Transcript Highlights:

• </c> even pay for child care. even pay for child care.
• </c> am a working parent of a small child am a working parent of a small child here<00:55:20.640><c>
• This allows them to nurse their child when they want to, to have lunch with their child when they want
• So, any licensed child care can qualify for the child care scholarship in the enrollment process.
• So, um, any licensed child care can qualify for the child care scholarship in the enrollment process.

Committee: Senate Ways and Means

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:47:42.560><c> care,</c> community impact within child care, community impact within child care
• </c> Women Venture intends to support child Women Venture intends to support child care<00:48:50.160>
• </c><01:02:20.799><c> care</c> loans in this model because child care loans in this model because child
• 37.200><c> care</c> care, but it's because child care care, but it's because child care businesses<01
• </c><01:05:28.400><c> care</c> pulling on the threat of child care pulling on the threat of child care

Committee: Senate Jobs and Economic Development

Transcript Highlights:

• So this changes how the parent can ask for their child to remain in treatment.
• the tribe, provide technical assistance to the tribe, and support collaboration with the tribe on child
• We know that No Child Left Behind is such an interesting structure that we have.
• This is being more specific that if what is encountered is child abuse... ...Child Safety.
• to the Department of Child Safety.

Summary: The committee heard a long series of Senate bills, mostly on third-read consent, covering education, public safety, health, courts, labor, and water. Several bills were briefly explained and then pulled from consent for further discussion, including measures on public records review standards (SB 1078), sexually explicit materials in schools/libraries (SB 1435 and SB 1567), burial costs in death cases (SB 1135), military flags in HOAs/COAs (SB 1184), court-ordered treatment guardianship (SB 1243), standardized state hiring (SB 1665), released-time religious instruction (SB 1741), firearm safety instruction in schools (SB 1424), student participation in extracurriculars after certain convictions (SB 1475), Celebrate Freedom Week (SB 1572), federal scholarship-granting organizations/vouchers (SB 1142), immigration-related arrest notifications (SB 1055), defamation standards (SB 1099), peace officer certification for military police veterans (SB 1107), mandatory reporting of child abuse/neglect directly to DCS (SB 1127), attorney licensing and discipline issues (SB 1148 and SB 1039), concealed weapons on college campuses (SB 1068), and firearm muffling devices/silencers (SB 1069). Members also raised constitutional, policy, and school-safety concerns on several of these bills, while supporters emphasized alternative pathways for students, veterans, and workers, and tighter reporting or licensing rules. Other bills were described without extended debate, including claims against the state for unpaid contracted services (SB 1097), workers’ compensation death benefits for surviving spouses who remarry (SB 1136), burial expense increases (SB 1135), state agency web pages for internal guidance (SB 1586), court-ordered treatment procedures and service of process in mental health cases (SB 1113), medical examiner authorization (SB 1123), tribal MOUs with DCS (SB 1125), controlled-substance scheduling conformity with federal classifications (SB 1188), EMT personal information protections (SB 1193), mammography notice updates (SB 1318), assisted-living referral disclosures (SB 1477), accommodation school GED instruction for 11th graders and students over 16 (SB 1166), credit enhancement board continuation (SB 1422), school district and charter school obligations related to religious release time (SB 1741), school firearm safety instruction (SB 1424), and school civics/freedom-week instruction (SB 1572). The committee also heard bills on CPA certification pathways (SB 1181), insurance adjuster licensing (SB 1415), county voter-registration rules online (SB 1040), campaign address privacy (SB 1259), federal land acquisition notification (SB 1281), water supply/demand assessments (SB 1202), environmental compatibility for power plants and small modular reactors (SB 1418), and groundwater recovery rules (SB 1785). The meeting ended with announcements and a brief recognition of Rep. Stephanie Hamilton with an “Affordability Award.” No final votes are shown in the transcript excerpt; instead, many bills were either left on consent, pulled for later discussion, or flagged for closed caucus. The chair then asked guests to leave so members could hold a closed caucus.

