Transcript Highlights:

• In connection to community resources, 48% felt more connected to their community supports, and 44% felt
• So by statute, communities may have local commissions on disabilities, but not every community has them
• And also help us to communicate our work.
• The disability community lost a giant this week.
• So we want to use secure links when communicating.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Massachusetts Permanent Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities held its quarterly virtual meeting and approved the September minutes. Chair Denise Garlick opened with updates on the commission’s first “Meeting the Moment” community forum in Needham, reporting strong attendance, a large resource fair, and mostly positive survey feedback. Commissioners said the event was valuable for connecting advocates, providers, and people with disabilities, while also noting lessons learned about accessibility, timing, and the need for more networking time and advance materials. The chair said the commission is planning future forums in other regions, including possible sites in Lowell, Northampton, and the South Shore. A major item was the new advisory council. Oz Osmondahar and Eman described the outreach and screening process, which drew roughly 60 nominations and emphasized lived experience, sector expertise, geographic diversity, and connections to broader networks. The council will serve as strategic advisors and thought partners, meet twice a year, and hold its first in-person orientation on January 30 at the State House Members Lounge. Commissioners were encouraged to stay engaged with the council and use it to strengthen commission and subcommittee work. Subcommittee reports covered employment, workforce supports, and long-term services and supports/health equity. The Disability Employment Subcommittee reported collaboration with SEED, a presentation at the Employment Matters Conference, a discussion with a disability employee resource group, and upcoming work with CED and veterans advocates. The Workforce Supports Subcommittee heard from the MassHealth Policy Commission’s Behavioral Health Workforce Center about workforce data gaps and an upcoming needs assessment, and plans to host ADDP on 2025 workforce metrics. The long-term services and supports committee discussed the Housing Navigator program, barriers to accessible housing, and concerns about how federal cuts could affect disability services and health equity. The commission also heard from DDS Deputy General Counsel Erin Brown and Associate Commissioner Chris Klaskin on a new law expanding access to records from former state institutions, including new notification and privacy procedures and a forthcoming regulatory process with public input. Commissioners welcomed the law as a step toward transparency and dignity. Amen gave an executive director update on the annual report, recent collaboration with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Office of the Veteran Advocate, a national state-employer practice group, and the IDD/Autism Alliance working group. The meeting also included a moment of reflection for disability activist Alice Wong, a commissioner announcement about Work Without Limits’ virtual career fair, and adjournment after a motion and second were approved unanimously.

Transcript Highlights:

• Community integration: our students are literally everywhere.
• But we, at UCA, have a program called Living Learning Communities.
• And every academic college has a community, basically.
• This is a focus on community building.
• It’s housed on the Living Learning Communities website.

Summary: The committee first approved the minutes from November 17 by motion and voice vote. It then heard a presentation from Arkansas State University on its inclusive postsecondary education programs, HOWL and ATLAS, led by Dr. Kristen Johnson and Shane Broadway. The programs serve students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism, by providing on-campus living, academic support, life-skills training, financial literacy, internships, employment support, and community integration. Johnson explained that HOWL is a comprehensive transition program that does not lead to a degree but is eligible for financial aid, while ATLAS is degree-seeking and provides additional supports. She reported strong outcomes, including high goal attainment and a majority of graduates working full time, and emphasized that the programs are designed to help students build autonomous adult lives. Members asked about recruitment, eligibility, costs, school outreach, business partnerships, and transition planning. Johnson said the programs have done extensive outreach through IEP meetings, transition symposia, email blasts, and school visits, but that awareness remains a challenge. She identified major roadblocks as business concerns about liability, fragmented collaboration, and difficulty navigating funding streams such as vocational rehabilitation and Medicaid. She also said more coordinated statewide communication and coalition-building are needed, and noted that ASU is helping launch a state alliance for similar programs, with new programs opening at ASU Mountain Home and the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. The committee then heard from the University of Central Arkansas about Project Ascend, a new low-sensory living-learning community for neurodiverse students in Hughes Hall. Dr. Debbie Daly and Jeremy Gillum described it as a voluntary, self-identified program focused on community building, belonging, and retention rather than remediation or degree planning. The program has hosted a few low-sensory social events and plans to expand outreach through campus tours, orientation, and targeted communications. Members asked about recruitment, participation, success measures, and how to avoid duplicating ASU’s efforts; UCA said it is still in its infancy and will measure success mainly through participation, retention, and student engagement. The meeting ended with general support from members, discussion of collaboration across institutions and agencies, and adjournment of the task force.

