Transcript Highlights:

• The SFMTA, like other transit agencies, is facing fiscal challenges.
• So thank you, Senator, for stepping into this challenge.
• SB 304 addresses a clear and urgent challenge.
• Our challenges, how do we do this in a way? It's still going to be workable.
• Unfortunately, we are not meeting the challenge of all three.

Summary: The committee first established a quorum, adopted the consent calendar for SB 423 and SB 581, and then heard a series of bills, most of which were presented as streamlining or safety measures tied to transportation, climate, public lands, health care, and higher education. SB 71 by Senator Wiener would extend and expand a CEQA exemption for sustainable transportation projects, adding modes such as microtransit, paratransit, shuttles, and ferries, while also accepting committee amendments that narrowed a Tier 4 diesel rail provision, restored existing right-of-way language with utility protections, and set a new sunset date. Support came from transit agencies, local governments, and advocacy groups; some members raised concerns about the diesel rail language and possible interactions with housing-related legislation, but the bill advanced on a due pass vote as amended. The committee then heard SB 614 by Senator Stern on carbon dioxide pipeline safety. The bill would direct the State Fire Marshal to adopt safety standards for intrastate CO2 pipelines, building from federal draft rules and adding state discretion and possible enhanced protections such as planning zones and more detailed exposure modeling. Supporters argued California needs to fill a federal regulatory gap to advance carbon capture and climate goals, while environmental justice and conservation groups opposed unless amended, citing risks from CO2 leaks and asking for stronger siting restrictions and more specificity. The bill passed on a due pass vote to Appropriations, with members noting the need for continued work on the safety provisions. Senator Arreguín also presented SB 304, which would temporarily lift public trust use restrictions on specific land at Jack London Square to allow the Port of Oakland more leasing flexibility under conditions and annual reporting. The measure was described as a limited, time-bound effort to address high vacancy and revitalize the waterfront, and it drew support from Oakland city and county representatives with no opposition in the room. The committee then approved SB 304 on a due pass vote. Arreguín’s SB 830 followed, creating CEQA streamlining for Sutter Health’s new Emeryville hospital campus and designating the City of Emeryville as lead agency; supporters said it would preserve East Bay hospital access before seismic deadlines, and the bill passed with broad support and no opposition. Finally, Senator Caballero presented SB 486, a higher education planning bill intended to align UC and CSU enrollment growth with regional sustainable communities plans and to remove the need to analyze a no-project alternative in certain long-range development plans. Supporters said the bill would better integrate university enrollment forecasting into regional planning, while opponents warned that eliminating the no-project analysis could weaken accountability for housing and infrastructure impacts around campuses. Committee members expressed mixed views and asked for further clarification, but the bill was moved out on a due pass as amended vote to Appropriations. The transcript then shifted to SB 629, a fire response and rebuilding bill, with the author describing amendments to apply fire safety requirements in wildfire-burned areas, update fire mapping, and require annual defensible space inspections, though the discussion was cut off before any final action was shown.

Transcript Highlights:

• This is a regional challenge. It's a state challenge, it's a national challenge.
• And so that also contributes to some of the challenges that we see.
• They're not housed within child protection or the child welfare agency.
• The agency requested backfilling federal funds in their operating budget.
• The agency has two big funders: Hilton gave us a 3-year grant.

Transcript Highlights:

• Whereas Leo talked about before, we've got a dozen different state agencies, federal agencies, and local
• agencies.
• The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is a state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency, and our
• work within our region—so you have a water agency, Placer County Water Agency, even the State Water
• So, Chief, has the agency...

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• This is probably one of the most challenging committees to be on in general.
• Our staff works all summer and into the fall, helping agencies get budgets together.
• Once agencies submitted their budget, $80 million.
• Agencies were asked to reduce fiscal year 26 spending.
• Last year we had some challenges, a lot of challenges. This year is going to be easy, okay?

