Transcript Highlights:

• It's a sliding scale depending on how many cases you handle.
• So, I think part of the ask was centralized around the idea that it might depend on what Jennifer needs
• That number was presented by the Board on Judicial Compensation.
• The Board on Judicial Compensation was created by the statute.
• Well, we have sent the request that is the request of the Board on Judicial Compensation.

Committee: House A&B Judiciary Subcommittee

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> that time and deserve to be compensated. that time and deserve to be compensated.
• The party has long believed that higher compensation, adequate compensation, leads to better teacher
• </c><00:15:24.360><c> for</c> and weren't we weren't compensated for and weren't we weren't compensated
• I I think it depends on the you answer.
• Depends on the &gt;&gt; What's the cost for this?

Bills: HB1890 , HB1888 , HB1676

Committee: Senate Education

Summary: The committees heard three measures, beginning with HB 1890 HD3, which would provide automatic step increases and a COVID-era retention bonus for teachers. Supporters included HSTA, the Democratic Party’s Education Caucus, and a student who said higher pay and predictable salary growth would help retain teachers in Hawaii. The Department of Education supported the intent but asked that the bill be expanded to cover all department employees. The Attorney General’s office said the draft needed clarification to avoid conflict with Chapter 89 and to make clear any funding was subject to legislative appropriation. The Office of the Public Defender and B&F testified in opposition, and committee members questioned whether the step increases were already in the current contract and whether the bill was needed. HSTA said the current contract includes automatic step increases subject to funding, but argued the bill was still needed because funding is not guaranteed and the measure would codify the policy. HSTA also said the COVID bonus would apply only to active teachers who worked during the pandemic and estimated the total cost at roughly $150 million to $200 million over four years. No vote was taken in the portion provided. The committee then took up HB 1888 HD3, which would require DOE and charter schools to report harassment incidents and strengthen penalties for harassment of educational workers from a petty misdemeanor to a misdemeanor. DOE supported the bill and suggested narrowing language about assisting workers with temporary restraining orders, saying that function would be better handled through the Attorney General’s pilot program. The Office of the Public Defender opposed the bill, arguing the harassment language was overly broad, vague, and potentially unconstitutional, and that existing assault and terroristic threatening statutes already protect educational workers. HSTA, the State Commission on the Status of Women, and several individual testifiers supported the measure, describing increased intimidation and harassment of teachers and other school staff, especially since COVID. The Special Education Advisory Council opposed the bill’s language on “disrupting and interfering” with school functions, saying it could chill parents of students with IEPs from advocating for their children. Testimony was split, with the chair noting 20 in support and 16 in opposition in the portion shown. A final witness, Michelle Pestana, testified in opposition based on her family’s experience with special education services, describing alleged seclusion and restraint of her daughter and expressing concern that DOE testimony in prior hearings had targeted special education parents. Her remarks were cut off as time expired. The transcript ends before any committee action or vote on HB 1888 was taken.

Transcript Highlights:

• They're compensated just like when I was in the House, I got compensated for mileage.
• You're doing it to be compensated.
• They're compensated just like when I was in the House, I got compensated for mileage.
• You're doing it to be compensated.
• You're doing it to be compensated. compensated. compensated.

Committee: Senate Judiciary

Transcript Highlights:

• Farmers have done their part without compensation for the work and missed commercial opportunity.
• Farmers have done their part without compensation for the work and missed commercial opportunity.
• </c><00:07:55.479><c> or</c> state did not in any way compensate or state did not in any way compensate
• Farmers have done their part without compensation for the work and missed commercial opportunity.
• </c><00:08:37.479><c> for</c><00:08:37.680><c> the</c> their part without compensation for the their

Bills: HF2274 , HF1932

Committee: Senate Taxes

Keywords: taxation, income tax, property tax, corporate tax, homestead credit, local government aid, tax credits, economic development, taxpayer assistance, tax credit outreach, tax preparation, free tax help, IRS, Department of Revenue, general fund appropriation, earned income tax credit, child tax credit, volunteer income tax assistance, VITA, low-income taxpayers

Transcript Highlights:

