Transcript Highlights:

• action agencies. action agencies.
• ; Legislative Council; Office of the Legislative Council; Director of the Economic Office; Department
• We ask for your support. action agencies board should reflect a action agencies board should reflect
• > of Action Legislative Council, Office of Action Legislative Council, Office of the<00:25:14.720
• Members, the final bill on our action Members, the final bill on our action calendar<00:26:28.480

Keywords: 926, house, all

Summary: The House opened with a devotional by Representative Brenda Steady and then suspended the rules to introduce 12 House bills by number only, referring them to committees. Members also read a House concurrent resolution congratulating the 2025 Milton High School Yellow Jackets boys soccer team on winning the Division 2 championship, and the chamber welcomed the team and coaches to the gallery. The Speaker announced that HCR 163 had been mistakenly placed on the consent calendar and removed it, and also announced committee appointments following a resignation. A series of guest recognitions followed, including visitors from the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative, the 2026 Snelling Early Childhood Leadership Institute cohort, mentoring organizations observing National Mentoring Month, the Vermont Historical Society, and former Representative Mari Cordes. Members also highlighted an upcoming Act 73 overview, the first Farmers Night concert, and a Caucus for Vermont’s Economy meeting. No votes were taken on these announcements, but the House formally welcomed the guests and recognized new House leadership and a new committee assistant. On the action calendar, the House passed H.649 on captive insurance companies and concurred in S.60 establishing the Farm Security Special Fund for weather-related farm losses. The House then approved H.534 on community action agencies, with the Human Services Committee describing it as a statute update that changes terminology, strengthens planning and governance requirements, and uses people-first language; the committee reported a 10-0-1 vote. The House also advanced H.84, which allows telehealth appointments to be recorded only with patient and provider consent; the Health Care Committee said it modernizes telehealth law without weakening privacy protections and reported a 10-0-1 vote. The chamber ordered third reading or passage on each bill and then adjourned until Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

Transcript Highlights:

• Next order of business will be action.
• But once a final action is taken, this says that whoever challenges that final action has to meet three
• I think it would challenge the action.
• Action on a title amendment. Taylor. Action on a title amendment. >> Mr.
• lawful local board of education action. lawful local board of education action.

Keywords: 958, all

Transcript Highlights:

• , the legislature took action specifically as a result of her actions.
• There are very few disciplinary actions right now in 2025.
• Final actions are posted on the guardian's public profile.
• Final actions are posted on the Guardian's public profile.
• More importantly, even when the OPPG took disciplinary action and the guardian did not dispute the action

Summary: The Human Services Subcommittee met to receive updates on implementation of House Bill 1349, which created guardianship transparency measures, and on the Department of Elder Affairs’ Office of Public and Professional Guardians (OPPG). The Clerk of Courts Operations Corporation described the statewide guardianship database for judges and a public-facing website, noting the system went live in March 2025 after a soft launch in 2024. Officials said the database now includes information from all 67 clerks, with 388 users, about 6,400 wards, and 518 professional guardians. Members asked about unique identifiers, data duplication, training, and how the system is being used; CCOC said it is working to use registration numbers as identifiers, improve search functions, expand training, and seek continued funding. Secretary Michelle Branham then outlined OPPG’s implementation of HB 1349 and its broader oversight role. She said the department has doubled education requirements, expanded transparency through the Sentry system, and brought investigations fully in-house in August 2024. She described the complaint and investigation process, including legal sufficiency review, regional investigators, mandatory in-person interviews, and possible outcomes ranging from corrective training and fines to suspension or revocation. Members asked about complaint categories, disciplinary actions, whether guardians can be suspended during investigations, and how older cases are handled; the secretary said most complaints are administrative/technical, serious allegations are referred to law enforcement, and one older case discussed remained ongoing. The Auditor General’s office presented its operational audit of OPPG, covering July 2022 through January 2024 and follow-up on prior findings. The audit identified problems with monitoring private professional guardians and public guardian offices, complaint processing timeliness, incomplete public profile information, late registration renewals, failure to assess contract penalties, weak collection safeguards, missing follow-up on required public guardian reports, lack of needed rules, and Sentry system access/security controls. In response, Secretary Branham said the department does not dispute the findings and has already taken corrective steps, including launching Sentry, hiring additional monitors, moving investigations in-house, adding automated renewal reminders, updating forms, and drafting new rules. She also said the department plans to seek subpoena power and stronger fines in the next legislative session. The subcommittee took no formal vote and adjourned after members’ questions were completed.

