Transcript Highlights:

• And so, here is the average salary of unelected prosecutors versus the average public defender: $73,000
• And so, here is the average salary of unelected prosecutors versus the average public defender: $73,000
• And so, here is the average salary of unelected prosecutors versus the average public defender: $73,000
• And so, here is the average salary of unelected prosecutors versus the average public defender: $73,000
• </c> from other judges who had allowed from other judges who had allowed defendants<00:32:14.720><c>

Summary: The Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary heard testimony from the Department of Public Advocacy (DPA) on attorney compensation and alternatives to incarceration. Because the committee lacked a quorum, the chair skipped formal roll call and minutes approval, then invited DPA Public Advocate Damon Preston, Deputy Public Advocate Melanie Lowe, and alternative sentencing worker Cena/Tina Mills to present. Preston said DPA is fully state-funded, has 698 funded positions, and was near full staffing with 673 filled positions and 42 new law graduates expected to join in August. He argued that DPA’s resources lag behind those of prosecutors, noting that local prosecutorial offices receive substantially more total funding and have additional revenue sources beyond the state budget. Preston focused on salary disparities and turnover. He said DPA trial-office attorneys total about $26 million in salaries, compared with about $41.9 million for prosecutors on publicly listed state funding, and estimated that more than 100 additional prosecutors are paid through other sources, bringing total prosecutor compensation to a little over $50 million versus DPA’s $26 million. He said starting DPA attorney pay is $58,200, experienced attorney pay averages about $73,000, and that these levels are too low given law school debt and the state’s constitutional obligation to provide defense counsel. He also said DPA attorney turnover is about 20%, median service time before separation was 15 months in 2024, and exit interviews often cite salary as the main reason for leaving. He gave examples of former DPA attorneys moving to prosecutor offices for raises ranging from 12% to 50%. Committee members asked about how often defendants are represented by private counsel versus DPA and how that affects workload. Preston said a 2017 study found about 50% of misdemeanor cases and about 75% of circuit court cases were handled by DPA, with DPA handling most of the most labor-intensive cases. He said DPA will step aside when a defendant hires private counsel or is found ineligible, and he acknowledged the system historically erred by denying counsel in some cases, though he said the current concern is whether DPA is now appointed too broadly. Members requested updated trend data on appointments over the past decade. Preston also described DPA’s pay scale and said the agency’s compensation structure makes retention difficult. Mills then described DPA’s alternative sentencing worker program, which she said has operated for about 20 years and has received national recognition. She shared a case example involving a client named Patrick, who faced a prison sentence on a possession charge and was referred to a horse-based treatment and certification program in Shelbyville. She said the client wanted treatment and a fresh start, a bed became available, and she and the client’s attorney presented an alternative sentencing plan to the court. The presentation was interrupted briefly by a technical issue, but the testimony continued.

Transcript Highlights:

• debt service, while CSU is allowed to spend up to 12%.
• It was about an equal amount of lease revenue bonds and GEO bonds.
• looking at the amount of deferred maintenance.
• looking at the amount of deferred maintenance.
• That allowed us to see incredible uptake on our college-age students.

