Transcript Highlights:

• It's just a budget line item. Yes. Thank you. Yep. Okay.
• <00:17:54.440> to just going to be a budget line item to just going to be a budget line item
• It's just a budget line item. Yes. bill. It's just a budget line item. Yes.
• We used to, you know, test every Kiki. We don't even do that now.
• We used to, you know, test every Kiki. We used to, you know, test every Kiki.

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Summary: The Health and Human Services committee hearing opened with notice that the meeting was being streamed and could reconvene later if technical problems forced an abrupt end. The chair also announced a one-minute testimony limit and proceeded through several bills, taking mostly written and oral support testimony and asking limited questions. No votes were taken in the portion provided. HB 1626, relating to youth penalties, drew strong support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, youth advocates, the ACLU, the Department of Education, and others. Testifiers said financial sanctions on youth are ineffective, disproportionately burden Native Hawaiian youth, and function as poverty penalties; they urged replacing fines with community service, restorative practices, and ʻāina-based programs, and eliminating uncollectible legacy debt. The chair moved on after no member questions. HB 1643, relating to pharmacy, was discussed with support from the Hawaii Pharmacists Association, Kaiser, the Board of Pharmacy, independent pharmacies, and PBM representatives. Testimony focused on amendment language, audit procedures, HIPAA concerns, and the need for flexibility for small island pharmacies. HB 1668, relating to Medicaid, received broad support from disability advocates and the Department of Human Services; witnesses said CMS had already approved the underlying state plan amendment removing income and asset limits for certain workers with disabilities, but they wanted the protection codified in law to preserve it long term. The chair asked whether codification was necessary and was told it would not be harmful and would help ensure continuity if federal policy changed. The committee then heard HB 1550 on drug paraphernalia and syringe access, with support from Shipta and the Department of Health; testimony emphasized preserving flexibility for the statewide syringe access program to respond to emerging drugs like xylazine. HB 1974, relating to health, was presented as a planning measure for hearing loss; testifiers said Hawaii lacks a comprehensive hearing-loss plan and that the bill would fund a state planning process, not direct services. HB 1858 on vital statistics drew support from clinicians and medical organizations, who said better data on spontaneous fetal deaths is needed and that the term used in the bill is standard medical and CDC terminology. HB 1871 and HB 1966 also received support, with HB 1966’s EMS special fund prompting discussion about the cigarette-tax revenue source; the chair questioned the nexus to EMS, and the Department of Health said the revenue currently funds the special fund and there is no alternative funding stream.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:30:21.840> yourself you know you need to test yourself you know you need to test yourself
• um however many people don't test um however many people don't test anywhere<00:33:20.639> near
• that if someone who's being tested that if someone who's being tested multiple<00:49:49.040>
• multiple times a day needed be testing multiple times a day needed be testing mulle<00:49:52.079
• like I said or three times taking test like I said or three times taking test and<00:53:00.839><

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The subcommittee first reviewed its schedule, noting that 13 bills were being executed the next day and that additional subcommittee work would be scheduled around Town Meeting Day and the following session days. The chair explained that the committee would not meet on Town Meeting Day, would handle the remaining bills on the next available subcommittee day, and would continue any unfinished items later in the month. The committee then took up House Bill 774, which concerned Medicare-related coverage issues. Members discussed the bill’s purpose and the differences between Medicare standard and Medicare Advantage, with one member saying the proposal was informative but did not offer a workable solution. The committee also moved to inexpedient to legislate on House Bill 185, and the motion passed on a 6-0 vote. House Bill 241, relating to alternatives to opioids, was retained for further work. Members said the bill raised concerns about insurers effectively practicing medicine and about the lack of evidence on the efficacy of some alternative treatments, while also noting that chiropractic coverage mandates already exist in statute. The committee voted to retain the bill, with the motion passing 6-0. The most extended discussion was on House Bill 648, which would expand insurance coverage for glucose monitoring. Testimony and committee comments focused on whether coverage should be tied to insulin use or instead to a physician’s medical judgment, the role of continuous glucose monitoring for people with type 2 diabetes who are not on insulin, and the potential cost impact. An insurance department fiscal analyst said the original $22-per-member estimate was based on the unamended bill and that the amended version would require updated analysis; members agreed to retain the bill to narrow the eligible population and revisit the language later.

