Transcript Highlights:

• To be Irish is to know the struggle for democracy, liberty, and freedom.
• Oftentimes laying down their lives for the freedoms we hold dear. by the intrepid Irish immigrants who
• , across the world today, brave men and women service members are standing watch, protecting our freedoms
• Earth, behind the scenes, carrying out difficult missions that protect American interests and defend freedom
• </c> Americans want a federal government that respects consumer choice and the exercising of our freedoms

Transcript Highlights:

• Your commitment to academic excellence and operational efficiency ensured that all students have the
• Your commitment to academic<00:10:05.160><c> excellence</c><00:10:05.760><c> and</c><00:10:06.040><c>
• operational</c> academic excellence and operational academic excellence and operational efficiency<00
• urging of the Freedom Caucus in New<01:06:50.880><c> Jersey,</c><01:06:51.440><c> Pennsylvania,</c><
• In the Maryland Freedom Caucus, we did come out a year ago and talk about cutting this program.

Transcript Highlights:

• Please help me welcome some people from the Leadership Program of the Rockies, the Army for Freedom.
• LPR Army for Freedom, will you please stand to be recognized?
• The freedom of association used to mean something in this country.
• The freedom of association used grounds.
• </c><03:49:46.680><c> academy</c> update law enforcement academic academy update law enforcement academic

Transcript Highlights:

• Martin Radossovic on behalf of Reproductive Freedom for All California, in support.
• representing Mom's Army, thousands of moms in California, also representing Church of God Tidings and Freedom
• representing Mom's Army, thousands of moms in California, also representing Church of God Tidings and Freedom
• Thank you very much. representing Church of God to Hidings and Freedom Coalition in opposition.
• ...or experienced maternity providers who train, mentor, and supervise students, bridging their academic

Committee: House Health

Transcript Highlights:

• freedom of faculty.
• So, there's a problem with showing both of it to just be academically honest, but you're exactly right
• Its sole mission is to advance academics at UofL by providing financial support.
• And then, we're also looking at academic efficiencies. How many students do we have in sections?
• We asked every academic and support unit this year during budget development to take out 10% from their

Summary: The Interim Joint Budget Review Subcommittee on Education met for its first summer interim meeting, opened with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, and took roll. The first presentation came from Jerry Gels, principal of Ignite Institute in Erlanger, who focused on the rising cost of dual credit. He said dual credit tuition has increased from about $150 to $290 for a three-credit course over roughly five years, which he argued is discouraging participation, especially for working-class and low-income students. He cited Ignite data and broader college outcomes to argue dual credit improves college persistence, shortens time to degree, and reduces student debt, noting that many of his students enter college with substantial credit and that low-income students at Ignite have increasingly participated after targeted efforts and scholarship use. He also said the instructional labor is largely paid by county school systems, so he questioned the size of the tuition increase and said the committee should examine how the costs are being set and whether college tuition should be stabilizing as more students arrive with credits already earned. Members asked about who pays for dual credit, the role of state scholarship support, and whether tuition varies by institution. Gels said students in his district generally pay the dual credit cost themselves, though some districts may cover it, and he noted the dual credit scholarship now covers fewer classes than before. He said the price appears to be set centrally rather than varying by university, and he emphasized that the higher cost is creating barriers even though the courses are taught largely by local teachers on school payrolls. He also described Ignite’s efforts to expand access for free- and reduced-lunch students, saying participation among that group rose from 27% with no dual credit to about 90-92% taking at least one dual credit class. The committee then heard from the Goldwater Institute, represented by Michael Frazier and Dr. Tim Minella by Zoom. They argued Kentucky’s public universities should face stronger accountability and transparency, citing declining public confidence in higher education, rising costs, and what they described as administrative growth and research spending that does not clearly benefit students or the Commonwealth. They proposed requiring a 10-year accounting of staffing growth by category, comparing it to enrollment and low-income Kentucky enrollment, and limiting non-STEM faculty teaching releases for research unless approved under a baseline consent process. They also criticized certain university-funded research projects as examples of misdirected spending and said public reporting should distinguish Kentucky residents from non-residents more clearly, pointing to a reported decline in low-income in-state undergraduate enrollment. No votes or formal actions were taken during the meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• Within our membership, like I said, we also have academic nonprofits.
• Um, and so again, you know, really leaning on all academic partners at every level.
• </c><01:27:27.199><c> I</c><01:27:27.520><c> know</c> academic partners at every level.
• I know academic partners at every level.
• partners and we help to academic partners and we help to collaborate<01:29:31.520><c> and</c><01:29:

