort of led the developments
• So if you look at the announcement from the White House, you will not find a single mention of AI there
• And I think part of the negativity in Minnesota is the permitting and the process.

Committee: Senate Jobs and Economic Development

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And we took a House Bill—House Bill 100—that had a broad education caption.
• I did not get a hearing in the House.
• Prior to 2019, in the passage of House Bill 3, licensed child care... Thank you.
• However, in the fall of 2019, when House Bill 3 was implemented,... ...when House Bill 3 was implemented
• Someone mentioned House Bill 1605 earlier.

Committee: Senate Education

Summary: The Senate Committee on Education K-16 convened with a quorum, adopted its committee rules, and heard opening remarks from members introducing staff and outlining priorities for the session. Members from both parties emphasized education as a major issue, while several Republicans framed the committee’s work around school choice and parent empowerment. Senator West and other Democrats stressed protecting public schools, listening to Texans, and considering the effects of vouchers or education savings accounts on school districts and communities. Chairman Creighton laid out Senate Bill 2, the Texas Education Freedom Act, describing it as a universal education savings account program modeled on similar programs in other states. He said the bill would provide about $200 million for a universal eligibility pool and additional funding for students with disabilities and lower-income families, with priority weighting for former public school students. He also highlighted anti-fraud measures, vendor pre-approval, criminal background checks, cybersecurity protections, annual testing requirements for participating students, and the use of the Comptroller rather than TEA to administer the program. Creighton repeatedly said the bill is not a voucher and argued it would not take money from public schools, which he said would receive separate historic funding increases. Members questioned Creighton about the 500% of federal poverty line definition, the adequacy of the $10,000 ESA amount, whether the program would favor students already in private school, how microschools and homeschool pods would fit, and whether the bill protects religious liberty and private-school autonomy. Democrats raised concerns about disability protections, 504 students, foster children, public-school funding, open records, and the historical context of vouchers. Republicans generally supported the bill as a way to expand options for parents and students, while also asking about administration, fraud prevention, and data security. After member questions, the committee began invited testimony, with EdChoice President Robert Inlow presenting in support of SB 2 and citing the growth and reported success of school choice programs nationwide.

Transcript Highlights:

• The House is adjourned.
• The House will be in order under the rules of the House.
• House Bill 1720 FN, House Bill 1763 FN, and House Bill 1809 FN were referred to the Committee on Finance
• </c> house generators. house generators.
• </c> in house bill 1421. in house bill 1421.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I get the sense that it's, you know, concerns about housing, concerns about, you know, just mental health
• I also want to just call my colleague in the House, where you also mentioned Representative Mindy Domb
• So just a couple other points on this: what we're voting on today will not be sent to the House or Senate
• was forced upon her in Somalia, and tried to talk about the way in which women were submissive and permitted
• faculty, Israeli institutions of higher ed, that you shouldn't publish them in certain publishing houses

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The meeting opened with approval of the July 9, 2025 minutes and a roll call confirming quorum. DESE Commissioner Pedro Martinez gave his first official testimony, affirming the department’s commitment to preventing antisemitism and societal bias in schools, saying DESE supports the commission’s recommendations and will add staff resources to help develop and disseminate guidance and instructional materials. He said DESE’s rubric and guidance for identifying effective curricula and resources should be finalized in late fall, and commissioners welcomed the partnership and asked about the ongoing Section 98A work. The commission then heard from Professor Eitan Hirsch of Tufts, who presented research on antisemitism and campus climate. He described survey findings showing sharply different Jewish and non-Jewish views on Israel, increasing social pressure on Jewish students, and a growing tendency for Jewish students to hide their identity or feel penalized for participating in Jewish life. He argued that colleges need to do more to teach students how to handle dissent and build cultures of viewpoint diversity, and commissioners asked about best practices, regional differences, and the role of campus climate surveys. Rabbi Fine of UMass Amherst Hillel and student Sky Landau testified about antisemitism at UMass, especially since October 7. Fine described both a thriving Jewish student community and serious incidents including harassment, vandalism, classroom issues, protests, and students hiding Jewish identity; he said the university is working with Hillel and DEI leadership on goals and strategy for Jewish inclusion, and he urged more training and structured dialogue. Landau described antisemitic incidents she experienced or witnessed, including hostile BDS meetings, exclusion of Zionist students, Holocaust denial, threats, and social ostracism, and said Hillel was the only consistently safe space for her. Commissioners discussed reporting pathways, affinity groups, mental health supports, and ways to distinguish criticism of Israel from antisemitism. Later, the commission moved to its recommendations and made several edits before voting, including deleting offensive wording in a footnote, adding a citation to recent FBI hate crime data, and restoring language tied to an existing DESE regulation, 603 CMR 26.05, on classroom neutrality and fact-based instruction. Commissioners also reiterated that criticism of Israel’s government is not inherently antisemitic. The meeting included a brief interruption by a protester, after which the commission recessed and then resumed its work on the draft recommendations.

