Transcript Highlights:

• would receive payments provid providers would receive payments upfront<02:10:40.280><c> encouraging<
• </c> eligibility and prospective payments eligibility and prospective payments currently<02:21:29.800
• payments ahead of the the scholarship payments ahead of the Care<02:23:06.280><c> BR</c><02:23:06.720
• We pay our cable company prior to receiving that service, so I need that same sort of payment system,
• I'm a health system pharmacist.

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Transcript Highlights:

• systems.
• The system is already so fragile.
• They're part of that same system.
• The system ought to be too.
• My quick, quick answer is payment.

Summary: The joint informational hearing of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees focused on the cost of federal instability for California health coverage, access, and affordability. Opening remarks from members of both houses emphasized that California’s coverage gains under the Affordable Care Act are now threatened by federal policy changes, including the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits, H.R. 1, and new federal regulatory actions. Members repeatedly cited rising premiums, skipped care, medical debt, and the risk that low-income, immigrant, and working Californians could lose coverage or be pushed into less comprehensive plans. The first panel reviewed the federal landscape and state response. Don Joyce described the ACA’s coverage expansions and warned that H.R. 1, regulatory changes, and broader federal retrenchment could reduce coverage and weaken meaningful benefits. Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman said the loss of enhanced premium tax credits is driving major affordability problems, with average monthly premiums projected to rise sharply and enrollment already down, especially among middle-income consumers. HCAI’s Elizabeth Lansberg explained the Office of Health Care Affordability’s role in slowing spending growth, monitoring consolidation, and setting spending targets, including lower targets for high-cost hospitals and new primary care investment goals. Members asked about bronze plans, high-cost hospitals, administrative burdens, provider taxes, and whether federal advisory changes could affect required benefits such as immunizations. The second panel examined population impacts and cost drivers. UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Miranda Dietz said most Californians get coverage through employers, Medi-Cal, or Covered California, and that affordability problems are widespread across all groups. She projected that California could have up to 2 million more uninsured residents by 2030, largely from Medi-Cal losses, and said higher premiums reduce wages and increase medical debt. Christoph Stremakis of the California Health Care Foundation highlighted survey data showing widespread concern about medical bills, skipped care, and medical debt, and argued that a large share of spending is wasted through administrative complexity, inflated prices, and underinvestment in prevention. Committee members pressed the panel on whether California can sustain coverage without new revenue, how cost-growth targets affect workers and families, how medical debt relief programs like Los Angeles County’s could be expanded, and how OCA can address uncompensated care, consolidation, and prior authorization burdens.

Transcript Highlights:

• ; House Bill 1721 FN, relative to limiting new system enrollment and adjusting compliance payments under
• </c> compliance payments. compliance payments.
• directs DOE to reduce compliance payment requirements annually as eligible systems decline.
• </c> systems. They're installed, right? systems. They're installed, right?
• </c> anything about DOE reducing payments. anything about DOE reducing payments.

Committee: House Science, Technology and Energy

Transcript Highlights:

• Some raise the question about the legal impact of creating two different systems.
• Some raise the question about the legal impact of creating two different systems.
• But that was the first payment.
• </c><00:58:59.720><c> for</c> law that provided sfia payments for law that provided sfia payments for
• </c> which is that the federal tax system which is that the federal tax system also<00:59:23.440><c>

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:

• We have several providers credentialed who are beginning to. receive payments through that new system
• and their insurance payments.
• We reviewed those systems and we think there are systems out there that can be leveraged and modified
• I'm just kind of confused because you're saying it's a 30-year-old system, but all of our systems were
• Payments.

Committee: House Appropriations - S/C on Article II

Transcript Highlights:

• It also includes efforts to educate providers, recommend system edits to prevent improper claim payment
• <01:11:08.840><c> and</c><01:11:09.080><c> identify</c> payments and identify payments and identify underpayments
• <c> uh</c><01:11:34.159><c> conducting</c> payment again providing uh conducting payment again providing
• </c> located the DHS background study system located the DHS background study system is<01:14:14.199>
• I believe it's fairly quick under the new system.