• It requires 20% of annual compensation for anyone, VP or higher, to be tied to keeping rates from rising
• That’s 86% support for tying executive compensation directly to affordability and requiring utilities
• Let’s hold them to their word and hold them to inflation, and tie their compensation to keeping rates
• The statutory preferences may also financing, returns, compensation, and grid utilization.
• One of them was employee compensation, for instance, that it could harm the ability for employees to

Committee: House Utilities and Energy

Transcript Highlights:

• Hospitals are paid differently for the services they provide depending on their hospital designation.
• The scope of collective bargaining for language access providers is limited to economic compensation,
• Katie Durkin continued: “We primarily bargain over compensation for appointments.
• We've done so for years without issues agreeing on what compensation is.
• Katie Durkin continued: “...received compensation at all for appointments that were missed by the client

Summary: The House Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on a series of bills, beginning with House Bill 2689 on Working Connections Child Care. Staff explained that the proposed substitute would keep eligibility at 60% of state median income, eliminate scheduled expansions to 75% and 85%, reduce future subsidy rates from the 85th to the 75th percentile of market, end enhanced regional rates, and change reimbursement rules from prospective enrollment-based payments back to attendance-based payments with a reduced monthly payment after 11 absent days. Child care advocates thanked the committee for removing the proposed cap on the program but opposed the cuts to provider rates and eligibility expansions, warning of harm to families and providers. The committee then heard Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5124 on Medicaid network adequacy for post-acute care, with staff noting administrative costs and indeterminate fiscal effects; hospitals supported the bill as a way to reduce discharge delays and reliance on single-case agreements. Senate Bill 5832, which would raise the new motor vehicle arbitration fee from $3 to $6 to support the Lemon Law arbitration program, drew support from the Attorney General’s Office and auto dealers, who said the fee had not been updated since 1995 and the program was underfunded. The committee also heard Substitute Senate Bill 5862, providing a one-time 3% COLA for certain PERS 1 and TRS 1 retirees, with retirees testifying in favor and local government representatives warning about added employer costs. The committee next heard Senate Bill 5922, allowing school districts to transfer money from the Transportation Vehicle Fund to other funds if they reduce their fleet and receive OSPI approval; staff said the bill would mainly add administrative work for OSPI, and no one testified. Substitute Senate Bill 5923 would allow a hospital on an island in Skagit County to qualify as a critical access hospital if federally certified; Island Health testified that the designation would help sustain rural services, and a committee member asked about bed count and Medicaid/charity-care pressures. Senate Bill 5944 would require language access providers to bargain over compensation for missed or canceled appointments and clarify that statutes prevail over conflicting contract terms; WFSE supported the bill, saying it would equalize bargaining rights across agencies. Substitute Senate Bill 5972 would extend interest arbitration rights to correctional employees in city and county jails regardless of population size; labor supported the bill as a retention tool, while cities and counties opposed it, arguing it would raise costs and should include ability-to-pay protections. The committee also heard Senate Bill 5988, authorizing the Department of Health to continue accrediting opioid treatment programs and charge accreditation fees, which DOH said was needed to avoid winding down the program. Later, the committee heard Senate Bill 6151, which would move Ecology fee revenues for landfill methane emissions and laboratory accreditation into dedicated accounts; Ecology supported the bill as improving transparency and reinvesting fees into the programs, and staff said the lab fee shift would be offset by a related budget action. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6194 would pay a rural hospital on a federally recognized Indian reservation, specifically Astria Toppenish, at 150% of the Medicaid fee-for-service rate beginning in 2027; hospital leaders and community members testified that the hospital serves a high-Medicaid, rural, and tribal population and faces persistent losses. Finally, Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6302 would direct L&I to investigate possible misclassification of independent contractors on public works projects involving multiple workers doing the same finishing work; labor and business representatives both described it as a negotiated compromise to address underground economy abuses. The committee took no final votes during the hearing and ended by reiterating amendment deadlines for bills scheduled for executive session.