Transcript Highlights:

• forgive me if I'm going to mess my math up here, but for say you use a 20 kilowatt-hour load for a house
• I think that ends up being less than 300 houses. Don't quote me on that, but it's really not much.
• Now, do you have a library already in place to permit scientists to go to and see if these analyses have
• Magazines picked them up, and as a consequence, we were able to build a new wing on the house.
• My chairman in the House says it's a fuel of the future, and it always will be.

Summary: The meeting opened with remarks about the value of public engagement and the quality of questions from the group, followed by a series of technical presentations from Idaho National Laboratory staff. Joe Renovitz described recent nuclear regulatory changes tied to presidential executive orders, including NRC Part 53 for advanced reactors, the forthcoming Part 57 for very small reactors, and DOE updates to reactor authorization standards. He emphasized efforts to align DOE and NRC processes, use risk-informed and performance-based licensing, support reactor deployment for AI/data centers and national security, and use AI to speed communications and crosswalks between DOE and NRC requirements. In response to questions, he said there was no plan to merge agencies, but rather to improve coordination and public outreach through groups like GAIN and NEI. David Tolman then discussed the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, spent fuel storage, transportation, disposal, and reprocessing. He explained high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), why it is needed for advanced reactors, and DOE’s HALEU Availability Program and related investments in enrichment, transportation, deconversion, and supply chain development. He also covered spent fuel management, the possibility of centralized storage or a fuel-cycle campus, the Center for Used Fuel Research, and ongoing work on high-burnup cask testing and reprocessing technologies. Tolman described aqueous, pyrochemical, and fluoride-volatility reprocessing approaches, noting the advantages and waste characteristics of each, and said several companies are working with INL on these technologies. Ashley Shields presented INL’s AI and nuclear work, focusing on the Genesis initiative and the Prometheus effort to use AI to design, license, build, and operate reactors with far less human intervention. She described INL’s broad use of generative AI tools, the need to manage large volumes of legacy technical data, and applications in reactor design, materials discovery, autonomous laboratories, and digital twins. Shields said AI is being used to reduce the enormous documentation burden in nuclear licensing and to support autonomous or remotely operated reactor demonstrations, while stressing that humans remain in supervisory roles. In discussion, she addressed data security, model access, and the continued need for software engineers. The session then recessed briefly and resumed with Mitch Kerman beginning a presentation on critical minerals and materials.

Transcript Highlights:

• Signs and placards are not permitted in the hearing room.
• think all of these provisions passed the Senate floor last year, but they didn't make it through the House
• they didn't make it last year, but they didn't make it through through through the<00:04:44.720><c> house
• </c> the house or wherever. the house or wherever.

Committee: Senate Elections

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Housing, um, street crime, homelessness, um, drug abuse.
• to spend on housing and so forth.
• Chinese, uh, slave labor, living in deplorable conditions, massive grow houses.
• Local permits can sometimes be a problem.
• Um, I, I'm from House District 48, which is in the First District.

Committee: House Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• <c> to</c> busers or house house people, house to busers or house house people, house to house<02:34:
• </c> house staff, they're a different wage. house staff, they're a different wage.
• </c> stand up for our back of house workers. stand up for our back of house workers.
• </c> I'm talking about front of the house. I'm talking about front of the house.
• It's front of the house<02:58:27.600><c> typically.</c> house typically. house typically.