Transcript Highlights:

• That was part of the funding that we were picking up for the early child care.
• Chairman, is that where it says child care grants? That's in the subsection of the bill.
• You could ask somebody at the Child Development and Family Science Department.
• And I received a nasty email from the owner of a child care center in Grand Forks.
• The one thing that the state really hasn't spent down is that working parent child.

Bills: SB2399

Committee: Senate Appropriations - Human Resources Division

Summary: The committee reconvened and first reconsidered House Bill 1612, the aerospace medical and mental health support center bill. Senator Cleary offered an amendment to reduce the general fund appropriation from $500,000 to $250,000 and require the university or project sponsors to find the remaining funding from other sources. The amendment passed, and the bill was then recommended do pass as amended, with members citing concerns about university funding, but others supporting the project as a one-time seed investment. The committee also discussed a possible future FMAP increase beginning October 1, 2026, which could reduce general fund costs by roughly $9 million, though members noted the figures were still preliminary and could be addressed later if needed. The committee then returned to Human Services budget items, including early childhood and child care funding, a community cultural center grant, and several other adjustments. Members discussed reducing the “best in class” amount, changes to child care grants and quality/infrastructure funding, and clarifying that prior child care assistance appropriations were in fact being spent. They also agreed to reduce the 1915(i) Medicaid waiver line by $2 million, with the understanding that the entitlement would still be funded as needed. The committee also considered taking guardianship funding out of House Bill 1012 because a separate bill, Senate Bill 2029, would move that funding elsewhere; members agreed that removing it from the budget could help the overall bill and could be restored if the separate bill failed. Several study amendments were discussed. Senator Cleary proposed adding a maternal health study related to prenatal services, doulas, midwives, and Medicaid, and members expressed support. The committee also discussed a software/case-management study proposal, but the department said it had not requested it and would not support it as presented, so members leaned against advancing it unless the department first evaluated it. Another amendment would authorize the department to work with the city of Grafton on a long-term plan for the LSTC campus and require a report back to the legislature; members supported that as legislative intent. The committee also agreed to remove a truancy study section for later conference discussion, and it reviewed other possible study ideas, including assistive technology, before adjourning to await updated long sheets and bill text.

Transcript Highlights:

• She said feeding every child at school ensures equal opportunity to succeed.
• </c><00:06:39.240><c> at</c> School meals feeding every child at School meals feeding every child at
• Public schools don't necessarily accept every child.
• As a parent, you can see that and you can see the potential in your child and see what your child needs
• </c> in your child and see what your child in your child and see what your child needs<01:02:54.200><

Committee: Senate Education Finance

Transcript Highlights:

• It depends on the child. You might be able to use a little TANF sometimes.
• </c><00:52:06.440><c> protection</c> on this both in the child protection on this both in the child protection
• </c> have good case loads where child have good case loads where child protective<00:54:16.799><c> workers
• </c><01:37:47.400><c> and</c> whether you're an adult or a child and whether you're an adult or a child
• Mom and Dad are both working, that we have appropriate child care.

