Transcript Highlights:

• decisions that determine whether these priorities. priorities and adopts performance metrics, but the
• And every year, the board reviews the department's annual priorities.
• These priorities directly connect to how the department prioritizes Priorities directly connect to how
• If so, about how many priority products per year could...
• The state has 10 priority products total in Starting in 2023, the state has 10 priority products total

Summary: The joint oversight hearing focused on the Board of Environmental Safety (BES), created by SB 158 in 2021, and on broader DTSC reform efforts, including permitting, community engagement, fee setting, and the hazardous waste management plan. Chair Connolly opened by noting the board’s original goals of improving transparency, accountability, and fiscal stability, and raised concerns about a recent board appointee later becoming a lobbyist with DTSC-regulated clients. Witnesses and members also discussed the long-delayed SB 673 regulations on facility permitting and community vulnerability protections, as well as the board’s role in approving the hazardous waste management plan and reviewing permit appeals. Community and environmental justice witnesses argued that the board has improved access by creating a public forum, ombudsperson, and appeal process, but said it remains too passive and lacks authority over budgets, staffing, and implementation. They urged more statutory direction, stronger community participation, better transparency on how comments are used, and more meaningful authority in permit and plan decisions. One witness suggested the Legislature consider a separate oversight body or stronger legislative engagement, while another called for youth representation and paid fellowships on advisory bodies. Business and regulated-community testimony was more supportive of the board’s structure, emphasizing that SB 158 was a negotiated compromise that improved transparency and accountability while avoiding politicization, and calling for faster fee analysis and clearer budget information. Board Chair Andrew Rakestra and DTSC Director Barbara Butler reported that reform has produced measurable gains: more public engagement, stronger enforcement, fewer continued permits, improved compliance, increased revenues from the generation-and-handling fee, and progress on Exide cleanup, safer consumer products, and community revitalization grants. They acknowledged, however, that the board’s authority is limited, permit appeals can be slow, SB 673 regulations remain unfinished, and public trust still needs work. Both said the board is most effective when involved early and when DTSC shares information proactively. Members asked about fee stability, the hazardous waste management plan, and whether the Legislature should give the board a more formal role in budget change proposals, regulatory processes, and implementation oversight. No votes were taken; the hearing was informational and ended with public comment.

Transcript Highlights:

• As you mentioned, we'll start with our education priorities and then joint. priorities, and then we'll
• Association priorities.
• If you turn now to the 2026 legislative priorities, you will see a list of the top priorities.
• Our third priority in the area of adequate funding.
• Our next priority is focused on the budget.

Transcript Highlights:

• Number two, climate action as a priority.
• And then economic prosperity, our fourth priority.
• But very much in many cases it's those four priorities or the former three priorities that I mentioned
• I want to touch on energy because is a shared priority.
• bit about our climate and air quality priorities as well.

Transcript Highlights:

• We really did a good job collectively, just advancing those priorities.
• So research is changing every day, that's going to also impact all these priorities, but especially priority
• Okay, does anybody else have a question on priority three? Okay, continue on to priority four.
• Priority four is very similar to one of the priorities we had in the first, uh, the... Thank you.
• Priority 4 is very similar to one of the priorities we had in the first or the last state plan.

Committee: All ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND DEMENTIA ADVISORY COUNCIL