Committee: House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee opened its labor hearing on SB 655 and outlined the day’s schedule, including a later working session on SB 416 and an executive session planned for 2:30 p.m. Senator Dan Innis introduced SB 655, describing it as a technical bill affecting employee leasing companies/professional employer organizations (PEOs), workers’ compensation coverage, and a Senate-added minimum wage exemption for minor league baseball players covered by a collective bargaining agreement. He said the PEO change would let either the PEO or the client business hold workers’ comp coverage, while still requiring coverage, and argued it would align New Hampshire with most other states and reduce barriers for small businesses and multi-state employers. He also said the baseball provision would clarify wage treatment for minor league players and support the Manchester team. Justin Warell of Insperity testified in support of the PEO portion, explaining that PEOs provide HR, payroll, benefits administration, and workers’ compensation administration through a co-employment model. He said the bill would preserve mandatory coverage while allowing flexibility for the client or PEO to maintain the policy, which could help clients who already have preferred coverage or who face cost or administrative issues in multiple states. He noted that most clients would still remain under the PEO’s policy and said Insperity would submit written comments. Committee members asked about how the arrangement would work, whether the client or PEO would pay, and whether the bill would affect liability insurance packaging; Warell said the employer still bears the cost and that the bill mainly gives larger clients an option. One member asked him to remain available for possible follow-up after hearing from the labor department. Stephen Gonzalez of Major League Baseball testified in support of the minor league baseball exemption. He said MLB and the MLB Players Association negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that already provides players with salary, housing, meals, per diems, health and retirement benefits, disability continuation, tuition assistance, and signing bonuses. He argued that treating players as hourly workers creates impractical time-tracking problems because players do work-related activities on their own time, and said the bill would recognize them as salaried workers and avoid litigation over what counts as hours worked. Committee members questioned why the exemption was needed if players are already salaried and whether MLB could simply amend its CBA; Gonzalez said the bill would help prevent wage-and-hour lawsuits and noted that similar exemptions have been enacted in other states. No vote was taken during the hearing, and the chair indicated the bill would be considered for executive action later that afternoon.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> Bill that we introduced last week House Bill that we introduced last week House Bill<00:04:35.000
• House Bill 651 increases that.
• House Bill 651 increases that.
• House Bill 651 increases that.
• House Bill 651 increases that.

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee took up HB 651, a school-funding bill that would raise the base cost of an adequate education and increase differentiated aid for students in poverty, English language learners, and special education. The chair opened with housekeeping notices about parking and eating in committee spaces, and noted a revised fiscal note would be distributed. Representative David Luneau presented the bill as part of a broader package of public school funding measures, explaining that HB 651 builds on HB 550 and is intended to respond to court rulings and the ongoing school-funding litigation by adjusting both the base adequacy amount and equity-based funding factors. Luneau said the bill would raise the state’s adequacy grant from about $4,100 to $7,351 per student and increase differentiated aid, while also updating statutory language so future recalculations include the court-identified resource elements. He argued the measure is about fairness and shifting more of the burden from local property taxpayers to the state, not about increasing overall education spending. He reviewed fiscal-note figures indicating the bill would add roughly $576 million to the state share of school funding, bringing the total state share to about $1.65 billion, and said the note also mentions possible effects on charter schools and vouchers. Committee members asked about the evidence supporting higher costs for low-income and English learner students, how long ESL funding should continue, why free-and-reduced-lunch aid remains higher than special education aid, whether the formula is based on enrollment or average daily membership, and whether the bill is truly equitable across districts of different sizes and needs. Luneau and later witness Zach Shen of the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project said the bill is supported by research and court findings, that the current formula relies heavily on local property taxes, and that shifting more funding to the state would reduce property-tax pressure and help address disparities among districts. Shen also cited broad public support for the related HB 550 testimony and said HB 651 is intended as a step toward a more equitable funding system. No vote or final action was taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• House Bill 52 has passed the House.
• , House Bill 70 has passed the House.
• </c> workforce housing. workforce housing.
• , House Bill 145 has passed the House.
• , House Bill 178 has passed the House.