Transcript Highlights:

• OR REHABILITATION OF COMMUNITY FACILITIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND HAD THE DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM
• THE MULTIPURPOSE FACILITY COMMUNITY IS ONE THAT WAS DEAR TO THE HEART WHEN WE PROVIDING COMMUNITIES THAT
• IT IS FUNDED THROUGH THE LOCAL COMMUNICATION SERVICE TAX.
• I WANT TO THANK AT&T FOR BEING BUT SUCH GOOD PARTNERS IN MY COMMUNITY IN DISTRICT 61.
• ALBERT KAMINSKI FROM CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS. YOU ARE RECOGNIZED. >> Mr.

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, on a smaller scale, as courts have themselves engaged community resources and community supports.
• As community-based care expands statewide, our community and our kids are at risk of being left behind
• community.
• Community engagement is a required part of our current community-based care model, but this bill takes
• What it looks like when the community is actually invested in the success of community-based care.

Bills: SB 502, SB 513, SB 622, SB 670, SB 731, SB 732, SB 916, SB 961, SB 1122

Keywords: SB 502, Texas peace officers, Health and Human Services Commission, HHSC Office of Inspector General, OIG investigators, law enforcement classification, Schedule C, state employee benefits, injury benefits, peace officer status, commissioned officers, state auditor classification, Government Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, human services, health and human services, law enforcement compensation, public employee benefits, Texas state law enforcement, child welfare

Transcript Highlights:

• Underserved communities and communities of color experience decades of discrimination in accessing high-quality
• He was simply a neighbor who couldn't sit idly by while his community was suffering.
• He texted family and friends, put together community group messages, and started.
• He put together community group messages.
• The Senate joins the family and community in our condolences. Oh, Senator Choi. Thank you.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Summary: The Senate convened with a quorum, offered prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, approved the journals, referred AB 1457 to Rules, and moved SB 1241 and SB 1422 to the inactive file. The chamber then took up two gubernatorial appointments: Tanya Pacheco Werner to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board and Dr. Paulette Brown-Hines to the California Transportation Commission. Both nominees were presented by Senator Grove, noted as having been approved unanimously by the Rules Committee, and both were confirmed by floor vote, 34-0 and 36-0 respectively. Senator Becker then presented SR 104, which recognizes healthy aging and longevity research as a public health and economic priority and encourages prevention, early intervention, and collaboration on aging-related research and innovation. Senator Weber Pierson spoke in strong support, emphasizing aging as a major risk factor for chronic disease, health inequities affecting communities of color, and the need for more diverse research participation. The resolution was adopted on a 35-0 vote. The Senate also heard remarks introducing guests from USC, UC Berkeley, the Buck Institute, the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, Retro Biosciences, California Chronic Care Coalition, LeadingAge California, and AgingBio, in connection with the healthy aging resolution. Committee announcements followed, and members then offered adjournment-in-memory tributes for Larry Vane of Pacific Palisades and David Sandell, an educator and former Air National Guard member. The session concluded after those memorials, with the Senate set to reconvene on June 11, 2026.

Transcript Highlights:

• Um just connect community statewide.
• This is good for the communities along the line.
• Um, and you communities along the line.
• <00:08:06.240> are know what, none of these communities are know what, none of these communities
• And so, um I would communities.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:03:57.760> settings encompasses schools Community settings encompasses schools Community
• <00:07:50.360> stem Partners industry and Community stem Partners industry and Community stem
• facilities and do lots of community facilities and do lots of community events<00:47:40.800>
• <01:02:26.520> I've particularly in the LA Community I've particularly in the LA Community
• Your organization has been a big part of our Latino community and our immigrant community, and that's

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Community Community settings<00:02:29.120> first<00:02:29.360> to<00:02:29.519> test
• created between the power of communities created between the power of communities and<00:05:01.080
• <00:07:33.879> and the sense of value and community and the sense of value and community and
• what what is the current communication what what is the current communication right<00:40:36.599
• > just communicate is that communication just communicate is that communication just not<00:40:43.560

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It is really a disgrace what we are doing to our rural communities.
• School-based and community-based providers is not insurmountable.
• BA are more likely to remain in the community provider community for four or more years.
• Which remain a persistent challenge for many community providers.
• we treat them either in their home or in the community.