Summary: House Finance Division III held an informational hearing with the Department of Health and Human Services focused on child and family services, children’s behavioral health, DCF, juvenile justice, and adult mental health. Before the presentation, members discussed scheduling a future site visit to Waypoint, including possible dates, mileage reimbursement logistics, and whether to reschedule the department’s developmental disabilities and healthy aging presentation because the associate commissioner was out sick. The department then outlined that it would concentrate on children’s behavioral health, DCF residential care and the Sununu Youth Services Center/YDC new build, and adult mental health, while noting the broader DHHS structure and the value of keeping related services under one leadership. The department emphasized an integrated “system of care” approach and said it was trying to shift resources toward earlier, lower-intensity interventions rather than relying mainly on high-cost residential and acute services. It cited youth risk data showing roughly four in ten New Hampshire high school students feeling sad or hopeless and about one in five considering suicide in the past year, and said these trends worsened during the pandemic, peaking in 2021 and easing somewhat by 2023. Members asked how New Hampshire compared with neighboring states and about pre-COVID trends; the department said it would follow up with more exact data. The presentation also described a long-term policy effort beginning with federal funding in 2012, the state’s 10-year mental health plan, and later legislation aimed at strengthening children’s behavioral health and transforming juvenile justice so that youth with behavioral health needs are not routed into punitive systems first. Members raised questions about out-of-state residential placement oversight and the statutory basis for inspections and follow-up. The department said the General Court had funded more “boots on the ground” oversight, in coordination with the Office of the Child Advocate, and agreed to provide a longer follow-up presentation on that topic after the governor’s budget is released. The department also described evidence-based prevention efforts, including home visiting programs such as Healthy Families America and a DCF-connected home visiting cohort for families already touching the child welfare system, as examples of trying to keep children out of deeper system involvement.

Transcript Highlights:

• Parole for life feels like we're saying a child is beyond hope.
• burden on the mother to raise the child by themselves.
• She wasn't a confused child.
• He was my only child, the light of my life.
• A doctor seeing a child for 10 minutes cannot replace that.

Committee: Joint Joint Committee on the Judiciary

Summary: The Joint Committee on the Judiciary held a lengthy hearing on several juvenile justice and parole-related bills, with much of the testimony focused on H. 2051/S. 1087 to end lifetime parole for juveniles and emerging adults, and H. 1923 to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds. Chairs Brandy Fluker-Reid and Lydia Edwards opened the hearing by noting the large number of bills and witnesses, the need to keep testimony moving, and special procedures for incarcerated witnesses and sensitive testimony. They also acknowledged the historic nature of the hearing being chaired by two Black women attorneys. No votes were taken during the hearing itself. Many incarcerated speakers and advocates supported ending lifetime parole, arguing that young people can change, that lifetime supervision creates constant fear of technical violations, and that it undermines rehabilitation, family stability, employment, and reintegration. Several testified about their own trauma, youth, and growth in prison programs, while others emphasized the costs of decades of supervision and the racial disparities in the system. Support also came from elected officials, UTEC, the Transformational Prison Project, United Way, CPCS’s Youth Advocacy Division, the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, and others, who said juvenile systems are better suited to developmentally appropriate treatment and that the bills would improve public safety and reduce recidivism. There was also opposition, including testimony from family members of a murder victim who argued that lifetime parole should remain for serious violent crimes and that some offenders are not sufficiently rehabilitated. One virtual witness described a family tragedy involving the kidnapping and murder of her infant nephew and warned that ending lifetime parole could remove needed long-term supervision for dangerous offenders. In addition to the juvenile justice bills, the committee heard testimony on H. 1867, a bill related to continuing care for severe mental illness, and H. 2063, which would increase penalties for assaults on correction officers and other prison staff; the correction officers’ union supported H. 2063 and related safety bills. The hearing continued with many more witnesses and bill topics, but no final committee action was announced in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• So I'm I'm just saying unborn child.
• </c> me, by not later than the unborn child me, by not later than the unborn child reaching<01:31:54.639
• And is it is it an actual birthed child?
• </c> woman that she has to carry that child woman that she has to carry that child all<01:43:42.480><
• </c> choosing to end the life of their child. choosing to end the life of their child.

Bills: HB0117 , HB0126

Committee: House Labor, Health & Social Services

Transcript Highlights:

• care and child welfare funding.
• child care and child payment freeze for child care and child welfare<04:40:57.120><c> funding.
• </c><04:41:21.200><c> care,</c> payments to states for child care, payments to states for child care,
• </c> first child. first child.
• to fund child care centers, tanniff to fund child care centers, which<05:07:35.200><c> are</c><05:07

Bills: HB4327 , HCR68 , HJR140 , HB6945 , HR1009

Keywords: home sales, tax exemption, real estate, capital gains, personal residence, military intervention, Venezuela, Congress, war powers, foreign policy, federal lands, Bureau of Land Management, land withdrawal, Minnesota, congressional disapproval, pregnancy centers, support services, social security, family support, maternity care

Transcript Highlights:

• unexpected infant and child deaths in the state of Arkansas.
• The trend is costly, with expenses running around $127,750 per child.
• And these assessments, they don't only apply for just the child.
• Now the family has a relatively young child at home... The home.
• So what are the parameters for them to expel a child?