Summary: The Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Advisory Council met to approve the August 12 minutes and then reviewed an updated Arkansas state plan for dementia. David Cook of the Alzheimer’s Association explained that the plan reflects newer research and treatments, and the council discussed adding objectives related to insurance coverage for diagnostics and therapies, access to specialists, provider education, and the use of biomarker testing. Members also raised concerns about low reimbursement rates, hospital financial strain, and the need to recruit and train more neurologists and advanced practice providers, especially in rural areas. The council approved the general outline of the state plan, with objectives to be refined later. The meeting then moved through proposed priority areas for the next state plan: dementia risk reduction and brain health, caregiver support, access to diagnostics and treatment, and access to quality care. Testimony emphasized integrating brain health messaging into existing public health efforts, reducing stigma by framing outreach around “brain health,” expanding education in underserved communities including Marshallese speakers, and improving referral networks and dementia resource centers. Members also discussed the need for more caregiver respite support, broader caregiver navigation services, and possible future legislation to strengthen those programs. Under access and quality of care, participants discussed gaps in Medicaid and other payer coverage, the need for rural telehealth and specialist networks, and the importance of training first responders, home care workers, and other direct care staff. Concerns were raised that some training requirements apply only to licensed providers, leaving private-pay home care outside the same standards. The council also reviewed membership participation and discussed possible changes to the statute to replace inactive members. No additional votes were taken beyond approving the state plan outline, and the council scheduled its next meeting for September 22 at 10 a.m. to focus on finalizing the state plan before the October 1 report deadline.

Transcript Highlights:

• Our project has been on the priority list because, Downtown Ukiah.
• The priority order has been the 2019 reassessment plan.
• and the new construction priority.
• prioritize it as a very top priority.
• And yet now it's a huge priority.

Summary: The Senate Budget Subcommittee on Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor, and Transportation held a hearing focused on courthouse facility funding and the Governor’s budget proposals for the judicial branch. The Legislative Analyst’s Office outlined the state’s courthouse funding structure, including the Trial Court Facilities Act, the main facility funds, the fixed county facility payment, and the heavy reliance on General Fund backfill. LAO also explained that the state’s construction funds were depleted after large transfers and declining fine-and-fee revenue, leaving a backlog of roughly 80 construction projects and more than 22,000 deferred maintenance projects statewide. Members and witnesses discussed the long timelines for capital projects, the need for reassessments, and the impact of inflation, CEQA, and site acquisition delays. Judicial branch representatives, including Justice Hill, Judge Moorman, and Judge Tapia, testified that courthouses across the state face serious seismic, ADA, security, and maintenance problems. They described cost-cutting efforts in design and construction, but emphasized that many facilities are aging and unsafe, with examples from Los Angeles, Compton, Ukiah, and other courts involving flooding, elevator failures, asbestos issues, and closures that disrupted thousands of cases. Judge Moorman highlighted the Ukiah courthouse replacement as an example of a project that is on time and on budget and would improve access, safety, and community services. Judge Tapia stressed that deferred maintenance in Los Angeles County alone exceeds $1.4 billion and argued that preventive maintenance is fiscally prudent because emergency repairs and closures are more costly. Committee members pressed the panel on how priorities are set, whether caseload and population growth are adequately reflected, how quickly projects can be accelerated, and what level of funding would actually meet statewide needs. The Department of Finance and Judicial Council staff explained that the county contribution is fixed and not inflation-adjusted, that acquisitions require willing sellers and can be delayed by CEQA and market conditions, and that the Judicial Council’s prioritization process was based on 2019 criteria that may need updating. LAO cautioned that any new General Fund commitment would require tradeoffs with other state priorities and suggested the Legislature decide what level of funding it is willing to support. The committee also reviewed the Governor’s budget proposals for courthouse facilities, which include backfill for the construction fund, selected new construction and judgeship-related projects, and major facility modifications such as the Orange County Central Justice Center and relocation of Los Angeles courtrooms from the Spring Federal Building.

Transcript Highlights:

• Focused state priorities: how can we stick to clear, stable, statewide priorities across these programs
• They have to serve in a priority school or teach in a priority school for two years.
• A priority school is defined as a school where...
• Are we losing them at the highest priority schools?
• And high priority is 55% unduplicated? High priority is 55% unduplicated, yes. Okay.

Transcript Highlights:

• This is current practice to determine priority whenever requested among all eligibility priorities for
• That is a priority.
• That is a priority.
• So our recommendation is, after the first priority and the second priority, So our recommendation is,
• the same priority level.

