Video & Transcript Research : 'occupations code'

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WV

West Virginia 2026 Regular Session

Senate in Session Mar 11th, 2026 at 11:25 am

West Virginia Senate Floor Meeting

Transcript Highlights:
  • has had under consideration Engrossed Committee Substitute for House Bill 5065, relating to hotel occupancy
  • has had under consideration Engrossed Committee Substitute for House Bill 5065, relating to hotel occupancy
  • Engrossed Committee Substitute for House Bill 5065, relating to hotel occupancy tax.
  • This bill creates two new sections of code.
  • The strike-and-insert amendment removes a code section that created a code conflict and was substantially
Keywords: 994, senate, all
Summary: The Senate convened with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, approved the journal, and spent much of the day recognizing pages, guests, school groups, and civic organizations visiting the chamber. Several communications from the House and committee reports were received, and a petition on support for new electric transmission lines was referred to the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining. Senate Resolution 61, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell, was referred to the Committee on Rules, while other resolutions and bills were held over or referred as required. The chamber then acted on a large number of measures, including concurrence in House amendments to Senate Bill 137 on parole eligibility for second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, and a conference committee was appointed on House Bill 4026 regarding integrated resource plans. Numerous House bills were advanced or passed after committee reports, covering topics such as industrial access roads, local airport hangar financing, college campus safety, youth and handicapped hunting, missing persons records, driver’s licenses, adjudicatory alternative dispositions, chronic absenteeism, party-switching deadlines for candidates, teacher/school personnel/state police pay raises, election official trainees, political committee filing notices, security personnel for the State Treasurer, post-secondary financial aid, legal practice rules, overseas voting, public officials’ residential information, homestead exemption, military juvenile jurisdiction, military interpersonal violence, kinship care subsidies, statewide prevention planning, contraband smuggling into federal prisons, forestry equipment taxation, microgrid and data center certification, transcript acceptance for students, emeritus medical licenses, higher education rule authorizations, board and commission reforms, managed care organization taxes, and deputy sheriff vacation carryover. Most of these measures passed with little or no opposition, and several received title amendments. The Senate also passed a series of supplemental appropriations, many with immediate-effect motions adopted by the required two-thirds vote. These included funding for the Department of Commerce, Workforce West Virginia, Homeland Security divisions, Health Facilities, Administration, Human Services, the Governor’s Civil Contingent Fund, the Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Senior Services. Votes were overwhelmingly in favor, with only a few measures drawing one or more dissenting votes. One bill on tourism appropriations was referred to the Committee on Rules, and several second-reading bills were advanced, including measures on the West Virginia Collaboratory, business-ready sites, volunteer fire companies, religious organization eminent domain restrictions, electric load forecasting, and funeral service licensure.
CO

Colorado 2026 Regular Session

Colorado House 2026 Legislative Day 050 Mar 5th, 2026

Colorado House Floor Meeting

Transcript Highlights:
  • <01:07:19.200> to<01:07:19.440> occupancy.
  • <01:07:20.319> Why there's no limits. to occupancy. Why there's no limits. to occupancy.
  • <01:07:23.920> to yourself in an occupancy to yourself in an occupancy to 20<01:07:25.920>
  • We made in committee on building codes.
  • Um, but these are a electrical code.
Keywords: 981, all
Summary: The House convened, established a quorum, and approved the journal. Members then took up Senate Joint Resolution 4, which designates September 20-26, 2026, as Frontotemporal Degeneration Awareness Week in Colorado. The resolution was read at length, with Representative Clifford speaking in support and describing FTD as a devastating, early-onset dementia that affects families during working and child-rearing years. The resolution passed on a 60-0 vote. The chamber also handled scheduling motions, including removing House Bill 1110 from special orders and placing several bills on special orders for March 4. The meeting then shifted into committee-style consideration of House Bill 1205, concerning changes to state law to reflect the federal expansion of good neighbor authority agreements. After a minor committee-report correction adding wildlife habitat language and removing the safety clause, the report was adopted and the bill passed. Sponsors said the measure aligns state law with federal statute and supports recreation projects and cross-ownership coordination in wildfire-prone landscapes. The bulk of the discussion focused on House Bill 1145, concerning water quality in mobile home parks. Sponsors Velasco and Phillips said the bill responds to longstanding water problems in mobile home communities, including discolored, foul-smelling water and contaminants such as arsenic and E. coli, and that it strengthens testing, complaint, and enforcement authority. Two amendments were offered by Representative Richardson and Representative DeGraaf to narrow or clarify the bill’s standards and hearing provisions; both were defeated. The committee report was then adopted and the bill advanced, with supporters emphasizing public health and financial burdens on residents and opponents warning about vague standards, penalties, and possible unintended effects on park owners.
KY

