Transcript Highlights:

• While our federal public lands are being made inaccessible, our state public lands and waters belong
• They are our lands and waters.
• Um, these are our public lands, and this bill protects them.
• our public lands and this bill protects<00:08:27.360><c> them.
• </c> public lands for all motans in the land public lands for all motans in the land of<00:09:05.440>

Transcript Highlights:

• Whereas someone in Bernalillo County might be in that same land area with many, many legislators with
• the land,' and then we have nothing after that because it either falls off the cliff.
• We are also purchasing the 5th Street facility in Santa Fe for CYFD and we will be saving the state $1
• It's the first ever purchase design build. So we purchased the facility for $12 million.
• though the land hasn't been secured.

Transcript Highlights:

• In 2020, we purchased 20 acres of land and we're currently working to move the 200-somewhat residents
• ><c> acres</c><00:40:12.160><c> of</c><00:40:12.320><c> land</c> 2020, we purchased 20 acres of land
• 2020, we purchased 20 acres of land [snorts]<00:40:13.119><c> and</c><00:40:13.359><c> we're</c><00:40
• The earlier this the purchased property.
• </c><01:41:13.199><c> owners,</c> organizations, our land owners, organizations, our land owners, residents

Summary: This joint informational briefing on Act 310 grants and aid focused on organizations describing how federal funding cuts, Medicaid/SNAP changes, and related policy shifts are affecting their services and budgets. Committee members explained there would be no Q&A, testimony would be limited to one minute, and in-person participants would be heard before Zoom callers. Members repeatedly asked testifiers to identify the amount of federal funding lost or at risk. Testimony came from a wide range of nonprofits and community providers, including Aloha Care, Hawaii Bicycling League, Hawaii Literacy, Hawaii Youth Symphony, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, the Tsunami Museum, The Kohala Center, West Hawaii Community Health Center, West Hawaii Region Hospital Foundation, Sounding Joy Music Therapy, Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii, Dynamic Community Solutions, Feeding Hawaii Together, Girl Scouts of Hawaii, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaiian Lending and Investments, Homana, Honolulu Theatre for the Youth, Kids Hurt Too Hawaii, and Kokua Kalihi Valley. Most described reduced or threatened federal support and requested state funding to maintain services such as health care access, food security, disaster preparedness, literacy and digital inclusion, youth mentoring, arts education, housing, and climate or agricultural resilience. Several speakers emphasized direct impacts on vulnerable populations, including kūpuna, low-income families, immigrants, homeless youth, and people with disabilities. Requests ranged from relatively small planning or program grants to multi-million-dollar stabilization asks, with some organizations citing specific losses such as reduced Medicaid or USDA funding, canceled EPA or FEMA support, or expiring federal grants. No votes or formal committee actions were taken during the briefing.

Transcript Highlights:

• Folks are coming here, purchasing the vehicle, taking them over there.
• Okay, and if they did not purchase here, they purchased in Mississippi coming through here to go to Texas
• So if that person purchases in Mississippi or goes and meets someone, sees something on Facebook, purchases
• The auction houses, if they're purchasing in Louisiana, if they've purchased somewhere else and they've
• But the majority of our timber land is privately owned.

Bills: HB309 , HB487 , HB503 , HB590 , HB606 , HB679 , HB693 , HB695 , HB707 , HB720 , HB728 , HB733 , HB746 , HB777 , HB846 , HB849 , HB856 , HB868 , HB873 , HB875