Committee: House Human Services Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• A system of rates and brackets.
• state teachers retirement system with the thought that when you rebase the amount that the school systems
• coming from the school systems, and... ...the debt service payments coming from the school systems,
• The big two are the deposits to the Budget Stabilization Fund and payments to state retirement systems
• This is all higher ed, all the other systems, the higher-ed systems and the K-through-12 system, sort

Summary: The House Ways and Means Committee met on March 10, 2026, for a series of informational presentations rather than bill hearings. House Fiscal Division staff reviewed the state’s tax structure, the 2024 third special session tax reform package, and the Revenue Estimating Conference process. They explained the move to a 3% flat individual income tax, a 5.5% flat corporate income tax, the higher standard deduction and retirement-income exclusion, the repeal of several deductions and credits, the repeal of the corporate franchise tax, and the expansion of the sales tax base to certain digital goods. Staff also walked through tax exemption data, showing the size of exemptions relative to collections, and discussed forecasted revenue gaps in the out years, including the effect of the scheduled sales tax rate reduction and the return of transportation-related revenues to their prior dedication. Members asked about declining mineral revenues, digital sales tax collections, corporate collections, and the impact of tax credits and exemptions. Division of Administration and Legislative Fiscal Office staff said lower oil and gas prices, long-term production declines, and the timing of corporate payments were major factors in revenue trends, and that it will take at least another year or two of tax returns to fully understand the reform’s effects. They emphasized that corporate collections are still below the $600 million threshold that affects the state general fund and Revenue Stabilization Fund, though the forecast remains $900 million. The committee also discussed surplus and excess revenues, the distinction between discretionary and non-discretionary spending, and how current-year and prior-year balances are allocated under the constitution. A significant portion of the meeting focused on the relationship between Ways and Means and Appropriations. Chairman McFarland stressed that new fiscal-note bills can force cuts elsewhere if revenue is not available, and urged members to coordinate early with fiscal staff before advancing costly legislation. Members also asked how pending constitutional amendments on teacher pay and inventory tax might affect the budget; staff said the teacher stipend proposal is not currently funded in the executive budget and that the inventory tax proposal would mainly affect local governments and any reimbursements from the Revenue Stabilization Fund if approved. The committee then heard from Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bouchoux, who reported strong results from recent reforms, including $92 billion in capital investment, 37,000 new jobs, a record year of announcements, a top-10 corporate tax climate ranking, and a pipeline of 189 active projects representing nearly 42,000 potential jobs and $280 billion in potential investment. Members praised LED’s work and discussed the need to pair economic development with workforce training, infrastructure, and predictable tax policy.

Transcript Highlights:

• And are they part of county systems?
• or whether there's only a county system.
• A pension system or whether there's only a county system.
• There are sometimes where it's only county systems.
• There are no cities that have their own systems.

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Public Service

Summary: The committee heard testimony on several public service and retirement-related bills. Senator Kelly Dooner and Rep. O’Rourke supported a Taunton home rule petition to extend Chief Walsh’s service during the city’s transition to a new public safety facility, citing the need to manage new equipment, cameras, and 911 systems smoothly. Senator Lovely testified in favor of bills expanding retirement savings access through the SMART Plan and the CORE Plan, arguing that automatic enrollment and broader eligibility would help state, municipal, and nonprofit workers save for retirement. No questions were raised on the Taunton petition, and the hearing later moved through the remaining testimony without any votes taken during the transcript. Mary Waldron of the Old Colony Planning Council and Jeffrey Walker of the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District urged support for legislation protecting regional planning agencies from being required to make retroactive payments to the State Retirement Board for past employer contributions. They warned that the costs would be unsustainable, could force layoffs or closures, and would jeopardize their ability to provide transportation, housing, economic development, and planning services. Bill Keith and Patrick Charles of PEREC testified on several retirement administration bills, including measures to ease statement-of-financial-interest filing rules, require payment for certain creditable service purchases, and clarify the definition of wages to include sick, vacation, and personal time; committee members asked questions about regional transit authorities joining retirement systems and about adding local retirement board representation to a proposed commission. Jonathan Osimo and Rob Fabino of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System supported bills to penalize delinquent pension reporting by employers and to create a special commission to study retirement credit purchases, saying better reporting would improve retirement processing and that a broader review could improve fairness and sustainability. Eddie Boynton of the Braintree Education Association backed the SMART Plan bill, describing how automatic enrollment and low-fee fiduciary oversight could protect educators from high-cost supplemental retirement products. Matthew Nugent testified for a bill to divest public pension funds from firearms and ammunition. After the final witnesses, the chairs asked if anyone else wished to testify, heard none, and then adjourned the hearing.

Transcript Highlights:

• our system to become stronger?
• State-directed payments are not new.
• The stress on our health care system.
• The SSIS system for the counties will be funded, and that has been the same system that was in 1991 when
• So it's quite comprehensive, this system.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:37:02.839><c> um</c> actively working to see what system um actively working to see what system
• </c> orders issued um and five stop payments orders issued um and five stop payments um<00:53:38.359>
• </c> applications into our net study 2 system applications into our net study 2 system and<00:57:46.960
• </c><01:04:49.640><c> um</c> violations result in a stop payment um violations result in a stop payment
• It will take systems work.