Summary: The Senate and House Joint Committee on Children and Youth approved the December 10 minutes and confirmed Representative Mary Bentley to the Child Maltreatment Investigations Oversight Committee. The committee then heard the annual Arkansas Infant and Child Death Review report, which said the state reviewed 148 of 170 non-natural child deaths in 2023; the reviewed deaths included 69 accidents, 14 suicides, 18 homicides, and 47 undetermined causes. Members asked about how the report’s recommendations could be used, grant opportunities tied to prevention work, and whether the data could be broken down by age; presenters said the report is intended as a prevention tool for agencies and nonprofits and that some age detail is available in later pages of the report. The committee next took up HCR 1010 and then a broader discussion of juvenile justice reform. Senator Missy Irvin, judges, and Administrative Office of the Courts staff described Arkansas’s use of validated risk assessments, including SAVRY, the Ohio Youth Assessment Tool, MAYSI, and substance-abuse screening, as part of a long-running effort to reduce juvenile incarceration and tailor services to individual youth and families. They said the reforms have contributed to fewer delinquency filings, fewer DYS commitments, and more diversions, while also emphasizing that mental health, substance abuse, school issues, and trauma often drive juvenile court involvement. Several members raised concerns about data gaps, school collaboration, and whether community-based services are sufficient, and presenters said more shared data and stronger school use of safety dashboards could help intervene earlier. Division of Youth Services Director Michael Crump then presented custody, education, recidivism, and cost data. He said DYS commitments rose after the pandemic, secure residential populations remain high, and detention-center use increased when intake beds filled; he also noted that DYS pays about $320 per day for secure custody and that detention beds cost roughly $90 to $100 per day. Crump said most youth in custody are older teens, about 80 percent are male, and many have behavioral-health needs or educational deficits; he reported 222 GEDs and 102 high school diplomas over six years. He also said about 15 to 19 percent of youth return to DYS within three years and that a larger share later enter the Department of Corrections, while members pressed him on how assessments relate to commitments, how low-risk cases are handled, and how to improve mental health and substance-abuse services statewide.

Transcript Highlights:

• care, providing that registered child care...
• An act relating to child care, providing that registered child care homes, licensed family child care
• care homes, licensed family child care homes, licensed child care homes, and licensed child care centers
• care homes and child care centers.
• care home, licensed family child care home, or licensed group child care home.

Bills: HB111 , HB103 , HB60 , HB108 , HB120 , HB145 , HB154 , HB164 , HB291 , HJR6 , HR1 , HJM2 , HJM3 , HJM1 , HM7 , HM17 , HM4 , HM22 , HM23 , HM24 , HM26 , HM2 , HM16 , HM32 , HM13 , HM47 , HM11 , HM14 , HM21 , HM34 , HM50 , HB38 , HB47 , HB63 , HB64 , HB127 , HB165 , HB184 , HB200 , HM20 , HM51