Kentucky 2026 Regular Session

House Standing Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations.(3-4-26)

Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations

Transcript Highlights:
  • Uh, Licensing and Occupations to order.
  • It will streamline the fire code regulation and be more efficient fire and public safety protection for
  • 00:02:34.560> streamline<00:02:35.200> the<00:02:35.519> fire<00:02:35.840> code
  • It will streamline the fire code It will streamline the fire code regulation<00:02:36.800> and
  • Professional Counselors, Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the Kentucky Board of Occupational
Keywords: 958, all
Summary: The Licensing and Occupations Committee met with a quorum and heard several licensing and regulatory bills. House Bill 565, presented by Rep. Myron Dossett with support from the Kentucky League of Cities and the Paducah Fire Department, would clarify and broaden the authority of “fire protection officials” so local fire officials, along with the state fire marshal, can enforce final orders and seek court enforcement locally. The sponsor described it as cleanup language to streamline fire code enforcement and improve efficiency. The bill passed unanimously. The committee then considered House Bill 776, a modernization of Kentucky’s Dental Practice Act, presented by Rep. Derek Lewis and Jeff Allen of the Kentucky Board of Dentistry, with Rep. Chad Hall also speaking in support. The bill updates definitions and board authority, revises licensure and renewal provisions, clarifies supervision and training rules for hygienists and assistants, updates telehealth standards, and preserves dentists’ authority over diagnosis and treatment planning. Members also discussed a provision allowing the board to use excess licensing funds for a scholarship to attract dentists to Kentucky. After questions about Medicaid access and a promised amendment removing certain ownership-related provisions, the bill passed unanimously. House Bill 657, presented by Rep. Stephanie Deetsz and Michelle Sanborn of the Children’s Alliance, would give five licensing boards the statutory authority needed to obtain FBI fingerprinting/ORI numbers for interstate compact compliance. The boards named were counseling, speech-language pathology and audiology, occupational therapy, social work, and psychology. Supporters said the bill simply updates Kentucky law to match current FBI fingerprint language. It passed unanimously. Finally, the committee took up House Bill 273, presented by Rep. Mike Klein and the Kentucky Board of Barbering. A committee substitute was adopted first. The bill reduces barber training hours from 1,500 to 1,200, allows 10-hour school days, shortens out-of-state licensure experience requirements from three years to one year, and makes other cleanup changes, including moving board compensation to regulation. Supporters said it would reduce barriers to entry and help address workforce shortages. The amended bill passed unanimously, and the committee adjourned.
FL