Committee: House Children and Families Finance and Policy

Transcript Highlights:

• Our interest payments are somewhere north of a billion dollars a year just for this.
• It authorizes payments towards the UI debt, but it doesn't require them.
• , my rent, my car payment, my utilities, and what's left over?
• It doesn't say it's going to be used to reduce the UI payment or the unemployment insurance payment,
• All they're going to be doing is holding the bag on a $450 million a year payment.

Transcript Highlights:

• We are taking steps to expedite the timeline for making what are called state-directed payments.
• So what you said about expediting payments really makes a fundamental difference.
• In Medi-Cal, we have hospital payment rates that vary according to urban or rural hospitals based on
• We represent the 17 public hospitals and health systems.
• We represent the 17 public hospitals and health systems.

Committee: Senate Rules

Summary: The Senate Rules Committee met to consider several governor’s appointees and routine committee actions. Members approved, by unanimous 5-0 votes, three not-required-to-appear appointments: Hampus Eitsiter to the Boating and Waterways Commission, Peter Stern to the California Horse Racing Board, and Dean White to the State Mining and Geology Board. The committee also approved references of bills to committees and floor acknowledgements, each by 5-0 vote. The committee then heard testimony on Tyler Sadwith’s appointment as Chief Deputy Director of Healthcare Programs at the Department of Health Care Services. Sadwith emphasized protecting Medi-Cal access for 14 million Californians, navigating federal changes, and continuing CalAIM and behavioral health reforms. Senators focused heavily on hospital financial distress, rural access, Medi-Cal redeterminations, work requirements, provider reimbursement, fraud oversight, dental access, labor and delivery closures, and the effectiveness of CalAIM and community supports. Public commenters from county, hospital, and provider groups largely supported the nomination, citing his experience and collaborative approach. The committee voted 5-0 to send his appointment to the full Senate. The committee also considered Chris Thayer’s appointment as director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Thayer described OEHHA’s role as providing transparent, science-based health assessments, improving risk communication, and supporting tools such as CalEnviroScreen and Prop 65 guidance. Senators raised concerns about reliance on models versus real-world data, PFAS, environmental justice, wildfire and battery-fire impacts, and whether CalEnviroScreen and Prop 65 are working as intended. Public testimony from environmental and health organizations supported the nomination and highlighted OEHHA’s scientific role. The committee approved Thayer’s appointment 3-1, with one senator not voting, and forwarded it to the Senate floor.

Transcript Highlights:

• Kentucky Teachers Retirement System.
• </c> audit of the Teachers Retirement System. audit of the Teachers Retirement System.
• . system. system.
• . payments. payments.
• in aid payments for each qualified volunteer fire department.

Summary: The Kentucky Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee met with a quorum and first took up House Bill 503, the legislative branch budget, adopting a committee substitute and reporting it favorably. The chair said the Senate version fully funds defined calculations, provides 2% raises in each fiscal year for legislative employees, removes a paragraph on operating expense reductions, and includes $1 million in the first year for a judicial branch salary study. House Bill 504, the judicial branch budget, was then amended and reported favorably; changes included 2% annual raises for judicial employees, revised operating expense language, $1 million each year for county current services, retention of Boyle County fit-up language, reporting requirements for smaller capital projects, full funding for nine judges added in 2022, and removal of furlough prohibitions and certain budget implementation language. Both bills passed the committee unanimously with favorable expressions to the floor. The committee then considered House Bill 500, the executive branch budget, adopting a committee substitute before hearing a lengthy summary of major spending and policy changes. The chair described statewide 2% annual employee raises, agency base reductions with many exemptions, increased school safety and 911 funding, veterans and military funding, local government and severance-related changes, attorney general and auditor funding, pension and retirement system support, education funding changes including SEEK, postsecondary and scholarship provisions, public safety and corrections funding, and multiple capital projects. The chair also highlighted Medicaid-related provisions, including added waiver slots, increased state-directed payments, a 2.5% reduction in managed care vendor payments for plan years 2027 and 2028 with savings redirected to fee-for-service rates, and additional funding for behavioral health and public health programs. The bill was reported favorably after members explained their votes, with several noting they had only recently received the full 228-page bill and wanted more time for detailed review. Finally, the committee adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 900, an appropriation measure for government agencies, and reported it favorably. The chair said the bill remains a work in progress and that one-time funding requests from across the Commonwealth and across party lines would continue to be addressed as the process moves forward. All measures considered during the meeting passed the committee with unanimous or near-unanimous favorable votes, and the meeting adjourned after no further business.