Transcript Highlights:

• In other parts of the state, it's not as plentiful, and it depends on what your training is.
• In other parts of the state, it's not as plentiful, and it depends on what your training is.
• Your real cost depends on your deductible and what co-pays are right now.
• </c><04:29:13.040><c> on</c> plans. the very people who depend on plans. the very people who depend on
• </c><04:41:56.878><c> on</c> what services will cost depending on what services will cost depending on

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• The unemployment compensation trust fund exceeds $71.5 million as of November 30, 2024.
• So Connect Co depends and is working on all three things.
• Now, again, that depends on how quick and if these things even happen in the future.
• It depends on how bluntly I speak.
• In an open hearing, that depends a lot on how the Benoffs view that.

Summary: The Committee on Finance held an informational briefing with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations on its budget, staffing, and operations. The director reviewed department leadership and reported on recruitment and retention efforts, including a 14% vacancy rate, a 10.5% workforce increase from filling 189 positions, and the Hela Imua internship program, which has placed 516 interns since inception and led to 62 permanent hires. The department also described modernization efforts, including the UI Huakai project and the Disability Compensation Division’s electronic case management system, and said the unemployment compensation trust fund exceeded $71.5 million, triggering Schedule C for calendar year 2025. The department’s main budget requests included $2.9 million for fiscal year 2026 to support maintenance and operations of the electronic case management system, plus restoration of two enforcement specialist positions. Officials said those positions are needed to address a decline in investigators from 11 to six since 2009, improve compliance, and handle Hawaii Compliance Express certificate work. Additional requests included two human resources specialists to address recruitment backlogs, two labor enforcement specialists to reduce a backlog of Chapter 104 prevailing wage and wage cases, and two positions for the Office of Community Services to expand immigrant services and access centers. The department also discussed federal funding for unemployment insurance and workforce programs, including National Dislocated Worker Grants and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds, and said some funding is received in increments and may require extensions. Members asked about Kauai inspection coverage, federal funding uncertainty, the size of the special unemployment insurance fund, and whether the department could ramp up staffing during a future crisis. Officials said Kauai is currently served by inspectors from Honolulu and there are no plans to open a permanent island position because of staffing constraints. They said the department is meeting federal guidelines and is not in jeopardy, and that the special unemployment insurance fund has about $10 million, with current UI operations funded at a little over $15 million, meaning the fund may need to cover roughly $5 million if federal support declines. The director said the department would use the special fund to supplement shortfalls, but noted that federal funding cuts and the loss of ARPA support have already affected operations.

Transcript Highlights:

• CSU is heavily dependent on state funding.
• We took that loan out, and it's been earmarked for one-time employee compensation increases.
• But the compensation for our president continues to soar.
• In fact, her total compensation package is now $722,000 for the year.
• We heard today about linking executive compensation to enrollment.

Transcript Highlights:

• I try to mix them out, depending on who the audience is.
• I try to mix them out, depending on who the audience is.
• Whether it be a mother or a father to seek compensation for the loss of a pregnancy.
• The problem is that it's... ...compensation to grieving parents for their, quote, unborn child.
• A legal means to seek compensation to those exact parents that SB 164 does, A legal means to seek compensation