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm very proud to represent my community. It is a very tight-knit community.
• Benefit communities, and then we also see communities using technology to let people know which crossings
• Many times the railroad was there, and then as the community grew, the community, city, or county came
• And a lot of times where the rail yards are located are in humble communities, communities that have
• In my communities, particularly at the community college, I'm glad to know how many people have graduated

Transcript Highlights:

• and in the ASECIA communities.
• Currently, many of our communities seek capital outlay dollars, and like most small rural communities
• for both community and economic purposes.
• was at a community meeting.
• Community service order.

Transcript Highlights:

• people in my community in a way that I felt was beneficial.
• And it's up to the veteran whether they want to be in that community or not.
• That sounds like a need that maybe the local community can pick up.
• You can see our building there, the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope.
• We, as Community of Hope, said we will take this on.

Transcript Highlights:

• like this one to keep host communities like this one to keep host communities whole<00:47:18.480
• and save these communities money.
• and save these communities money.
• and save these communities money.
• and save these communities money.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• big fan of community colleges.
• I, too, am a fan of community college.
• These funds are crucial to community colleges.
• the environmental justice communities that we sit in.
• as Roxbury Community College, in these green skills.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Higher Education held its second public hearing of the 194th General Court on capital investments in higher education, focusing primarily on H.54, the Bright Act, along with H.1426/S.949 on green and healthy public colleges and universities and deferred maintenance, and H.1424 on capital investment in Gateway Cities. Chairs and administration officials framed the hearing as a response to aging campus infrastructure, climate goals, workforce needs, and federal pressures on higher education, and explained that testimony would be taken from pre-registered speakers in person and virtually. University of Massachusetts leaders strongly supported the Bright Act, describing large deferred maintenance backlogs, aging buildings, and the need to decarbonize campuses while modernizing research and teaching facilities. UMass officials said the bill would help keep tuition and fees lower by reducing the need for campuses to finance capital work themselves, and argued that the investments would improve competitiveness, support research, and create construction jobs. Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, Secretary of Education Tuttweiler, and Secretary of Administration and Finance Gorzkowicz also backed the bill, saying it would leverage Fair Share surtax revenues for a proposed $2.5 billion in campus investments plus additional targeted grants, and that it would support affordability, economic growth, and climate resilience. Committee members asked about the balance between deferred maintenance and decarbonization, the role of grant programs versus direct spending, the impact on tuition and fees, and how the plan would help campuses respond to federal cuts such as NIH and NSF funding. Administration officials said the proposal was designed to be phased in quickly, with some projects ready to start immediately and others taking longer, and that the grant programs would be structured to include all campuses equitably. They also said the plan would build on an existing financing model similar to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund and could help campuses avoid future tuition increases tied to capital costs. Additional testimony came from MassBay Community College, where President David Podell and recent nursing graduate Deanna Cavazos described the benefits of a new Framingham campus building and said community colleges need modern labs, better planning capacity, and deferred maintenance support to serve the enrollment growth from MassReconnect and MassEducate. State university leaders, including President Mary Grant, President Linda Thompson, and President John Keenan, said their campuses face outdated classrooms, insufficient electrical capacity, and aging facilities, and urged passage of the Bright Act as a long-overdue investment in student success and workforce preparation.

Transcript Highlights:

• It seems to be a concern primarily in our urban communities, but also in some of our rural communities
• and community land trust.
• So they're making this step to be able to reenter the community and engage with other people in the community
• I work with individuals in the deaf community who use ASL as their first mode of communication, or their
• language of communication.

