Transcript Highlights:

• All right, so Haley, let's move on to Texas Military Department.
• Texas Military Department, technical.
• For technical adjustments, the first item is for Alamo security.
• E is protective equipment for a Texas Highway Patrol. 5C is taser lease cost. for Texas Highway Patrol
• Specialist FTEs to assist the Texas Rangers with their duty.

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• , Texas Tech University and Texas State University.
• Texas.
• As Houston is the second largest, largest, I'm sorry, is the largest city in the state of Texas, Secure
• Texas is, has our emergent, we have our flagship universities, University of Texas, Texas A&M, but we
• So 40% from West Texas, 30% from border counties.

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I'm from Southeast Texas. I like to say Southeast Texas.
• would be for Texas to do now what this letter urges Texas to do.
• By lynchings in Texas. Many of those lynchings occurred in Texas.
• governs Texas.
• Not in Texas.

Keywords: 997, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Director of Texas Force Service and Al Davis, Director of Texas Force Service. Hmm. All right.
• Texas Forest Service.
• chosen by Texas.
• Texas.
• . and more Texas dollars supporting Texas jobs.

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Westmorehead, Deputy Director of Texas Force Service, and Al Davis, Director of Texas Force Service.
• It's built in Texas.
• , and more Texas dollars supporting Texas jobs.
• And so if Texas did own.
• I live in rural Texas, um.

Transcript Highlights:

• ACA 8 exists because Trump and the Republican controlled Texas legislature and other states like Indiana
• And California's response to Texas or any state that is trying to game the 2026 midterm elections.
• And I know this is to what Texas is doing and it's because the impact to Californians is so great and
• Texas is doing it. not leadership. It's abandoning our principles.
• We assume they are federal agents from Homeland Security or ICE or California Border Patrol.

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• OK All right, so, uh, Haley, let's move on to Texas Military Department.
• Moving to page 26. 5B is protective equipment for Texas Highway Patrol. 5C is taser lease costs for Texas
• Um, 7B is for 12 FTEs to establish a DNA investigation program within, um, the Texas Ranger Division.
• 7C is 18 forensic specialist FTEs to assist the Texas Rangers with their duties.
• Item eight is 10, excuse me, 10 million for Operation Drawbridge to fund cameras along the border.

Transcript Highlights:

• That Texas patients have real choices and that the future of healthcare in Texas is built around people
• Impactful for the price of goods for Texas consumers, and that is Texas-specific, um, because as the
• Um, HEB is one of the largest food manufacturers in Texas, and, uh, we manufacture for Texas.
• While we produce food in Texas, we don't produce the packaging in Texas.
• Um, our focus is Texas first.

Bills: HB25, HB38

Keywords: ivermectin, pharmacist authority, prescription-free, healthcare regulation, patient access, interest rate, ad valorem taxes, homesteads, property tax, tax deferral

Transcript Highlights:

• Outside of Texas?
• I just find it interesting that this state spends billions of dollars in border security, trying to mitigate
• of Texas.
• The Sheriff's Association of Texas and the Texas... Treatment options.
• Texas can fix this.

Keywords: 1185, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And now our beloved state, honor the Stan Kitzman: Texas flag.
• I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you.
• Reynolds: a sea of pink and green that has descended upon our Texas Capitol.
• We're joined by the Texas Police Chiefs Association and police chiefs from across Texas. Mr.
• Ladies and gentlemen, Brownsville is the southernmost city in the tip of Texas.

Transcript Highlights:

• We anticipate that The secure connection with the Department of Revenue.
• We were Arizonans in a variety of areas, including food security.
• In Texas and Florida, it didn't seem to affect the number of people that went.
• the border.
• It's been done in Florida, has been done in Texas.

Bills: HB2190, HB2202, HB2233, HB2251, HB2252, HB2396, HB2437, HB2689, HB2796

Keywords: physician assistants, licensure compact, medical services, multistate practice, patient care access, healthcare workforce, military families, adverse actions, dementia care, telementoring, healthcare education, rural communities, grant funding, HB 2233, rural health transformation, rural health transformation program, AHCCCS, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Joint Legislative Budget Committee, JLBC

Transcript Highlights:

• I got to take my hat off to them, and they secured a tower in Hunt, Texas, and within 48 hours they had
• to secure the items that I had secured.
• And there are only two networks in Texas, Texas Mesonet and West Texas Mesonet, that meet this five-minute
• Believe it or not, Del Rio is the only upper-air station along the Texas border between El Paso and Brownsville
• Believe it or not, Del Rio is the only upper air station along the Texas border between El Paso and Brownsville