Transcript Highlights:

• This looks at item non-response, or the major items: age, date of birth, ethnicity, and race.
• This looks at item non-response, or the major items: age, date of birth, ethnicity, and race.
• Okay, so this is item non-response again. Look at the internet, paper, and telephone.
• Essentially, item non-response, missing.
• We're funded through a line item to the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Senate Committee on the Census met on December 8 at 9:32 a.m. to examine the dynamics that drive census undercounts and overcounts, with testimony first from Joseph Salvo and then from Susan Strait of the UMass Donahue Institute. Salvo explained the Census Bureau’s two main evaluation tools: demographic analysis, which uses vital records, migration estimates, and Medicare data to produce a national benchmark, and the post-enumeration survey (PES), which compares a separate sample-based count to the census. He said the 2020 census showed a small national net undercount, but larger age- and race-based disparities, including the highest undercount among children ages 0 to 4, higher undercounts for men, substantial undercounts for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations, and overcounts among some older and college-age groups. He also described how self-response, non-response follow-up, administrative records, proxy responses, and imputation affected data quality, arguing that proxies and imputation were especially weak and that outreach remains critical for 2030. Committee members asked Salvo to clarify the methods and error bands, the role of international migration estimates, and how the PES differs from the census address list and LUCA. He explained that PES is based on a separate sample of blocks and can add units within sampled blocks, but it does not measure units missed entirely from the original address list; LUCA matters because it improves that list before enumeration. He also discussed age heaping, duplicate responses among older adults, and why group quarters and COVID-related disruptions complicated the 2020 count. Senator Driscoll briefly interrupted to describe Randolph’s successful appeal of its 2020 count after an undercount in disability care homes, and Salvo noted that the post-census group quarters review helped correct some missed facilities. Susan Strait then focused on Massachusetts-specific results. She said Massachusetts’ 2020 count was strong overall, with population growth above the national average and a PES-based finding that the state was overcounted by 2.24 percent, though she emphasized that this did not mean all areas were accurately counted. Using demographic analysis, she said Massachusetts had an estimated 4.15 percent undercount of children ages 0 to 4, with the largest county-level undercounts in Hampden, Suffolk, and Essex, and she linked higher child undercounts to lower educational attainment and female-headed households. Strait also reviewed operational metrics showing that Massachusetts had relatively strong internet self-response, but that non-response follow-up relied heavily on household interviews, administrative records, proxies, and imputation in different counties. She highlighted higher proxy use in college-heavy counties such as Hampshire and Suffolk, and said counties with more minority residents were more likely to have population-count-only cases and other indicators of harder-to-count populations. The hearing ended with discussion of how these findings could inform outreach and census planning for 2030.

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm going to close the work session on item one and open up a work session on item three.
• Is there a discussion on this item? None. Are there objections to this item?
• Is there a discussion on this item? None. Are there objections to this item?
• And I will close the work session on item 31, and open up a work session on item 32.
• Is there a discussion on this item? Are there objections to this item? Motion passes.