Keywords: 989, all

Summary: The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee opened the session with roll call, confirmed a quorum, and introduced new members, staff, and pages. Co-chairs and staff then reviewed JFAC’s role as the legislature’s main budget committee, the committee’s daily schedule, and the resources available through legislative staff, the impact team, and the newly released 2026 Legislative Budget Book and related budget tools. The committee received a detailed briefing from the Division of Financial Management on the JFAC calendar and then from Governor’s Budget Director Lori Wolf on the governor’s FY 2026 and FY 2027 budget recommendations. Wolf said the budget is balanced but tight, relying on a mix of ongoing reductions and one-time actions rather than reserve fund transfers. Major budget actions included a 3% ongoing reduction across most state agencies, reversions of certain one-time balances to the general fund, no recommended pay increase for state employees or teachers, and higher employee health insurance costs. The budget also proposed reductions or policy changes in Medicaid, virtual school funding, Idaho Digital Learning Academy, and some transportation and water-related funds, while preserving funding for public safety, education, water, and transportation priorities. Members questioned the assumptions behind the budget, especially the projected ending balances, the use of one-time transfers, the impact of rising health insurance costs on employees, the effect of Medicaid cuts on services and cost shifts, and the rationale for reductions to online education and IDLA. Several members also asked about the proposed federal tax conformity changes, including the timing of implementation and the treatment of Idaho’s existing R&E tax credit. Wolf said the conformity estimate was based on Tax Commission analysis and that the administration was not recommending use of the budget stabilization fund. No votes or formal actions were taken; the committee concluded by noting that the Economic Outlook Committee would meet later in the week and that JFAC would continue budget hearings the next day.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> 150-day clock starts and the agency 150-day clock starts and the agency determines<00:14:37.519>
• </c><00:20:27.480><c> feels</c> this concept um uh the agency feels this concept um uh the agency feels
• </c><00:20:34.600><c> or</c><00:20:35.280><c> other</c> with another agency or other with another agency
• </c><00:46:20.480><c> have</c> that we see is that the agencies have that we see is that the agencies
• and multiple divisions multiple agencies and multiple divisions Within<00:47:26.920><c> agencies</c>

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Uh, you've heard a lot about the challenges we've had working with Mexico.
• The challenge has been, the challenges for us.
• They're being one done here in the United States by y'all's agency or by who?
• We recognize the agency has been working diligently to achieve this goal.
• agencies, animal health officials, and lawmakers like yourselves.

Transcript Highlights:

• Transportation is a challenge.
• NEMT is incredibly challenged right now. EMS is incredibly challenged.
• </c> incredible CH incredibly challenged incredible CH incredibly challenged right<00:51:28.839><c> now
• </c> right now EMS is incredibly challenged right now EMS is incredibly challenged so<00:51:31.040><c
• </c> especially when Workforce is challenged especially when Workforce is challenged and<00:51:56.599

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• But of course, you run into the challenge where agencies still need to conduct their business, update
• But individual agencies might do it by agency FTE or agency budget amount or something like that.
• Just went through that was put on, stood up by an agency, you charge something to that agency then, right
• agency maybe thinks we're a three out of ten, and that agency thinks we're an eight out of ten, and
• So all of our agencies are working together.

Keywords: 908, all

Transcript Highlights:

• The challenge there is that there's a lot of rigidity in our staffing structures.
• But a challenge with METS is that you have to follow the steps exactly.
• You heard testimony from the agency and Commissioner Tomes.
• There are the agency error rate, which is a great example.
• And mostly from the agency is that we heard from today.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• <c> are</c><00:43:46.880><c> responsible</c> State agencies, in turn, are responsible State agencies,
• And so we do a lot of intra-agency and cross-agency collaboration.
• They challenged that in court.
• It is the agency staff agency.
• they are frequently challenged.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• Most people that we deal with are working with one of our agencies.
• Agencies are probably working with two or three of our agencies, and so those case managers can utilize
• It's an Oracle database that the agency maintains.
• Amongst agencies, that would look like creating layers of work groups at all levels within the agencies
• At local workforce boards or other agencies, employees do.

Transcript Highlights:

• experience with the behavioral health system, legislators, representatives from different state agencies
• is made up of roughly 30 young people, parents, and caregivers with lived and living experience, agency
• Our state has many different agencies and programs that are dedicated to supporting and improving the
• These gaps, barriers, and challenges ultimately point to the need to strengthen our system and center
• I'm wondering in the conversation, where is simplification, where seven different agencies isn't the

Summary: The committee began with a work session on recommendations from the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Work Group. Tisha Kirshbaum of the Health Care Authority described the Washington Thriving Strategic Plan, a prenatal-to-25 system-of-care framework meant to reduce fragmentation, improve coordination across multiple state agencies, and expand early, community-based behavioral health supports. Members asked about duplication among agencies, simplification of the system, and upstream services such as community health workers, school-based supports, and crisis access. The committee then heard House Bill 2429, which would direct the governor and state agencies to align with the Washington Thriving plan, create an executive coordination officer and leadership council, extend the work group, and require broader alignment by state, tribal, local, and nonprofit entities. The bill received strong support from the governor’s office, the Health Care Authority, parents, youth, providers, and advocates, while a few testifiers raised concerns about government overreach, cost, or the need to address non-psychiatric causes of distress. No vote was taken during the hearing. The committee then heard House Bill 2364, which renames and expands the Legislative Executive Work First Poverty Reduction Oversight Task Force into the Legislative Executive Economic Justice and Well-Being Task Force and updates the related advisory council to align with the state’s 10-year plan to dismantle poverty. Staff and the prime sponsor said the bill reflects the evolution of the poverty-reduction effort and adds agencies such as the Department of Revenue, Health Care Authority, and Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board. Testimony from DSHS and advocates was uniformly supportive, emphasizing bipartisan collaboration and the need to update statute to match current work. Next, the committee heard House Bill 2171 on supporting foster youth. The bill would create an endangered foster youth alert system, require county rapid-response protocols, establish a foster youth empowerment account, create an oversight board through the Ombuds office, and expand training for foster parents and child welfare workers. The prime sponsor and several advocates described the bill as a response to lived experience and a way to improve accountability and long-term support. DCYF said it supports the intent but raised legal and cost concerns, and some youth advocates warned that public alerts could increase risk or trauma for youth who run away from unsafe placements. The hearing then moved to House Bill 2314, which would create a pilot allowing certain community-based clients with developmental disabilities to receive dental care at residential habilitation centers. Supporters said the bill would use existing dental capacity to address severe access gaps and long waits in the community, while opponents from disability advocacy groups argued it would pull people back into institutional settings instead of building community-based dental capacity. Testimony on the bill was mixed, and no final committee action was taken in the transcript.