Florida 2026 Regular Session

Banking and Insurance Mar 17th, 2025

Banking and Insurance

Transcript Highlights:
  • use hazardous financial condition oversight over CCRC, and existing controls within the insurance code
  • The substitute amendment bar code 517760 is adopted. Back on the bill as amended.
  • Thus, any denial under the insurance code must be reviewed and decided by an actual human being.
  • In lines 91 through 96, the substitute amendment adds occupational disease before the word suicide.
  • versus occupational disease.
Summary: The committee heard and advanced several insurance, financial regulation, and public safety bills. The most extensive discussion centered on SB 1656, a major Office of Insurance Regulation bill covering reciprocal insurers, rate transparency, data calls, cybersecurity notification, and stronger oversight of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). The sponsor and OIR described the bill as aimed at transparency and preventing insolvencies, especially after recent CCRC failures. CCRC residents and industry representatives testified both in support and in opposition, with supporters emphasizing resident protection and opponents warning about liens, reserve requirements, management-company regulation, and higher costs. After debate and assurances that problematic provisions would be refined, the committee adopted a delete-all amendment and then reported the bill favorably. The committee also passed SB 1658, which creates a public records framework for the uniform mitigation verification of inspection form database while protecting policyholders’ personal information; a clarifying amendment was adopted before the bill was reported favorably. SB 1612 on financial institutions was approved after a substitute amendment restored current limits on credit union investments and kept only reimbursement, not salary, authority for certain board members and officers. SB 1740, an insurance bill intended to reduce premiums and insurer insolvency risk, was amended to prioritize rate-decrease filings and prohibit claim denials based solely on AI, then reported favorably. Two public-safety bills also moved forward. SB 1212 on firefighter health and safety would update OSHA-related protections, address toxic exposure in gear, encourage safer replacement equipment, and support best practices and mental health resources; an amendment refined terminology and added related provisions, and the bill was reported favorably. SB 1184 on residual market insurers was amended to preserve existing consumer protections and disclosure rules for excess and surplus lines and to clarify Citizens-related appointment requirements before being reported favorably. Throughout the meeting, members repeatedly noted ongoing stakeholder negotiations and intent to refine several bills further in later committee stops.
TX

Texas 89th 2nd C.S.

89th Legislative Session Mar 6th, 2025

Texas House Floor Meeting

Transcript Highlights:
  • Affairs HB 882 by Reynolds relating to the building codes applicable in unincorporated areas of a county
  • reporting, and disposition of proceeds and property from the assets forfeiture proceedings under the Code
  • It'd be 932 by Wally relating to the occupational therapy licensure compact authorizing fees referred
  • Elections HB 952 by to relating to the identification of early voting ballots mailed by electronic code
  • HB 971 by to relating to the use of a high occupancy vehicle lane to pass certain vehicles in front of
TX

Texas 89th Regular

89th Legislative Session Mar 6th, 2025

Texas House Floor Meeting

Transcript Highlights:
  • referred to the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, HB 882, by— Reynolds relating to the building codes
  • HB 932, by Wally, relating to the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact authorizing fees, referred to
  • Relating to the identification of early voting ballots mailed by electronic code referred to the committee
  • committee on state affairs HB 970 by and not the a AB 971 by Toth relating to the use of a high occupancy
  • certain health care providers located outside of the state requiring registration to engage in occupation
NH

New Hampshire 2025 Regular Session

House Committee on Housing (04/15/2025)