Summary: The committee first approved the February 11, 2026 minutes and then received an update from the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency on the interagency council on homelessness and continuum of care funding. Testimony described rising homelessness tied to tight housing markets, low incomes, aging homelessness, barriers to rental assistance and public benefits, and limited shelter and case-management capacity. Members discussed the need for more affordable housing, continued one-time funding for the North Dakota Homeless Grant and Housing Incentive Fund, better coordination with Health and Human Services on economic assistance and human service zones, landlord engagement, recovery housing, and reentry housing. The committee also heard that federal continuum of care funding remains uncertain, with possible shifts away from permanent supportive housing and housing-first models; members asked for a future update on the impact if federal rules reduce the share available for permanent housing. The committee then took testimony on accessibility of government services for people who are blind or visually impaired. Paul Olson of North Dakota Vision Services School for the Blind described current screening and service delivery, including infant referrals, regional staff, short-term programs, and collaboration with vocational rehabilitation. He said the targeted screening system is working, recommended maintaining the current model, and noted ongoing challenges with staffing, public awareness, and accessible state websites and documents. Public testimony from a visually impaired resident and a deaf resident emphasized barriers such as CAPTCHAs, inaccessible PDFs, employment forms that screen out applicants based on driver’s license status, shortages of interpreters, and the need for video remote interpreting and video relay services, along with training for users and agencies. Finally, the committee heard a final report on the study of child care provider licensing from HHS Early Childhood Director Kay Larson. The report summarized provider input and committee discussion on simplifying North Dakota’s child care licensing structure, reducing administrative burden, and balancing that with health and safety standards. Key topics included licensing categories, child care assistance eligibility, food program sponsorship, staff qualifications, training requirements, ratios and group size, age bands, and preschool exemptions. The committee’s recommendations included streamlining to three provider types plus a preschool designation, revising ratio and age-band rules, and carrying forward certain preschool outdoor-space exemptions. Larson noted that any changes would require statutory changes, rulemaking, and a transition period before new licensing rules could take effect.

Transcript Highlights:

• <01:03:50.359> communities of a community but those two communities of a community but those
• <01:04:42.880> 1,700 Community our community is only 1,700 Community our community is only
• Our students are community members.
• Our students are community members.
• prior to that they live in the community prior to that they live in the community playing<01:20:

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Summary: The Education Finance Committee met on February 5, 2025, to hear testimony from representatives of Minnesota’s Catholic and other nonpublic schools, focused on state nonpublic pupil aid, transportation, counseling, nursing, and related support programs. Meg Forette of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis argued that Catholic schools serve more than 30,000 students across many districts, educate a diverse population, and achieve strong academic results while operating at far lower per-student costs than public schools. She urged lawmakers to reject proposed cuts to nonpublic funding, saying they would be inequitable and harmful to lower-income families, and also raised concerns about state teacher-licensing requirements conflicting with Catholic values. Trisha Menshu, principal of St. John Paul II Catholic School in Northeast Minneapolis, described a student body with high levels of poverty, learning needs, and academic gaps, and said state-funded nurse and guidance-counseling services are essential to keeping students safe, healthy, and on track for high school. She said the school absorbs many costs itself, including medical supplies and significant staff time, and credited the support programs with helping students make strong academic growth and graduate on time. In response to a senator’s question, she clarified that the school uses the nursing aid for limited nurse time and pays other medical-related costs from operating funds, with no billing back to public school districts. Committee members asked follow-up questions about the relationship between teacher licensing and Catholic values, and about how medical needs for nonpublic students are funded. Forette said the concern was not with welcoming all students but with how DEI-related trainings and language are presented in ways that conflict with Catholic teaching. The committee then moved on to the next testifier, Andrew Hiliker of Stella Maris Academy in Duluth, who began by describing his school’s growth and the state’s role in supporting all students, regardless of school choice.