Transcript Highlights:

• I have been made aware of five different agencies.
• I've been named in a suit along with the agency and other members of the agency, and the agency defended
• You know, officers already wear badges and agency identification.
• You know, officers already wear badges and agency identification.
• You know, officers already wear badges and agency identification.

Bills: HB2165, HB2173, HB2203, HB2293

Keywords: peace officer, false identification, law enforcement, criminal penalties, public safety, face coverings, regulations, civil rights, emergency operations, reckless interference, offense, foreign entities, training, national security, 904, all

Transcript Highlights:

• better understand these rapidly evolving technologies, the opportunities they present, and the challenges
• they pose so that we may have future policy decisions... ...the challenges they pose so that we may
• It's a speed, scale, sophistication challenge.
• patchwork security, how you fix these vulnerabilities, is really a massive challenge.
• The challenge is... ...is these are dangerous, we shouldn’t use them.

Summary: The joint informational hearing of the Assembly Select Committee on Cybersecurity and the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection focused on how frontier AI is changing cybersecurity for both attackers and defenders. Members heard from representatives of OpenAI and Anthropic, who said AI is making cyberattacks faster, more scalable, and more accessible, while also giving defenders new tools for vulnerability discovery, incident response, and patching. They described recent incidents involving AI systems, including OpenAI’s Hugging Face sandbox escape during internal testing and Anthropic’s discovery of unauthorized internet access during evaluations, and emphasized layered safeguards, safer testing environments, monitoring, and independent review. They also discussed California’s new AI cyber defense efforts, including Governor Newsom’s announcement of a first-in-the-nation program and company programs offering credits, training, and verified access for state and local defenders. Committee members and witnesses also discussed California’s preparedness, SB 53, and the need for better information sharing and policy updates. Cal OES Deputy Director Jonathan Snow described Cal-CSIC, CalSecure 2.0, the state’s secure reporting portal under SB 53, and efforts to coordinate with CDT, CISA, the FBI, MS-ISAC, and critical infrastructure partners. He said the state is working on standard operating procedures for extreme AI incidents and on outreach to water systems and other local entities. Members raised concerns that SB 53’s thresholds may be too narrow and that the state may need more timely, actionable information to mitigate risks. Witnesses and members agreed that California should strengthen public-private collaboration, improve cyber hygiene, and support local governments and utilities. The final panel featured Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Dr. Nate Gleason, who focused on open-weight AI models and critical infrastructure. He argued that open-weight models present special risks because they can be downloaded, modified, and used without ongoing developer control, monitoring, or revocation, while also being useful for air-gapped and classified environments. He said Chinese labs currently lead the open-weight space and warned that U.S. utilities and other critical operators may increasingly rely on Chinese-made models if domestic options do not advance. He described LLNL’s work with DOE on AI-FORTS, including test beds for adversarial AI testing and OT-focused benchmarks. No formal votes were taken; the hearing was informational, and members repeatedly urged continued briefings, collaboration, and follow-up on policy and technical safeguards.

Transcript Highlights:

• They're facing declining enrollment challenges, but they're also facing inflationary costs.
• Enrollment challenges, but they're also facing inflationary costs.
• Because there is a workforce challenge out there.
• It was an increase to support the funds going to the new Rate 1 local education agencies.
• Again, thinking about the challenges of districts to plan for and administer programs.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• This bill addresses a significant challenge that we're facing in housing support, formerly known as GRH
• The challenge that we are faced with comes with the understanding that we have got 87 counties with 87
• </c> business day timeline for lead agencies business day timeline for lead agencies to<00:41:16.720>
• </c><00:43:19.559><c> emerging</c> sharing real world challenges emerging sharing real world challenges
• </c> will address some of those challenges will address some of those challenges it's<01:23:14.880><c