Housing

Transcript Highlights:
  • We moved from codes in New Hampshire.
  • And that's what fire code and building code demands be built.
  • And that's what fire code and end.
  • complies with safe fire code complies with safe fire code requirements<04:18:38.640> of<04
  • So there is a discrepancy between our building code and fire code, and we have to fix that.
Keywords: 1189, house, all
AR
Transcript Highlights:
  • The commenters believed that that applied to a set of codes that is billed by oral surgeons and that
  • I'm not sure if that exists in state code, but regardless of CDT codes or anything like that, it's the
  • Okay, it's the same code, but this doctor is going to be paid more than this doctor.
  • They’ll bill the same code, but they’ll get a different rate, and our system does allow for that.
  • They are meant to bill back under HCPCS codes under the MMIS.
Summary: The committee reviewed a series of Arkansas DHS and Department of Health rules, most tied to 2025 legislation. Early items covered Medicaid changes including presumptive eligibility application timing, adding a fictive kin definition for foster child eligibility, raising the able account disability onset age to 46, allowing continuous glucose monitors to be billed by both pharmacy and DME providers, increasing the RSV vaccine administration fee for children, a telemedicine exemption for ET3 ambulance services, and a physical therapy access rule that also included occupational therapy. Members generally asked limited questions and most rules were reviewed without objection. A major portion of the meeting focused on the dental rate increase rule under Act 1025. DHS said it implemented rate increases for certain pediatric, special-needs, and oral surgeon services, but not orthodontics, and it interpreted the act as applying only to oral and maxillofacial surgeons, not general dentists. The Arkansas State Dental Association and legislative sponsors testified that the intent was to cover general dentists performing oral surgery procedures for special-needs patients, estimating the broader interpretation would add about $1.5 million annually. Committee members debated the plain language of the act versus legislative intent, and the rule was reviewed, but with testimony noting the issue should be fixed in future legislation. Later items included the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies rule adding doula and lactation consultant billing and remote monitoring benefits; an adverse decisions rule extending provider appeal time from 35 to 65 days; CNA training program updates; PASSE network-status disclosure rules; certification rules for community-based doulas and community health workers; cosmetology, massage therapy, lead-based paint, radiation, radiologic technology, and RV park rule updates. Most of these were described as technical, statutory, or federally driven changes and were reviewed without objection. The committee briefly reopened the CGM rule after a motion to expunge the prior vote, and Representative Wardlaw said he would hold the rule for further review because he believed the billing changes did not match the law’s intent. The meeting ended with no further business and adjournment.
CA
Transcript Highlights:
  • Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and most recently, the National Institute for Occupational
  • It does not reveal source codes or passwords, technical architecture.
  • It does not reveal source codes or passwords, technical architecture, or operational workflow that would
  • major contributor to gender- and race-based wage gaps that this bill really gets at, which is occupational
  • Gender and race wage gaps is really addressing that issue of occupational segregation.
Summary: The Assembly Labor and Employment Committee heard several bills focused on worker rights, workplace technology, pay equity, and retail/self-checkout standards. SB 703 would require ports to collect and report information on trucking companies to help identify worker misclassification in the port trucking industry; supporters, including Teamsters and the California Labor Federation, said better data is needed for enforcement, while trucking and retail groups said they were working with the author and expected to remove opposition after amendments. The bill passed 5-0 and was re-referred to Transportation. The committee also approved a consent calendar of other measures. SB 294, the Workplace Know Your Rights Act, would require the Labor Commissioner to create a template for annual employer notices about workers’ labor and civil rights, including emergency contact notification if a worker is detained or arrested. Supporters said the bill would help workers understand their rights amid federal rollbacks and weak enforcement; the California Restaurant Association opposed it. SB 7 would require notice and human review before employers use automated decision-making systems for discipline or termination, and would bar predictive use of such systems for employment actions. Labor groups supported the bill as a safeguard against biased or opaque algorithmic management, while HR, chamber, retail, and local government groups raised concerns about breadth, notice burdens, and small-business impacts. Both bills passed 5-0 to their next committees. The committee also advanced SB 238, which would require disclosure about workplace surveillance and AI monitoring tools, and SB 442, which sets staffing and operational standards for self-checkout, including at least one staffed lane, one employee dedicated to monitoring self-checkout, item restrictions, and a 15-item limit sign. Supporters argued both bills improve transparency, safety, and worker protections; opponents warned SB 238 could expose security practices and SB 442 could raise costs and create preemption issues. SB 464 would expand state pay-data reporting to better capture public-sector workforce demographics in line with reparations and pay-equity goals, and SB 642 would strengthen the Equal Pay Act by extending recovery periods, clarifying wage definitions, and updating pay-scale language. SB 464 and SB 642 also passed, with some opposition from county and business groups over scope and retroactivity. All measures taken up in the hearing were approved by committee, generally on 5-0 votes, and re-referred to the appropriate policy or fiscal committees.
NM