Summary: The House convened with a quorum, offered an invocation, pledges, and a series of recognitions and guest introductions, including a memorial honoring J.B. White, a young Santa Fe basketball player killed by gun violence, and presentations for Disability Rights Awareness Day, Down syndrome advocacy, adult education and literacy, and Western New Mexico University’s 133rd birthday. Members also welcomed students, legislative fellows, and other guests, and several speakers used the announcements period to highlight community work, family milestones, and advocacy efforts. The chamber then received and referred several executive and Senate messages. Governor-authorized bills included HB 282 on school attendance enforcement and juvenile probation coordination, HB 292 creating the New Mexico Prison Rape Elimination Act, and HB 149 involving charter school facility financing; these were referred to the Judiciary or Appropriations and Finance Committees as applicable. The House also received Senate-passed bills and committee substitutes, which were referred to the appropriate House committees. In committee reports, multiple bills and memorials were adopted, including HB 4, HB 7, HB 65, HB 66, HB 80, HB 88, HB 96, HB 270, HB 280, HB 275, HB 285, HB 20, HB 166, HB 295, HM 46, HM 54, and SJR 1. On third reading, HB 38 on wheelchair insurance coverage was announced as being remanded back to the House Health and Human Services Committee for a simple amendment before returning to the floor. The main floor debate centered on HB 120, which addresses restraint and seclusion in schools. Sponsors said the bill is intended to improve student safety, clarify when intervention is allowed, require de-escalation and behavior-support training, improve documentation and parent notification, and prevent harmful or punitive practices. An amendment was adopted to replace the term “punishment” with “disciplinary action” and to add reporting to a legislative study committee. The bill then drew extended questioning about definitions, school resource officers, PBIS references, training requirements, data collection, and possible costs and liability, with sponsors emphasizing that the measure clarifies existing practice rather than imposing a specific curriculum or program.

Transcript Highlights:

• I believe that every child and every family deserves to be protected.
• I don't believe that there's such thing as a transgender child.
• Is the child that you know someone who underwent the surgery, or—?
• You want to keep some stability for your child.
• Over the family until the youngest child ages out.

Summary: The committee first took up SB 1066, which would allow the Attorney General or a county attorney to sue researchers for knowingly or recklessly publishing fraudulent scientific research, and would let injured parties recover damages. The sponsor and a supporting witness argued the bill would create personal accountability for deliberate research fraud and cited examples of retracted or manipulated studies; opponents warned that peer review and existing scientific processes already address bad research and that the bill could chill research and speech. The committee later passed SB 1066 on a 4-3 vote. The committee then heard SB 1015, which would impose strict personal liability on providers who perform gender transition procedures on minors for later detransition costs and related injuries. Supporters, including the sponsor, a doctor, a detransitioner, and a parent, said the bill would protect children, create accountability, and help families seek redress for irreversible harm. Opponents from the ACLU and others argued the measure discriminates against transgender patients, would likely chill care by making providers uninsurable, and could function as a backdoor ban; the committee nevertheless advanced the bill on a 4-3 vote. SB 1049, as amended, limited spousal maintenance to four years and adjusted eligibility and guideline factors. The sponsor and a family law attorney said the bill would curb overly long awards and better account for assets and income, while the Judicial Council explained the existing guideline work and noted the new calculator was intended to add uniformity; one senator objected that the cap was arbitrary and ignored case-specific context. The committee adopted the amendment and passed the bill 4-2. The committee also unanimously passed SB 1189, allowing campaign funds to be used for candidate and family security, and SB 1133, eliminating a duplicate financial disclosure filing for candidates who already filed an annual statement. Finally, the committee heard SB 1081, which would bar a DCS attorney from appearing before a judge after appearing before that judge in any of the attorney’s previous five DCS cases, and advanced it 4-3 after debate over judicial familiarity and rural-court impacts. The committee also heard SCR 1001, a proposed constitutional referral to end early voting the Friday before the election, require proof of citizenship and government ID, and restrict mail ballots to voters who affirmatively request them; supporters framed it as an election-integrity measure, while ADOT testified neutrally but warned that free IDs could cost tens of millions in lost revenue and affect road funding. The transcript ends during testimony on SCR 1001, before any vote on that measure.

Transcript Highlights:

• "In other words, if the child then gets that child account, can the platform then say, 'Oh, if your child
• the child then gets that child words, if the child then gets that child account,<00:21:24.799><c> can
• And this whole thing is based on big tech knowing where your child is, where you are, where the child
• And this whole thing is based on big tech knowing where your child is, where you are, where the child
• </c> of your child. of your child. He<00:35:41.200><c> was</c><00:35:41.520><c> 17.