Transcript Highlights:

• Under our current system, they don't, and I'd urge you to consider changing that system.
• So that's shifted by 90% in the current year payment and then 10% of the cleanup payment, and then you
• However, MDE continued to approve and authorize payments to Feeding Our Future.
• Because our systems don't update quickly, the information given may be incorrect.
• We can't wait a month for our systems to update before we receive this information.

Bills: HF51 , HF1161 , HF2201 , HF2786 , HF1053

Committee: House Education Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• Regarding the prospective payments.
• Our system is fragile.
• Jessica Rougeau, Child Welfare System Branch. system branch CDSS.
• We have to get the system right now.
• the chosen systems integrated.

Transcript Highlights:

• It may not be fair, but that's how the entire system works for all other industries as well.
• So it's not a great system, but it's the system we have and it's entity-based. So I, thank you.
• A provider may claim a monthly payment for the full number of days in which a child is authorized if
• In July 2026, provider payment will transition from a retroactive attendance-based reimbursement system
• to a prospective enrollment-based system.

Summary: The Ways and Means Committee held its last scheduled public hearing of the year on March 9, 2026, taking testimony on House Bill 2487, Substitute House Bill 2689, and Engrossed House Bill 2681. For HB 2487, staff and the Department of Revenue explained that the bill would narrow a B&O tax exemption for insurance-related businesses after a 2024 Supreme Court decision, make several related changes including annuity and assigned risk plan exemptions, adjust the advanced computing surcharge threshold for certain affiliated groups, and allow a penalties-and-interest waiver with a repayment plan. DOR supported the bill as clarifying the original intent and preventing double taxation, while insurers and health plan groups opposed it, arguing it would create higher costs, retroactive tax liability, and uncertainty; consumer and policy groups testified in support, saying it closes a loophole and restores the intended tax structure. Committee members questioned the retroactivity, the number of affected businesses, and the fiscal estimates, and the chair reminded members that amendment requests were due by noon for the next day’s executive session. For Substitute HB 2689, staff described changes to the Working Connections Child Care program that would keep income eligibility at 60% of state median income, reduce future rate-setting from the 85th to the 75th percentile, block enhanced rates for certain cross-region providers, cancel the planned move to enrollment-based prospective payments, revise attendance-based reimbursement to a full month for absences of 10 days or fewer and half-month for longer absences, and require a 65% market survey response rate for validity. The fiscal note projected substantial savings, offset by implementation and staffing costs. SEIU 925 and Head Start representatives supported the simpler House approach to attendance billing but raised concerns about the new survey threshold and the risk of increased audits and provider burden; they also noted an amendment under discussion to address the 2026 survey issue. Committee questions focused on how a full month is defined under the attendance rules. For HB 2681, staff said the bill would raise annual issuance and renewal fees for cannabis producer, processor, and retail licenses by $400, generating about $866,000 per year for the dedicated cannabis account with minimal administrative cost. No one signed up to testify, and the chair closed the hearing without a vote on any of the bills. The chair also thanked committee staff for their work and reiterated that amendments for the heard bills were due by noon that day.

Transcript Highlights:

• THOSE PAYMENTS ULTIMATELY WOULD GO TO THIS BAD ACTOR WHO GOT THE INFORMATION TO BE CHANGED.
• SO IT IS A SHORTENED FRAUD SCHEME BECAUSE ULTIMATELY THE VENDOR WILL ASK FOR THESE PAYMENTS BUT BECAUSE
• FAMU DID NOT ALWAYS MAKE PAYMENTS TO MEMBERS.
• BONUSES, RELOCATION PAYMENTS.
• I CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT THE TOTAL BUDGET IS FOR THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, I GUESS WE SHOULD FIND OUT.

Transcript Highlights:

• payments.
• payments.
• payments.
• </c><00:49:11.520><c> in</c> payments or their recapture payments in payments or their recapture payments
• This very system the schools system.

Committee: Joint Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration

Transcript Highlights:

• payment to be issued by January 1, 2026.
• payment to be issued by January 1, 2026. and a one-time stabilization payment to be issued by January
• So the whole system needs investment.
• Payment then to that provider.
• We need to make it part of the K-12 recruitment system.

