Transcript Highlights:

• we were not appropriately funded for.
• we were not appropriately funded for.
• , and whether those ratios are being met or we're falling short on those ratios?
• not have the authority to move those funds.
• We have maintenance funding, a pot of funding for ongoing preventative maintenance, demand maintenance

Transcript Highlights:

• The resident bears the risk of that and may not receive the funds back for months or even years.
• Residents that run out of funds through no fault of their own.
• And many of us, as Christine said, have benevolent funds and other charitable funds set up.
• So, yes, they will have benevolent funds, but it's not mandatory.
• —17 financial ratios—that CARF puts together.

Summary: The commission’s fifth meeting focused on consumer protections and resident rights in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), with a presentation by Yvonne Choyah of UC Law San Francisco. She described California’s CCRC framework, including entrance fee structures, monthly fee increases, contract types (A, B, and C), disclosure requirements, and regulatory oversight. A major theme was that residents often do not understand the contracts they sign, while providers retain broad discretion over fees, transfers, terminations, and changes to the physical plant. She also emphasized that California’s regulator is understaffed and not well suited to oversee the complex financial and insurance-like aspects of CCRCs, and that resident complaints and litigation can be slow and difficult. Choyah and commission members discussed several consumer-protection issues, including refundable versus repayable-on-resale entrance fees, rising monthly care fees, the decline of life care contracts, and the need for clearer disclosures and better comparative data for prospective residents. She noted that California requires annual disclosure statements, resident bill of rights materials, and some fee-related reporting, but that enforcement and accessibility remain weak. Members raised questions about resident board representation, accreditation, refund requirements, and whether state agencies or resident associations could help explain contracts to consumers before admission. Choyah suggested stronger oversight, more financial expertise in regulation, and better transparency about ownership and fee-setting. The meeting ended with discussion of the commission’s next steps toward its August report. Staff said a draft report would be prepared from the commission’s discussions and circulated for comment before final revisions. The chair also announced staff transitions: Jennifer would be leaving the State House role, and Juliana Fernandez and Vicky Halal would be the main contacts going forward. The commission adjourned after thanking Choyah for her presentation and answering member questions.

Transcript Highlights:

• There's clarification about some products like combined cannabinoids, ratio products, and large-format
• products, and large format ratio products, and large format concentrates. concentrates. concentrates
• This proposal of streamlining our medical and AU plant ratio conversation is not new, either.
• </c><00:04:16.400><c> to</c> for them to pursue federal funding to for them to pursue federal funding
• </c><00:05:22.880><c> conversation</c> medical and AU plant ratio conversation medical and AU plant ratio

Transcript Highlights:

• ratio, is 78.2%.
• It's a combined ratio, right?
• Once the funds are deposited, there is a very narrow window to find the funds and seize them back for
• Following these funding commitments, the BIF has close to $700 million in unobligated funds.
• The remaining fund accessible to the BDO is the broadband pole replacement fund, details of which can

Committee: Senate Business & Commerce

Transcript Highlights:

• Dental loss ratio and our written testimony is moving across the continental U.S.
• It does differ from medical loss ratios.
• ><c> in</c> include dental loss ratio information in include dental loss ratio information in their<00
• Dental loss ratio for Hawaii consumers.
• So they differ from medical loss ratios.

