Bills: HB309, HB487, HB503, HB590, HB606, HB679, HB693, HB695, HB707, HB720, HB728, HB733, HB746, HB777, HB846, HB849, HB856, HB868, HB873, HB875

Keywords: pedestrian safety, cellphone usage, crosswalk regulations, traffic laws, distracted walking, red light, traffic signal, traffic-control signals, traffic violation, traffic safety, road rage, shoulder lane, turn lane, passing stopped vehicle, overtaking at intersection, intersection safety, motor vehicle, driver fine, citation, Louisiana traffic law

Summary: The House Transportation Committee met on March 16 with a quorum present and first deferred three local bills at the sponsor’s request: HB 590, HB 679, and HB 873. The committee then advanced HB 503, which cleans up prior local language for Golden Meadow by removing a reference to electric golf carts and updating the definition of utility terrain vehicles; the technical amendment set was adopted and the bill was reported with amendments. HB 720, dealing with tacit dedication of roads and preserving historic public access to waterways and related access points, was reported favorably after members agreed to continue working on the amendment language before floor debate. The committee spent substantial time on HB 309, which originally made it a crime to walk in a crosswalk while looking at a cell phone. After amendments converted the proposal to a $25 civil fine and added a rebuttable presumption of liability for damages, members from both parties raised concerns about enforceability, tourism and urban pedestrian patterns, free-will and overreach arguments, and the lack of data tying the conduct specifically to crosswalk crashes. The author argued the measure was intended to promote situational awareness and reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities, but after opposition testimony the bill was voluntarily deferred. Members then reported HB 856, which expands DOTD’s use of indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity construction contracting and adds the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction, after technical amendments clarified the contracts are for construction-phase work. HB 487, increasing penalties for drivers who use shoulders or turning lanes to bypass red lights, was reported with a technical correction after police support testimony. HB 846, prohibiting license plate coverings or films that obscure plates, was reported favorably after law enforcement support and discussion of clear frames versus obscuring covers. HB 733 and HB 875, both tied to OMV fee and lapse-of-insurance recommendations from the Legislative Auditor, were reported with amendments adjusting grace periods and offense timing. The committee also took up HB 695 on consensual non-commercial towing permits. After extensive questioning about whether the bill applied to multiple vehicles, interstate travel, OMV implementation, and the practicality of an honor-system QR code permit, the sponsor agreed to amend the bill to cover multiple vehicles and then voluntarily defer it for further work with OMV and State Police. HB 777, requiring a driver’s license renewal knowledge exam, was amended at the department’s request and then voluntarily deferred for further review. HB 868, prompted by a fatal trailer accident involving a farmer’s wife, would require trailers to meet safety-chain and braking standards consistent with manufacturer specifications or federal standards; after concerns from members and the Agriculture Commissioner about impacts on older farm equipment, the bill was reported with amendments. Finally, HB 707 moved the LPG Commission’s marketing functions to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry and was reported with a technical amendment, HB 693 on legislative district highway signs was voluntarily deferred after amendments, and HB 746 on local oversized trucking permits opened a broader discussion about parish-by-parish permit disparities, with the sponsor proposing a one-year moratorium on new local standards while stakeholders work toward a more uniform system.

Transcript Highlights:

• In addition to expanding data transparency, the OEQA administered the cellphone-free schools grant program
• We awarded $450,000 to 84 school districts to support secure storage for cellphones and smart devices
• FY2025 usage exceeded 3.4 million site visits or downloads against a target of 2 million, leading us
• OEQA is monitoring the cellphone-free schools program grant, and finally, we are advancing a red book
• You mentioned the cellphone grant.

Keywords: 914, all

Bills: S0564, S0572, S0414, S0620, S0500, S0092

Keywords: student volunteers, polling locations, election administration, community service, Florida statutes, ethics, public officers, employment of relatives, transparency, government accountability, campaign finance, child care, elections, fund usage, political candidates, candidate qualifying, federal office, election integrity, regulatory compliance, political candidacy