Summary: The hearing focused on California’s early learning and care system, including the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, universal preschool access, and the state’s transitional kindergarten (TK) expansion. Administration officials said California has made progress toward universal TK for all four-year-olds and expanded access for low-income three-year-olds, children with disabilities, and some two-year-olds in state preschool. The Department of Social Services highlighted ongoing work on quality improvement and a single rate structure, while the Department of Education emphasized continued investments in UPK infrastructure, inclusion, and teacher development. Testimony from advocacy groups stressed that access remains uneven, especially for infants, toddlers, and three-year-olds, and that federal threats to Head Start could significantly disrupt services in California. Witnesses and committee members discussed several policy recommendations for preschool and state preschool programs, including consolidating part-day and full-day contracts, simplifying eligibility priorities, eliminating some family and licensing fees, allowing self-attestation of income, making the two-year-old preschool option permanent, and basing funding on enrollment and the true cost of care. A parent from Contra Costa described losing child care after moving counties for safety reasons, illustrating delays and fragmentation in the system. Providers in public comment argued that reimbursement rates are too low and that better pay and retirement and health benefits are needed to stabilize the workforce. The second panel addressed the governor’s January budget proposal to fully implement universal TK and reduce TK class ratios from 12:1 to 10:1. The Department of Finance said the budget would add about $2.4 billion to serve all eligible four-year-olds and $1.5 billion for the lower ratio. The Legislative Analyst’s Office said its enrollment and cost estimates were lower than the administration’s and projected the ratio change would cost less than proposed. The Department of Education and the Learning Policy Institute reported that TK enrollment and staffing have grown, most districts now offer TK, and many are on track to meet new teacher requirements, but facilities, staffing, and expanded learning remain challenges. Committee members raised concerns about access at all school sites, the need for more full-day options, and the risk that TK expansion could crowd out CSPP and Head Start space.

Transcript Highlights:

• Our project has been on the priority list because, It was on our priority list in the late 2000s, as
• The priority order has been the 2019 reassessment plan.
• and the new construction priority.
• prioritize this as a very top priority.
• And yet now it's a huge priority.

Transcript Highlights:

• What is our real priorities?
• What is our real priorities?
• What is our real priorities?
• What is our real priorities?
• What is our real priorities?

Transcript Highlights:

• But the abortion clinic is not that the priority, as I hear, that is the woman's right.
• And, you know, members from the other aisle are talking about where our priorities lie.
• will also put forward those that are priorities for them.
• Now, a budget is a statement of priorities, fundamentally a statement of priorities.
• It's a statement of priority of our job creators. It's a statement of priority of our job creators.

Committee: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review

Transcript Highlights:

• decisions that determine whether these priorities. priorities and adopts performance metrics, but the
• And every year, the board reviews the department's annual priorities.
• And every year, the board reviews the department's annual priorities.
• If so, about how many priority products per year could...
• The state has 10 priority products total in Starting in 2023, the state has 10 priority products total

Transcript Highlights:

• Also, for clarification, you do see that founders actually have the priority.
• Priority access is not a special advantage. It's a corrective measure.
• Second, the priority when you do the, if this bill passes, the priority for the lottery would be.
• The priority when you do the, if this bill passes, the priority for the lottery would be founders first
• And it lists the priorities as to how these things could be changed.

Committee: House Education

Transcript Highlights:

• Priority number four, Mr.
• That's not a priority of ours.
• But that isn't an FSE priority.
• So that's the way the priority was written.
• So I think that should be a priority.