Transcript Highlights:

• And how do you plan on legislating this session? Has it impacted that?
• Senator Port is carrying that legislation that creates a civil right of action against federal actions
• Port is carrying that um legislation Port is carrying that um legislation that<00:03:18.640>
• <00:03:20.720> um that creates a civil right of action um that creates a civil right of action
• <00:03:29.440> that working on a piece of legislation that working on a piece of legislation

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• or the action is taken.
• taking part in that action or decision. taking part in that action or decision.
• is voted on or the before the action is voted on or the action<00:04:33.440> is<00:04:33.680>
• The senator is not action is taken.
• The senator must subsequently action.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• But on that, how can you think that requires legislation?
• I don't know that it did require legislation, but she drafted legislation, so we're happy to follow it
• And at that point, I mean, we will take, or I will take action.
• I am a legislative guy.
• uh There's some sort of action taken on the license.

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• We don't have any legislation now other than legislation that needs to be third read or final read.
• This body has been about action; she has been about missing in action.
• The clerk is instructed to record the action of the Senate.
• The clerk is instructed to record the action of the House.
• We voted on a piece of legislation today that helps them.

Summary: The House met, opened with prayer and the Pledge, approved the prior journal, and first took up a motion to request Senate consent for an extended adjournment. Representative Volk opposed the motion, arguing members should keep working on unfinished business, while Speaker Montenegro said the House had completed its current budget work and was waiting on the governor to return to negotiations. The motion passed 31-20, and the House also agreed to a related Senate adjournment request and to return HB 2415 to the Senate for reconsideration. The chamber then went into Committee of the Whole and considered several Senate bills. SB 1199, concerning the Salt River wild horse herd, was amended to pause removals for a genetic diversity study and received a do-pass recommendation. SB 1399 on Medicaid spending transparency, SB 1496, SB 1497, SB 1582, SB 1713, and SB 1798 were also amended and advanced. SB 1713 drew the most debate, with supporters saying it would expand pharmacist access to basic care and improve rural and veteran access, while opponents warned it expanded scope of practice beyond pharmacists’ training. The House later adopted the Committee of the Whole report, ordered several bills engrossed, and sent SB 1399 to third reading. In a second Committee of the Whole, SB 1214 and SB 1670 were further amended and advanced. The House then moved to third reading and voted on multiple bills. SB 1006, SB 1037, SB 1171, SB 1242, SB 1270, SB 1419, SB 1429, SB 1445, SB 1452, SB 1478, and SB 1566 passed, while SB 1099 and SB 1635 failed on the initial vote. Members then used reconsideration motions to place SB 1006 and SB 1635 back on the third-reading calendar. The session ended with personal privilege remarks recognizing correctional officers, Cinco de Mayo guests, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day, and other tributes, followed by adjournment until June 1, 2026.

Transcript Highlights:

• Chairman, Carlos Silva, Bureau of Legislative Research. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
• Carlos Silva, Bureau of Legislative Research.
• , and those actions are attached to your report.
• ALC co-chairs to finalize the authorization by emergency action, and those actions are attached to your
• Executive Subcommittee met multiple times and reports the following actions.

Keywords: 1204, all

Transcript Highlights:

• relationship in action. relationship in action.
• Legislative Auditor reports. Legislative Auditor reports.
• of appeal action.
• So, it's going to take legislative<00:53:27.080> restrictions legislative restrictions legislative
• to to take action. to to take action.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• We had support for that legislation, and after this...
• There is no reason to roll back the current legislation.
• Year after year after year, we have legislation like this.
• This... first before we engage in this piece of legislation.
• The legislation... 56,380 nurses by 2037.