Summary: The committee met with a quorum and considered several election- and ethics-related bills. Senate Bill 572 by Senator Harrell, which would update ethics statutes so the definition of “relative” includes foster parents and foster children, received supportive testimony from the Commission on Ethics and passed unanimously. Senate Bill 414 by Senator Bracy Davis, allowing campaign funds to be used for campaign-related child care expenses, was presented as a way to reduce barriers to public service but was temporarily postponed after the sponsor said it lacked the votes to advance. Senate Bill 500 by Senator Avila would require FDLE protective security details for major-party nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and cabinet offices from nomination through assumption of office; members questioned the scope, definitions of major and minor parties, and whether taxpayers should bear the cost, and the bill was reported favorably on a divided vote. Senate Bill 620 by Senator Mayfield would require candidates for federal, state, county, district, judicial, and school board offices to disclose any non-U.S. citizenship or dual citizenship; testimony opposed the bill as stigmatizing dual citizens, but it was reported favorably. The committee also approved CS for SB 92 by Chair Gaetz, which creates whistleblower-style protections for public employees who file ethics complaints based on firsthand knowledge and face retaliation, with support from the Commission on Ethics. In addition, the committee unanimously approved a block of gubernatorial appointments and then passed Senate Bill 564 by Senator Yarborough, allowing registered or pre-registered high school students to volunteer at polling places for community service hours; members discussed whether the bill would create new volunteer opportunities and whether the term “community service hours” needed clarification. The meeting ended with adjournment.

Transcript Highlights:

• if we're causing more mental illness in our youth, I don't know if it's our social media and our cellphone
• and<00:02:45.319> our if it's our social media and our if it's our social media and our cellphone
• 47.560> or<00:02:47.800> if<00:02:47.920> we're<00:02:48.120> getting cellphone
• addictions or if we're getting cellphone addictions or if we're getting better<00:02:48.640> at
• survey out to the school districts of the state, you know, thanks for knowing that, on their cell phone usage

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• FTEs with salaries and benefits estimated at $439,454,000 in operating costs of 292,000 laptops Cellphone
• And so, I think that this really stems off of the conversations this body has had on cellphones.
• But I did hold an interim study on screen usage for our youngest, and we're in elementary school.
• in some language that allows school board districts to adopt just similar kind of what we did to cellphones

Bills: HB1782, HB2293, HB3176, HB3544, HB3546, HB3619, HB4358

Keywords: artificial intelligence, education reform, innovation, funding, advisory council, broadband, Oklahoma Broadband Office, broadband access, statewide broadband plan, internet connectivity, grant programs, expansion council, termination plan, Oklahoma, Gas Hub, national laboratory, public-private partnerships, aerospace, high-performance computing, economic development

Transcript Highlights:

• that we have because it is 24 hours a day and it makes sure that alerts are passed to people's cellphones
• Of the cellphone.
• We have looked at the data to see what is the breakdown in usage between K through 12 schools, public

Keywords: 914, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And in pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying words were at least Jefferson lives.
• And in pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying words were at least Jefferson lives.
• And in pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying words were at least Jefferson lives.
• And in pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying words were at least Jefferson lives.
• <00:02:27.080> dying pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying pre-cellphone days, John Adams' dying

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Bills: HF3643, HF4470, HF4462, HF4366, HF4172, HF3629, HF4356, HF3093

Keywords: Melissa Hortman, Mark Hortman, memorial park, state park, working group, Minnesota Historical Society, Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, Saint Paul, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Administration, Legislative Coordinating Commission, general fund appropriation, park planning, interpretive services, public engagement, state memorial, land use, natural resources, commemorative legislation, HF4470

Transcript Highlights:

• But is that increased cost and just your electricity usage not you're able to account for that?
• How much AI usage are you guys doing? to become more proficient at some of these jobs.
• I think A lot of government agencies are trailing industry quite significantly when it comes to AI usage
• We will continue to monitor the Cellphone-free zones in our schools: We implemented that program.

Keywords: 914, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It's like are we accepting the fact that they're going to have cellphones?
• And we've made efforts to control cellphones.
• They've Got cellphones. They're gonna have cell phones.
• And now these Other prisoners are reaching out through the contraband cellphones.
• They are grooming children from prison with these contraband cellphones.