New Mexico 2025 Regular Session

IC - Mortgage Finance Authority Act Oversight Jul 21st, 2025

Mortgage Finance Authority Act Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:
  • Code, affordable building code, and we kept that in the update of their code.
  • with the development codes, that the state's model code would automatically come into effect.
  • There is a building code. And a building code? I don't know if they're the same thing, are they?
  • There is no state land use code.
  • or a request for more green code.
LA

Louisiana 2026 Regular Session

House of Representatives Mar 25th, 2026

Louisiana House Floor Meeting

WA

Washington 2025-2026 Regular Session

Senate Housing Sep 16th, 2025

Transcript Highlights:
  • What's really useful about this is that it's zip code-based.
  • And if I were to change the zip code to a lower-rent zip code in the city, you'll see that those market
  • Their tax liability under our kind of tax code is $223,000.
  • It's paid upfront by the developer before the time of occupancy.
  • challenge for the building code, in particular energy codes.
Summary: The Senate Housing Committee heard presentations on a range of housing finance, permitting, and affordability tools. Chattanooga described its affordable housing PILOT program, which uses a per-unit property tax abatement tied to the rent loss from providing affordable units, with a 15-year term and annual compliance monitoring. Committee members asked about the program’s structure, whether it had been used elsewhere, and who was participating; the presenter said the first mixed-income project would bring 278 units with 42 affordable units and that the model was attracting private market-rate developers. Shoreline then described its MFTE and inclusionary zoning approach, emphasizing that longer tax exemption periods and station-area zoning changes had helped spur development, with most current pipeline projects concentrated near light rail stations. The committee also heard from the Municipal Research Services Center and the Department of Commerce on tax increment financing, proportional impact fees, and permit timelines. Commerce explained that TIF can fund public improvements such as roads, utilities, broadband, and some affordable housing or child care facilities, while proportional impact fee guidance is intended to help jurisdictions charge fees more closely aligned with actual project impacts. On permit timelines, Commerce presented its first annual report under recent law changes, using 2024 as a baseline year and noting that reported timelines were generally longer than statutory goals; members asked about outliers, paper versus electronic processing, and whether back-and-forth between applicants and staff was driving delays. Commerce said it would follow up with more data, including on CHIP funding and permit reform practices. Several local governments then shared permitting process improvements. Auburn reported relatively short review cycles and described its move to fully electronic permitting, internal performance standards, and a stock plan program that speeds review for repeated home designs. Bellevue described an AI permitting pilot with a local startup to help with pre-application questions, document triage, and plan review, aiming to reduce incomplete applications and revision cycles. Seattle presented a pilot for accessory dwelling unit co-development in which a mission-driven partner would help homeowners split lots, finance, build, and manage ADUs, with the homeowner eventually buying out the partner and retaining ownership; committee members asked about rent setting, management fees, and default risk, and staff said they would follow up. The committee also heard brief overviews of community land trusts and limited equity cooperatives as permanent affordability models, with presenters urging continued state and local funding support and policy recognition for these approaches.
CA