Bills: SB2004 , SB2039 , SB2042 , SB2043 , SB2044 , SB2132

Committee: Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection

Summary: The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee opened its first hearing of the year with remarks from Chair Jared Kohole outlining hearing procedures, a two-minute testimony limit, rules for remote testimony and decorum, and a revised testimony-publication pilot that keeps 96-hour notice but returns to a standard 24-hour testimony deadline. He then moved through the agenda, beginning with SB 2004 on outdoor advertising, which would increase penalties for violations of billboard and outdoor advertising laws. Testimony on that measure was limited; Henry Curtis of Life of the Land was first up, and written support was noted from Hawaiian Electric and the Outdoor Circle. The committee then heard SB 2039 on election campaign finance, which would prohibit certain business entities from engaging in campaign finance activities. The Attorney General’s office offered comments and did not take a formal position at the hearing. Several proponents testified in support, including Josh Frost, Tom Moore of the Center for American Progress, Hapa/Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, and Common Cause Hawaiʻi, all arguing the bill would curb corporate and dark-money influence and return elections to the people. Moore distinguished between regulating corporate “rights” and limiting corporate “powers,” and said the state can redefine the powers it grants corporations. In questions, Senator McKelvey asked whether the bill could be expanded to include unions; the Attorney General said he would need to get back with legal analysis, while Moore said his preferred approach would include all entities and that leaving out nonprofits or unions would create problems. Members also discussed whether the bill would affect PACs, and Moore explained that the proposal would prohibit corporate and dark-money flows into PACs while leaving individual political giving and existing political committees in place. The committee then moved on to the next measure. SB 2042, relating to insurance, was heard next. The bill would reduce the unimpaired minimum capital and surplus required of class 4 sponsored captive insurance companies under certain circumstances. The DCCA Insurance Division said it stood on its written testimony, and the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council testified in support, describing the change as a narrow, risk-based adjustment that would not affect the commissioner’s authority where actual risk resides and would help keep Hawaii competitive. The committee noted additional written support and proceeded without a vote or final action in the portion of the hearing provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• Okay, Josie Gomez of American Kidney Fund in support.
• And we think rural health transformation dollars will fund this kind of a program.
• We're going to replace the word 'ratios' with 'strategies' and ratios, and any additional tech amendments
• </c><00:12:37.280><c> and</c> word ratios to strategies and ratios and word ratios to strategies and
• ratios and any<00:12:38.000><c> additional</c><00:12:38.600><c> tech</c><00:12:38.839><c> amendments<

Committee: Senate Health and Human Services

Summary: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met on April 17, 2026, and heard testimony on several concurrent resolutions. HCR 18 would request the Department of Health to convene a hospice working group; the Department testified in opposition, saying its enforcement role created a conflict of interest and that the work exceeded its compliance-focused scope. The measure’s introducer proposed amendments to have a legislator, rather than DOH, chair the group and to remove a date restriction on hospices. The committee later recommended HCR 18 be passed with amendments. HCR 32 sought a plan to increase access to the Hawaii State Hospital for certain mentally ill criminal defendants. The Department of Health Behavioral Health Administration and the governor’s office indicated support or willingness to work on the issue, while the ACLU provided comments and OHA supported the measure. The committee recommended passage with technical amendments. HCR 35, on an audit of the social and financial effects of mandatory insurance coverage for biomarker testing, drew broad support from medical, patient advocacy, and professional organizations, and a surgical oncologist testified in favor, emphasizing the importance of biomarker testing for cancer treatment. The committee recommended passage as is. HCR 105 asked the Hawaii State Center for Nursing to compile recommended safe patient staffing ratios and maintain a repository; the Center said it had already begun the work and was happy to continue, and the committee adopted an amendment changing the focus from “ratios” to “strategies and ratios” before recommending passage. HCR 173 urged Maui Health to work with stakeholders to establish a full-time medical residency program on Maui; testimony supported the idea as a way to formalize and expand an existing informal program and improve local health care access, including maternity care. The committee recommended HCR 173 pass with technical amendments. All recommendations were adopted without objection, and the meeting adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Our funded ratio as of last year, which showed a slight uptick compared to the previous year, was at
• Sir, do you want to talk a little bit about your funding ratio?
• I'm sorry, can you repeat your funding ratio?
• The funding ratio, Madam Chair, members of the committee, is funding.
• The funded ratio and our funding period have changed so dramatically in the six years that I have been

Committee: House Investments & Pensions Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• , the funded ratio goes up and that hurdle rate comes down.
• Because in the short term, we don't expect a lot of movement in our funded ratio.
• So, absent a big influx of funding for the PARA fund, we expect that funded ratio and that hurdle rate
• Yes, that is where we're at right now with the current funded ratio.
• Another metric we talk about a lot is the funded ratio.

Committee: House Investments & Pensions Oversight Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• Yeah, one-time funding from the general fund. All right.
• fund.
• uses of funds.
• fund costs.
• And again, those funds were not included in any of the funding.

