Transcript Highlights:

• As a reminder, House Bill 2689 made a number of changes to the Working Connections Child Care Program
• on our economy and the working child care.
• on our economy and the working child care.
• on our economy and the working child care.
• on our economy and the working child care.

Bills: HB2689, SB5420, SB5868, SB5877

Keywords: Working Connections Child Care, child care subsidy, subsidized child care, Washington DCYF, Department of Children, Youth, and Families, low-income families, child care providers, licensed child care centers, family child care, market rate survey, subsidy rates, income eligibility, state median income, SNAP, Basic Food, collective bargaining, provider reimbursement, daily payment, half-day care, partial-day care

Summary: The House Appropriations Committee held public hearings on Substitute Senate Bill 5828 and Substitute Senate Bill 5911, then later took executive action on several bills. SSB 5828 would restore and adjust Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship award formulas for private, not-for-profit four-year institutions, reversing part of last year’s reductions; staff said the bill would increase awards relative to the prior changes and carry a fiscal impact of about $3.3 million in FY 2027 and $18.6 million over four years, with the Senate budget fully funding it. Testimony was split: private college leaders, school counselors, students, and the Independent Colleges of Washington supported the bill as restoring promised aid and preserving student choice, while some student representatives from public institutions argued the state should first restore public higher education funding and that the bill favored private schools. The committee later adopted an amendment adding certain Washington-affiliated out-of-state institutions, and then deferred action on the bill from the first executive session run. SSB 5911 would stop DCYF from using benefits or funds belonging to youth in extended foster care to reimburse the state for care costs, require help for eligible youth to receive benefits directly, and allow protected accounts such as ABLE accounts. Staff said the bill would have a net fiscal impact of about $608,000 in FY 2027 and $2.2 million per biennium thereafter, with the Senate operating budget funding it. Testimony in support emphasized that youth with disabilities should receive SSI benefits they are entitled to and that the state should end the practice of withholding those funds. In the later executive session, the committee also heard an amendment specifying that any contracted entity managing representative payee accounts must be a regulated bank or bonded and insured nonprofit, with no expected fiscal change. In executive session, the committee advanced several other bills. It adopted an amendment to HB 2689 on child care that required a 65% provider response rate for market rate surveys, then reported the bill out with a do pass recommendation after debate over child care costs, rural access, and regulatory burdens. It also adopted amendments and reported out E2SSB 5395 on prior authorization, SSB 5420 on veteran benefits and preferences, and E2SSB 5496 on limits on corporate ownership of single-family homes. Additional amendment briefings covered bills on wrongful conviction compensation, workers’ compensation medical care, 340B drug pricing, residential development in commercial zones, clean fuel tax exemption reporting, homeless youth housing stability, and Health Benefit Exchange market criteria. Several bills, including the two heard that morning, were deferred from action in that executive session run.

Transcript Highlights:

• House Bill 2689 concerns the Working Connections Child Care Program. Mr.
• By way of background, Working Connections Child Care is a federally and state-funded program administered
• Connections Child Care Program.
• Connections, which would have upended the lives of working parents and caused chaos for child care providers
• child care.

Bills: HB2689, SB5832, SB5922, SB5944, SB5988, SB6151

Keywords: Working Connections Child Care, child care subsidy, subsidized child care, Washington DCYF, Department of Children, Youth, and Families, low-income families, child care providers, licensed child care centers, family child care, market rate survey, subsidy rates, income eligibility, state median income, SNAP, Basic Food, collective bargaining, provider reimbursement, daily payment, half-day care, partial-day care