Committee: House Science, Technology and Energy

Transcript Highlights:

• participating through some of your other programs, homeschool populations, private schools, and education freedom
• help that they need in that moment on homework, on essays, on anything in between related to their academics
• related essays on anything in between um related to<01:38:17.480><c> their</c><01:38:17.800><c> academics
• 18.960><c> vet</c><01:38:19.320><c> all</c><01:38:19.440><c> of</c><01:38:19.560><c> our</c> to their academics
• we vet all of our to their academics we vet all of our tutors<01:38:20.239><c> we</c><01:38:20.400><

Committee: Senate Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• But if they had the choice, if they had the opportunity, if they had the freedom to take that money,
• </c> the freedom the freedom to<00:21:37.000><c> take</c><00:21:37.280><c> that</c><00:21:37.520><c>
• Give parents the freedom.
• Give parents the freedom.
• Public and non-public school student transfers, academic records documentation.

Summary: The House met in Annapolis on February 27, 2026, with 128 members present. After a prayer, the chamber adopted the previous day’s journal and recognized a resolution honoring Brunswick High School’s first Tech Challenge team, Minerva’s Mechanics, for winning the FTC Regional Championships and qualifying for the World Championship in Houston. The resolution was read and adopted with applause. The main legislative item was House Bill 355, concerning the Education, Sexual Abuse and Assault Awareness and Prevention Program and human and sex trafficking; the House adopted the favorable committee report and ordered the bill printed for third reading. The next bill, House Bill 534 on nonpublic school transcripts and prohibiting punitive measures related to student debt, also received a favorable report. Debate then centered on an amendment offered to HB 534 that would have tied school funding to student choice for students in repeatedly one-star-rated schools and allowed parents of habitually violent or disruptive students to consider military boarding school options. The sponsor argued Maryland’s public schools, especially in Baltimore City, were failing students despite heavy spending, citing low literacy, violence, and the book Failure Factory; several members echoed concerns about school performance, bureaucracy, and the need for educational freedom. Opponents and procedural speakers said the amendment was not germane to HB 534, which they described as a narrow bill about transcript access for students leaving nonpublic schools with unpaid fees, often students with disabilities. The floor leader urged the body to resist the amendment and stick to the bill’s actual subject. Despite multiple members explaining their votes in support of school choice and criticizing the Blueprint and school outcomes, the House ultimately took a roll call on the amendment after a voice vote was challenged. The transcript cuts off during the roll call and does not show the final recorded result on the amendment.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><01:50:29.760><c> surveys</c><01:50:30.239><c> or</c> all non-academic surveys or all non-academic
• "Well, in this case, it's all other non-academic surveys are included in this requirement." "Okay.
• Well, in this case, it's uh all other<01:56:02.639><c> non-academic</c><01:56:03.599><c> surveys</c><
• non-academic surveys are included in<01:56:04.880><c> this</c><01:56:05.119><c> requirement.
• </c><02:38:42.160><c> of</c> that she has a little bit of freedom of that she has a little bit of freedom