Keywords: 916, all

Transcript Highlights:

• The Sandia side of the house.
• First, R&D, House Bill 27 and Senate Bill 97.
• First, R&D, House Bill 27 and Senate Bill 97.
• Advanced Energy Equipment Tax Credit, which is House Bill 154.
• So do they have access to housing? Do they have access to food?

Committee: Senate Senate Finance

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, welcome to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
• Signs and play cards are not permitted in the hearing room.
• I want to compare House File 1234 from Chair Scott.
• want to compare House File 1234 from Chair<00:14:31.040><c> Scott.
• I mean transportation mind housing.

Committee: House Ways and Means

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• He loses his housing, his work, his stability.
• Which brings up a point: housing without treatment does not work. Does not work.
• too often at the point of crisis instead of consistently funding long-term treatment engagement, housing
• Directors Association: Housing and subsidies for housing, we wanted to make sure that those changes,
• When you're tying this funding source and a third is set aside to pay for people's housing, we need housing

Summary: The hearing focused first on behavioral health, especially serious mental illness and anosognosia, a condition described by witnesses as a neurological symptom that prevents people from recognizing they are ill. The chair framed the issue around families cycling through emergency rooms, jails, conservatorships, and short-term stabilization without lasting treatment, and warned that federal changes under H.R. 1 could reduce Medi-Cal funding and worsen access. Dawn Marie Anderson gave a personal account of her son’s long history of psychosis, homelessness, arrests, repeated jail and state hospital stays, and eventual stability when he received sustained medication and coordinated support. She argued that the system often treats the problem as criminal rather than medical and that voluntary programs and short-term services are not enough for people who lack insight into their illness. Other panelists, including representatives from the California Behavioral Health Association, Santa Barbara County Behavioral Health, and the County Behavioral Health Directors Association, agreed that anosognosia is not denial or noncompliance and said the system needs long-term, coordinated care, including assertive community treatment, mobile crisis, supportive housing, medication support, and stronger handoffs between county and managed care systems. They said CalAIM and other reforms have improved some coordination, but significant gaps remain, especially for people with serious mental illness, for those in jail or locked settings, and for people with private insurance, which witnesses said often offers little meaningful coverage for early psychosis or intensive behavioral health services. Several witnesses urged the Legislature to protect Medi-Cal, shore up county safety-net services, and invest in training and family engagement. The committee then turned to the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, with a focus on the virtual services platforms BrightLife Kids and Soluna and the CYBHI fee schedule. DHCS reported strong growth in app registrations, coaching sessions, referrals, and positive user outcomes, saying the platforms provide free, culturally responsive, early-intervention support statewide and help connect users to higher levels of care when needed. On the fee schedule, DHCS said more than 500 LEAs, colleges, universities, and school-linked providers are participating, 181 LEAs have submitted claims, and $9.6 million has been reimbursed to date, with 41,556 students represented in claims. The chair and several members criticized the pace of implementation and the amount of money spent relative to reimbursement levels, saying the Legislature had requested data earlier and that the return on investment still appeared low. DHCS responded that many claims are still being submitted, that 70% of denials are correctable, that $400 million in capacity grants has been distributed locally, and that reimbursement is increasing rapidly as more districts come online. Public comment included a rural county behavioral health director who said private insurance denials leave counties with significant uncompensated work, especially for unlicensed staff providing case management and mobile crisis services.

Transcript Highlights:

• Members of the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Articles 67, and 8 will now come to
• The findings showed hiring experienced in-house economists, engineers, and financial analysts is not
• I just built a house last year, 5 times, 5 different tries.
• And the third is in our, our industrialized housing program.
• We issue, uh, we help to, uh, have hearings on environmental permits.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><03:34:49.359><c> Bill</c> session on House Bill session on House Bill 1475FN 1475FN 1475FN and<03
• </c> motion of ITL on House Bill 1475. motion of ITL on House Bill 1475.
• </c> session on House Bill 1475. session on House Bill 1475.
• </c><04:45:52.718><c> but</c> while you're heating your house but while you're heating your house but
• Am I you're not heating your house.