California 2025-2026 Regular Session

Assembly Judiciary Committee Jun 30th, 2026

Transcript Highlights:
  • Well, for Institutions Code 5014, clearly... I would disagree with that.
  • Well, for Institutions Code 5014 clearly says that 1991 realignment funds, 2011 realignment funds, and
  • Health and Safety Code Section 102705 requires that if a petition for access is brought by an adoptee
  • And it still can be sold investor to investor, but more specifically, give a heads up to the occupant
  • The State Bar requested the amendments to Business and Professions Code Section 6173 to allow it, or
Summary: The committee heard testimony on several bills, beginning with SB 16, which would require county behavioral health directors to create clear pathways for clinicians to be authorized to initiate 5150 involuntary holds. The author and supporters argued the bill would reduce reliance on law enforcement and create more consistent crisis response standards statewide, while county behavioral health directors opposed it as an unfunded mandate that could increase law enforcement involvement and create implementation burdens. Members raised questions about county costs and funding, but the author emphasized the bill’s role in building a more clinical response system. SB 561 would require public guardians to acknowledge conservatorship referrals, make determinations within a reasonable time, and provide status updates on request. Supporters said the bill would reduce delays that leave vulnerable adults in limbo, while the opposition from public guardian representatives was removed after amendments. SB 381 drew extensive public testimony in support; it would allow California-born adoptees, and descendants of deceased adoptees, access to original birth certificates, with a nonbinding contact preference form for birth parents. Supporters framed the bill as a matter of dignity, identity, and health, and there was no formal opposition on the record. The committee also discussed SB 880, which would give tenants and prospective owner-occupants notice and a first opportunity to make an offer when institutional investors sell certain homes. Supporters said it would expand homeownership opportunities and preserve neighborhood stability, while opponents warned about conflicts with federal law, bundled-sale restrictions, and impacts on build-to-rent and affordable housing projects. Members and the author discussed possible amendments to address those concerns. SB 1238 would impose a duty of care and additional transparency requirements on HOA managers and boards; supporters said it would protect homeowners from mismanagement, while the main opposition argued the duty should remain contractual and could increase litigation. Finally, SB 423 would require disclosure of emergency-service records related to private detention facilities, and SB 28 would make changes to the CARE Court process, including a statewide ombudsperson and expanded oversight; both drew support and opposition, with concerns focused on transparency, privacy, implementation, and the balance between treatment and coercion. SB 574, discussed at the end, would require disclosure and human oversight for AI use in courts and legal practice and create a complaint process for ADR providers, with the State Bar noting requested amendments related to complaint handling and confidentiality.
KY
Transcript Highlights:
  • So all three are newly added sections in the Internal Revenue Code and at a high level they function
  • And the last one is it must be received in an occupation which regularly and customarily receive tips
  • Treasury is responsible for providing a list of those qualified occupations.
  • you need to verify that this is an eligible occupation.
  • There's two codes added to box 12 where the actual amounts will be reported in 2026.
Summary: The committee first approved the minutes and heard a brief member introduction before taking up an overview of major tax provisions in HR1, referred to by the presenters as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Representatives from the Kentucky Society of CPAs explained new federal deductions for tips, overtime, and car loan interest; a new tax-favored “Trump account” for children; expanded bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing for businesses; changes to R&D expensing; and a new limit on wagering loss deductions. Members asked several clarifying questions about the duration of the provisions, W-2 and 1099 reporting changes, and how overtime deductions would work. The presenters emphasized that tips and overtime remain subject to payroll taxes and that many of the business provisions are permanent, while the individual deductions are temporary through 2028 or otherwise phased in over time. The discussion then shifted to individual and nonprofit provisions, including the increase in the state and local tax itemized deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 with income-based phaseouts, the temporary senior deduction, and a new deduction for car loan interest with income limits and vehicle qualifications. On charitable giving, the presenters described a permanent nonitemizer deduction, new floors for individual and corporate charitable deductions, and a new scholarship-granting organization credit that would allow donors to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal credit up to $1,700, beginning in 2027. Members focused heavily on the SGO provision, asking about state implementation, oversight, whether churches would qualify, and whether the credit could support both public and private education. The presenters said the state would need to establish the mechanism and that additional federal guidance is still pending. After the tax presentation, the committee heard from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on workforce issues, with a focus on child care and housing as barriers to labor force participation. Chamber representatives said they were not proposing large new government programs, but rather targeted policy recommendations for the 2026 session. They described Kentucky’s long-term decline in workforce participation since 2000, attributing much of it to demographic change, an aging population, and fewer younger workers entering the labor force. The presentation continued into a broader discussion of workforce trends and the need for practical policy responses, but no votes or formal actions were taken on these informational items.