Summary: The joint Senate and House disaster preparedness and flooding hearing opened with quorum calls, prayer, testimony time limits, and remarks from legislative leaders emphasizing decorum, respect, and the goal of learning from the July 4 flood to prevent future loss of life. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows said the special session and hearings were intended to hear directly from local officials and residents, and that the state would pursue immediate and longer-term legislation and continue working beyond the current session. The committee then heard invited testimony from Kerr County, Kerrville, Kendall County, Real County, and the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, followed by member questions. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, Sheriff Larry Leitha, and emergency management coordinator William B. Thomas described the flood as a sudden, unprecedented event that overwhelmed local systems before many officials or residents understood the danger. They said the county received multiple National Weather Service and IPAWS alerts, but the rain fell in remote upstream areas with limited gauges, and the flood rose too quickly for normal response. They detailed the emergency response, including dispatchers handling heavy call volumes, deputies and volunteer firefighters conducting rescues, and state and federal partners assisting. County officials said 108 people died, including 37 children, and two remained missing. They called for better real-time flood detection, stronger rural emergency management resources, improved broadband and cell coverage, and more funding for swift-water rescue and warning systems. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring and City Manager Dalton Rice said the city had floodplain rules, emergency plans, and prior preparedness efforts, but the event exposed gaps in communications and regional warning capacity. They urged the Legislature to fund a flood warning system, whether sirens, automated alerts, or a hybrid, and asked for support for predictive weather modeling, broadband expansion, a hazard mitigation fund, and disaster recovery resources. The Upper Guadalupe River Authority said it had long funded gauges and pursued flood-warning and mitigation projects, including a new software-based flood prediction system and possible retention dams, and planned to dedicate reserve funds to feasibility studies and infrastructure improvements. Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said his county’s emergency action plan and early alerts helped prevent deaths there, and he recommended easier access to alerting tools, a river-wide warning system, simpler grant applications, and regional coordination. Real County Judge Bella Rubio said rural counties face major challenges because of limited cell service, broadband, staffing, and funding, especially for camps and visitors along the Frio and Nueces rivers, and argued that reliable alert systems should be treated as a necessity, not a luxury. Members asked about the timeline of the flood, low-water crossings, communications failures, sirens, bridges, and funding, and several witnesses said the key lessons were better communications, better warning systems, and more investment in rural flood mitigation and emergency response.

Transcript Highlights:

• to places like Texas and New Mexico.
• or they they cross the border illegally. or they they cross the border illegally.
• Uh Customs and Border Patrol operations.
• Senator Bahr, you didn't have to hold your breath too... security numbers. security numbers.
• We secure insurance and bonds, pay prevailing wage or higher.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center, and U.S.
• He has, he's already patrolling the borders of the state of Florida.
• They're across the border. They're the gotaways.
• When I think about that, I think about concentric rings of security.
• , the Biden border crisis.

Summary: The Senate opened with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the reading of an amended joint proclamation expanding the Legislature’s immigration agenda. The proclamation added items calling for financial penalties for government officials, enhanced criminal penalties for offenses committed by illegal aliens, and programs and appropriations to support law enforcement in enforcing federal immigration law. The chamber then took up the special order calendar, beginning with Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 2B, the immigration bill. Most of the meeting was devoted to debate and questions on the strike-all amendment to SB 2B. Sponsor Senator Gruters described the bill as a broad immigration enforcement package aligned with President Trump’s agenda. He said it would require greater cooperation with federal immigration authorities, strengthen participation in the 287(g) program, create a chief immigration officer and council, authorize financial penalties for noncompliance, provide bonuses for officers assisting ICE, and direct information-sharing with federal agencies. He also said the bill would bar DHSMV from issuing licenses or ID cards to unauthorized aliens and would end in-state tuition waivers for undocumented students. Senators Polsky, Pizzo, Smith, Jones, Berman, Osgood, and others questioned the scope of the bill, whether it would affect schools, churches, cities, nonprofits, and green-card holders, and how the 287(g) provisions would work in practice. Gruters repeatedly said the operational focus was on jails and detention facilities, not street-level enforcement. A major point of controversy was the bill’s proposed mandatory death penalty for unauthorized aliens convicted of certain capital offenses. Senator Fine said the covered crimes were the most serious capital felonies, including murder, child sexual battery, destructive-device offenses causing death, and certain trafficking offenses, and argued the provision was intended to withstand constitutional challenge. Senator Pizzo raised Eighth Amendment concerns and questioned whether the bill could mandate death sentences. The tuition waiver provisions also drew extended debate: Fine said the state would save about $41 million by ending discounted tuition for undocumented students, while Democrats argued the savings would not return to general revenue and that the policy would harm students who are already enrolled. Fine and Gruters said green-card holders would not be affected and that the bill targeted only students in the country illegally. The discussion also covered appropriations and implementation. Senator Smith asked about the bill’s large funding levels, and Fine broke down the spending as including $375 million for the chief immigration officer, $100 million in grants to local law enforcement, $29 million for the new Office of State Immigration Enforcement, and $10 million for an unauthorized-alien transport program. Gruters said the funds would reimburse local governments and help address staffing shortages, while critics questioned the lack of benchmarks and the fiscal impact. No final vote or disposition on the bill appears in the transcript excerpt.