Summary: The committee heard a lengthy presentation from Miami-Dade State Attorney Catherine Fernandez-Rundle on human trafficking, describing it as a major criminal enterprise in Florida driven by online recruitment, local victims, and organized traffickers. She outlined Miami-Dade’s task force, victim-centered prosecution practices, training efforts for schools, hotels, transit workers, and other partners, and community-supported services such as the Project Phoenix shelter and Thrive Clinic. She also urged better interstate communication about known traffickers and noted that prior legislative changes, including restrictions on tattooing minors, came from trafficking cases. Senators asked about school-based exploitation, technology and social media recruitment, and information-sharing with other states; Fernandez-Rundle said training and technology remain essential and offered to share materials and tour the facility. The committee then considered CS for SB 656, which Senator Bradley said would codify FDLE’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force funding program and rename/expand the online sting operations grant program to better support investigations, training, technology, and personnel. The bill was supported as a needed response to online child exploitation and was reported favorably by unanimous roll call. The committee also passed SB 892 by Senator Martin, which streamlines sentencing procedures for habitual felony offenders and related designations by reducing paperwork delays tied to clemency and requiring clearer notice before pleas; it too was reported favorably unanimously. The most extensive debate centered on SB 164, which would expand Florida’s Wrongful Death Act to allow civil damages for the death of an unborn child. Senator Graal said the bill uses existing statutory language defining an unborn child and is intended to let parents recover damages when negligence causes a pregnancy loss. Supporters argued it recognizes unborn life and should be strengthened; opponents warned it would function as a personhood measure, create liability risks for doctors, businesses, friends, and family members, chill miscarriage and abortion-related care, and worsen Florida’s OB-GYN shortage. Several speakers raised concerns about abuse by rapists or abusive partners and about impacts on IVF and emergency care. The committee heard extensive questioning about the bill’s scope and its relationship to existing criminal statutes, but no vote on SB 164 was taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• But again, there will be quite a bit of variation depending on how many people end up working over that
• That's what the report was in 2021: to have different rates depending on whether people elect medical
• And generally when that happens, employers are required to enroll all regularly compensated employees
• Our port depends on it.
• Our port depends on it.

Summary: The Ways and Means Committee met on January 20, 2026, hearing several bills related to retirement systems, school employee health coverage, port district pensions, environmental fee accounts, developmental disability services, legislative budget transparency, and a new Apple Health employer assessment. Early in the meeting, the committee heard SB 5834, which would make permanent a temporary expansion allowing certain retirement trust fund earnings to pay broader administrative expenses, and SB 5835, which would raise the lump-sum retirement allowance threshold for Plan 2 members from $50 to $250. Both bills were presented by Department of Retirement Systems staff and supported by the department, with questions focused on the scope of the administrative-expense language in SB 5834 and the technical nature of SB 5835. The committee then entered executive session and moved three bills without recommendation to the Rules Committee: Substitute SB 5249, allowing kit homes as emergency housing; Substitute SB 5053, allowing certain counties to include school district boundaries when forming a public facilities district; and Substitute SB 5203, directing state agencies to develop a wildlife habitat connectivity strategy and creating related accounts. After returning to public hearing, members heard SB 5883 on SEBB eligibility for school employees in their second school year of employment. Supporters, including labor representatives and individual school workers, said the bill would reduce coverage gaps and improve recruitment and retention, while school district officials and administrators argued it would create an unfunded mandate, increase costs, and add administrative burden. No action was taken on the bill. The committee also heard SB 5905, which would exclude certain port district employees from PERS if they are covered by the federal Railroad Retirement Plan or a collectively bargained defined benefit pension plan. Port representatives, labor stakeholders, and the Department of Retirement Systems described it as a narrow technical fix to avoid duplicate pension coverage and retroactive liabilities, and the bill drew support. SB 6151 would create dedicated accounts for Ecology fee revenue tied to laboratory accreditation and landfill methane work; Ecology and county representatives supported the measure as a way to reinvest fees in the programs that generate them. SB 6163 would require the Individual and Family Services waiver for developmental disability services to be budgeted at maintenance level; advocates said it would stabilize services and prevent waitlists, and no opposition was heard. The final two bills were SB 6177, which would require LEAP’s budget website to display additional budget detail such as carry-forward data, program and subprogram expenditures, and balance sheets for all public accounts, and SB 6173, which would create an Apple Health employer assessment on larger private employers with workers enrolled in Medicaid expansion coverage. SB 6177 was framed as a transparency measure, while SB 6173 drew extensive testimony both in support and opposition: supporters said it would help offset expected Medicaid losses after federal work requirements take effect and stabilize the health safety net, while opponents argued it would be an unfunded tax, create administrative and legal complications, and could discourage hiring or reduce hours. The committee heard no final votes on the public hearing bills, and staff reminded members that signature sheets would be held for 24 hours under Senate rules.

Transcript Highlights:

• I request to straightforwardly fully fund our compensation and maintain the Running Start cap at 1.4,
• Okay, that concludes the employee compensation portion.
• She depends on these services to be able to live on her own and someday hold a job.
• I don't want to depend on others. I want to earn my own money.
• I depend on my job coach to be able to keep my dream job with the City of Seattle.