Bills: SB1226, SB1456, SB1462, SB1463, SB1980, SB1479, SB1608, SB1923, HB2979, HB2980, HB3662, HB4107, HB3082, HB2997, HB3083, HB3055, HB2951

Keywords: motor vehicle, accident, notification, liability, civil action, gender neutral, SB1456, Board of Tests for Alcohol and Drug Influence, sunset extension, sunset law, breath alcohol testing, DUI, DWI, drunk driving, drug testing, chemical testing, field sobriety, roadside screening, blood test, saliva test

Transcript Highlights:

• startling, an incredible difference that that ban made for high school students being banned from cellphones
• startling, an incredible difference that that ban made for high school students being banned from cellphones
• we had legislation just last year, 2 years ago, that said that schools had to adopt technology or cellphone
• we had legislation just last year, 2 years ago, that said that schools had to adopt technology or cellphone
• we had legislation just last year, 2 years ago, that said that schools had to adopt technology or cellphone

Keywords: 1183, house

Bills: HB1958, HB2031, HB2879, HB3285, HB3995, HB4487, HB4558, HB4560, HB4876, HB4899, HB5212, HB5317, HB5543, HB5567, SB1333

Keywords: firearm possession, tenant rights, landlord regulations, civil penalties, property code, justified use of force, deadly force, property rights, home defense, smart devices, data privacy, personal data collection, user consent, mobile application, data transparency, HOA, property owners association, property owners' association, Texas Property Code, Chapter 202

Bills: SB1224, SB2972, SB2615, SB735, SB800, SB2986, SB2310, SB2055, SB1049, SB784

Keywords: educator misconduct, reporting requirements, local law enforcement, public and private schools, penalties for non-compliance, expressive activities, freedom of speech, public forum, higher education, protests, student rights, telework, public education, employee rights, emergency provisions, Holocaust education, Holocaust Remembrance Week, antisemitism, genocide education, public schools

Transcript Highlights:

• Encouraging her colleagues at school to get off the cellphone and go out and live, she talked about that
• Today, we're hearing a bill on the floor that will continue the effort to keep cellphones out of kids
• President, House Bill 1276 extends the prohibition on cellphones in our K through 12 classrooms.
• look at the data, listen to the teachers, and listen to the parents who saw the disruption that cellphones

Bills: SR31, SB2060, SB2184, HB1371, HB1411, HB1933, HB2361, HB2398, HB2893, HB3006, HB3044, HB3127, HB3322, HB3147, HB1276, HB3472, HB3522, HB3704, HB4303, HB4319

Keywords: military, children, resilience, Purple Up!, military families, master development district, improvement district, public improvements, infrastructure financing, special assessments, statutory revision, consolidation, law amendment, emergency legislation, legal clarity, oil and gas, mineral rights, proceeds, royalties, escrow account

Transcript Highlights:

• And people put them all this stuff, TVs, computers, cellphone batteries, anything that has you know lithium
• We needed access to a reliable cellphone signal for safety and for education purposes.
• people in rural Oklahoma still needed access to the internet and still needed access to a reliable cellphone
• year of their clients not having to comply with regulatory adjustments so that they could provide cellphone

Bills: HB3005, HB3007, HB3403, HB1907, HB3175, HB3986, HB3466, HB3411, HB4246

Keywords: climatology, emergency declaration, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, environment, weather data, public policy, state governance, natural resources, advisory councils, sunset law, water quality, hazardous waste, solid waste, radiation management, public health, biosolids, land application, environmental quality, agriculture, wastewater treatment

Transcript Highlights:

• And to your point earlier, uh, you know, when you rely on, on cellphone communication, and we had actually
• a moment in time and then our our counselors are encouraged as well, are not able to use their cellphones
• But again, you know, I just warn us as members of the legislature about cellphone policies at camps.
• We probably shouldn't do, you know, such as cellphones and campers' hands because it takes away from

Transcript Highlights:

• As we begin the meeting, I would ask everyone to please silence your cellphones, members and members
• members, this friendly amendment modernizes the definition of incest to reflect the language in common usage

Transcript Highlights:

• As we begin the meeting, I would ask everyone to please silence your cellphones, members and members
• amendment Representative Black: modernizes the definition of incest to reflect the language in common usage

Transcript Highlights:

• They have to know about cellphone forensics and be an expert in that area to understand someone downloading
• child abuse material, formerly known as child pornography, and how to get those cellphone extractions
• They have to talk with officers about it and know how to present it to a jury and go through the cellphone
• They have to use that cellphone evidence to prosecute the crime and understand DNA, which is a huge part

Keywords: 914, all

Bills: SB2972, SB1909, SB2815, SB735, SB2233, SB800, SB1069, SB2683, SB2986, SB2058, SB2310, SB2055, SB1032

Keywords: expressive activities, freedom of speech, public forum, higher education, protests, student rights, antisemitism, public institutions, disciplinary policy, student organizations, compliance, institutional policy, disciplinary sanctions, diploma designation, institution merger, academic records, student options, Holocaust education, Holocaust Remembrance Week, genocide education