Committee: House Transportation, Highways & Public Works

Summary: The House Transportation Committee met on March 16 with a quorum present and first deferred three local bills at the sponsor’s request: HB 590, HB 679, and HB 873. The committee then advanced HB 503, which cleans up prior local language for Golden Meadow by removing a reference to electric golf carts and updating the definition of utility terrain vehicles; the technical amendment set was adopted and the bill was reported with amendments. HB 720, dealing with tacit dedication of roads and preserving historic public access to waterways and related access points, was reported favorably after members agreed to continue working on the amendment language before floor debate. The committee spent substantial time on HB 309, which originally made it a crime to walk in a crosswalk while looking at a cell phone. After amendments converted the proposal to a $25 civil fine and added a rebuttable presumption of liability for damages, members from both parties raised concerns about enforceability, tourism and urban pedestrian patterns, free-will and overreach arguments, and the lack of data tying the conduct specifically to crosswalk crashes. The author argued the measure was intended to promote situational awareness and reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities, but after opposition testimony the bill was voluntarily deferred. Members then reported HB 856, which expands DOTD’s use of indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity construction contracting and adds the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction, after technical amendments clarified the contracts are for construction-phase work. HB 487, increasing penalties for drivers who use shoulders or turning lanes to bypass red lights, was reported with a technical correction after police support testimony. HB 846, prohibiting license plate coverings or films that obscure plates, was reported favorably after law enforcement support and discussion of clear frames versus obscuring covers. HB 733 and HB 875, both tied to OMV fee and lapse-of-insurance recommendations from the Legislative Auditor, were reported with amendments adjusting grace periods and offense timing. The committee also took up HB 695 on consensual non-commercial towing permits. After extensive questioning about whether the bill applied to multiple vehicles, interstate travel, OMV implementation, and the practicality of an honor-system QR code permit, the sponsor agreed to amend the bill to cover multiple vehicles and then voluntarily defer it for further work with OMV and State Police. HB 777, requiring a driver’s license renewal knowledge exam, was amended at the department’s request and then voluntarily deferred for further review. HB 868, prompted by a fatal trailer accident involving a farmer’s wife, would require trailers to meet safety-chain and braking standards consistent with manufacturer specifications or federal standards; after concerns from members and the Agriculture Commissioner about impacts on older farm equipment, the bill was reported with amendments. Finally, HB 707 moved the LPG Commission’s marketing functions to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry and was reported with a technical amendment, HB 693 on legislative district highway signs was voluntarily deferred after amendments, and HB 746 on local oversized trucking permits opened a broader discussion about parish-by-parish permit disparities, with the sponsor proposing a one-year moratorium on new local standards while stakeholders work toward a more uniform system.

Transcript Highlights:

• land.
• ><c> land</c><01:26:11.920><c> value</c><01:26:13.120><c> um</c> essentially the average land value um
• </c><01:26:18.560><c> So</c> commercial industrial land. So commercial industrial land.
• So, the land value in Pittsburgh on their MS1 is going to be different than the land value in Pyrammont
• So, the land value in Pittsburgh on their MS1 is going to be different than the land value in Pyrammont

Committee: House Science, Technology and Energy

Transcript Highlights:

• They use land more wisely.
• A family now needs an annual income of roughly $221,000 to purchase a home.
• They use land more wisely.
• Land on a path to establish some minimum floor.
• Are they purchasing those back and keeping them deed-restricted?

Committee: Senate Housing

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:11:00.399><c> them</c> there some place that they purchase them there some place that they purchase
• </c><05:04:25.320><c> in</c> who is offering the land in who is offering the land in 2023<05:04:27.360
• </c> land be tabled for so long that the land land be tabled for so long that the land was<05:04:33.878
• make for example land Acquisitions there make for example land Acquisitions there have<05:08:46.878><
• talked about land that sometimes land<05:24:06.760><c> has</c><05:24:07.040><c> taken</c><05:24:07.440

Committee: House Fish and Game and Marine Resources

Transcript Highlights:

• More land is planned for industrial uses in the area. More warehouses have popped up.
• It's on city-owned land.
• The 25% requirement in the Surplus Land Act. So we're very proud of this.
• It's if you have a piece of land and you want to build your house on it.
• making and land use planning.

Committee: Senate Local Government

Transcript Highlights:

• At the rack, they can purchase that fuel tax-free for export.
• They're probably selling it for three times what they purchased it for. So it's very lucrative.
• That's the maximum weight with their permit that they purchased.
• Or you would have to purchase an overweight permit to move that cargo at that heavier weight.
• We lease that land to the operator. Okay, and the operator is?