Summary: The House Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on a series of bills, beginning with House Bill 2689 on Working Connections Child Care. Staff explained that the proposed substitute would keep current income eligibility at 60% of state median income, cancel scheduled expansions to 75% and 85%, reduce provider reimbursement from the 85th to the 75th percentile of market rates beginning in 2027, eliminate enhanced regional rates, and replace attendance-based and prospective payment rules with a modified attendance policy. Testifiers from MomsRising praised removal of a proposed cap on the program but opposed the cuts to future eligibility and provider reimbursement; a representative of Puget Sound ESD warned the attendance-based payment changes would create budget problems for providers, including Head Start and E-CAP programs. The committee then heard Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5124 on Medicaid network adequacy for post-acute care, with staff describing standards for nursing homes and inpatient rehabilitation facilities and testimony from hospitals supporting the bill as a way to reduce discharge delays and reliance on single-case agreements. The committee also heard Senate Bill 5832 to raise the new motor vehicle arbitration fee from $3 to $6; the Attorney General’s Office and auto dealers supported the increase as necessary to sustain the Lemon Law arbitration program. The committee then heard Substitute Senate Bill 5862, which would provide a one-time 3% COLA for certain PERS and TRS Plan 1 retirees; retirees testified in strong support, while the Association of Washington Cities raised concerns about added costs for local employers. The committee next heard Senate Bill 5922, allowing school districts to transfer money from the Transportation Vehicle Fund to another fund if they reduce their fleet and receive OSPI approval; staff said the bill would add flexibility for districts and require only a small administrative cost. Substitute Senate Bill 5923 would allow Island Hospital on Fidalgo Island to qualify as a critical access hospital if federally certified, enabling cost-based reimbursement; Island Health leaders and community members testified that the hospital serves a rural, high-government-payer population and needs the designation to sustain services. Senate Bill 5944 would make missed or canceled appointment payments for language access providers a mandatory subject of bargaining and clarify that collective bargaining agreements prevail over agency policies but not statutes; WFSE supported the bill as ensuring interpreters at L&I can bargain on the same terms as other agency interpreters. Substitute Senate Bill 5972 would extend binding interest arbitration to correctional employees in city and county jails regardless of county population; labor representatives supported the change as a retention tool, while cities and counties opposed it, warning of higher costs and urging ability-to-pay protections if the bill moves forward. The committee also heard Senate Bill 5988, which would give the Department of Health statutory authority to continue accrediting opioid treatment programs and to charge accreditation fees; DOH said the bill would let it maintain a critical service and eventually cover costs through fees. Senate Bill 6151 would move Ecology fee revenue for landfill methane emissions and laboratory accreditation into dedicated accounts rather than the general fund; Ecology supported the change as improving transparency and ensuring fees are reinvested in the programs. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6194 would allow Astria Toppenish Hospital, a rural hospital on a federally recognized Indian reservation, to be paid at 150% of the fee-for-service Medicaid rate; hospital leaders and community members said the hospital serves a largely public-payer population and faces unsustainable losses, while lawmakers asked about why the hospital needed special treatment. Finally, Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6302 would require L&I to investigate certain public works projects for possible misclassification of independent contractors performing finishing work, with referrals from public entities, contractors, labor organizations, or workers; labor and business representatives both supported the bill as a negotiated enforcement measure against the underground economy. No votes were taken during the hearing, and the chair announced amendment deadlines before adjourning the committee.

Transcript Highlights:

• If any of you have ever worked with me, you know that.
• Otherwise, we're going to be a work in progress.
• You want to adopt PCS number two as a working draft.
• But you said you're going to work on that.
• I want to make this something that works for them too.

Bills: HB4422, HB4117, HB4300, HB4298, HB2984, HB3344

Keywords: immigration, public assistance, legal status, food assistance, state benefits, family resource center, community support, employment services, kinship families, social connections, child care, criminal history, background checks, child safety, licensing, Oklahoma laws, advisory committees, daycare, licensed child care facility, child care subsidy

Transcript Highlights:

• child care provider.
• child care provider.
• that wasn't specific to work-related child care expenses or dependent care expenses.
• um</c><01:43:40.199><c> or</c> work-related child care expenses um or work-related child care expenses
• </c> have the the best child care uh or child have the the best child care uh or child tax<01:43:48.960

Bills: HF1, HF1384

Keywords: Office of Inspector General, inspector general, legislative audit, fraud prevention, waste and abuse, public funds, grant oversight, state grants, grant management, whistleblower protection, retaliation, subpoena power, data practices, government transparency, accountability, law enforcement referrals, sanctions, debarment, payment withholding, public assistance fraud

Transcript Highlights:

• would have a problem with that, although the bill It provides that the Oklahoma Department of Labor works
• So, veterans who are disabled through VA medical malpractice are treated as if they are service connected
• And when suicide or overdose happens, we take care of that in the moment. And we don't look back.
• So, whether it be a pain management clinic or primary care doc these guys, the patients just stopped
• Sometimes doctors prescribe antipsychotics without seeing if they work over two weeks.

Bills: HB3043, HB3044, HB3078, HB3940, HB4117, HB3428, HB4275, HB3257, HB3901, HB4298

Keywords: HB3043, Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs, ODVA, seasonal employees, project labor, pro rata jobs, unclassified service, state personnel law, state employee benefits, paid leave, paid holidays, retirement benefits, health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, temporary workers, veterans affairs, Title 72, Oklahoma Personnel Act, budget reporting

Transcript Highlights:

• Brenda is a family care child care provider in my district, and she, along with other family child care
• child care for him, and we could not afford child care for my daughter.
• On the days that he was at child care, I took care of my daughter and worked at the same time, which
• to afford quality child care.
• And so I think this is just a way of fully recognizing the work of what it means to be a child care provider

Bills: HF1367, HF2732, HF1897, HF1424, HF1383, HF2728, HF2863, HF1685, HF2929

Keywords: child maltreatment, child abuse, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, human trafficking, child protection, local welfare agency, county social services, Minnesota Department of Human Services, judicial review, district court appeal, venue, out-of-state abuse, cross-border investigation, Minnesota child welfare, family assessment, maltreatment determination

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:22:01.520><c> care</c> financial support to child care financial support to child care providers
• of my daughter child care I took care of my daughter and<00:59:09.400><c> worked</c><00:59:09.839><c
• I have worked in child care for nearly 27 years.
• in child care locations I have worked in child care for<01:19:29.800><c> nearly</c><01:19:30.120><c>
• He said this is a way of fully recognizing the work of what it means to be a child care provider.