Committees: Joint Human Services , Joint Human Services Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• of that school district to fund them.
• of that school district to fund them.
• Does it go to the general fund? Does it go to the school district?
• Our state's general fund cannot stand to afford this as well.
• of Maricopa County and that ratio in that you know for that particular property me ...and that ratio

Bills: SB1090 , SB1293 , SB1414 , SB1429 , SB1503 , SB1536 , SB1633 , SB1724 , SB1764

Committees: Senate Finance , Senate Senate Finance Committee of Reference

Keywords: savings and loan, technical correction, Arizona Revised Statutes, financial institutions, prohibitions, GPLET, abatement, tax incentives, local government, property improvement, central business district, insurance, settlement demands, time limits, third-party claims, regulatory compliance, initiative, referendum, ballot measures, petition circulators

Transcript Highlights:

• The 85% minimum loss ratio will drive up premiums; that has been well documented in other states.
• Over the last nine years, we've had level legislative funding.
• My... ...answer when we're talking about medical loss ratios.
• premiums go into one pot of funding for... ...into one pot of funding for all of our responsibilities
• and our funds.

Committee: Senate Banking and Insurance

Transcript Highlights:

• Again, not funded.
• There were special funding.
• Patrol Troopers Retirement Fund for the purpose of increasing the funded liability of the plan during
• ratio.
• If we put this amount in, this is how it'll affect our funded ratio over the long term.

Committee: Joint Employee Benefits Programs Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• Again, not funded.
• The comp ratio is a fairly simple concept.
• Troopers Retirement Fund, for the purpose of increasing the funded liability of the plan during the
• ratio.
• If we put this amount in, this is how it'll affect our funded ratio over the long term.

Summary: The Employee Benefits Committee met to approve prior minutes, hear presentations on state employee health insurance, compensation, leave, and related policy issues, and then recess for lunch. PERS reviewed the history and structure of the state health plan, noting the long-standing state-paid family coverage, cost-control measures, wellness incentives, the current grandfathered PPO and high-deductible options, and the effects of recent benefit mandates such as insulin caps, prosthetic coverage, medication management, prescription copay changes, and ambulance balance-billing limits. Committee members questioned the fiscal impact of adding benefits and the possible cost of moving to a non-grandfathered plan, while PERS and HRMS emphasized that health insurance remains the top-ranked employee benefit and that any major plan changes should be considered carefully. HRMS also presented compensation comparisons showing state pay generally below private-market benchmarks, discussed targeted market equity adjustments, identified ongoing recruitment and retention concerns in fields like nursing, IT, engineering, and attorneys, and reviewed leave policies, tuition reimbursement, and family leave comparisons with neighboring states. Job Service provided labor market data showing low unemployment, high labor force participation, and wage growth that still trails some neighboring markets, and OMB explained that prevailing wage requirements apply to federally funded projects under Davis-Bacon, not to ordinary state contracts. After lunch, the committee took up the required process for health insurance mandate bills and adopted an amendment to Joint Rule 211. The amendment clarified that the deadline for submitting mandate measures is intended to allow time for all required reports, including both the cost-benefit analysis and any Employee Benefits Committee actuarial report, while leaving the existing deadline unchanged. The amendment was adopted on a roll call vote, with several members voting yes and a few no votes recorded. The committee then moved into its jurisdiction review of bill drafts, beginning with a bill that would automatically renew pre-tax dental and vision elections; members debated whether it had any actuarial or administrative impact on PERS or the state, and the chair explained that the committee’s role was only to decide whether further analysis was needed before later testimony and recommendations.

Transcript Highlights:

• Did you want the funded ratio one or the COLA? Just making sure. Yeah, I've asked Ms.
• This is kind of the... ...conversations, and so this is kind of the slide that shows the TRS funded ratio
• So, interestingly, I have another presentation if anyone wants it about the funded ratio.
• When the 2008-2009 recession hit, the TRS funded ratio really went down, and the employer... really went
• The retirement fund, we saw the ratio was going down to about 65%.