Transcript Highlights:

• We had to evacuate our community.
• We had communities.
• And so we're trying to get more Indigenous community members, urban tribal Indigenous community members
• , visible, accessible, speaking with community members, and building trust with the community.
• We maintain regular communication with tribal leadership and attend community forums, school programs

Summary: The Tribal and State Relations Committee met at Standing Rock with tribal council members, state legislators, and agency representatives to discuss state-tribal coordination and local priorities. Early discussion focused on process concerns, including the short agenda time and the need for better communication, more advance notice, and more relevant state department staff at future meetings. Tribal leaders asked for lists of state tribal liaisons and bills affecting tribes, and state members said they would follow up, share grant and deadline information, and plan another meeting in Bismarck with program experts and agency staff. A major portion of the meeting centered on health, child welfare, law enforcement, housing, infrastructure, and sovereignty issues. Tribal speakers said rural health transformation funding and other state programs often do not fit direct-service tribes or IHS-funded systems, and they raised concerns about Medicaid, ICWA, foster care delays, human service zones, housing shortages, and the placement of Native children off-reservation. They also discussed missing and murdered Indigenous people, search-and-rescue cooperation, cross-deputization, extradition and banishment ordinances, and the need for stronger law enforcement partnerships that respect tribal sovereignty. Other concerns included poor roads, water and sewer needs in Sioux County communities, census accuracy, and the impact of data centers and other development on water and health. Economic development and regulatory issues were also discussed. Standing Rock representatives raised concerns about charitable gaming and e-pull tabs, saying the machines function like Class III gaming and have harmed tribal revenue while spreading into local businesses. They also described problems with county-issued fireworks permits and state/county liquor licensing rules that they said undermine tribal authority within reservation boundaries. In response, legislators said the committee would continue to look at these issues, and one member suggested possible legislation such as limiting e-tabs near tribal lands. The committee also heard from Joseph McNeil of Sage Development Authority about a 235-megawatt wind project on tribal, allotted, and fee land; he said federal permitting delays have stalled the project and asked for state support to help move it forward. The meeting concluded with a presentation from Dave Archambo of Wojou, a nonprofit focused on land regeneration, buffalo, food sovereignty, cultural programming, and youth wellness. He described the organization’s work on buffalo processing, gardening, fishing, hunting, language, and arts programs, and framed it as a response to historical trauma and community healing. The committee then broke for lunch and planned to resume with the Wojou presentation after the recess.

Transcript Highlights:

• Right now, we are asking communities, particularly our low-wage communities, our undocumented communities
• We cannot build a strong economy on unstable communities, and I want... ...economy on unstable communities
• They got to be in the community.
• There's a critical need for health care for this community.
• There's a critical need for health care for this community.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• beds for diversion and community-based restoration.
• We also maintain a consistent emphasis on historically underserved communities through our community
• But the community benefit is so much larger.
• But the community benefit is so much larger.
• It saves lives and strengthens our communities.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Summary: The subcommittee heard updates from the Department of State Hospitals on its proposed 2026-27 budget, including a $3.2 billion total budget, patient-driven operating cost increases, savings in the IST solutions program, and progress in meeting the Stiavedi court-ordered 28-day treatment standard. DSH reported it has met court benchmarks, reduced the IST pending placement list from a pandemic high of 1,953 to about 250, and is now averaging about five days to initiate treatment. Members asked about the effects of Proposition 36 and SB 1323 on referrals, outside hospitalization costs, Medicare coverage, and whether IST solution funds were being overbudgeted; DSH said referrals are slightly down overall, outside medical costs are rising due to inflation and an aging population, and the IST savings reflect slower-than-expected activation of community programs rather than a service gap. The department also outlined proposed funding for electrical infrastructure upgrades at Napa and Patton, a feasibility study under SB 380 for transitional housing for the CONREP SVP program, and a dental services expansion at Metropolitan and Patton. The committee held those DSH items open after discussion. The Commission for Behavioral Health presented its role in overseeing the transition from MHSA to BHSA, including data, evaluation, transparency, grantmaking, and technical assistance. It described the new Innovation Partnership Fund, a statewide innovation grant program funded at up to $20 million annually for five years, with small and large grants, and said it had received strong interest ahead of the May 8 application deadline. Members asked about what qualifies as innovation, whether grants could be renewed, and how the state would ensure the program supports service delivery rather than general outreach or training. The commission also sought a liquidation deadline extension for up to $4.062 million in remaining Alcove Youth Drop-in Center funds so sites can finish implementation and Stanford can complete the final evaluation; that item was also held open. DHCS provided an overview of behavioral health policy changes under CalAIM and BH Connect, including peer support, mobile crisis, contingency management, traditional health care practices for tribal members, the access reform and outcomes incentive program, workforce investments, evidence-based practice expansion, IMD participation, transitional rent, and upcoming youth-focused guidance such as high-fidelity wraparound and activity funds. On BHSA implementation, DHCS said it is not tracking specific local program cuts, but is monitoring county plans and outcomes while noting that counties must still preserve Medi-Cal specialty mental health and DMC-ODS services. The department also discussed its H.R. 1 implementation strategy, including outreach, streamlined renewals, ex parte exemptions, and proposed clinic navigator and outreach funding to reduce Medi-Cal coverage loss, especially for people with behavioral health needs. In response to questions, DHCS said it has not produced a specific H.R. 1 impact estimate for county behavioral health populations, and later explained that counties can still use BHSA and other funding streams for prevention and early intervention while the state tracks impacts through integrated plans and new performance measures. The department also reported on BH-CHIP bond spending, saying it has awarded $5.8 billion for 437 infrastructure projects creating 546 new or expanded facilities and more than 9,553 residential beds, with tribal set-asides exceeding the original allotment.