Transcript Highlights:

• Depending on the age of the child, the clock can start running before the child is even capable of addressing
• Abuse of a child, there's, there's the sexual, child, there's the sexual assaults and the sexual crimes
• I think it adds child abuse. The thing about child abuse is the child's not a witness.
• abuse and child rape in this state.
• Those are all child rapes. And Mr. President, we need to. Those are all child rapes. And Mr.

Transcript Highlights:

• Moving on to AB 120, this is the Early Learning and Child Care Omnibus.
• California as the fourth largest economy, we need to have good, safe child care.
• Our summary mentions that there is funding for child use. funding for Child Youth Behavioral Initiative
• It includes the child care sector.
• Maximize utilization of Sun Bucks to prevent child hunger.

Summary: The Assembly Budget Committee held an informational hearing on the final three-party budget agreement and related trailer bills, with the Department of Finance outlining the major budget bill and omnibus measures. Finance described a package built around balancing the state budget amid economic uncertainty, preserving core health and safety-net programs, and making significant ongoing reductions in some state programs. The budget bill included major items such as shifting $1 billion from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for Cal Fire, funding universal transitional kindergarten, deferring some UC and CSU funding, supporting foster care and homelessness programs, providing Proposition 36 implementation funding, and achieving Medi-Cal savings through changes to benefits and eligibility. The committee also heard that votes on the budget bills were expected later in the week and the following Monday. Finance then walked through the trailer bills, including health, human services, early learning, education, resources, energy, transportation, labor, housing, tax, public safety, courts, general government, cannabis, and energy-related measures. Notable provisions included a Medi-Cal enrollment freeze for certain adults, new premiums and benefit changes for some immigrants, child care COLA changes, education funding for literacy, teacher support, universal meals, and community college student support, as well as resource and climate measures affecting Cal Fire staffing and energy permitting. The housing trailer bill drew the most discussion, with provisions on CEQA streamlining, a vehicle miles traveled mitigation banking program, a renters’ credit trigger, and a six-year moratorium on new residential building standards. Members also discussed a film tax credit expansion, cannabis enforcement funding, a tribal police pilot program, and changes to tax policy, including military retirement income exclusions and wildfire settlement payment exclusions. Committee members largely praised the staff and the budget process, but several raised concerns and asked detailed questions, especially about the housing trailer bill’s new wage standards, tribal consultation provisions, and possible effects on prevailing wage protections. Finance explained that the housing language was intended to set wage floors for market-rate projects receiving CEQA streamlining, with different county-based tiers and a notwithstanding clause preserving existing prevailing wage laws. Members also questioned the size and timing of funding for the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, Clean Cars for All, Proposition 36, and the film tax credit expansion. Other members highlighted support for public safety, veterans’ tax relief, child care providers, housing production, and higher education, while some expressed concern that the budget’s policy changes were being negotiated too quickly or without enough stakeholder input.

Transcript Highlights:

• Again, Nebraska law says that the child continues to be a child of the district they were in at the time
• I also wanted to make sure that if a state employee was going to adopt a child, There is a child. to
• with the child, to do the bonding.
• They're going to need... ...a child 12 months and under.
• Parents can't accept that on behalf of their child.