Bills: HF1367, HF2732, HF1897, HF1424, HF1383, HF2728, HF2863, HF1685, HF2929

Keywords: child maltreatment, child abuse, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, human trafficking, child protection, local welfare agency, county social services, Minnesota Department of Human Services, judicial review, district court appeal, venue, out-of-state abuse, cross-border investigation, Minnesota child welfare, family assessment, maltreatment determination

Transcript Highlights:

• second thing that we did is that on the bottom of page three, number five, we were clear that the Child
• Care Advisory Committee will provide the update.
• That concludes our work and Workforce Development for this 16th-minute legislative session.
• Thank you for all your work. We're adjourned.

Bills: HB1119

Keywords: child care, childcare, day care, daycare, early childhood education, child care licensing, provider licensing, child care regulations, administrative rules, Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, licensing advisory committee, child care providers, group child care, preschool programs, child to provider ratios, square footage requirements, staff training, certification requirements, child care funding

Summary: The Workforce Development Committee reconvened to consider House Bill 1119 with amendment version 02005. Senator Hogan explained that the amendment removed a section requiring the Department of Human Services to respond to legislative management, in order to make the bill feel more like a program evaluation than an audit and to avoid placing an unreasonable burden on the executive branch. The amendment also clarified that the Child Care Advisory Committee would provide an update and that the committee would dissolve after the rewrite of licensing standards, making it a time-limited body. Committee members discussed the bill as a novel approach to forming a group to study an issue and then disbanding after reporting back. Senator Larson noted the concept was similar to broader performance-review ideas, and Senator Hogan said the Legislative Council program evaluation effort was parallel to, but separate from, other performance-review proposals. The committee then voted 4-0-1 to adopt the amendment. Afterward, the committee moved to give House Bill 1119, as amended, a do pass recommendation. That motion also passed on a roll call vote, and the committee adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• Are we talking about kiddos and foster care? Thank you for the question.
• This is Yes, it could be for foster care as well.
• in foster care?
• We worked with many of the childcare providers to try to get them some relief.
• And so what this bill does is make two modest but meaningful reforms to our child care law to give some

Bills: HB1979, HB1225, HB3931, HB4454, HB3849, HB1746, HB3720, HB4275, HB4300, HB3586, HB2268, HB3755, HB4117, HB4294, HB3650, HB4298

Keywords: early childhood education, task force, governance structure, healthcare access, stakeholder engagement, quality services, vital records, birth certificate, birth registration, biological sex, sex designation, male, female, nonbinary, gender identity, X marker, transgender, vital statistics, State Department of Health, State Commissioner of Health

Transcript Highlights:

• We worked with many of the child care providers to try to get them some relief, and this is the first
• some financial relief to our child care providers and reduce some regulatory burden.
• financial relief to our child care providers and reduce some regulatory burden.
• Thank you to the child care providers out there that brought some really good ideas to us.
• I know every single member in this legislature has been getting questions about child care.

Bills: HB1979, HB1225, HB3931, HB4454, HB3849, HB1746, HB3720, HB4275, HB4300, HB3586, HB2268, HB3755, HB4117, HB4294, HB3650, HB4298

Keywords: early childhood education, task force, governance structure, healthcare access, stakeholder engagement, quality services, vital records, birth certificate, birth registration, biological sex, sex designation, male, female, nonbinary, gender identity, X marker, transgender, vital statistics, State Department of Health, State Commissioner of Health