Bills: SB5998

Committee: Senate Ways & Means

Keywords: fiscal appropriations, budget, state funding, financial management, operating expenses

Transcript Highlights:

• I request that you straightforwardly fully fund our compensation and maintain the Running Start cap at
• Okay, that concludes the employee compensation portion.
• She depends on these services to be able to live on her own and someday hold a job.
• I don't want to depend on others. I want to earn my own money.
• I depend on my job coach to be able to keep my dream job with the City of Seattle.

Summary: The committee held a public hearing on the Senate operating budget proposal, beginning with a staff briefing from James Kettle. He described the budget as built on relatively flat revenue after multiple forecast updates, with substantial mandatory cost growth, especially in Health Care Authority, DSHS, and DCYF. He highlighted major policy-level additions and savings, including large tort liability costs, continued support for long-term services, reductions tied to child care and K-12 items, several assumed revenue bills, and major transfers from reserves and other accounts. Kettle also noted the four-year outlook remained positive overall, with about $1 billion ending fund balance in the final year and roughly $3 billion in total reserves. A committee member asked about a diagram showing the loss of federal funds, and staff said they would follow up. Public testimony then focused first on K-12 education, where school leaders, teachers, OSPI, PTA, and rural district representatives largely opposed the proposed cuts to local effort assistance, transition to kindergarten, bus depreciation, and related school funding items. Many argued the reductions would disproportionately harm rural and property-poor districts and weaken early learning access, while several students and educators spoke in favor of career and technical education and IT Academy funding. The committee also heard support for wildfire prevention funding from the Commissioner of Public Lands, who thanked the Senate for restoring those dollars but raised concerns about recreation program reductions. Higher education testimony was mixed but generally supportive of the Senate proposal compared with the governor’s budget. Community and technical college leaders warned that the budget still shifts compensation costs to tuition and reduces Running Start funding, while university representatives from Western, Eastern, Central, WSU, and UW thanked the committee for avoiding deeper cuts. Private vocational college students and administrators urged extension of Washington College Grant eligibility for students already enrolled, and others asked to preserve IT Academy and related certification funding. In early learning, child care and advocacy groups praised the decision not to cap Working Connections Child Care but warned that child care and transition to kindergarten still bear a disproportionate share of cuts; they also requested continued support for Dolly Parton Imagination Library and Pierce County early childhood programs, including Family Connects. The hearing continued with testimony on employee compensation, mental health, and human services. State employee and retiree groups supported the budget’s COLA and wildfire funding but objected to cuts in retiree health benefits. Behavioral health and public safety advocates supported mentoring, Trueblood-related funding, crisis stabilization, and the Recovery Navigator Program, while others opposed reductions to those programs and to community-based recovery services. In human services, witnesses thanked the committee for funding victim services, child welfare supports, health homes, adult day care, community health centers, energy assistance, and disability services, while urging the committee to avoid further reductions to skilled nursing, case management, and recovery navigation. No votes were taken during the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• It depends on the size of the entity.
• It depends on what they need managed and what they don't do internally.
• I have about 120 vets under me using their GI Bills and about 100 dependents.
• Let's do it, and let's not just depend on one single thing. So I enthusiastically vote yes.
• Chair and Representative Gress, it depends.

Bills: HB2056 , HB2202 , HB2207 , HB2224 , HB2303 , HB2344 , HB2532 , HB2759 , HB2798

Committees: House Appropriations , House House Appropriations Committee of Reference

Keywords: brackish water, groundwater, desalination, water resources, feasibility study, environmental impact, dementia care, telementoring, healthcare education, rural communities, grant funding, braille, disability access, education funding, state corrections, inclusion, produce incentive, agriculture, economic support, funding

Transcript Highlights:

• In 2016, the governor signed into law 1066 requiring ag employees to receive overtime compensation. .
• ..until law 1066 requiring ag employees to receive overtime compensation for overtime hours worked beyond
• When Oregon and New York, not red states by far, saw that California required overtime compensation for
• Those workers deserve to know how their deferred compensation is being used.
• Those workers deserve to know how their deferred compensation is being used.