Summary: The committee’s first major discussion focused on higher education facilities across UC, CSU, and the community colleges, with Chair Alvarez framing the issue as a final budget hearing before the May Revise. The LAO presented findings that campuses have grown substantially in buildings and square footage, while classroom and lab utilization remains below legislative standards and deferred maintenance backlogs continue to rise. The LAO also emphasized that the state and segments lack comprehensive data on capital renewal spending and recommended better reporting, clearer funding targets, and long-term planning for renewal and maintenance. UC, CSU, and community college representatives each described large five-year capital plans, aging facilities, seismic and deferred maintenance needs, and the role of student housing, while noting that construction costs are rising faster than inflation. Members questioned the segments about debt service, utilization rates, and how projects are prioritized. UC said its debt service tied to state support is about $665 million annually and described a $30 billion five-year capital financial plan, including housing, medical centers, and building renewal. CSU said it has about $31 billion in five-year needs and more than $8 billion in deferred maintenance, with funding coming from a mix of state-related and one-time sources since the state shifted capital responsibility to CSU. Community colleges said their unmet facilities needs total about $33.5 billion and explained their use of a scoring matrix and FUSION system to rank projects. The chair and members pressed all three systems to better distinguish between projects that are truly shovel-ready and those that are long-term needs, and discussed whether facilities condition data, total cost of ownership, and more standardized metrics should guide future bond proposals. The committee then turned to Proposition 2 and the Governor’s proposed community college capital outlay projects. The Department of Finance said Prop. 2 provides $1.5 billion for community colleges and that the Governor’s budget proposes 29 projects, with two continuing Prop. 51 projects also included. The LAO supported the overall use of the funds but raised concerns about the current 65/35 split between modernization and growth, the unusually large share of gymnasium projects, and some scoring metrics that favor larger campuses and certain regions. Community college officials said the scoring system was developed through participatory governance and would take one to two years to revise, but they supported the funding and agreed to follow up on questions about project categories and the rationale for the weighting. Members also suggested giving more weight to modernization, regional access, and intersegmental or collaborative projects. A final item addressed the CalKids program. The Department of Finance proposed $56,000 ongoing General Fund for three positions, while the LAO recommended approving two positions but rejecting a manager position until the current $7.5 million marketing campaign is evaluated. ScholarShare’s executive director said CalKids has enrolled more than 5 million children, with nearly 600,000 claims and over $45 million distributed, and argued that additional staff and outreach are needed to reach a goal of 1 million claimed scholarships by the end of 2025 and to implement AB 2808. Members asked about marketing effectiveness, data sharing, and eligibility rules, and the program said it is expanding partnerships with Cradle to Career and CSAC. No final vote was taken in the hearing, and the chair indicated the facilities item would be held open.

Transcript Highlights:

• If Medicaid is covering these services at their allowable amount, it's actually not the patient that
• You have to state the amount, actually.
• It needs to be allowable amount of Medicare reimbursement.
• That's about the average amount of eligible unreimbursed and uncompensated medical care expenses is about
• this amount of money, we get this amount of return.

Committee: House House Health & Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• And it's a large amount of money.
• Is it the dollar amount? Is it not as easy as it sounded or what? No, probably a dollar amount.
• And I'm not allowed to do that.
• This map allows...
• Under the national average.

Committee: House Public Education

Transcript Highlights:

• We don't allow people without jackets to speak.
• And allows that money to go back into the system.
• Well, we have seen in Cruces a fair amount.
• a certain amount of time if that school is no longer operating?
• It's on the books; it's allowable.

Committee: House New Mexico Finance Authority Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• This is the per-student amount of funding generated by secondary students over time.
• I took that average and looked at everybody who was above that.
• It's not that it's not allowable, and we would continue to allow it, but if we could look at ways to
• Another highlight is the science proficiency, where they're exceeding the state average by about ten
• All of the employers pay the full amount, $6,000 a semester.

Transcript Highlights:

• out. customers to allow time for the other biosyms to come out.
• And in Nevada, maximizers are not allowed.
• It is a significant amount of work.
• So imagine being an average patient.
• The discussion could have been any amount, but that was the amount that was given.