Summary: The Emergency Board approved a series of consent federal grant applications from the Natural Resources and Public Safety subcommittees, along with several budget and position requests. The board approved grant applications for parks, transportation, judicial, emergency management, higher education, school nutrition, and other programs, including retroactive approvals where deadlines had passed. One member objected to the Natural Resources consent grants over concerns about future funding needs, but the motion still passed. The board also approved a one-time increase for Judicial Department court security, including digital privacy protections, circuit court security, and a statewide facilities assessment. A major discussion centered on Southern Oregon University’s financial stability. The Higher Education Coordinating Commission reported on SOU’s structural deficits, declining enrollment, and projected cash shortfall. The subcommittee recommended, and the board approved, allocating $7.5 million from the special appropriation for short-term stability, with a required update at the September 2026 Emergency Board meeting and a future request for the remaining funds. Members debated the broader crisis in higher education, with several saying SOU’s situation reflects systemwide enrollment and funding pressures and that long-term restructuring will be needed. The board also approved an AmeriCorps volunteer generation grant, an apprenticeship expansion grant, and a Department of Education nutrition equipment grant. In public safety, it approved funding for Oregon Military Department readiness facilities, a statewide evacuation planning tool, and a juvenile justice information system modernization report, while requiring a follow-up viability report. The Department of Justice received approval for additional antitrust positions and expenditure limitation, though several members raised concerns about the funding structure and incentives tied to settlement revenues; the motion passed despite objections. In natural resources, the board approved funding for the Water Resources Department’s well abandonment, repair and replacement grants, an assistant water master position in Washington County, groundwater data collection in the Lower Umatilla Basin, a wetlands remote sensing pilot, and parks-related grant applications for operations, maintenance, and capital improvements. Members generally supported the requests but raised concerns about geographic equity, long-term sustainability, and whether some county responsibilities were being shifted to the state. The meeting also included discussion of a Department of Emergency Management evacuation tool as an urgent wildfire preparedness measure, with members emphasizing its potential to save lives.

Transcript Highlights:

• . local items that are eligible to purchase, and cost barriers, as local food is often more expensive
• bills or legislation, but it has been funded through line items in the budget in the past.
• To Representative Block's point, there was a food assistance item listed.
• The next item on your agenda is all behind tab 14.
• The last item here is our personnel update.

Transcript Highlights:

• 49.079> seeing<00:14:49.440> none<00:14:50.040> um<00:14:50.279> please test
• um um seeing none um please test um um seeing none um please identify<00:14:51.040> yourself<
• <00:47:17.839> fire um if the um if the other test fire um if the um if the other test fire
• And I observe that you have bipartisan author Senator Rest testing to the strength of the bill.
• And I observe that you have bipartisan author Senator Rest, testing to the strength of the bill.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Number three, we are giving more testing ability for plumbers to test nearly every day of the year now
• , where before they've only been testing nearly 48 times.
• because we test at 0.2 percent.
• Other countries test at 50 percent. So I actually help. Mr.
• because we test at 0.2 percent.

Bills: HB410, HR310, HR314, HR316, HR317, HR321, HR275, HR276, HR279, HR282, HR286, HR289, HR292, HR295, HR302, HR319, HR307, HR273, SCR59, SCR61, SCR62, SCR68, SCR69, SCR70, SCR54, SCR55, SCR64, SCR75, HCR32, HB776, HB42, HB119, HB159, HB302, HB1017, HB1028, SB217, SB283, HB953, SB208, HR74, HB998, HB901, HR20, HCR65, HCR71, HCR98, HB284, HB306, HB341, HB366, HB393, HB458, HB577, HB603, HB605, HB614, HB625, HB646, HB733, HB752, HB773, HB798, HB911, HB955, HB996, HB1035, HB1069, HB1113, HB1140, HB1180, HB1191, HB1240, HB1255, SB82, SB89, SB97, SB123, SB237, HB36, HB74, HB75, HB258, HB259, HB414, HB459, HB784, HB848, HB956, HB1095, HB1220, HB1252, SB469, SB479

Keywords: recording, privacy, notification, direct conversation, law enforcement, first responder, penalties, oil and gas, orphan wells, inactive wells, shut-in wells, marginal wells, plugging and abandonment, well decommissioning, site remediation, site restoration, Oilfield Site Restoration, OSR program, financial security, bonding

Transcript Highlights:

• Having growth help pay for growth is a really critical item.
• Those are actual performance-based items that local companies secure through federal awards.
• We want to target opportunity zones in different critical minerals, different items that we know where
• these areas can... ...critical minerals, different items that we know where these areas can grow.
• It allows individuals with a disability to have a specific account that is exempt from the asset tests

Keywords: 985, all

Transcript Highlights:

• If you wish to testify to the committee on one or more items on the agenda, please ensure that you're
• Okay, and is there a methodology that's tested, or is this factual science-based?
• It doesn't change the ordinary and natural meaning test; it just provides clarity.
• And if the law says that those items are only produced and sold is what you're saying.
• All this does is clarify that these items are other minerals.