Summary: The California State Assembly Select Committee on Child Care Costs held its first hearing to examine the state of child care access, affordability, and provider compensation. Chair Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and other members described child care as essential infrastructure for working families and the economy, noting that costs are unaffordable for many households and that providers are underpaid. Early testimony came from a San Francisco parent, Quinn Chung, who described the difficulty of finding safe care and the financial and career sacrifices caused by lack of child care, and from Tuolumne County provider Anita Viscini, who detailed her monthly costs, low margins, and the need to work weekends and teach CPR classes to make ends meet. Assemblymembers also emphasized the crisis in rural communities and the need for a long-term strategy. The first policy panel featured Jennifer Troia of the California Department of Social Services, Laura Pryor of the California Budget and Policy Center, and Alexa Frankenberg of Child Care Providers United. Troia said the state has nearly doubled child care funding in five years, expanded subsidy slots, and reached a new tentative three-year agreement with providers that includes cost-of-living adjustments, stabilization payments, and continued work on an alternative rate methodology and single rate structure. Pryor argued that despite funding gains, child care remains too expensive, only a fraction of eligible children receive subsidies, and provider wages remain far below comparable jobs, worsening racial and gender inequities. Frankenberg said the tentative agreement is progress but not enough, calling for a true cost-of-care system, fair wages, paid time off, better support for emergency and nontraditional care, and stronger integration of family child care into the mixed-delivery system. Members asked about why the crisis persists, how the alternative methodology will work, how family fees and sliding-scale help are being used, and why middle-income families still struggle. The panel said the problem reflects long-term underinvestment, a broken market, and a system that still leaves many families without access. The committee also heard an economic panel from Ashley Hoffman of the California Chamber of Commerce and Sarah Bone of the Public Policy Institute of California. Hoffman described employer child care benefits and public-private partnership models in other states, including shared-cost programs and local chamber efforts. Bone said child care costs reduce family financial security and labor force participation, especially for mothers of young children, and estimated that if mothers of young children worked at the same rate as mothers of older children, more than 80,000 additional women could be in the workforce each year. In the final panel, parent and provider advocates, including Jennifer Greppie and Black Californians United for Early Care and Education co-founder Keisha Doyle, argued for fully funding child care, ending waiting lists, protecting culturally affirming care, and addressing racial inequities and private equity’s role in the sector.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:31:59.120><c> It</c> payment loan assistance program. It payment loan assistance program.
• ><c> loan</c><00:32:00.520><c> program</c> amends the down payment loan program amends the down payment
• </c><00:35:16.000><c> loan</c> simple interest on the down payment loan simple interest on the down payment
• </c> down payment loan only. down payment loan only.
• the down payment loan again?

Summary: The Committee on Housing, meeting jointly with the Committee on Health and Human Services, heard testimony on Senate Bill 2787, which would expand use of the rental housing revolving fund to provide loans or grants for purchasing rental units, and Senate Bill 2957, which addresses tenant displacement and relocation protections, as well as Senate Bill 2866, which would make the state rent supplement program for kupuna permanent and appropriate funds for it. Testimony on SB 2787 included support from DHHL, HHFDC, AARP Hawaii, and others, while the Attorney General recommended clarifying language and standards for grants, and the Tax Foundation questioned whether grants fit the revolving-fund structure. On SB 2957, supporters including OHA, PACT, medical-legal advocates, and tenant representatives emphasized relocation hardships from the KPT redevelopment, language access, and the need for clearer minimum safeguards; the Attorney General suggested defining “comparable units” and correcting a drafting error. On SB 2866, HPHA, Catholic Charities, AARP, the Executive Office on Aging, and others supported making the kupuna rent supplement program permanent to prevent homelessness among low-income seniors. During discussion on SB 2957, members questioned HPHA and tenant counsel about the KPT low-rise relocation process and what “comparable housing” meant in practice. HPHA said all tenants were relocated, but counsel described disputes over comparability, disability and family-size issues, and at least one offered unit that was not livable. For SB 2787, members questioned DHHL about why it sought funding from the rental housing revolving fund rather than other sources; DHHL said it was still exploring options and had mostly used its funds for infrastructure, with only a small portion used as revolving funds. The chair expressed concern about relying on scarce housing funds and urged more efficient use of DHHL’s existing resources. In decision-making, the committees voted to pass SB 2957 with amendments and SB 2866 with amendments. For SB 2957, the amendments would replace the bill with a working group on tenant displacement and relocation, include a blank appropriation and defective date, and request $75,000 for the working group; the motion was adopted unanimously by the members present, with Senator Favela excused. For SB 2866, the amended version would include a blank appropriation, defective date, and committee report language noting requests for $110,160 for two HPHA public housing specialist positions and $2.16 million for the state rent supplement program; this motion was also adopted, with Senator Favela excused. After the joint hearing adjourned, the committee returned to the housing-only agenda and continued discussion of SB 2787 before moving on to SB 3089, which would amend the down payment loan assistance program for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers; testimony on SB 3089 was beginning when the transcript ended.