Committee: Senate Insurance

Summary: The Senate Committee on Insurance met on May 6, 2026, and first reported HB 1241 favorably. That bill, by Chairman Furman, requires insurers to check with DCFS before paying certain insurance settlements to determine whether the recipient owes delinquent child support, and to withhold and remit arrears if found. DCFS explained that Louisiana already has intercepts and other collection tools, but no current mechanism for insurance settlements. Senators raised concerns about notice to obligors and about liability if insurers fail to withhold, but the bill was advanced without objection. The committee then heard HB 870, which would require health insurers and PBMs to cover lower-cost generic or biosimilar drugs when available and to use utilization management no more restrictively on those drugs. Supporters said the bill would improve access and lower patient costs by using wholesale acquisition cost as the comparison point. Opponents, including Louisiana Blue and the AFL-CIO, argued that WAC ignores rebates and net cost, could force plans to cover higher-cost biosimilars first, and could increase premiums and disrupt ERISA and fully insured plan design. The committee adopted a technical amendment set and then a second amendment set that added notice and reporting requirements tied to net cost calculations, and HB 870 was reported favorably as amended. Several other bills were moved with little or no opposition. HB 1176, concerning Medicare Advantage coverage for integrative cancer treatments such as cold cap therapy, cryotherapy, and acupuncture, was amended to change the effective date and then reported favorably. HB 1196, dealing with colorectal cancer screening follow-up colonoscopies, was also amended and reported favorably. HB 1162, a consumer protection bill requiring DOI to verify that a contractor named on a first-party property damage check is licensed in Louisiana, was amended and reported favorably. HB 826, which modernizes insurance referral rules to allow referrals by email or website address, was reported favorably. The committee also heard HB 1151 on insurer investment limits and solvency protections, and HB 1236 on pharmacy reimbursement and copay maximizer programs; both drew substantial testimony and concern, especially over retroactivity, PBM cost allocation, and whether copay maximizers shift costs to patients, but the transcript cuts off before final action on HB 1236.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> provide the information that will allow provide the information that will allow us<00:22:48.960>
• </c> negotiate a better deal when on average negotiate a better deal when on average we<00:59:17.920>
• Um, and I also amount of money you make?
• </c> simply because of resources and amounts simply because of resources and amounts of<01:25:18.400>
• </c><01:25:45.760><c> of</c> cost taxpayers um substantial amounts of cost taxpayers um substantial amounts

Bills: HF3422 , HF3461 , HF2904

Committee: House State Government Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• And to have a bit of a more comparable amount, we do provide that.
• And I also thank you for allowing me to go first.
• The state's average is 40%. When you back us down to 40%, we are pretty much at the state average.
• The state's average is 40%. When you back us down to 40%, we are pretty much at the state average.
• Now, that's not to say that the state average is good, right?

Committee: Joint Joint Legislative Audit Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• I think for FY28, we assumed the average. Is that right?
• amount appropriated would not reasonably reflect the amount that was going to be spent.
• That's our core amount.
• A $14,000 paycheck for the average SDS worker.
• And it is these services that help to allow for that.

Committee: House Budget

Transcript Highlights:

• So, there is a A five-year average of severance tax revenue is calculated.
• But yeah, if it doesn't go our way, we could lose a small amount of money.
• Over the 5% and 5-year rolling average, it goes to a certain thing.
• So, our policy allows us to do about 5 to 10 funds.
• The amount of that commitment that was sent over to the investor and then the aggregate amount that was

Committee: House Investments & Pensions Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• We want to be above average, and we work at that.
• I think in the past we never really allowed this.
• We have to allow a single point of entry.
• This will allow us to expand those services.
• The thought was a seed amount of money.

Transcript Highlights:

• We will not allow traditional open-air evaporative cooling.
• We will not allow traditional open-air evaporative cooling.
• But if you'll allow me, this is serious. This water is essential to life.
• The average meter runs between $1,750 and $4,000.
• Now, the average meter runs between $1,750 and $4,000.