Summary: The House convened with prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and quorum established, then adopted the Rules and Ethics Committee’s special order report for the day. The chamber first took up HB 167 on former phosphate mining lands. Sponsor Rep. McClure said the bill would remove strict liability for previously mined phosphate lands if a Department of Health study is done at the owner’s request and the former mining status is recorded publicly. Opponents, including Reps. Cross, Nixon, and Eskamani, argued the bill did not provide enough notice to future buyers and renters and could create health and disclosure concerns. The bill passed 87-24. The House then passed HB 145 on suits against the government, which Rep. McFarland said updates Florida’s sovereign immunity caps for the first time since 2010, raising them to $500,000 per person and $1 million per incident with future automatic increases, aligning the statute of limitations with private claims, and allowing governments to settle above the caps if they choose. He said the bill would make redress more accessible without eliminating the liability shield. The bill passed 104-7. The chamber then considered CS/HB 289 on civil liability for the wrongful death of an unborn child, a bill by Rep. Greco that would amend the Wrongful Death Act to allow parents and other survivors to bring claims for the death of an unborn child, while exempting the mother and lawful medical care provided within the standard of care. Debate centered on whether the bill could affect abortion access, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, surrogacy, and liability for doctors, friends, family members, and others. Multiple amendments were offered to narrow the bill or add carve-outs for abortion, fertility care, surrogates, perinatal professionals, rape/incest/human trafficking situations, and to require the mother’s consent before suit; sponsors and opponents argued over whether these changes would prevent frivolous lawsuits or instead create loopholes and weaken the bill. None of the amendments were adopted during the portion of the transcript provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• Please stand for the prayer by Donna Kay, the legislative chaplain.
• Perhaps a Mesa legislator will want to work with them.
• And you should stand up and tell your legislators that is not fair to me.
• Secretary has instructed to record the action and notify the House.
• Secretary is instructed, record the action, transmit the bill.

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• have um diani kuu who's our legislative have um diani kuu who's our legislative Aid<00:20:04.799
• I want action for Hawaiians.
• <00:22:46.400> districts will identify all legislative districts will identify all legislative
• <00:23:28.840> I<00:23:28.919> want<00:23:29.200> action people and I want action
• I want action people and I want action I want action for<00:23:29.640> Hawaiians<00:23:30.320

Keywords: 910, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• consequences of their actions and to provide financial assistance to their dependents.
• All of those were retained in the legislation before you today.
• All of those were retained in the legislation before you today.
• So it's very important that we put this safeguard in place with this legislation.
• So it's very important that we put this safeguard in place with this legislation.

Keywords: Scheduler, 973, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And if you look at the positions with peer review actions.
• in another state, and yet nothing was No action was taken, no licensure action by the New Mexico Board
• Action in another state, but no clinical privileges action in New Mexico.
• the legislation.
• That legislation was vetoed.

Transcript Highlights:

• The clerk will record the action of the Senate.
• The clerk is instructed to record the action of the House.
• This is a tremendously important piece of legislation.
• And then someone comes to this legislative body to run a bill in the 11th hour... ...to this legislative
• must take action to protect the public.

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Cal Fire also approves their three-year action plans.
• So in terms of legislation, I think that the right legislation that we should focus on is to try to pull
• This is really about turning knowledge into action.
• In my mind, whether it's additional legislation or not, additional legislation is only to try to ensure
• It's a lot easier to digest taking action on 70,000 than it is to digest taking action on 4 million.