Summary: The Division 3 work session focused largely on amendment 1176 to HB 2, which would have incorporated the substance of HB 548FN, a House-passed bill creating a direct-pay or membership-based model for health care facilities. Representative Mlan described the proposal as a way to increase competition in health care by extending the direct-care model used in primary care to facilities, arguing it could encourage innovation and that concerns about widespread harm to critical access hospitals were overstated. He pointed to Oklahoma’s long-standing Surgical Center model as evidence that the approach had not spread broadly or displaced hospitals there. Several members and witnesses raised concerns. Representative Stringham questioned whether the model would shift profitable services and patients away from existing hospitals, potentially worsening their finances and affecting Medicaid-related funding. David Ross, speaking for county nursing homes, opposed the language because it also removed moratoriums on nursing home, skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation, and self-pay beds, warning that it could increase pressure on Medicaid rates and undermine community-based care. Ben Bradley of the New Hampshire Hospital Association said the proposal appeared to create a separate regulatory framework for direct-pay facilities and raised concerns about patient safety, CMS participation rules, and a separate patient bill of rights. The chair concluded that, because HB 548 was already moving through the Senate, the HB 2 process was not the best vehicle for the policy and that the issue should be left to the Senate’s more deliberative committee process. Representative Ferski moved to not accept or remove amendment 1176 from the agenda, and the committee approved the motion by roll call, 9-0, withdrawing the item from HB 2.

Transcript Highlights:

• branch of service, women have contributed to the defense of our country and the preservation of our freedoms
• That is a major problem, and we wonder why academic achievement has failed.
• Because this is the best country in the world, and they do it not only for our freedoms, but for the
• freedoms of their children.
• This proposal weakens workers, undermines local decision-making, and attacks the freedom of employees

Transcript Highlights:

• Hall and beginning my probation term, I've been offered many opportunities professionally and academically
• It actually shifts the burden from youth who are forced to prove they deserve freedom, and the system
• Yannick Ortega with the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition and proud co-sponsor in support.
• Yannick Ortega, with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, in support.
• Yannick Ortega with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, in strong support. Thank you all very much.

Summary: The committee heard testimony on several public safety bills, with most of the discussion focused on AB 1650, AB 2014, AB 1886, AB 2126, AB 2624, and AB 2257. AB 1650 would require clearer identification on privately owned vehicles rented or leased to government agencies for enforcement operations; supporters framed it as a transparency and safety measure in response to ICE activity, while no opposition testified. AB 2014 would allow post-conviction habeas relief where gender bias or stereotypes were used at trial and may have affected the outcome; supporters described cases involving sexist and anti-LGBTQ stereotypes, while the California District Attorneys Association opposed the bill as overbroad and likely to restrict relevant evidence, though the author said recent amendments removed the evidence-code provisions and left only the habeas remedy. AB 1886 would extend a 12-month probation presumption to youth in out-of-home placements and those discharged from secure youth treatment facilities; youth advocates supported it as a fairness and rehabilitation measure, while judges, probation officials, and district attorneys opposed it as undoing a recent compromise and limiting individualized decisions. AB 2126 would speed hiring of peer partners in child welfare by creating a narrow exemption process for certain foster-youth-related offenses; it drew broad support and no opposition. AB 2624 would expand the Safe at Home address-confidentiality program to immigrant service providers, employees, and volunteers; supporters cited threats, doxing, and harassment, while one journalist opposed it over possible effects on reporting, and the author and committee members said the bill preserves press protections and is narrowly aimed at threats and harassment. AB 2257 would restore county authority to create a separate corrections department to run jails instead of the sheriff; supporters argued it would improve accountability and address jail deaths and fiscal problems, while sheriffs opposed it as unnecessary and said sheriffs are already subject to oversight. The committee also noted several bills pulled by their authors and adopted a consent calendar of unrelated measures. Votes were not always taken immediately because the committee was waiting for a quorum, but AB 2624 was moved on a do-pass-as-amended motion to Appropriations and left on call, and the chair indicated support or favorable recommendations on several of the other measures.

Transcript Highlights:

• It actually shifts the burden from youth who are forced to prove they deserve freedom, and the system
• Good morning again, Yannick Ortega with the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition and proud co-sponsor in
• Good morning again, Yannick Ortega with the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition and proud co-sponsor in
• Yannick Ortega, with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, in support.
• Yannick Ortega with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, in strong support. Thank you all very much.