Committee: Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement

Summary: The committee heard SB 921, which would create a tax credit to help agricultural employers offset overtime premium costs for farmworkers. Senator Grove and supporters, including farmworkers, the California Farm Bureau, and agricultural groups, argued the bill would restore lost hours and take-home pay after California’s agricultural overtime law reduced schedules. Opponents, including the California Federation of Labor Unions and CRLA Foundation, argued the proposal would subsidize employers with taxpayer dollars and undermine the principle that employers should pay overtime themselves. The bill was held in subcommittee until more members arrived. The committee then took up SB 1083, a cleanup bill to the prior year’s school employee misconduct database law. The author and supporters said it would add due process protections for classified school employees, require an administrative law judge review before placement in the database, and improve notice and vetting rules for contractors and non-permanent staff. School employer groups and other opponents warned the bill could slow investigations and weaken child-safety protections. The committee approved the bill 3-0 and sent it to Senate Appropriations. Members also considered SB 1089, which would require CalPERS health plans to cover GLP-1 medications and expand access through CalRX for chronic weight management and related health conditions. The author and supporters, including the American Diabetes Association and medical groups, said the drugs can prevent diabetes and improve health outcomes but remain unaffordable for many. Pharma representatives expressed concerns about the bill as drafted but said they were open to continued discussions. The bill passed 4-0 to Appropriations. The committee also approved the consent calendar 4-0. Later, the committee heard SB 954, which would narrow and add guardrails to last year’s CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing, including environmental review near disadvantaged communities and labor standards such as prevailing wage and skilled-and-trained workforce requirements. Labor, environmental, and community groups supported the bill as a cleanup of an overly broad exemption, while business and manufacturing groups opposed it, warning it would discourage investment and worsen California’s competitiveness. The bill passed 3-1 to Appropriations. Finally, SB 1299, a fire sprinkler fitter certification bill, was heard and passed 3-0 to Appropriations with support from the sprinkler fitters and building trades and no recorded opposition.

Transcript Highlights:

• In 2016, the governor signed into law 1066 requiring ag employees to receive overtime compensation. .
• ..requiring ag employees to receive overtime compensation for overtime hours worked beyond eight hours
• When Oregon and New York, not red states by far, saw that California required overtime compensation for
• Those workers deserve to know how their deferred compensation is being used.
• Those workers deserve to know how their deferred compensation is being used.

Committee: Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, there's no privatization problem that our members are appropriately compensated, you know, with low
• [music] to keep the sector compensation [music] to keep the highest<00:11:34.720><c> quality</c><00:
• </c><00:31:06.320><c> for</c> households, and they compensated for households, and they compensated for
• Successful<01:15:23.520><c> deployment</c><01:15:24.160><c> depends</c><01:15:24.640><c> on</c><01:15
• :24.880><c> people</c> Successful deployment depends on people Successful deployment depends on people

Committee: Senate Transportation

Transcript Highlights:

• It's based on a percentage of your premium, of your insurance, so it depends on how much insurance you
• Of your insurance, so it depends on how much insurance you pay for your home.
• It's over 12 hours, and it is sometimes 16 hours, depending on how big the election is, and whether there
• So it just depends on how much they give us.
• The witness said it depends and that he is not deep in that process.