Summary: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee first considered the nomination of Christy D. Fisher to the Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Senator Stanridge presented her as a lay member with legal and paralegal experience, and Fisher spoke about her family’s experience with speech therapy and autism-related speech needs. After brief questions, the committee advanced the nomination on an 8-2 vote. The committee then heard several bills, including measures creating an Early Childhood Task Force (HB 1979), clarifying that Oklahoma has always prohibited sex-to-gender-identity amendments on birth certificates (HB 1225), and establishing a process for correcting death certificates after one year (HB 3931). Members also advanced a bill restricting edible medical marijuana products from being attractive to children (HB 4454), updating the mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents (HB 3849), and allowing juvenile safety plans to take effect if not acted on within 24 hours (HB 1746). Other bills addressed local food sales thresholds (HB 3720), allowing case managers and peer support specialists to work for cities and counties (HB 4275), DHS background-check and email-notice updates for child care centers (HB 4300), and a clarification that raising a child consistent with biological sex is not child abuse and that adoption cannot be denied solely over refusal to support a gender transition (HB 3586). The committee also advanced bills on Medicaid reimbursement for dementia cognitive assessments and care planning (HB 2268), juvenile detention medication funding (HB 3755), family resource centers including faith-based and workforce organizations (HB 4117), epilepsy insurance coverage protections (HB 4294), extending the managed care rate floor to July 1, 2028 with a carve-out for multi-state contracts (HB 3650), and child care reforms raising subsidy co-pays and directing DHS to set more flexible master-teacher ratios for certain facilities (HB 4298). Several bills were amended or worked from committee substitutes, and most passed on unanimous or near-unanimous votes, with HB 1225, HB 3586, and HB 4294 drawing some opposition. The committee adjourned after noting it would likely meet again later for additional executive nominations.

Bills: SB241

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Bills: SB241

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Bills: SB241

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Transcript Highlights:

• care centers, and more specifically focused on ensuring that tribal child care centers retain their ability
• to provide child care that is in a linguistic and culturally appropriate manner, so as not to infringe
• care or limit any educational regulations... ...and culturally appropriate child care or limit any educational
• So this is basically the clause that ensures that we expend federal child care assistance funds first
• So the department shall reasonably ensure that eligible federal and state child care tax benefits are

Bills: SB241, SB145

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Transcript Highlights:

• State Police works around the clock, often on nights, weekends, and rotating shifts, and child care that
• for child care at the same time.
• for child care at the same time.
• or universal child care.
• Their child care.

Bills: SB241, SB145

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Transcript Highlights:

• But I'm just wondering, is there a detail about when this working group would then finish its work?
• This fund will take care of that in five years. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's excellent work.
• Thank you for your work on it.
• Thank you for your work on it.
• You know, my mother worked over 20 years ago to bring affordable health care for our state with the nurses

Bills: SB241, SB145, HB2

Keywords: child care, child care assistance, child care subsidy, early childhood education, early childhood care, daycare, preschool, pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Children's Code, early childhood education and care department, ECECD, child care facilities, licensed child care, registered child care, copayments, waitlist, subsidy, federal poverty level

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><00:04:54.680><c> care</c> 20,250 child care 20,250 child care slots<00:04:56.840><c> this</c><00
• This is an attempt to start, I mean, there's a lot of things that we need to work on in child care.
• This is an attempt to start, I mean, there's a lot of things that we need to work on in child care.
• and child care.
• and child care.

Bills: HF656, HF655, HF633

Keywords: child care, childcare, day care, daycare, licensing, variance, licensed capacity, capacity limit, staff qualifications, staffing, child care center, family child care, provider flexibility, Minnesota career lattice, Department of Children Youth and Families, DCYF, licensing rules, enrollment, indoor space, professional development

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> child care is very fragile. child care is very fragile.
• care actually works.
• I have worked in the child care field for nearly 28 years, yet we are still operating under licensing
• I'm a child care provider.
• </c> losing uh family child care providers. losing uh family child care providers.

Bills: HF4407, HF4382

Keywords: child welfare, African American children, racial disproportionality, family preservation, reunification, foster care, kinship care, relative placement, noncustodial parent, guardian ad litem, ombudsperson, Department of Human Services, county social services, active efforts, reasonable efforts, child protection, placement, out-of-home placement, Northstar kinship assistance, data disaggregation

Transcript Highlights:

• They must also have worked for the child care program for a minimum of 30 days.
• Child care is the backbone to a productive working economy.
• </c> parents would work with the child care parents would work with the child care center<00:41:24.520
• This is why I don't work in child care.
• /c> this is why I don't work in child care I this is why I don't work in child care I need<00:54:45.520

Bills: HF1247, HF628

Keywords: child care, aides, supervision, child care centers, staffing regulations, childcare, day care, licensed child care center, early childhood education, child care licensing, director qualifications, staff ratios, group size, staff-to-child ratio, substitutes, volunteers, assistant teacher, teacher qualifications, infant care, toddler age

Transcript Highlights:

• And also, who are the people working in these child care facilities? What's their salary?
• Universal child care only works if it stays anchored in that high-quality, licensed system.
• The early child care work. The workforce is the infrastructure behind universal child care.
• a child care center.
• And in our final rule that we did when we made universal child care we required all people working in

Bills: SB132, SB241

Keywords: SB132, DOIT, Department of Information Technology, software replacement, equipment replacement, technology funding, revolving fund, capital equipment, enterprise services, state IT budgeting, software budgeting, amortization, depreciation, State Treasurer, Department of Finance and Administration, New Mexico, information technology, IT infrastructure, fund accounting, legislative appropriation