Committee: House Public Safety

Transcript Highlights:

• Despite my good academic standing, I struggled with employment a lot.
• The state of California believes in the basic principles of freedom and equality reflected in various
• The Trump administration is using every level of government to assault our freedoms and silence those

Committee: Senate Public Safety

Summary: The committee met as a subcommittee until a quorum was established, then heard several public safety and criminal justice bills. SB 907 by Senator Archuleta proposed five DUI-related changes: requiring Watson advisements when DUI charges are pled down, allowing consecutive sentencing discretion for multiple deaths in one crash, adding enhancements for repeat felony DUI offenders, increasing penalties for hit-and-run by drivers with recent DUI history, and treating gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated as violent felonies. The author and supporters, including prosecutors, law enforcement, and victims’ family members, argued the bill would close loopholes and increase accountability. Opponents, including criminal defense and civil liberties groups, raised concerns about overbreadth, legal doctrine, and the violent felony designation. Committee members generally supported moving the bill but urged further changes, especially on the violent felony and consecutive sentencing provisions. SB 907 was passed as amended to the Senate Appropriations Committee and kept on call. The committee then heard SB 1015, which would create new offenses aimed at online exploitation networks that use minors to coerce, recruit, or extort other minors, including through intimate images and AI-generated images. The author, sheriff’s officials, and district attorneys described rapidly growing online abuse networks and argued current laws do not clearly reach adults who use minors as intermediaries or minors who participate in coercive extortion schemes. Opponents said existing criminal statutes already cover much of the conduct and argued the bill could unnecessarily criminalize youth behavior instead of focusing on platforms and prevention. Members expressed concern about the harms to children and the need to address evolving online threats, while also noting the bill’s juvenile provisions. SB 1015 was passed as amended to Appropriations and kept on call. SB 1285, also by Senator Durazo, would clarify that juvenile record dismissal under Welfare and Institutions Code section 782 is a general dismissal statute and that dismissal and record sealing are separate processes. Supporters said the bill would preserve the rehabilitative purpose of juvenile court and help youth avoid lasting collateral consequences in employment, licensing, and military service. There was no opposition after PORAC withdrew its objection, and the committee approved the bill to the floor on a unanimous roll call, keeping it on call for absent members. SB 1342, another Durazo bill, would fix implementation problems in California’s automatic record clearance laws by addressing outdated pending charges, requiring local court records to match DOJ clearance records, and creating a way for people to obtain proof of relief. It drew broad support and no opposition, and was passed to Appropriations, with one no vote from Senator Seyarto. Finally, the committee heard SB 1330 by Senator Aitken, which would extend enhanced penalties for assault or battery to utility workers performing their duties. The author and utility worker witnesses described increasing threats and assaults, including a recent shooting at a work crew, and said the bill would help protect workers who maintain essential water, gas, and electric services. The bill drew strong support from labor, utilities, and local government representatives. The transcript ends during public testimony on SB 1330, before any committee vote is shown.

Transcript Highlights:

• Um there are academic from unions.
• Um there are academic studies<01:42:56.080><c> on</c><01:42:56.320><c> them.
• The successful ones will maintain the freedom we currently have to our own wages.
• Um, I would consider it less of a freedom to my own wages. >> Okay. Thank you, ma'am.
• </c> freedom to my own wages. freedom to my own wages.