Bills: SB2199 , SB2200 , SB2201 , SB2949 , SB2332

Committee: Senate Border Security

Transcript Highlights:

• residential property complies... ...residential arrangement to make sure that any business-owning land
• Chairman and members, House Bill 4748 by Representative Pat Curry relates to state agency purchasing
• methods and procedures, including a state agency multiple-award contract purchasing procedure.
• Land-title systems today are often slow, paper-dependent, and vulnerable to fraud.
• Hours are significant, you know, beneficiary of a trust, encumber, you said land, real estate, interest

Bills: HB111

Committee: Senate Business & Commerce

Summary: The committee heard a long series of House bills, with most measures laid out by Senate sponsors and then left pending after brief public testimony. Early bills focused on construction and licensing issues, including HB 305 on prompt payment for public construction audits, HB 5093 on restoring public access to notary contact information, HB 2037 on updating landlord-tenant repair and security deposit rules, HB 4214 on a centralized public information request contact database, and HB 5435 exempting higher education institutions from a 90-day notice requirement for certain public-private partnership projects. Testimony was generally supportive on these bills, and no votes were taken; each was left pending. The committee also considered several transparency and regulatory bills. HB 111 would expand the Public Information Act to certain nonprofit state associations and narrow some attorney-client and working-paper exceptions, with supporters arguing it would improve oversight of public funds and critics questioning the scope and thresholds. HB 5129 would protect occupational license holders’ personal identifying information from disclosure without consent, HB 4350 would allow peace officers to redact personal information from online real property records, HB 4748 would authorize multiple-award state purchasing contracts, and HB 4765 would clean up code enforcement officer licensing rules. HB 4134 would allow motor vehicle creditors to charge limited fees for electronic payment options while requiring a free alternative, and HB 1043 would direct a study of blockchain-based property title records; both drew testimony, with some concern about the practical effects and vendor implications of the blockchain study. Several bills addressed insurance, workforce, and digital-asset regulation. HB 3520 would reduce the insurance coverage required for transportation network companies during the period when a driver is en route to pick up a passenger, drawing support from Texans for Lawsuit Reform and opposition from trial lawyers who argued the higher coverage better protects the public. HB 3320 would create a self-insurance pool for religious institutions, with TDI explaining it would still be regulated but operate under a special statutory framework. HB 4233 would modernize rules for digital asset service providers by removing certain auditor-access requirements and updating reporting and licensing provisions. HB 3923 would reduce bachelor’s-degree requirements for some state jobs, though Every Texan argued low pay, not degree requirements, is the main driver of turnover. HB 4518 would create a legal structure for decentralized unincorporated nonprofit associations tied to blockchain governance; business law experts opposed it as unnecessary and potentially risky, while crypto advocates supported it. Finally, HB 1803 would join an interstate compact for dentists and dental hygienists, with supporters citing workforce shortages and opponents saying Texas already licenses quickly and that the compact could weaken state oversight. Throughout the hearing, the committee repeatedly closed testimony and left bills pending, and a quorum was eventually established before later items were heard.

Transcript Highlights:

• and land use.
• To remove land from the designation. That's 81 to 86.
• He posted this opinion to the landing page, the front homepage of his website.
• You can annex into those cities, but the county maintains control over your land.
• in act relating to land use and development regulations.