Bills: HB3619, HB3652, HB4572, HB4891, HB4941, HB5103, HB5105, HB5106, HB5224, HB5600

Keywords: surface estate, well plugging, Railroad Commission, landowner rights, liability, strategic reserve, gas supply, petroleum products, disaster response, Railroad Commission of Texas, energy security, emergency planning, oil and gas waste, environmental regulation, waste management, mining pits, groundwater monitoring, regulation, commercial disposal facilities, environmental standards

Transcript Highlights:

• Test or personal consumption.
• <01:31:29.199> if you have to satisfy certain tests if you have to satisfy certain tests if
• Our conclusion was that you can tested.
• A lot of those items, not all, but a lot of those items are shipped out of state.
• Okay, everyone in the state of Wyoming pays 4% on a taxable item.

Keywords: 916, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And in looking, I felt these were reasonable and apparently time tested in Colorado.
• The last change that I would... ...time tested in Colorado.
• So the DNA experts are the people at the lab, they're the same ones testing the rape kits.
• They're two separate items, Representative McQueen. Okay. I will look into that.
• They're two separate items, Representative McQueen. Okay. I will look into that.

Bills: HB99, HJR5, HM39, HB206, HB213, SB41, SB153, SB165, SB261, SB264

Keywords: medical malpractice, malpractice reform, patient's compensation fund, PCF, health care liability, tort reform, damage caps, punitive damages, hospital liability, physician liability, nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, outpatient facility, ambulatory surgical center, urgent care, free-standing emergency room, insurance surcharge, superintendent of insurance, New Mexico hospitals, medical review process

Transcript Highlights:

• So I live in a district where we test and where we test all of the SpaceX motors and believe me they're
• But the problem was that it wasn't just the necessary items, it was all of the other items.
• In fact, the next item on this slide, the red arrow going south.
• And then COVID test kits, Medicaid policies. allowed the dispensing of up to four COVID test kits. to
• Because it also, there's more line items.

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Beginning at DHS, the change items here include an extension of the access to audio.
• Line 539 is a no-cost item based on amended language in the DE for the karma program.
• Line 1426 reflects a budget-neutral item in the DE2 for the requirements of use of hot tubs on certain
• Harney, Representative Dedeaux, so the spreadsheet before you reflects change items only.
• I would love to see what did the test. Did you say Mr. Dears? Mr. Dears, yes. Is he gone? Mr.

Bills: HF2435

Keywords: healthcare, dementia services, public health funding, opioid prevention, women's health, community health boards, mental health

Transcript Highlights:

• services. it doesn't include um items services. it doesn't include um items like<00:04:29.680>
• testing or a multi-gene testing.
• testing or a multi-gene testing.
• <01:04:38.480> Genetic alone is genetic testing. Genetic alone is genetic testing.
• panel testing or a multi-gene testing. panel testing or a multi-gene testing.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Ike test check 12 Ike test check 12. Let's do it. Welcome to Senate Health and Human Services.
• OK, members, we're now gonna start looking at house bills Starting on item number 2 on your agenda, I
• This is identified through testing and screening prior to medicine.
• Chairman, there is an impacted entity that still has concerns about items listed under section B on pages

Bills: HB3767, HB3934, HB4199, HB4336, HB2947, HB3834, HB4302, HB4095, HB3287, HB3649, HB4430, HB4431, HB2059, HB3647

Keywords: dentistry, licensing, dental hygiene, foreign-trained dentists, temporary license, public health, emergency response, child care, workforce, pilot program, affordable care, income eligibility, interventional pain management, pain management clinic, chronic pain, acute pain, spinal injections, epidural steroid injection, peripheral nerve block, nerve ablation

Transcript Highlights:

• The bill divides 825 permit allocations among Monroe County item Rod, a marathon and the city of Key
• or on or near first part, fresh water bodies with some exceptions introduces a mandatory balancing test
• Blowouts, this test considers various environmental factors like ecological function, water, quality
• Our last item on the agenda is confirmation hearings for appointments members.
• Members of the public test public wishing to speak.