Committee: Senate Ethics and Elections

Summary: The Committee on Ethics and Elections met with a quorum present and took up Senate Bill 62 by Senator Errington, which would create an enforceable requirement that partisan candidates meet the 365-day party affiliation or no-party registration requirement before qualifying. The committee adopted an amendment changing the effective date to upon becoming law, heard no opposition, and then approved the bill. The committee also approved a slate of 15 gubernatorial nominees en bloc and recommended them to the floor. The Florida Supervisors of Elections presented their 2026 legislative priorities. Their requests included automatically updating voter records when DHSMV changes driver license numbers, treating verified petition signing by inactive voters as voter activity that restores active status, adding election equipment and ballots to the state’s critical infrastructure protections, clarifying public-records treatment of election worker names and addresses, allowing more flexibility for early voting sites when a supervisor’s office is not suitable, eliminating the need for provisional-ballot envelopes when polling hours are extended by emergency order, and allowing vote-by-mail voters to remain on the list for the next general election unless they opt out. Senators asked questions about inactive voter status, security implications, early voting site requirements, and vote-by-mail renewal, and several members expressed support or interest in the supervisors’ proposals. During public testimony, several speakers urged stronger election-integrity measures, including proof of citizenship, tighter chain-of-custody controls, more hand-counting or manual audits, quarterly list maintenance, and reduced reliance on vote-by-mail and voting machines. They also criticized current audit systems and cited outside reports and research they said showed vulnerabilities in Florida’s election process. No additional committee action was taken after public testimony, and the meeting adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• I mentioned we're building a priority listing, and the next slide talks about our first priority, which
• <00:59:18.319><c> which</c> talks about our first priority and which talks about our first priority and
• It is our number one priority in our priority listing because it is something that's been started, and
• facility it is our number one priority and<01:08:43.440><c> our</c><01:08:43.560><c> priority</c><01
• </c> projects like that yet on the priority projects like that yet on the priority list<01:12:18.639>

Committee: House Capital Investment

Transcript Highlights:

• And it was a low priority.
• For your first question, my understanding of a priority one response, as opposed to a priority two or
• And so what a priority one response would do, is rather than a priority three, which is, you know, they
• So that's really the only difference between a priority one and a priority three is timing.
• It's simply giving this more priority, putting it at a level one, more priority, faster time, and that's

Committee: Senate Health and Welfare

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> our priority. Thank you. our priority. Thank you.
• assault should be the priority.
• </c> a deadly assault should be the priority. a deadly assault should be the priority.
• Um I also agree with priority.
• </c><00:36:02.320><c> And</c> decide where our priorities are. And decide where our priorities are.

Transcript Highlights:

• Okay, so Madam Chair, this is not a chapter priority. This is a Navajo Nation priority.
• Chapter priorities.
• The chapter has their priorities.
• Navajo Nation has a priority.
• When we talk about priorities from the Navajo Nation, Does it mean that whatever the priorities that

Committee: House House Government, Elections & Indian Affairs

Transcript Highlights:

• Our highest priority is the critical maintenance priority, which is just over $2.4 million.
• Our first priority, priority number one, is an education management platform.
• and priority two.
• I just want to point out we have to have priority one and priority two.
• Number one priority is that Number one priority is that we are environmentally compliant.

Summary: The hearing reconvened with testimony from several agencies on their capital budget requests. The Department of Environmental Services requested a little over $38 million, with major emphasis on dam repairs and design work for aging state-owned dams, including a $5.25 million match for possible FEMA BRIC funding at Pawtuckaway/Tuckaway and other projects such as Milton Three Ponds, Murphy Dam, and Lakeport Gates. DES also requested funding for state revolving loan fund matches, a Superfund match for the Savage Well site, IT and air-monitoring upgrades, and a new $750,000 cybersecurity request for water and wastewater systems. Committee members asked about FEMA eligibility, the distinction between design and construction money, and the timing and risk of banking funds if federal grants do not materialize. The University System of New Hampshire requested $20 million in state support, primarily $15 million for a major Diamond Library renovation at UNH to create a student support hub and reduce/repurpose collection space, plus $2.5 million each for deferred maintenance at Plymouth State and Keene State. The Community College System requested about $16.6 million across seven projects, led by critical maintenance, campus safety/security upgrades, IT infrastructure, parking and site improvements, HVAC replacement at White Mountains Community College in Littleton, a building management/energy system, and modernization of NHTI’s dental clinic and radiology spaces. The Department of Education requested $29.5 million, including a $4.9 million internal management platform to replace paper-based and siloed systems, plus career and technical education capital projects; Milford’s CTE project was described as being revised after repeated failed bond votes, while ConVal said its revised project would focus on modernizing existing CTE space and adding a security vestibule. Fish and Game requested $1.075 million for three facilities: Sewall Falls in Concord, the Lancaster Armory, and the Bunker Lane Barn in Durham, focusing on structural repairs, security, reconfiguration, and in one case replacement of a failing barn with a new 40-by-60 building. The department also said hatchery work is ongoing but that it is taking a cautious approach because of the planned New Hampton Hatchery and future capital needs. The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources requested $9.26 million for eight projects, including campground electrical upgrades at Ellacoya and Lake Francis, White Lake water system replacement, Mount Washington fuel tank and safety work, Odiorne Point visitor center work funded through parks revenue, roofing and parking lot repairs, Fox Forest office safety upgrades, and historic site repairs at White Island and Fort Constitution. Members asked about revenue-based capital, the stability of the parks fund, and flexibility in choosing projects as bids come in. The Department of Transportation began its presentation at the end of the transcript, but its detailed requests were not yet discussed.