Summary: The Senate convened with opening prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and several member introductions of guests and staff. The chamber then took up returning messages from the House and acted on several bills, including transportation facility designations (SB 628), affordable housing/Live Local Act changes (HB 1389), utility services (HB 1451), education (HB 1279 substituted for SB 7038), data centers (SB 484), and land use/development regulations (SB 208/HB 399). Several other measures were temporarily postponed, including education, emergency services, and environmental rule ratification bills. On SB 628, the Senate concurred in the House amendment and passed the bill 31-4. On the affordable housing bill, senators discussed the fourth iteration of the Live Local Act, including a new provision allowing certain affordable housing on religious institution property, removal of accessory dwelling unit language, and changes to tax exemption and expiration provisions; the Senate concurred in the House amendment and passed the bill 35-0. On the utility services bill, the House amendment shortened the surcharge phase-out timeline and advanced reporting dates; the Senate concurred and passed the bill 30-6. The education package was substituted with the House companion, amended to include agreed-upon provisions on student health and safety, early learning, math, virtual instruction, career and technical education, school choice, accountability, tuition protections, and financial aid, and passed 36-1. The data centers bill drew extensive debate over transparency and ratepayer protections. Senators questioned the removal of the Senate’s nondisclosure agreement prohibition, the 12-month confidentiality period, and whether costs could be shifted to residential and commercial customers. Supporters said the amendment strengthened ratepayer protections and maintained local land-use authority, while critics objected to the loss of transparency and the possibility of local NDAs. After debate, the Senate concurred in the House amendment and passed the bill 31-6. The land use and development bill generated the most contentious discussion. Amendments addressed a Fontainebleau/Miami Beach resort water park issue, a sunset provision, and a major rural boundary/property rights proposal affecting counties such as Orange and Seminole. Senators debated whether the rural boundary language protected property rights or undermined local planning and environmental safeguards, with concerns raised about takings, county liability, and the use of an Attorney General opinion. The transcript cuts off during extended debate on that amendment, so no final vote on the land use bill is shown in the excerpt.

Transcript Highlights:

• With record funding and innovative land use provisions, the act laid the foundation for a future where
• an adjacent parcel to be included within a proposal of a Live Local project regardless of zoning or land
• And, Chair, my last question to you is, it pertains to when the plant was purchased.
• What do you mean that the plant was purchased?
• When the plant was purchased, you purchased a plant that was outside of the city boundaries of North

Committee: Senate Community Affairs

Summary: The committee heard and acted on a long agenda of local, housing, education, construction, and claims bills. It first took up SB 1730 on affordable housing/Live Local changes, adopting an amendment that narrowed and clarified several provisions, including density, height, parking, attorney fees, and exclusions for certain protected areas, then reported the bill favorably. It also approved SB 1674, which clarifies that local investment restrictions cannot block Israel bonds, after a clarifying amendment. SB 140 on charter schools was reported favorably after significant debate over school conversion, teacher contracts, local control, and the use of surplus school property for housing or other public purposes; several speakers opposed it as harmful to public schools, while the sponsor said it preserved district authority and added options for municipalities and job creation. The committee also passed SB 96 and SB 4, two local claims bills, and SB 1714, which allows SHIP funds to help mobile home owners with lot rent and requires local housing plans to address mobile home park closures.

Transcript Highlights:

• It is not permissible for us to purchase a building.
• Purchase of an existing building could not occur.
• You included the various trucks that were purchased.
• P-card purchases: we had some questionable purchases that may not have had a valid purpose, travel charges
• P-card purchases, we had some questionable purchases that may not have sort of valid purpose, travel