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• at the agency.
• I'm gonna be running the agency and I report to the president running the agency so I just want to be
• You know, the president's been very clear, the agency heads are in. charge of the agency?
• What I will commit to is that I will run the agency and I will be in charge of the agency and I will
• And he, from our perspective, has way more control over every agency than the head. of the agency, and

Keywords: Social Security, Medicaid, Frank Bisignano, Elon Musk, benefit processing, office closures, public testimony, administration policies, health care, vulnerable populations

Summary: The committee meeting focused heavily on the nomination of Frank Bisignano as the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, with intense discussions around the current state of Social Security and its management under the current administration. Members voiced significant concerns regarding potential changes to Social Security and Medicaid, specifically addressing issues such as office closures, delays in benefit processing, and the perceived policies from Elon Musk's association with the administration. Public testimonies highlighted fears that these changes would severely impact the accessibility of benefits for seniors and vulnerable individuals, resulting in a chaotic environment at the SSA. Members expressed a unified opposition to the notion of dismantling these critical programs, emphasizing the long-term implications on their constituents' well-being.

Transcript Highlights:

• to carry forward the mission of the agency.
• Chair, our agency is primarily... Mr.
• This agency in terms of state and federal.
• Agency actually doesn't initiate the wire.
• , those two entities in the agency.

Keywords: 1182, all

Transcript Highlights:

• So my question is really around Prop 12 and the legal challenges.
• We will now hear proposals from the Government Operations Agency.
• Opportunities and some of the challenges of this.
• CDFA is dealing with a couple of challenges we'd like to address.
• CDFA is dealing with a couple of challenges we'd like to address.

Keywords: 987, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It's on page nine, under challenges and appeals.
• And if you have the agency that is supposed to mitigate these things under the agency that makes these
• And if you have the agency that is supposed to mitigate these things under the agency that makes these
• who runs the agency.
• That will continue to be the exact same regardless of whether it's in this agency or that agency.

Keywords: 989, all

Summary: The committee first approved the March 16 and March 17 minutes, then introduced RS 33798, a Department of Administration procurement-related bill from Senator Van Orden. The committee next heard Senate Bill 1422, a major rewrite of Idaho campaign finance law sponsored by Senator Harris and Secretary of State Phil McGrane. The bill would move campaign finance provisions from Title 67 to Title 74, reorganize the law into clearer parts, add disclosure and reporting requirements, prohibit foreign contributions, require “paid for by” language, add pre-primary and pre-general reports, create a more graduated fine structure, and clarify rules for independent expenditures, electioneering communications, and donation timing. Questions focused on enforcement, reporting thresholds, and whether the bill addressed ad truthfulness; McGrane said it did not regulate speech content, only spending and disclosure. The committee voted to send SB 1422 to the floor with a due pass recommendation. The committee then heard House Bill 889, a broad overhaul of the State Procurement Act presented by Representative Britt Raibolt. The bill updates procurement definitions, clarifies best-and-final-offer procedures, requires use of agency subject-matter experts, allows multiple-award contracts, clarifies bid scoring and analysis, lets prior state contract performance be considered, requires vendor agreement before federal contracts are sent to CMS, protects certain technical information while requiring disclosure if a vendor later bids, adds a debarment process for bad-faith conduct, creates a cooling-off period for certain former officials and employees, establishes a protest bond for bid challenges, and requires reporting of procurement-related spending over $50. Raibolt said the bill was prompted by practical procurement problems and aimed to improve consistency, transparency, and cost savings. The committee sent HB 889 to the floor with a due pass recommendation. Two additional bills related to the ITD building and surplus property were also advanced. House Bill 890 would repeal a special surplus-property disposal provision and return disposal of administrative property to the regular process under the State Board of Land Commissioners. House Bill 900 would set procedures for insurance claims over $100,000, require an appraisal opportunity for affected agencies, require public notice of settlement offers, and mandate a public hearing and legislative notice if an agency relocates services or sells property after a damage-related claim. Both bills were sent to the floor with due pass recommendations. The longest discussion was on House Bill 898, which would move the State Historic Preservation Office from the Idaho State Historical Society into the new Office of Species, Minerals, and Energy Coordination. Sponsor Senator Den Hartog said the move would improve coordination on federal permitting, strengthen Idaho’s voice with federal agencies, and preserve all federally required SHPO functions, with funding and staff continuing. Many preservation professionals, local officials, and citizens testified in opposition, arguing the current structure works well, that SHIPO benefits from being housed with the Historical Society, and that moving it under an office focused on energy and minerals could create conflicts of interest or pressure to weaken preservation review. Supporters, including water and utility representatives, argued the change would improve coordination, reduce delays, and help small entities navigate complex federal processes. The sponsor closed by saying the bill complies with federal law and would not change the underlying preservation review process, though the committee had not yet taken final action in the portion provided.