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:24:38.559> and were finally on the Syrian border and were finally on the Syrian border
• Thank you. the border into Nepal. Many spent nearly the border into Nepal.
• But Texas, I think it was like a decade. Texas was an independent country, 1836 to 1845, correct?
• But Texas, I think it was like a decade. Texas was an independent country, 1836 to 1845, correct?
• But Texas, I think it was like a decade. Texas was an independent country, 1836 to 1845, correct?

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• So we did expand it to where it could include adjoining states like Texas has a Texas State Bullion Depository
• We can place it in the Texas depository for you. That gold stays there.
• We can place it in the Texas depository for you. That gold stays there.
• No, I'm talking about other states that have, you know, does Texas have the Texas gold program?
• So House Bill 1256 simply extends that same logic to these new securities as well. Thank you, Matt.

Summary: The committee took up several House measures. HCR 66, as amended, asked Louisiana Economic Development and the Governor’s Office of Rural Development to study rural parish assets, infrastructure, workforce, and development opportunities, and it was moved forward without objection. HB 387, a clarification to allow the fire marshal’s office to review architectural and engineering plans equally, also passed favorably without objection. HB 1223, which would have LED promote Louisiana’s clinical trial capacity and adjust internal review board processes, was amended and moved favorably. HB 950, aimed at helping older adults recognize and avoid fraud through materials and resources from the Office of Elderly Affairs, was reported favorably. HB 975, a routine measure to recreate the Public Service Commission, was also reported favorably. HB 1186, which would create a more uniform statewide building code and licensing system for inspectors, was amended and moved favorably. HB 1222, described as a Grocery Initiative Act to let LED identify ways to address food deserts and food insecurity, was introduced near the end of the meeting. The most extensive debate centered on HB 617, a consumer transparency bill requiring mandatory fees to be included in upfront pricing. The author said the bill was intended to curb hidden fees and help consumers compare prices, with examples such as hotel resort fees and automatic restaurant service charges. Supporters argued it would improve transparency, while opponents from grocery, restaurant, hotel, housing, retail, and business groups said the bill was too broad, vague about terms like “total price,” unclear on enforcement and penalties, and could create compliance burdens and litigation risk, especially for small businesses. Housing advocates opposed the bill’s housing carve-out, arguing it could weaken renters’ ability to bring unfair-practice claims. Senator Morris moved to defer HB 617, and the committee agreed without objection. The committee also heard lengthy testimony on HB 797, which would create a Bayou Gold certification for certain transactional gold vendors that meet state-defined standards such as segregation, insurance, and nearby storage. The sponsor said the goal was to give consumers confidence and encourage vendors to keep gold closer to Louisiana, while critics argued the program would amount to a state endorsement of private companies, create misleading consumer impressions, and expose the state to confusion or liability. The bill drew opposition from the Sound Money Defense League and others, but the committee ultimately reported HB 797 favorably, with the understanding it still had to go to Finance. HB 1228, a hearing-aid cleanup bill updating definitions, contracts, testing periods, and licensing rules, was also moved favorably without objection.

Transcript Highlights:

• Social Security benefits also contribute significantly, and as a result, a 100% Benefits also contribute
• similar legislation that prohibits outside forces from entering their states, including Maryland, Texas
• similar legislation that prohibits outside forces from entering their states, including Maryland, Texas
• Well, hypothetically, we have a fire that's raging near the border of Arizona and California.
• According to Academy Securities, which manages the bond financing, we will run out of funds in October

Keywords: 988, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I talked to the Department of Homeland Security here. In New Mexico and in D.C. as well.
• And here we are, border state, and they're coming right through here.
• I was on the border last summer down in the Santa Teresa area, listening to our Border Patrol and some
• A couple came from Texas to have a late-term abortion.
• From East Texas to get the healthcare they need.