Bills: HB188 , HB52

Committee: House Ways and Means Education

Keywords: healthcare, insurance, patient rights, medical treatment, access, affordability, income tax, CHOOSE Act, education funding, ABLE account, tax credits, poverty threshold, legislative funding

Transcript Highlights:

• The balance in that fund acted at the time and continues to act... ...in that fund acts, acted at the
• I brought up the State Land Trust Fund as an example.
• It funded 113 positions and 128 schools.
• Now, the grant is funded in three-year cycles.
• It funded 386 positions in 424 schools.

Committee: Senate Senate Education Committee of Reference

Summary: The Senate Education Committee of Reference first heard a sunset review of the Credit Enhancement Eligibility Board. Governor’s Office staff explained that the board was created in 2016 to lower borrowing costs for qualifying schools by providing a state guarantee that improves credit ratings, but the board has no dedicated staff or budget and is now largely in a monitoring role because it has reached its statutory leverage cap. Members discussed the long maturities of the approved financings, whether rural districts might benefit from additional capacity, and why a 10-year continuation was being requested. The committee voted to recommend continuing the board for 10 years until July 1, 2036. The committee then heard a sunset review of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). WICHE’s president described the interstate compact, its regional student access programs—WUE, WRGP, and PSEP—along with behavioral health fidelity reviews and cooperative purchasing savings. Testimony emphasized tuition savings for Arizona students, the return of health care graduates to Arizona, and the value of regional collaboration. The committee voted to recommend continuing WICHE for 10 years until July 1, 2036. Finally, the committee reviewed the Arizona Department of Education School Safety Program performance audit. The Auditor General reported that the program has grown substantially, but many sampled schools were not fully complying with requirements such as operational plans, safety teams, training, activity logs, and reimbursement documentation. The department agreed with the finding and said it would implement the recommendations. The school safety director responded that the department has already begun tightening monitoring, training, and documentation procedures, and he answered questions about emergency plans and campus safety. No further action was taken on the audit, and the meeting adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• c> funds.
• funds.
• Did we leave funds or 80% federal funds.
• sources: the general fund and the highway fund.
• </c> the general fund and the highway fund. the general fund and the highway fund.

Committee: Senate Capital Budget

Transcript Highlights:

• admission to the fund.
• , and back in the fund.
• Idaho is 149.6 in loss ratio.
• So they're out of the fund.
• . be in the fund by helping ensure that the fund stays solvent with those surcharges.

Committee: House Courts, Corrections & Justice Committee

Transcript Highlights:

• So when the department was allocated funding through the legislature for the opioid settlement funding
• "Funding, one of the line items was money specifically set aside for prevention campaigns.
• We're also concerned about changing the low-THC ratios.
• It's going to maintain the funding for FAMU.
• This bill addresses that disparity by adjusting the income-sharing ratio.

Summary: The committee first heard Senate Bill 1414 by Sen. Polsky on congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) education. The bill would require the Department of Health, working with medical experts, to create and distribute CMV educational materials to expectant and new parents or caregivers through hospitals, birth centers, and OB/GYN practices. An amendment removed a section that would have required instruction for medical professionals, and the amended bill was reported favorably as a committee substitute. The committee then took up a block of confirmations. Appointees on tabs 2 through 7 were recommended favorably in one vote, and Chavon Harris was separately confirmed as Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration after extensive questioning. Senators praised her leadership and experience, while others raised concerns about Medicaid redeterminations, the state’s CORE modernization project, Hope Florida, and a DCF anti-marijuana ad campaign; Harris said she would follow up on some issues and defended the agency’s work on transparency, managed care oversight, and access to care. Her confirmation was recommended favorably, with Sen. Berman noting opposition. Several health-related bills were then heard and advanced. SB 186 by Sen. Garcia expanded epilepsy training requirements for school personnel, including charter school bus drivers, and was reported favorably. SB 902 by Sen. Garcia, after amendments narrowing dental workforce provisions and allowing certain seizure rescue medication delegation to family home health aides, was reported favorably; testimony focused on medical marijuana regulation, practitioner accountability, and concerns about park and child-care proximity restrictions. SB 196 by Sen. Sharif created a uterine fibroid research database with privacy protections and was reported favorably after emotional testimony from a patient and supporters. SB 688 by Sen. Rodriguez would reestablish licensure of naturopathic doctors; it drew both support and skepticism about diagnosis and treatment boundaries, but was reported favorably. SB 1574, Maddie’s Law, would add biliary atresia screening to newborn screening and was strongly supported by parents describing a delayed diagnosis; it was reported favorably. SB 878 on clinical laboratory personnel, SB 1092 on podiatric medicine and certain cellular/tissue-based products, and SB 1032 on medical marijuana registry timelines and veteran fee waivers were also reported favorably, while SB 1032 drew debate over longer renewal/supply periods. The committee then began SB 1760 on Medicaid oversight and program transparency, with the sponsor describing the bill’s creation of a joint legislative oversight committee and a legislative actuary.