Transcript Highlights:

• And then my second question is, when it talks about the priority—first priority, second, third, fourth—education
• Hit me on what the priority levels do. So you can do a project.
• Right, but what does the priority mean: first priority, second priority, third, fourth?
• The establishment of a priority is about getting the developer to qualify under those priority measurements
• moving up to the front of the line, basically, with the priorities.

Bills: HB1342 , HB2889 , HB3002 , HB3254 , HB4820 , HJR40 , HJR40

Committee: House Pensions, Investments & Financial Services

Keywords: private activity bonds, housing, residential rental projects, low-income, affordable housing, bond measures, funding equality, political subdivisions, public communications, election fairness, debt collection, consumer rights, disclosures, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, settlement agreements, State Board of Education, group benefits program, health insurance, state employees, dependents eligibility

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> item number six on this list priority item number six on this list priority number<00:21:05.600>
• </c> that are stored there um our priority that are stored there um our priority item<00:42:28.319><c
• </c> I continue on priority I continue on priority 29<01:08:29.679><c> okay</c><01:08:30.120><c> okay
• Yes, that is why, um, Priority 1 of the priorities is to decommission what is it, Priority 1 now, and
• Yes, that is why, um, Priority 1 of the priorities is to decommission what is it, Priority 1 now, and

Summary: The joint Ways and Means and Government Operations committees received a biennium budget preview from Keith Regan, Comptroller and Director of the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS), who introduced department leadership and described DAGS’ broad responsibilities across accounting, public works, procurement, elections, archives, risk management, and other attached agencies. He emphasized that DAGS supports nearly every state department and cited ongoing workforce challenges, while noting progress in reducing the department-wide vacancy rate from 21% in 2023 to 17.7% in 2024. He also highlighted recruitment efforts, including new salary schedules for engineers and architects, job fairs, internships, and outreach to retiring federal employees. A major focus was modernization of the state’s aging financial systems, especially the 55-year-old FAMIS platform and the Enterprise Financial System (EFS) project. DAGS said it expects to release the RFP for the FAMIS replacement by the end of January and is seeking a second tranche of CIP funding, including $35 million, plus position augmentation and creation of a Business Transformation Office to manage EFS and future modernization work. The department also described major capital projects such as the Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, Wahiawā Civic Center, Kauaʻi Civic Center, and Ahuimanu Community Correctional Center, and reported that Public Works is managing 455 projects statewide valued at more than $2.5 billion. Other budget requests discussed included funding for cemetery operations, with DAGS asking for two positions and $1 million in operating funds to support maintenance of eight cemeteries; a $200 million ceiling increase tied to anticipated insurance proceeds for West Maui fire-related recovery and rebuilding; and several staffing and operating items for district offices and facilities. These included full-year funding for positions in West Hawaiʻi and East Hawaiʻi, support for a small business coordinator at the State Procurement Office, funding for cloud hosting and PeopleSoft licensing, six positions and staff augmentation for the EFS project, electricity costs, and security-related funding. DAGS also noted that two requested reductions totaled $7.9 million, including transferring the security contract to the Department of Law Enforcement and reducing nonrecurring expenses; members discussed whether some security funding should remain with or be moved to DLE, and DAGS said it would not object to that transfer. No votes were taken in the portion provided.