Committee: House Appropriations

Summary: The committee heard a budget presentation for the Department of State. House Fiscal Division said the FY27 recommended budget is $128.6 million and 367 positions, with elections making up the largest share. Secretary of State Nancy Landry said the office is implementing Louisiana’s first closed party primary, continuing voter education efforts, and moving toward procurement of a new voting system that would produce a voter-verifiable paper ballot and support risk-limiting audits. Members asked about polling place confusion, machine replacement costs, election commissioner pay, and the cost of educating voters about the new primary system. Landry said polling places are not changing because of the new primary law, the new system is expected to cost about $100 million total, and a bill this session would raise election commissioner pay by $100 per day. Fiscal staff also estimated the closed primary law will add about $31.5 million in costs over five years, mostly from converting local elections to statewide elections and voter outreach. The committee then reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs budget, which was presented at about $105.2 million with a mix of federal, state, self-generated, and interagency funds. The department said most costs are tied to personnel and veterans’ homes, and that the homes are funded largely by federal dollars plus self-generated revenue. Members focused heavily on delays in processing National Guard disability claims and payments to veterans. Representatives said constituents had waited about a year for claims to be resolved, while the department said it had increased staffing and was processing a backlog of more than 400 claims, but still had about $950,000 in approved claims awaiting funding. The department said the payout program is governed by statute and that additional supplemental funding has been requested. Members also discussed veterans’ home care, including how service-connected disability status affects eligibility and costs, and whether chronic wound care and related complications could increase long-term costs. The department said veterans with higher service-connected ratings receive care with federal support, while others pay fees. Several members urged the department to provide clearer timelines and better communication to claimants, and one member suggested a separate oversight hearing to address the disability claim process and any needed statutory changes. The committee adjourned after the presentations and questions.

Transcript Highlights:

• Nonprofit compensation associates do an annual survey of compensation to try to make sure that nonprofits
• When a nonprofit received an advance payment, it depends on the agencies administering the grant.
• So renewal of registration fee depends on the charity's revenue.
• So renewal of registration fee depends on the charity's revenue.
• It really does depend on the allegations that are being made in the complaint. Okay. Thank you.

Transcript Highlights:

• on the school. ...depending on the school situation, that may be different.
• Continuing with the Student Tuition Recovery Fund, I'm interested in the amount of compensation that
• Is there something that should be done to expand that opportunity for them to get compensation since
• Building a system that is more dependent on the Department of Education at this moment in time sounds
• It's building a system that is more dependent on the Department of Education at this moment at time sounds

Summary: The joint Sunset Review Oversight Hearing focused on the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) and its reauthorization, operations, enforcement, fiscal condition, and student protections. Committee leaders and DCA officials praised the Bureau’s recent improvements in data systems, licensing, inspections, and enforcement, while noting the Bureau’s role has become more important as federal higher education oversight weakens. Bureau Chief Deborah Cochran said the agency has met its inspection mandate for the first time since the law was enacted, increased citations and disciplinary actions, reduced pending complaints, and used data tools to identify risk and monitor institutions more effectively. A major portion of the hearing centered on student harm, especially school closures, transcript access, predatory recruiting, and the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF). Members asked how the Bureau protects students when schools close, whether bad actors can reopen under new entities, and whether enforcement tools are strong enough. Cochran said the Bureau can cite, fine, place schools on probation, revoke licenses, and order refunds, but it is seeking new authority to deny approval to operators who previously closed schools improperly or failed to refund students. She also said the Bureau is tracking ownership data and is concerned about institutions targeting immigrant and visa students. On STRF, Cochran explained that the fund is currently healthy, assessments are at zero because the balance is above the statutory target, and the Bureau paid about 1,100 claims totaling roughly $17 million over the last four years. Several members questioned the fairness of the assessment structure and discussed alternatives such as surety bonds, but the Bureau said STRF is working well and no change is needed at this time. Fee increases and the Bureau’s structural deficit were another major topic. Cochran said the Bureau reduced costs by eliminating positions, streamlining inspections, improving data analysis, and shifting some student-relief costs to STRF, but that legislative action is still needed to address the deficit. She said the proposed fees were based on workload analyses and that application fees generally match service costs, while annual fees are designed to cover most of the Bureau’s revenue needs. Some members and stakeholders criticized the proposed increases as too high, especially for out-of-state registration and campus fees, while others argued the Bureau needs sufficient resources to regulate effectively. Public commenters from private schools, Northeastern University, San Joaquin Valley College/Carrington College, and TICAS generally supported the Bureau’s mission and reauthorization, but urged changes such as risk-based oversight, better transcript protections, stronger limits on repeated provisional approvals, and more targeted fee and STRF reforms. No votes were taken, and the hearing ended with no formal action beyond discussion and receipt of testimony.