Transcript Highlights:

• The ratio in the pool room was 16 children to 1 adult.
• Gerdes, I don't care what anybody says, a 16 to 1 ratio is just absolutely unacceptable.
• the dangers that can arise when ratios and training are not what they should be.
• Many allow a maximum of 3-to-1 and 4-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio.
• A licensee fee for each courier service will go to the foundation school fund.

Bills: SB650 , HB3667 , SB28 , HB3201 , SB1184 , HB1800 , SB 28

Committee: House Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Keywords: permit issuance, regulatory framework, business operations, efficiency, application process, lottery, gambling, internet gaming, mobile application, criminal offenses, lottery regulations, occupational licensing, fraud prevention, criminal background checks, lottery couriers, SB 1184, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, wine collection seller, collectible wine, vintage wine

Transcript Highlights:

• Regarding crisis residential centers, CRCs, the staffing ratio is revised to one staff to four youth
• , because the same ratios are not needed at night as during the day.
• For decades, the programs have been operating with a 1-to-4 ratio during daytime working hours and a
• 1-to-6 ratio during overnight hours.
• of participants served due to the heightened confusion ratio found in this existing RCW.

Summary: The Senate Human Services Committee held a brief Monday meeting to hear two bills and a gubernatorial appointment. House Bill 2464, sponsored by Rep. Ortiz-Self, would require private detention facilities to report serious incidents such as abuse allegations, deaths, suicides, injuries requiring hospitalization, and service disruptions to the Department of Health and local law enforcement by the next business day, and would require annual law-enforcement reporting to DOH. Rep. Ortiz-Self said the bill is needed because private facilities have been inconsistent and delayed in sharing information, while state facilities already provide data more readily. Testimony from Columbia Legal Services, the League of Women Voters, La Resistencia, and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project strongly supported the bill, citing barriers to reporting crimes and concerns about abuse in private detention. The committee did not vote on the bill during the hearing, but the chair said it would be considered in executive session. The committee also heard Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2253, a DCYF request bill making several licensing-related changes for foster care, crisis residential centers, and child care. The bill would require immediate termination of certain child-specific foster licenses if high-potency synthetic opioids or illicit substances are found, exempt kinship caregivers from blood-borne pathogen training, allow DCYF to close inactive foster homes, remove sex designation from foster licenses, adjust CRC staffing ratios to one staff for four youth during waking hours and one for six during sleeping hours, and strengthen child care subsidy fraud enforcement through electronic attendance verification and possible license revocation. DCYF and Community Youth Services testified in support, describing the changes as technical fixes that align statute with current practice and reduce burden on providers. Committee members raised concerns that some child care provisions may belong in a different committee and noted the need to ensure the bill does not duplicate or conflict with existing licensing and fraud rules. The committee then held a confirmation hearing for Corey McNally, reappointed to the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board. McNally described the board’s role in release decisions, supervision conditions, violation management, and release plans, and discussed his background in community mental health, the Special Commitment Center, DOC sex offense treatment, and ISRB leadership. Members asked about advances in sex offense assessment and treatment, the distinction between ISRB cases and sexually violent predator civil commitment, board consistency and recidivism work, and victim participation in hearings. McNally said the board uses structured decision-making and actuarial risk assessments, remains neutral on legislation, and provides victim liaisons to offer participation options. The chair closed the hearings, noted the committee would meet the next day on a large packet of bills and one appointment, and adjourned.