Bills: SB41, SB33, SB32, SB30

Keywords: sexual crimes, statute of limitations, criminal justice, victim rights, child abuse, individualized treatment, investigational treatment, health care, life-threatening illness, patient rights, physician recommendation, informed consent, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child protection, prosecution, crime amendments, SB30, induced abortion, abortion reporting

Bills: HR275, HR282, HCR112, SCR62, SCR64, SB513

Keywords: highway maintenance, signage, transportation safety, DOTD, infrastructure, public safety, federal grants, job creation, Utility Terrain Vehicles, UTVs, safety regulations, transportation, Louisiana, task force, vehicle operation, legislation, accidents, HCR112, House Concurrent Resolution 112, Louisiana Highway 1

Summary: The House Transportation Committee met on May 26 with a quorum present and took up several resolutions and one Senate bill. SCR 64 created a task force to study construction management at risk (CMAR) in Louisiana public works; an amendment added representatives from the Louisiana Associated General Contractors and Associated Builders and Contractors, and the resolution was reported with amendments. HR 282 created a task force to study utility terrain vehicles with state agencies; an amendment added the State Fire Marshal, and it was also reported with amendments. The committee then considered SB 513 on public works project delivery methods. The bill originally included an average-bid award method for certain pilot projects, along with airport design-build provisions. Testimony from a Reason Foundation analyst and from the Louisiana Associated General Contractors raised concerns that average-bid contracting could encourage collusion, raise costs, and lacked supporting data or use by U.S. transportation departments, while airport design-build was supported. The committee adopted an amendment in concept to strike the average-bid provisions, leaving the airport-related design-build language in place, and SB 513 was reported with amendments by a vote of 11 yeas and 4 nays. The committee also reported SCR 62 favorably, which urges DOTD to evaluate school zones on state highways in response to safety concerns and near misses, including a fatal incident referenced by the author. HCR 112 was reported favorably to study flooding on Louisiana Highway 1 in Shreveport, and HR 275 was reported favorably to study an interstate highway signage maintenance and reporting program. The meeting concluded after all items were disposed of and the committee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• If somebody's in Texas or Florida, more than likely, they stay there because they don't have an income
• on average, 15.8% of Louisiana households, that's roughly 293,000 all have experienced food and securities

Bills: HR3, HR80, HB4, HB172, HB189, HB623, HB944, HB1185, HB1199, HB1222, SB105, SB125, SB461

Keywords: housing assistance, state-owned property, cost-burdened, state employees, affordable housing, fiscal audit, higher education, public funds, underrepresented minorities, Board of Regents, Louisiana legislation, constitutional convention, Louisiana constitution, electoral process, government structure, delegate elections, airport authority, fire protection, supplemental pay, public safety

Summary: The committee first took up Senate Bill 105, which would reinstate an existing TOPS Tech benefit for eligible veterans after a sunset expired. The author said the program had been underused because it was not well promoted, but that the new veterans workforce effort called “The Boot” would help connect veterans to the benefit. Members confirmed it would use existing TOPS funds and not require new money, and the bill was reported favorably without objection. House Resolution 3 asked the Louisiana Housing Corporation to study whether vacant state-owned property could be used for housing and rental assistance for cost-burdened state employees. The author described it as an exploratory study, while members raised concerns about the fiscal note and the scope of the study. Fiscal staff explained the agency had requested additional positions to do the work. The committee discussed narrowing the study to certain areas, but the resolution was ultimately reported favorably. House Bill 189 sought supplemental pay for fire protection officers at the Lakefront Management Authority’s airport. The author and airport representatives argued the firefighters perform hazardous, specialized ARFF duties at a busy public airport and should be treated like other supplemental-pay recipients. Some members questioned whether the airport and its employees qualified under existing law and whether the proposal would expand an already costly program. After debate, the committee rejected the bill on an 8-10 vote. The committee then reported Senate Bill 461 favorably, which would place certain small groups of active employees under the Office of Group Benefits to improve insurance rates without using general fund money. House Bill 623, creating a three-tier permitting system for vapor product producers, manufacturers, and wholesalers, was amended to clarify the direct-to-consumer shipment prohibition and then reported favorably. House Bill 1222, which would authorize LED to create a grocery initiative grant and assistance program to address food deserts, drew extended debate over whether it would amount to government-run grocery stores; supporters said it would only create incentives for private grocers and related assistance. It was amended and reported favorably by a 16-2 vote. Finally, House Resolution 80, as amended, would shift a proposed audit-related effort on higher education budget metrics away from the legislative auditor and toward university systems’ own boards; members questioned the need for a look-back report and the added workload, and the chair indicated he would move to recommit the resolution to the education committee.