Bills: LB815A , LB838A , LB912A , LB972A , LB1126A , LB962A , LB1114 , LB921 , LB937 , LB803 , LB803A , LB1032 , LB1032A , LB1075 , LB1075A , LB889 , LB878 , LB933 , LB304 , LB304A , LB1096 , LB1096A , LB1165 , LB1165A , LB958 , LB958A , LB762 , LB1187 , LB966 , LB929 , LB962 , LB753 , LB788 , LB913 , LB1055 , LB1195 , LB429 , LB721 , LB722 , LB727 , LB743 , LB745 , LB749 , LB778 , LB787

Transcript Highlights:

• Guide us back to the child we all used to be. The child who dreamed of making the world better.
• The child who felt better, the child who felt deeply and saw the world with unlimited curiosity, the
• child who did not readily see enemies, just people.
• Teacher, helped us to reclaim that inner child before ambition hardened us, before fear made us reactive
• A child that was shaped by her own stories or his own. Fearful.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:16:08.880><c> care,</c> access to affordable child care, access to affordable child care, availability
• Some of the child care services.
• only 7% of one's income on child care.
• </c> both 7% of one's income on child care. both 7% of one's income on child care.
• </c> have in terms of the supply of child have in terms of the supply of child care<02:05:21.520><c>

Committee: Senate Jobs and Economic Development

Transcript Highlights:

• Internet Crimes Against Children and Child Exploitation.
• And the second question was, is there a way to find that child?
• You're not having to manually upload an image of a suspect or an image of a missing child.
• Are they a missing child? That would be fantastic.
• No, but up until that point, no one's known where that child is.

Bills: HB2134 , HB2253 , HB2270 , HB2402 , HB2404 , HB2673 , HB2941

Committees: Senate Public Safety , Senate Senate Public Safety Committee of Reference

Keywords: critical infrastructure, foreign adversaries, China, communications, security, law enforcement, disciplinary action, administrative appeals, investigative files, due process, retaliation, county seal, law enforcement authority, sheriff's posse, public safety, county governance, ambulance services, certificate of necessity, emergency medical services, state regulations

Transcript Highlights:

• I know I’m a child of God, but, you know, the Republicans like to shame me if I talk high, you know,
• It's called: 'Nobody has more of a right to make decisions for a child than that child's parents, and
• Was it just to, you know, affirm the child?
• Was it just to, you know, sort of, you know, affirm the child that they can have another name?
• And I understand no one wants to have this happen to their child.

Committee: Senate Senate Education Committee of Reference

Summary: The Committee on Education approved the minutes from February 18 and March 4, 2026, then took up several bills. HCR 2003, the “Protect Girls in Sports in Arizona Act,” drew extensive testimony. Supporters, including Superintendent Tom Horne, argued it would protect fairness, safety, and privacy in girls’ sports and locker rooms by requiring teams to be designated male, female, or co-ed and by limiting access to sex-designated private spaces. Opponents, including ACLU and transgender advocates, said the measure was discriminatory, would function as a bathroom ban, and could force schools to police students’ bodies and identities. The committee voted 4-3 to give HCR 2003 a due pass recommendation. The committee then advanced HB 2020, which lowers certain student threats or disruptions at educational institutions from a Class 6 felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor, and HB 2032, which changes the statewide testing window so assessments begin later in the spring and scores are returned later, with supporters saying it would better reflect a full year of instruction. HB 2033, allowing school districts or charter schools to choose paper-and-pencil administration of statewide assessments by governing board vote, also received support from educators who said it would reduce technology barriers for younger students. HB 2318, as amended, would impose term limits on school district governing board members after eight consecutive years; school board groups opposed it as harmful to rural districts, but the committee adopted an amendment and gave the bill a due pass recommendation. The committee also approved HB 2378, which changes eligibility rules for School Facilities Oversight Board members who are architects or engineers so their businesses may not include school construction. HB 2313, which prohibits teacher strikes or organized work stoppages and ties funding penalties to districts or charters that violate the ban, advanced despite testimony that it duplicates existing law and could chill educators’ speech and worsen staffing shortages. Finally, HB 2249, a major expansion of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, passed after heated testimony. Supporters said it would prevent schools from socially transitioning minors without written parental consent and stop staff from encouraging children to hide information from parents; opponents warned it was vague, punitive, and would expose teachers and schools to massive liability and litigation. The committee adopted amendments on HB 2318 and HB 2249 and reported all of the listed bills out with due pass recommendations, with recorded split votes on several measures.