Summary: The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee first heard a long-running audit finding involving Daytona Beach’s unexpended building permit funds, which have exceeded the statutory limit for several years and were reported at $10.8 million in the most recent audit. Mayor Derek Henry and city staff said the city has analyzed the fund, adopted a corrective action plan, waived more than $5.5 million in permit and inspection fees over several periods, and used some excess funds for a training facility rehabilitation and a proposed City Hall expansion. Committee members repeatedly questioned whether the city was simply trying to spend down the money, raised concerns about the legality and necessity of proposed expenditures, and asked about interest earnings, truck purchases, and the lack of detailed tracking for training-facility use. The city said an Attorney General opinion allows construction of a new building for building-code functions but not purchase of an existing building, and that if the city cannot comply through permissible construction it would have to return the funds. No vote was taken, but members expressed strong frustration and urged the city to resolve the issue quickly and lawfully. The committee then received the Auditor General’s presentation on the Town of Greenville, which found 31 findings and described pervasive control failures, possible fraud, waste, and abuse. The findings covered elections and quorum issues, conflicts of interest, late or missing financial disclosure forms, related-party transactions, poor meeting notices and minutes, council involvement in day-to-day operations, missing ethics training, budget and accounting deficiencies, weak bank reconciliations, improper utility billing and rates, grant compliance problems tied to a grocery store project, personnel and compensation issues involving the town manager, late vendor payments, weak procurement and P-card controls, vehicle-use and property-control problems, public records issues, and IT/fraud-policy weaknesses. The auditor said the review focused mainly on October 2022 through February 2024 but went back further for some grant-related matters. Greenville’s mayor and staff said the audit reflected actions of a previous administration and that the current council and staff have already adopted seven new policies to improve procurement, financial controls, inventory management, grant oversight, and ethics. They said the town has a new manager and clerk, that the former manager was terminated, and that the town referred matters to FDLE, which is investigating. Committee members asked about the manager’s salary increase, severance, P-card use, and whether the town should consider consolidation or dissolution. The mayor said the town is on a better path, that most of the prior leadership has been voted out, and that the town is working with auditors and an outside accounting firm to correct the problems.

Transcript Highlights:

• Beyond agricultural production, USDA is a land manager, research institution, and food regulator.
• The other nine all came: ag teachers, insurance agents, workers of the land.
• All Americans are important, but the farmer, the worker of the land who feeds all the others, is amongst
• Do you think creating more... red tape for families will help them purchase nutritious food?
• Our land to foreign governments or to private equity, all of those things.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• The underlying bill allows the Department of Corrections to purchase abortion medication pills, which
• for inmates, and we are now a wholesale distributor. ...pharmacy intended for purchasing pharmaceuticals
• The ownership of lands by aliens, other than those in good faith who have declared their intention to
• Constitution, we included racist language that prevented Japanese and Chinese Americans from owning lands
• That prevented Japanese and Chinese Americans from owning lands in this state.

Summary: The Senate opened with roll call, colors, pledge, and a prayer by Sikh youth leader Gertit Singh Cocher, followed by recognition of guests from the Sikh Coalition and Kalsa Germath Center. The chamber approved the journal and then adopted Senate Resolution 8678 honoring the Chimicum High School Marching Band for being selected as Washington’s representative in the 2026 National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C.; senators praised the band’s dedication and rural-school achievement, and the band was recognized in the gallery. The Senate then confirmed two gubernatorial appointments by 49-0 votes: Ryan Moran as Director of the Health Care Authority and Dennis Worsham as Secretary of the Department of Health. Supporters highlighted Moran’s Medicaid and health system background and Worsham’s long public health career, including local health leadership and work on HIV/AIDS and community health. The chamber also advanced and passed Senate Bill 6011, expanding court bailiff authority to conduct threat assessments for the Court of Appeals, and Senate Bill 5831, creating safe harbors related to mortgage modification recording requirements. Several bills were debated and passed after amendment votes. Senate Bill 6188, concerning Labor and Industries’ asbestos training and certification rules, saw an amendment to align with federal standards rejected and then passed 38-19. Substitute Senate Bill 5917, dealing with access to abortion medications through the Department of Corrections pharmacy, had multiple proposed amendments rejected before passing 32-17 after extensive debate over access, labeling, distribution limits, and emergency status. The Senate also adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 6024 on developmental disability services confidentiality, then passed the bill 48-0-1 excused; passed Substitute Senate Bill 6091 on residential property marketing and fair housing by 49-0; and passed Substitute Senate Bill 5840 adjusting campaign finance expenditure reporting deadlines by 46-3. The body then recessed for caucus and lunch.