Committee: House Science, Technology and Energy

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> program could get uh passed by the house program could get uh passed by the house and<00:14:54.639
• </c> I spent three or four terms as a house I spent three or four terms as a house member<02:17:10.880
• I have talked with House members who are the representatives to HEAK.
• </c> voting members are two house voting members are two house representatives<02:31:20.800><c> and</
• </c> HB50 as as I said that passed the house HB50 as as I said that passed the house um<03:18:35.040>

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee heard testimony on SB 69, including a germane amendment about local school boards’ acceptance or rejection of gifts and donations and a non-germane amendment creating a virtual early childhood readiness family engagement program for preschool children not yet in kindergarten. Rep. Cordelli said the early literacy proposal was a modified version of an earlier kindergarten readiness bill, would rely on gifts and donations rather than state appropriations, and would include reporting requirements. Members questioned the shift from a broader technology program to an online-only model, the lack of detailed evaluation metrics, how long children would use the program, and whether it was appropriate for very young children. Cordelli said the change was intended to avoid government dependence and still allow the program to be offered next school year. Several members raised concerns about the gift-acceptance language on the underlying bill, including whether school boards would need to vote on small donations, whether gifts could be handled in blocks or at regular meetings, and how anonymous donations would work under right-to-know laws. Rep. Han noted that some gift discussions might belong in non-public session under RSA 91-A, while Rep. Cornell said acceptance or rejection of gifts could be handled at regular meetings and suggested a dollar threshold could be added later. The New Hampshire School Boards Association said it was not taking a position but wanted clearer guardrails, policy guidance, and clarification on timing, anonymity, and public-meeting requirements. Supporters of the early childhood program, including Waterford.org, said the proposal would provide an evidence-based, adaptive online literacy program with family engagement for four- and five-year-olds, and that it could help close early learning gaps. Waterford said it could work collaboratively with school districts and IEP teams, and that it would provide devices and internet access for families who need them. Committee members pressed on how the program would interact with existing special education services and whether districts could use it as part of an IEP; the response was that it would be supplementary and not an approved special education service. No votes were taken during the hearing; the chair indicated the committee would later executive the bills and try to get reports filed promptly.

Transcript Highlights:

• and the new positions are to address dental workload and implementation of SB 380, a transitional housing
• The resources requested are needed to complete extensive research and analysis of transitional housing
• Where are we currently housing people, and how many people do we have on the CONREP SVP programs?
• And that's only on the housing costs?
• Are there other avenues that are more cost efficient to providing housing?