Summary: The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation held an oversight hearing on home hardening and defensible space as wildfire mitigation strategies. The chair opened by stressing that California has reached a tipping point, with repeated community-scale wildfire losses, rising insurance costs, and growing utility wildfire mitigation expenses. The hearing was organized around four panels: what home hardening and defensible space are, community risk reduction and coordination, evaluation of current defensible space programs and proposed investments, and the future of home hardening and the California Wildfire Mitigation Program. The first panel featured IBHS, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and local wildfire mitigation advocates. IBHS described wildfire spread through embers, flames, and radiant heat, emphasizing that structure separation, removing combustible materials within the first five feet of a home, and combining multiple mitigation measures significantly reduce loss. It highlighted its Wildfire Prepared Home and Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood standards, including an “essential” and “enhanced” level, and said California is ahead of other states but still needs scalable, standardized, and sustainably funded mitigation. The LAO outlined key policy questions for the Legislature, including the state’s role, intergovernmental coordination, cost-effectiveness, program design, measurement of success, long-term sustainability, and barriers to implementation. The chair and panelists discussed estimated costs, including roughly $15,000 for a basic retrofit and about $50,000 for more extensive ignition-resistant construction, and whether state funding should focus on the most cost-effective initial measures. The second panel focused on scaling adoption through local coordination, education, financing, and community-based programs. Megafire Action argued that home hardening is a market adoption problem and said the state should not try to pay for every home, but instead target high-leverage interventions across the “customer journey,” including education, financing, trusted certification, and neighborhood network effects. Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council described free home assessments, small retrofit grants, Firewise community support, and the importance of neighborhood-level action, local capacity, and cultural change. Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority described its locally funded model, grant program, public education efforts, and an Ember Ready program that helps residents navigate home hardening and Zone Zero compliance. The chair repeatedly emphasized the need for a coordinated statewide marketing campaign, stronger incentives, better insurance discounts, and more use of local, utility, federal, and private funding sources. The third and fourth panels addressed Cal Fire’s defensible space inspection program, the proposed defensible space financial assistance program, and broader state investments. Cal Fire said homes lacking compliant defensible space are far more likely to be damaged or destroyed and requested ongoing funding and staffing to stabilize inspections statewide; the LAO suggested the Legislature consider alternative funding sources such as GGRF or a reinstated SRA fee. Cal Fire and the State Fire Marshal explained that Zone Zero sets a minimum standard, local governments cannot go below it, and grant prioritization will favor jurisdictions that submit inspections. Cal Fire also said the new defensible space financial assistance program would focus on ember-resistant zone-zero work and, in the Southern California counties covered by the legislation, would assist about 3,125 homes at an estimated $8,000 per home. In the final panel, the State Fire Marshal described California’s layered strategy of parcel-level home hardening, defensible space, and neighborhood-scale mitigation, along with technical support, financial assistance, and incentives such as insurance discounts and builder marketing. The overall theme was that California must move from isolated efforts to a coordinated, science-based, and scalable statewide approach to reduce wildfire losses.

Transcript Highlights:

• Chairman, Carlos Silva, Bureau of Legislative Research. Thank you, Mr.
• Chairman, Carlos Silva, Bureau of Legislative Research.
• , and those actions are attached to your report.
• ALC co-chairs to finalize the authorization by emergency action, and those actions are attached to your
• One, Executive Subcommittee met multiple times and reports the following actions.

Summary: The meeting began with a quorum call, prayer, and approval of the previous minutes. Members then adopted a resolution honoring Lori McDonald of the Department of Human Services for nearly 28 years of state service, with remarks praising her legislative work, constituent services, leadership, and emergency response roles. McDonald thanked the committee, and the Senate also presented her with a citation, flag, and commemorative coin. The committee received the May 2026 revenue report, which showed gross adjusted collections of $7.76 billion year-to-date, up 4.4% from the prior year, and a projected surplus of $585.8 million. The executive subcommittee report was adopted, covering emergency rules for DHS and the Department of Education, school district waiver requests, committee fund allocations, cancellation of the July ALC meeting, and authorization for subcommittees to meet in July on urgent matters. The administrative rules report was also adopted after members noted that most rules were approved, with a few pulled by agencies or held. Members then heard a lengthy exchange on the Arkansas Education Department’s ClassWallet contract and delays in expense review for education savings account payments. Department officials said they were meeting regularly with ClassWallet, enforcing contract standards, keeping some reviews in-house, and adding staff and technology improvements to speed processing while maintaining oversight. The committee also adopted reports from Game and Fish and State Police, Hospital/Medicaid/Developmental Disabilities, Lottery Oversight, Occupational Licensing Review, Peer Review, Review, State Insurance Programs Oversight, and Personnel, including a Department of Commerce reallocation tied to a broader shared-services realignment. Under review of communications, members filed several retirement system investment items as reviewed, approved rural community grant funding, gave favorable advice for state park additions, approved special maintenance funding for state parks, and filed Office of State Technology service-rate changes as reviewed. The meeting concluded with no new business and adjournment.