WA
Transcript Highlights:
  • Additionally, Washington State's commitment to occupational licensure compacts, with Representative Leavitt's
  • Next, changes to the Washington Code of Military Justice. This is a common-sense change.
  • We are merely asking that the state code aligns with the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice to
  • guardsman in a domestic response, for instance, those same protections don't exist in the Washington Code
  • Whereas most things in the Washington Code of Military Justice sort of mirror the UCMJ, this one doesn't
Summary: The committee heard updates from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Navy Region Northwest, Fairchild Air Force Base, the Coast Guard, state licensing agencies, the Professional Educator Standards Board, the Washington National Guard, and a veterans behavioral health presenter. Across the military briefings, common themes were readiness, infrastructure, and quality-of-life issues for service members and families, especially child care, housing, food insecurity, medical and dental access, and military spouse employment. JBLM highlighted its role in Indo-Pacific readiness, ongoing PFAS cleanup, 212 new family housing units under construction, efforts to expand child care, and continued work to keep the Lewis Army Museum open. Navy Region Northwest discussed its major installations and economic impact, the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan, future carrier and submarine homeporting needs, and asked the legislature to continue support for licensure compacts, educational stability for military children, housing, and medical access. Fairchild emphasized its tanker and survival missions, child care shortages, food insecurity, aging housing, and concerns about wind turbine development near flight paths, while the Coast Guard focused on rebuilding Base Seattle for new icebreakers and on rural access to housing, medical care, and child care at dispersed stations like Neah Bay. Members repeatedly raised food insecurity and asked for follow-up on solutions. JBLM and Fairchild both described increased demand for food assistance during the shutdown, and committee members noted progress in getting mobile food vans onto JBLM. The presenters also praised state action on military spouse licensure and child care, including Senate Bill 5545 and related compact and portability efforts. The Department of Licensing reported about 9,000 self-identified military members or spouses licensed, with average time-to-license just under nine days, and said applications are prioritized when military status is self-identified. The Department of Health said its military-to-civilian crosswalk now covers more than 35 health professions, that temporary practice permits and expedited processing are in place, and that 1,300 credentials were issued to military spouses and domestic partners and 129 to military-trained health professionals in the last fiscal year, all within 30 days. The Professional Educator Standards Board explained that military spouses and service members can receive expedited teacher certification with reduced documentation, and that they are moved to the front of the review queue when they self-identify. Members asked about verification, and staff said the process relies on attestation with investigatory safeguards if needed. The Washington National Guard briefed on its dual state and federal mission, the impact of the recent shutdown on nearly 700 employees who worked without pay, and policy and budget requests including youth academy protections, alignment of the Washington Code of Military Justice with the UCMJ, making Civil Air Patrol a division of the Military Department, 911 funding, disaster assistance, and capital funding for headquarters and readiness facilities. The Guard also warned about drone threats and said it wants authority to identify, track, and monitor suspicious drones. A veterans behavioral health presenter, an Army combat veteran and clinical social worker, described high suicide risk, barriers to care, and the need for more culturally competent services, especially for women veterans and caregivers. He said Washington veterans’ suicide rate remains above the national average and emphasized that childcare, transportation, and provider shortages can prevent timely treatment. Members generally responded supportively throughout, asked for follow-up on food security and other issues, and encouraged agencies to bring forward legislative ideas for future sessions.
TX

Texas 89th 2nd C.S.

Ways & Means Apr 7th, 2025

Ways & Means

Transcript Highlights:
  • It allows for a bracket in the statute to include Midland to receive a state sales tax and hotel occupancy
  • Zip codes we we target areas that are in real need.
  • These revenues or rebates include the state sales tax, state hotel occupancy tax, and the state mixed
  • And receive rebates of state sales taxes and state hotel occupancy taxes for 10 years.
  • The House Bill 2508 is a narrowly focused bill that would update the tax code to require an exemption
Bills: HB249