Committee: House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services

Summary: The committee opened its labor hearing on SB 655 and outlined the day’s schedule, including a later working session on SB 416 and an executive session planned for 2:30 p.m. Senator Dan Innis introduced SB 655, describing it as a technical bill affecting employee leasing companies/professional employer organizations (PEOs), workers’ compensation coverage, and a Senate-added minimum wage exemption for minor league baseball players covered by a collective bargaining agreement. He said the PEO change would let either the PEO or the client business hold workers’ comp coverage, while still requiring coverage, and argued it would align New Hampshire with most other states and reduce barriers for small businesses and multi-state employers. He also said the baseball provision would clarify wage treatment for minor league players and support the Manchester team. Justin Warell of Insperity testified in support of the PEO portion, explaining that PEOs provide HR, payroll, benefits administration, and workers’ compensation administration through a co-employment model. He said the bill would preserve mandatory coverage while allowing flexibility for the client or PEO to maintain the policy, which could help clients who already have preferred coverage or who face cost or administrative issues in multiple states. He noted that most clients would still remain under the PEO’s policy and said Insperity would submit written comments. Committee members asked about how the arrangement would work, whether the client or PEO would pay, and whether the bill would affect liability insurance packaging; Warell said the employer still bears the cost and that the bill mainly gives larger clients an option. One member asked him to remain available for possible follow-up after hearing from the labor department. Stephen Gonzalez of Major League Baseball testified in support of the minor league baseball exemption. He said MLB and the MLB Players Association negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that already provides players with salary, housing, meals, per diems, health and retirement benefits, disability continuation, tuition assistance, and signing bonuses. He argued that treating players as hourly workers creates impractical time-tracking problems because players do work-related activities on their own time, and said the bill would recognize them as salaried workers and avoid litigation over what counts as hours worked. Committee members questioned why the exemption was needed if players are already salaried and whether MLB could simply amend its CBA; Gonzalez said the bill would help prevent wage-and-hour lawsuits and noted that similar exemptions have been enacted in other states. No vote was taken during the hearing, and the chair indicated the bill would be considered for executive action later that afternoon.

Transcript Highlights:

• 00:41:56.560><c> and</c> against peaceful justice seekers and against peaceful justice seekers and freedom
• </c> freedom fighters. freedom fighters.
• A truly impressive accomplishment that speaks to their academic excellence and their strong grasp of
• </c><07:06:12.080><c> excellence</c><07:06:12.718><c> and</c><07:06:12.958><c> their</c> their academic
• excellence and their their academic excellence and their strong<07:06:13.520><c> grasp</c><07:06:13.840

Transcript Highlights:

• as a professor and chair of the Counseling and Behavioral Health Department, and Assistant VP for Academic
• Since then, I've worked with different teams looking at an academic civil inpatient psychiatric hospital
• Delay in hearing deprives the patient of personal freedom.
• fostering an adversarial relationship with our patients, and having the patient have their personal freedom

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery

Summary: The committee held its fourth public hearing of the 2025-2026 session on bills dealing with involuntary commitment and access to addiction treatment, especially proposals to move Section 35 civil commitments away from jails and prisons and into facilities licensed or approved by DPH or DMH. Chairs Velis and Domb framed the hearing as a discussion of how to support people in crisis with compassion, while also warning against using involuntary commitment as a way to remove unhoused people from public view. The hearing also touched on related concerns about discharge practices, treatment capacity, and the need for a broader continuum of care. Testimony split largely along two themes. Addiction researcher Keith Humphreys argued that many people enter treatment under pressure, that involuntary treatment can be ethically justified in the face of overdose risk, but that it should not be mandated unless high-quality services exist first; he emphasized the need for inpatient care when someone is a grave danger, followed by case management and outpatient support. MAMH’s Kate Alicante supported the bill, saying Massachusetts is the only state that commits people with substance use conditions to jails or prisons and that carceral settings add trauma and stigma; she pointed to prior legislative steps, including the Section 35 commission and the planned closure of DOC’s MESAC facility, as evidence that the Commonwealth is moving toward health-based settings. A major portion of the hearing focused on Stony Brook, a sheriff-run stabilization and treatment center in Hampden County. Boston City Councilor John Fitzgerald, several committee members, and multiple people in recovery described the facility as humane, well-run, and effective, with longer stays, medical monitoring, medication-assisted treatment, counseling, and warm handoffs to aftercare. Several witnesses said Stony Brook saved their lives or helped family members recover, and they argued that the sheriff’s office model should be expanded rather than eliminated. Others, including family members and advocates, countered that even a well-run correctional setting remains stigmatizing and that people should not be treated in facilities run by sheriffs or corrections when they have committed no crime. No vote was taken. The hearing concluded with continued testimony, including Senator Friedman’s support for Section 35 as a civil commitment tool but not in a criminal justice setting, and her separate support for a bill to speed inpatient mental health treatment.