Summary: The subcommittee heard presentations from the Department of State Hospitals (DSH), the Commission for Behavioral Health, and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) on budget proposals and implementation updates. DSH outlined its proposed 2026-27 budget, including funding for patient operating expenses, IST solutions savings, conditional release program costs, LPS bed allocation changes, electrical infrastructure projects at Napa and Patton, SB 380 transitional housing feasibility work, and expanded dental services at Metropolitan and Patton. DSH also reported that it has met court-ordered IST treatment benchmarks in the Stiavedi v. Clinton case, with average time to initiate treatment down to about five days and pending placements reduced to roughly 250, while noting that Proposition 36 could increase referrals and SB 1323 may divert some individuals earlier into community-based treatment. Members asked about rising outside hospitalization costs, Medicare enrollment, the timing and structure of capital projects, and whether IST solution funds are being fully used; DSH said the savings reflect slower-than-expected ramp-up of community programs and that the Central California FACT replacement program is still on track for January 2027 activation. The Commission for Behavioral Health described its role under the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA), including data, evaluation, grantmaking, technical assistance, and transparency work. It highlighted the new statewide Innovation Partnership Fund, a five-year, $20 million-per-year program with small and large grant categories; the first RFA drew strong interest, with more than 400 questions and over 1,000 bidders’ conference participants. The Commission also discussed a proposed extension to spend down about $4.1 million remaining for the Alcove Youth Drop-in Center grants so sites can finish implementation and Stanford can complete the final evaluation. Members asked about grant duration, whether projects can be renewed, what qualifies as innovation, and whether the fund could support service delivery rather than awareness campaigns or training; the Commission said awards are expected to be three-year contracts and that proposals must be new or meaningfully expanded approaches that support BHSA priority populations. DHCS reviewed major behavioral health changes under CalAIM and BH Connect, including peer support, mobile crisis, contingency management, traditional health care practices for tribal members, updated specialty mental health access criteria, and new substance use treatment standards based on ASAM’s fourth edition. DHCS reported strong contingency management results, with more than 13,000 members served and 95% testing negative for stimulant use during treatment, and said 21 Indian health care providers have been approved to offer traditional health care practices. It also described BH Connect initiatives such as the $1.9 billion access reform and outcomes incentive program, workforce investments, evidence-based practice expansion, IMD participation by four counties, and transitional rent services. On BHSA implementation, DHCS said it is not tracking individual county contract cuts but is monitoring county plans and statewide outcomes, while stakeholders raised concerns about local prevention and service gaps. DHCS also outlined its H.R. 1 implementation strategy, including outreach, streamlined renewals, exemptions for disabled, substance use, and medically frail individuals, and proposed clinic navigator and outreach funding; it said it has not yet produced a focused estimate of H.R. 1 impacts on behavioral health populations. The discussion ended with DHCS noting that B-CHIP bond funding has supported 437 infrastructure projects, creating 546 new or expanded facilities and more than 9,500 residential beds across the state.

Transcript Highlights:

• and the new positions are to address dental workload and implementation of SB 380, a transitional housing
• 2023-24 with five-year encumbrance authority to provide grants to counties to develop additional housing
• Where are we currently housing people, and how many people do we have on the CONREP SVP programs?
• And that's only on the housing costs?
• Are there other avenues that are more cost-efficient to providing housing?

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• There's one senator and one member of the House of Delegates, and they do terrific work.
• </c><00:10:10.880><c> of</c> senator and one member of the house of senator and one member of the house
• Today is Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition's Advocacy Day.
• Thank you, Senator, and welcome to the Affordable Housing Coalition.
• [Applause] welcome to the Affordable Housing welcome to the Affordable Housing Coalition.<00:12:22.240

Keywords: Senate streaming session for Thursday, February 12, 2026, 960, senate, all

Summary: The Senate convened with 39 members present, heard the invocation from Reverend Meredith West, and journalized her remarks. The chamber then recognized several guest groups and observances, including Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s Second District Corridor 1 for “100 Q’s in Annapolis Day,” the Kent Island High School boys lacrosse team for winning the Maryland 2A state championship, Arts Day participants, Rural Maryland Council members, Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition advocates, and visitors from the Maryland Judiciary. Senators also spoke about the meaning of Kente cloth during Black History Month, and the chamber recognized a birthday and thanked protocol staff for Valentine’s Day decorations. The Senate’s featured presentation was the annual Lincoln Day speech by the Senator from the 37th District. The senator reflected on Abraham Lincoln’s life, political career, and moral leadership, emphasizing his self-education, opposition to the expansion of slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, and the idea that the nation’s founding principles of liberty and equality guided Lincoln through the Civil War. The minority leader praised the address, and the Senate agreed without objection to journalize the remarks. After the ceremonial portion, the Senate moved to business. Bond initiatives on the calendar were read and referred to the Capital Budget Subcommittee. The Executive Nominations Committee reported favorably on a list of recess appointees, including gubernatorial secretaries, district court judges, and a state board appointee, and the report was special ordered to Monday, February 16, 2026. The chamber then began second-reader consideration of Budget and Taxation bills: Senate Bill 25, altering the cyber security technology and service tax credit, was amended and ordered printed for third reading; Senate Bill 58, creating a property tax credit for retail service station conversions, was discussed with questions about who would receive the credit and why the incentive was needed, and consideration was ongoing when the transcript ended.