Transcript Highlights:

• Our communities and businesses are still subjected to.
• We were the first community in Massachusetts to pass the MBTA Communities Act and have a tremendous amount
• We were the first community in Massachusetts to pass the MBTA Communities Act and have a tremendous amount
• We also seek a sense of community, and so we get that sense of community through places like town commons
• We are trying to build one of those community spaces.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure held a public hearing on a wide range of alcohol, liquor licensing, and hemp-derived beverage bills. Early in the hearing, there was a procedural dispute when Senator Jacob Oliveira attempted to testify virtually on S. 279; the House chairs declined to recognize virtual testimony from a committee member, and Senator Pavel Payano instead read prepared remarks supporting the bill to return liquor license authority to municipalities. The committee then heard testimony on H. 437/S. 279 from the Massachusetts Municipal Association and Cohasset Town Manager Christopher Senior, both of whom argued that local control would streamline licensing, better match modern community needs, and support downtown economic development. A Lexington business owner also supported local licensing flexibility for a paint-and-sip business seeking a beer and wine license. The committee also heard extensive testimony on hemp-derived beverage regulation, including H. 357 and S. 222. Supporters from the Commonwealth Beverage Coalition and Theory Wellness said the products are already widely available in unregulated settings, including gas stations and smoke shops, and argued for a regulated framework with age limits, testing, labeling, and local public health funding. The Massachusetts Brewers Guild supported regulation of low-dose hemp beverages but asked that breweries be allowed to participate using their existing retail and distribution rights. The Guild also supported H. 478, which would allow limited self-distribution by pub breweries, saying it would reduce inefficiency and help small breweries grow. Several bills modernizing alcohol licensing laws were also discussed. Representative Ruel supported H. 477, describing it as a cleanup measure that would remove the contiguous-premises requirement, add a character standard for applicants, and extend public notice periods. Representative Sangiolo testified in support of H. 3893, a local liquor-license bill tied to economic development and new businesses in Lexington, including a movie theater, coffee shop, and paint studio. Fable Brewing Company also supported the local license bill, saying the licenses are needed before they can finalize leases and open. The committee then heard opposition from the Massachusetts Package Stores Association and several retailers, who warned that the retail tier is under pressure from oversaturation, declining revenues, and expanded competition, and opposed a long list of bills they said would further weaken existing stores or the three-tier system. At the end of the hearing, Representative McKenna testified in support of H. 437 and S. 279, emphasizing municipal autonomy and the importance of on-premises licenses for restaurants and other economic-development projects. The chairs noted that additional written testimony could still be submitted on bills that did not receive in-person testimony. The hearing concluded with a motion by Representative Sangiolo, seconded by Representative LeBoeuf, to close the hearing, which passed by voice vote.