Bills: SB259

Committee: House Energy

Summary: The committee met for its final Energy meeting and took up Senate Bill 259, with Chair Newton offering an amendment as a condition for hearing the bill. The amendment focused on water protections for data centers, requiring low-consumptive cooling methods such as closed-loop, dielectric fluid, or air cooling when groundwater is the primary cooling source, and prohibiting traditional open-air evaporative cooling. Newton explained that the bill applies to permitted water users, not domestic household use, and is intended to ensure accurate measurement of high-volume water use such as irrigation and industrial use. Newton said the bill would require metering or another measuring device at a central point for permitted users, would not reduce a user’s allotment if they do not use their full permitted amount, and would allow the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to investigate complaints and assess escalating fines for waste or abuse. He also described a five-year averaging system that would allow users to exceed their annual allotment up to 150% in a single year as long as they remain within their permit over five years, and said the metering requirement would be phased in over time to reduce cost burdens. Members questioned the fiscal impact, whether the Oklahoma Water Resources Board costs would be covered by appropriations or fees, and why mandatory metering was preferable to a voluntary system. Newton responded that the board’s costs would be covered within its fee schedule, and argued that mandatory reporting and metering were needed to ensure compliance and long-term groundwater conservation, citing concerns about aquifer depletion and the importance of protecting water resources for future generations. The committee voted 8-0 to report Senate Bill 259 out with a do pass recommendation. The chair then thanked members and adjourned the meeting, noting it would be the committee’s last meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• States to adopt waivers that would allow them to do that for Medicaid.
• And $6 annually to the average member of the bottom 10%.
• During the first Trump term, before COVID, what were average...
• Almost a thousand dollar a month hit to the average Kansan.
• They look at the amount that they are going to bring in from a paycheck.

Committee: Senate Senate Budget

Transcript Highlights:

• And that benefit amount is adjusted automatically for inflation over time. Next slide, please.
• And that benefit amount is adjusted automatically for inflation over time.
• Families also need a great amount of support with this role.
• It brings bodies in to do the work, but only for a short amount of time.
• The average client has... The average client has about five or more chronic conditions.

Committee: Joint Joint Legislative Executive Committee on Planning for Aging and Disability Issues

Summary: The committee held what was described as its final meeting and began with introductions, then received updates on several long-term care and aging initiatives that originated from earlier J-LEC work. A presentation on the WA Cares Fund reviewed its development from a 2014 research project to implementation, including premium collection, expanded eligibility for near-retirees, portability, recent technical fixes, and the creation of a supplemental private insurance market. The presenter said the program is now largely in place and ready for future use, with benefits expected to go fully live next summer. The Dementia Action Collaborative also reported on its state plan, including Project ECHO dementia training, dementia-capable community pilots through area agencies on aging, and ongoing work on early detection, brain health, and caregiver support. Another DSHS presentation covered the Medicaid Transformation Project, including Medicaid Alternative Care, Tailored Supports for Older Adults, presumptive eligibility, and health-related social needs benefits such as rental assistance and nutrition support, with officials saying the waiver is likely secure until its 2028 renewal. The meeting then shifted to emerging issues from advocates and ombuds. The long-term care ombuds described persistent staffing shortages, concerns about low wages, the growing use of technology and surveillance in care settings, private equity ownership of facilities, and illegal or pressured discharges and evictions. The developmental disabilities ombuds focused on people with developmental disabilities who remain hospitalized without medical need, the need for better mental health and behavioral health access, and workforce training gaps for people serving this population. Disability Rights Washington urged more community-based supports to reduce repeated institutionalization, pointing to gaps in programs such as PACT, GOSH, and peer bridgers, and recommending those services be expanded and bundled at scale. Provider and workforce panels emphasized similar themes. Washington Health Care Association and LeadingAge Washington said assisted living and skilled nursing facilities face workforce shortages, Medicaid rates that lag behind costs, increasing client acuity, behavioral health needs, and discharge bottlenecks. They highlighted the need for more flexible care models, improved case management, and better reimbursement, including for complex behavioral health cases. Supported living providers reported high turnover, underfunding, and a successful pilot that used enhanced rates and added training to place 30 hard-to-serve individuals. SEIU 775 argued that the central problem across settings is the direct care workforce crisis, driven by low wages and inadequate benefits, and said rate increases must be tied more directly to worker compensation. DSHS closed by noting heavy reliance on federal Medicaid funding, ongoing pilots in training, transportation, remote caregiving, smart-home technology, and rental subsidies, and said future planning should shift toward a multi-sector state strategy after the committee sunsets.