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And we really try to highlight the things that we thought were the the easiest and most important items
• All these tests are happening within 90 days after discharge 90 days.
• A history of no blood clots or or paper or tested positive for factor 5 Leiden.
• and livestock study wastewater monitoring for virus detection, develop a cost-effective statewide testing
• And I presume that's the reason of ties forces to give us some action items.

Keywords: 999, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Some of the things this chamber has helped do back in 2015, there was one blood test known to, to the
• As an insurable item. The earth The earlier we know, the more we can do. Technology has changed.
• Other tests were developed the last 10 years.
• Doctor Bonnin and Senator Huffman took up that fight last session and expanded that law to include all tests
• for the purpose of early detection as an insurable item.

Transcript Highlights:

• This chamber has helped do back in 2015, there was one blood test known to. to the cancer community that
• As an insurable item. Thank you. The earlier we know, the more we can do. Technology has changed.
• Other tests were developed the last 10 years. to thank my friend Dr. Bonin.
• Last session and expanded that law to include all tests for the purpose of. detection as an insurable
• item.

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Okay, so item K, we change protection plan to immediate safety plan.
• You know, the public school systems have adamantly opposed any type of ACE testing done at the school
• DCFS is not doing ACE testing.
• We do something called the PACE evaluation, but it is not that actual ACE test.
• Are you saying that the PACE overlaps with the ACE testing so that maybe it's not needed?

Summary: The Joint Committee on Aging, Children, and Youth first approved the February 11 minutes and then reviewed a DCFS policy manual update from Director Tiffany Wright. The rule changes were described as largely terminology and compliance updates to align with new laws, an executive order, and current practice, including moving internal procedures out of the public manual and into DCFS’s internal procedure manual. Members asked whether the changes altered practice or just wording, and Wright said they were mainly procedural and vernacular updates, such as changing terms like “protection plan” to “immediate safety plan” and “safety factor” to “safety threat.” The committee then reviewed and accepted the rule without objection. Wright also presented DCFS performance data for the third quarter of FY 2026, including hotline reports, investigations, foster care, in-home services, permanency, and adoption measures. She noted staffing shortages in some counties, lower timeliness in completing maltreatment reports, and efforts to support those areas with central office staff and daily calls. Members asked about neglect trends, sexual abuse/exploitation categories, behavioral issues, and workforce recruitment and retention. Wright said DCFS is expanding hiring support, outreach, retention efforts, trauma support through UAMS, and a new staff training model beginning July 1. She also presented the biannual overturned investigations report, which tracks hotline calls, true findings, appeals, and reversals by county, and answered questions about comparing it with prior years. Major Jeff Drew of the Crimes Against Children Division presented the 2025 annual report, saying the hotline received 67,987 calls and 37,986 were accepted for investigation, with 6,539 CACD investigations assigned and a 28% substantiation rate. He described hotline operator training, including a four-week program with policy review, scenarios, recorded calls, live call monitoring, and evidence-chain and decision-making instruction. He said the starting salary for hotline operators is $43,888 plus benefits and would check on comparisons with other states. Elizabeth Pooley of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas reported that the state’s 29 CACs and 64 multidisciplinary teams served 13,568 children and families in 2025, up about 3,000 from the prior year, and hosted 259 trainings. Members asked about funding, and she said state funding is the same for each center at roughly $70,000 to $75,000, supplemented by federal and community support, with work underway on Arkansas-specific best practices. The meeting ended after a brief unrelated question about Meals on Wheels and a Project Zero adoption event announcement.