Transcript Highlights:

• Its values, commitment to social justice and solidarity, and academic culture aligned with my values
• Its values, commitment to social justice and solidarity, and academic culture aligned with my values
• none that compare, for me personally, to attending Seattle Pacific University, and that financial freedom
• who are still paying tuition fees, all of those costs, but that extra aid really does give us the freedom

Bills: HB2689 , SB5420 , SB5868 , SB5877

Committee: House Appropriations

Keywords: Working Connections Child Care, child care subsidy, subsidized child care, Washington DCYF, Department of Children, Youth, and Families, low-income families, child care providers, licensed child care centers, family child care, market rate survey, subsidy rates, income eligibility, state median income, SNAP, Basic Food, collective bargaining, provider reimbursement, daily payment, half-day care, partial-day care

Transcript Highlights:

• Its values, commitment to social justice and solidarity, and academic culture aligned with my values
• Its values, commitment to social justice and solidarity, and academic culture aligned with my values
• There's none that compare for me personally, attending Seattle Pacific University, and that financial freedom
• who are still paying tuition fees, all of those costs, but that extra aid really does give us the freedom

Summary: The committee heard public testimony on Substitute Senate Bill 5828, which would restore and adjust Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship award levels for students attending private, not-for-profit four-year institutions. Staff explained the bill would set the awards at 90 percent of the regional and state college rate rather than 50 percent of the research rate, with an estimated fiscal impact of $3.3 million in fiscal year 2027 and $18.6 million over four years. Testimony was largely in support from private college presidents, students, and school counselors, who said the bill would help low-income and first-generation students and preserve access and enrollment choices; some public college student representatives said they did not oppose the bill but argued that cuts to public-school aid should be restored first. The committee also heard Substitute Senate Bill 5911, which would prohibit DCYF from using benefits or funds of youth in extended foster care as reimbursement for their cost of care beginning in 2027, while requiring support for benefit management and payee arrangements and allowing protected accounts such as ABLE accounts. Staff estimated a net fiscal impact of $608,000 in fiscal year 2027 and $2.2 million per biennium thereafter. Testimony in support said the bill would end the practice of withholding SSI and other benefits from youth in care and better support disabled youth transitioning to adulthood. Members asked questions about fiduciary responsibility and representative payee arrangements. In executive session, the committee adopted amendments and advanced several bills. It adopted Amendment Clark 350 to House Bill 2689, raising the required provider response rate for the child care market rate survey to 65 percent, and then reported the bill out with a due pass recommendation by a vote of 18-11, with two excused. It adopted Amendment H-3743.1 to Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5395 on retrospective prior authorization denials and reported that bill out unanimously. It also adopted Amendment Pool 272 to Senate Bill 5420 and reported that bill out unanimously. For Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5496, the committee adopted several amendments clarifying scope and penalties but rejected amendments that would have delayed the bill or replaced it with a study; the bill was then reported out with a due pass recommendation. The committee also heard amendment briefings on other bills, including 5981, 6026, 6160, 6184, and 6211, but deferred action on some items heard that morning.

Transcript Highlights:

• That is not freedom. That is not choice. Mandates do not belong in a free society.
• That is not freedom. That is not choice. Mandates do not belong in a free society.
• That is not freedom. That is not choice. Mandates do not belong in a free society.
• That is not freedom. That is not choice. Mandates do not belong in a free society.
• Freedom in definition of acceptable.

Transcript Highlights:

• Charlie, countless young people love America, boldly stand for their faith, and proudly defend our freedoms
• With this in this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.
• And may our nation always of freedom.
• schools and districts based on a range of performance indicators, including student achievement, academic
• </c><02:43:17.040><c> growth,</c> students achievements, academic growth, students achievements, academic