Transcript Highlights:

• The Department of Natural Resources manages more than 2 million acres of forested land.
• State law directs DNR to calculate a sustainable harvest level for the state forest lands it manages.
• So then the first of these is a sales and use tax exemption for qualified purchases of server equipment
• We'll also review a sales and use tax exemption for purchases of equipment necessary to process biogas
• We'll also review a sales and use tax exemption for purchases of equipment necessary to process biogas

Summary: The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee met on September 17, 2025, in hybrid format. After roll call, the committee initially lacked a quorum and deferred approval of the July 15 minutes until Representative Berg arrived; the minutes were then adopted. Members also discussed the proposed 2026 JLARC meeting schedule, including possible changes to address crowded July meetings and the annual tax exemption review workload. Staff presented the annual lodging tax expenditures report, noting that 213 municipalities received distributions in 2024, with 91% reporting compliance, $114 million awarded for more than 1,700 activities, and no independent verification of the self-reported data. Several members questioned the value and usefulness of the report, and the executive committee indicated it may recommend removing the statutory reporting requirement. The committee then heard the preliminary performance audit of the Office of Privacy and Data Protection, which found the office meets its statutory responsibilities and has high user satisfaction, but recommended updating the statute to better match the office’s current capacity and focus and improving performance measures to reflect long-term privacy outcomes rather than outputs. Members asked about FERPA and other federal privacy laws, and OPDP staff said they provide general privacy training and consultation but not law-specific training unless requested. The committee adopted the final report on Washington State recreational boating programs without recommendation, after staff reported that boating revenues support both general government and boating activities and that no participating agencies submitted formal comments. Members asked about boater safety education and possible overlap among the six agencies involved; Parks staff said education has reached more than 500,000 boaters and that fatalities and incidents have declined. The committee also reviewed planned study questions for a JLARC review of Labor and Industries’ enforcement of farm worker laws, with members raising scope questions about the term “farm worker” versus “agricultural worker,” and for DNR’s Eastern Washington sustainable harvest calculation, which JLARC will review as DNR completes its recalculation. Finally, staff outlined the 2026 tax preference performance reviews covering seven preferences, and members asked about racial equity, environmental impacts, disclosure of beneficiary savings, and how the reviews will measure effectiveness; the meeting adjourned before noon.

Transcript Highlights:

• What we landed on was an additional $80 million per year each in LGA and CPA.
• <00:09:40.920><c> in</c> purchase in purchase in 2062,<00:09:43.600><c> then</c><00:09:44.560><c> the
• Limited land access farmers. Skipping one more and then going down to new House section 17.
• </c><00:20:16.160><c> bank</c><00:20:16.480><c> land</c><00:20:16.880><c> bank</c> 24, which is the land
• bank land bank 24, which is the land bank land bank abatement<00:20:18.039><c> provisions.

Transcript Highlights:

• It's a state right-of-way over your land; you still own the land.
• It's a state right-of-way over your land; you still own the land.
• It's a state right-of-way over your land; you still own the land.
• It's a state right-of-way over your land; you still own the land.
• It's a state right-of-way over your land; you still own the land.

Committee: House Election Law

Transcript Highlights:

• This is the Barataria Land Bridge.
• And remember, the only land that they acquired was the land itself.
• bridge and land building efforts.
• And this land bridge, we're going to take the land bridge going from Port Sulphur through Plaquemines
• Where are the funds coming to purchase that land and to maintain that land?

Committee: House Natural Resources & Environment

Transcript Highlights:

• land for this building up there, and we are in the process of completing that sale right now.
• land with existing funds that we'd be able to put that facility on.
• </c><00:15:13.000><c> that</c><00:15:13.240><c> land</c><00:15:13.520><c> with</c> process of purchasing
• that land with process of purchasing that land with existing<00:15:14.240><c> funds</c><00:15:15.200
• </c> we're aiming at is this marginal land we're aiming at is this marginal land that's<00:24:48.600>

Bills: HF3599 , HF3761 , HF3523 , HF3515 , HF573

Committee: House Capital Investment