Transcript Highlights:

• Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today.
• We don't want to allow any foreign money in our election.
• The average voter is not. things to the average voter that may be concepts that they don't use every
• averaged the highest turnout at 11.3%. 2016 saw the lowest average turnout. at 5.1% in 2021 saw the
• Average wait time across all of those was 4.5 minutes.

Bills: SB16 , SB76 , SB310 , SB311 , SB396 , SB505 , SB827 , SB964 , SB1209 , SB1210 , SB1386 , SB1470 , SB2035 , SJR37 , SB 16

Committee: Senate State Affairs

Transcript Highlights:

• That equates to about 82.5 million acre-feet over a 10-year rolling average.
• It also allowed private water companies.
• That's important because that means that they were already allowed to do it.
• They should be continued to allow to do it.
• Our concern about this is that the current national average is about 20%.

Committee: House House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee of Reference

Summary: The committee began by announcing that House Bill 2094 would be held and not heard that day, then received a lengthy update from Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzky on Colorado River negotiations and post-2026 operating rules. He described Arizona’s legal position, the basin’s water allocations, current shortages, conservation efforts, and the state’s view that the Upper Basin should share more of the reductions and move more water from reservoirs above Lake Powell to Lake Mead. Members asked about tourism, recreation, tribal water rights, public outreach, and the role of the state’s delegation and the federal government. Buschatzky said Arizona has already made major conservation cuts and that further reductions are likely, whether by agreement or federal action, and emphasized ongoing negotiations and public meetings. The committee then heard House Bill 2758, which would expand McMullen Valley groundwater transfer rules to allow eligible entities, including private water companies, to withdraw and transport groundwater under specified conditions, with ADWR oversight and reporting requirements. Supporters argued the bill would provide a lawful, regulated way to move water for urban growth and housing needs, while opponents from La Paz County and rural advocacy groups said it would accelerate aquifer depletion, harm private wells, and benefit a New York hedge fund at the expense of local residents. After debate over guardrails, stakeholder outreach, and the impact on rural communities, the committee adopted the Griffin amendment and passed HB 2758 as amended on a 6-4 due-pass vote. Finally, the committee took up House Bill 2098, which revises bonding authority and public hearing notification requirements for county water augmentation authorities and allows such authorities to enter into local repayment agreements with WIFA. Pinal County officials and related stakeholders testified in support, saying the changes would help the Pinal County Water Augmentation Authority finance future water and infrastructure projects, including possible augmentation efforts tied to Bartlett Dam, and would clean up statutory language to match the authority’s needs. The transcript ends during testimony on HB 2098, before any committee vote on that bill is shown.

Transcript Highlights:

• For example, they get the $1,500 difference on average in comparison to the state average.
• Less than the equal amount.
• will be used, and gradually every year the ERA fund amount will grow?
• Together, these two decisions allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns through
• And I suggest that you just allow us to close.

Committee: Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments

Transcript Highlights:

• It allows us to call.
• And how long does the average...
• That was allowable, but it was not.
• the amount of money.
• And just sort of basic math, if you have the same amount of money. serving the same amount of employees

Committee: House Delivery of Government Efficiency

Transcript Highlights:

• I think it will allow us to be very efficient in today's hearing.
• And secondly, it's the dollar amount at stake.
• What's the average amount? How much does a pole cost, I guess?
• I believe Chair Darby said 684 was the average for FCC.
• If this legislature allows...

Bills: HB3445 , HB3448

Committee: House S/C on Telecommunications & Broadband

Keywords: telecommunications, electric cooperative, rights-of-way, infrastructure, provider access, right-of-way, pole attachment, regulatory access