Transcript Highlights:

• The board will then take action, which may include non-reportable actions such as an advisory letter
• Any disciplinary action whatsoever, any criminal action, a history of controlled substance abuse actions
• where we have taken action.
• , including when the board took action and how we took action.
• and legal action.

Transcript Highlights:

• Thanks to legislative investments for the past two decades, Thanks to legislative investments for the
• Thanks to legislative investments for the past two decades, Thanks to legislative investments for the
• One of the purposes of having these hearings in legislative days is to key up issues that legislators
• So what happens if a city runs into barriers to those actions, or those actions have not been able to
• actions.

Keywords: 907, all

Summary: The committee met for a series of information sessions focused on housing stabilization, rental assistance, senior housing, and heat resilience. In the first panel, OHCS and NOAA described the state’s affordable housing preservation work, including the $35 million in 2025 stabilization funding used to reduce debt and keep distressed affordable rental projects operating, plus manufactured home park preservation efforts. OHCS said the portfolio remains under strain, with about a third of projects at debt coverage ratios of 1.0 or less and rising insurance and operating costs. NOAA urged faster closings on the stabilization awards, more funding in 2027, and broader rent assistance and process reforms. Committee members asked about the gap between current appropriations and need, and OHCS explained that the new Article 11-Q bond preservation program is structured differently and requires full refinancing rather than simple cash infusions. The committee then heard a detailed discussion of the state’s eviction prevention and rental assistance program, ORDAP. OHCS said the program is administered through community action agencies, prioritizes households at imminent risk of eviction, and is now funded at a much lower level than in the prior biennium, reducing expected service to about 8,200 households this biennium. The Oregon Law Center, a county community action agency, and Multifamily Northwest all agreed the program prevents homelessness and is effective, but they differed on whether assistance should be tied so closely to eviction court. Legal aid and community action witnesses said the current system is underfunded and that eviction filings are the clearest indicator of need, while Multifamily Northwest argued the process can push people into court unnecessarily and should be moved earlier when possible. Legislators raised questions about whether a pre-eviction model could be developed and about the costs of court involvement; one member shared a personal story about how rental assistance helped keep their family housed. Next, the governor’s office, OHCS, and OHA presented on the new senior housing initiative and healthy homes work. The governor’s housing director said Oregon is making progress on homelessness and housing production, with reductions in homelessness outside Multnomah County and an estimated 50,000 future units added to the pipeline through recent state actions. OHCS outlined the senior housing programs launched in May: a debt-financing program using elderly and disabled bond authority, an older adult housing development program funded through the senior property tax deferral revolving account, and a rehousing program for older adults that will use bridge funding and services to move at least 400 unsheltered older Oregonians into housing. OHA also described its Healthy Homes Grant Program, including $24.6 million already awarded, a new $5 million grant round for seniors and people with disabilities, and examples of home repairs and weatherization that help people remain safely housed. The final information session focused on home cooling and heat resilience. OHA presented data showing rising extreme heat days, more heat-related emergency visits, and likely undercounted heat deaths, especially among older adults, people with disabilities, low-income communities, and people without access to healthy homes. ODOE reviewed implementation of Senate Bill 1536, including a cooling needs study that found 58% of surveyed households in the studied housing types needed permanent cooling, with estimated statewide costs of $582 million to $1 billion. ODOE said its rental home heat pump and community heat pump programs have supported 4,638 installations so far, with a temporary reopening planned using remaining funds. The session ended with a remote presentation from a Community Action Partnership of Oregon representative, continuing the discussion of how community action agencies help deliver energy and anti-poverty services.

Transcript Highlights:

• Cal Fire also approves their three-year action plans.
• So in terms of legislation, I think that the, what is the right legislation that we should focus on?
• This is really about turning knowledge into action.
• In my mind, whether it's additional legislation or not, additional legislation is only to try to ensure
• It's a lot easier to digest taking action on 70,000 than it is to digest taking action on 4 million.

Keywords: 988, house, all