[0:16] Here rodriguez
[0:21] coming excused
[0:21] Simpson
[0:25] Mr President, let's do this
[0:25] madam Speaker
[0:29] here and it does look like
[0:30] majorjority leaderader rodriguez
[0:33] is now online. members we
[0:34] have a couple of things to cover
[0:36] today. First, consideration of
[0:37] the fiscal information in the
[0:39] blueeook for innitiative195.
[0:41] then we're going to get an
[0:43] update from legislative
[0:45] council staff on the email
[0:46] transition that members went
[0:48] through this year administrator
[0:49] of legislative safety will be
[0:52] covered by President coleman. We
[0:53] are going to make a decision
[0:55] today on the aid badge
[0:55] programme, a review of the NCSL
[1:00] security grant and finally an
[1:03] RFP for language access needs
[1:07] so let's start with
[1:09] doctorctorRami forgive me for
[1:12] missing that earlier. we are
[1:13] talking about the fiscal
[1:15] information in the blueook for
[1:15] initiative 195.
[1:19] please proceed thank you madam
[1:23] Speaker so you have a
[1:25] memorandum in front of you I
[1:28] assume that was sent by our
[1:32] office ok so that's the memo
[1:34] that I will be discussing today
[1:37] taber requires that the blue
[1:38] book includes certain
[1:42] information whenever there is a
[1:43] measure that creates or
[1:45] increases taxes and this year
[1:45] Amendment87
[1:50] which was proposition 195 which
[1:52] creates the graduated income tax
[1:53] requires this information
[1:58] so taper requires that this
[2:00] information comes from you but
[2:02] legislative council staff drafts
[2:04] the recommended language for you
[2:07] to review and approve. so
[2:08] there are two pieces of
[2:10] information required by Taber to
[2:12] be included in the blueook as
[2:13] discussed in the memo
[2:16] the first is the fiscal year
[2:17] spending for the current year
[2:20] and each of the past four years
[2:21] along with the overall
[2:23] percentage and dollar change a
[2:26] fiscal year spending fiscal year
[2:27] spending is the amount of
[2:29] revenue subject to taor that the
[2:32] state is allowed to permitted to
[2:33] keep any of their spend or save
[2:34] each year
[2:36] an estimate for fiscal year
[2:39] spending for the current year is
[2:41] is included in table four along
[2:42] with the actual fiscal year
[2:43] spending amounts for the
[2:46] previous four fiscal years as we
[2:48] noted at the beginning of the
[2:50] memo the number for fiscal year
[2:54] 2526 has been updated since we
[2:56] sent the original memo last week
[2:58] that's the only thing that we
[3:00] have changed there we updated
[3:02] the number to reflect the actual
[3:03] amount of fiscal year 2526
[3:04] spending
[3:07] certified by the statetroller on
[3:07] September 1st.
[3:12] Second piece of information
[3:14] taper requires the blue book to
[3:15] contain an estimate of the
[3:18] maximum dollar amount of the tax
[3:20] increase and of fiscal year
[3:22] spending without the tax
[3:24] increase each of these for the
[3:26] first full fiscal year of the
[3:28] proposed tax increase so for
[3:30] this amendment87 that would be
[3:34] for fiscal year 2728 and that
[3:35] information is included in
[3:35] table5
[3:40] of the memo so pursuant to
[3:44] statute or House Bill251327
[3:46] table five there includes
[3:48] estimates of the maximum dollar
[3:50] amounts for both of those things
[3:52] fiscal you're spending without
[3:55] the tax increase as well as the
[3:56] fiscal year revenue increased
[3:59] from the increased income taxes.
[4:01] So with that I'll take any
[4:02] questions that you might have
[4:08] ue s s members yes minority
[4:10] leader Simpson thank you madam
[4:11] Speaker
[4:11] doctorctorRay
[4:14] a couple of ques quick
[4:15] questions
[4:18] now what were that you
[4:20] referenced the tables reflect
[4:22] the maximum amount but the table
[4:25] doesn't indicate those are
[4:26] maximum amounts oh it does in
[4:28] the language it does yeah I see
[4:31] that and then secondly fiscal
[4:34] year spending I get it it's a
[4:35] constant a legal term in the
[4:37] constitution but in layman's
[4:37] terms particularly the
[4:38] legislators
[4:42] that estimated $20 billion is
[4:45] large it's not exclusive general
[4:47] fund it's is it all general fund
[4:49] and some cash fund is that what
[4:50] constitutes that legal fiscal
[4:52] year spending, I guess DrRami
[4:56] thank you madampeaker senator
[5:00] yes. so it is revenue collected
[5:02] that's subject to taor up to the
[5:04] taor revenue limit. it can be
[5:06] below if it's if the brand we
[5:07] collected is below the table
[5:09] limit but yes so that includes
[5:11] both cash some cash fund revenue
[5:11] and general fund revenue.
[5:17] minority it include all general
[5:18] fund or are there general fund
[5:19] dollars that are not subject to
[5:20] that limit
[5:20] thank you
[5:30] think Mrbetsky phone a friendni
[5:31] please join us
[5:34] Nothing I would rather talk
[5:35] about madam
[5:38] senator Simpson overwhelmingly
[5:39] general fund revenue is subject
[5:41] totaor there is a very small
[5:42] amount of general fund revenue
[5:45] that's exempt fromtaor the
[5:46] amount that's represented in
[5:47] fiscal year spending is going to
[5:48] be very nearly all by which I
[5:52] mean 97 to 98% of the general
[5:54] fund and then all of the cash
[5:56] fund revenue that is subject to
[5:58] the table amount. And as Dr. Ami
[5:59] explained it's capped at the
[6:01] level of the taber limit. So in
[6:02] a world where we have revenue
[6:03] that's greater than the limit
[6:04] you'll see the printed level of
[6:05] the limit rather than the amount
[6:06] of reve
[6:06] n ue collections into Free Corp.
[6:07] Thank you.
[6:14] it appears that I do need to
[6:16] allow for amendments any
[6:18] amendments to our attachment a
[6:21] seeing none
[6:25] is there a motion, Mr President?
[6:26] thank you very much madam
[6:28] Speaker. I move to approve the
[6:29] staff recommendations for the
[6:30] fiscal information to be
[6:32] included in the blue book ballot
[6:34] analysis for initiative 195con
[6:36] properly seconded by Majority
[6:38] Leader Duran Ms Kurtzhelan,
[6:39] please poll the committee.
[6:40] Senators andres representatives
[6:41] Caldwell
[6:43] du ran yes rodriguez
[6:50] Majority leaderader rodriguez
[6:51] you are on mute
[6:54] i
[6:57] im p son
[7:02] Mr President madam Speaker, yes,
[7:03] that passes unanimously
[7:05] thank you doctorctorRay and
[7:05] thank you Mr Subetsky
[7:11] Next on the agenda we are
[7:12] going to get an update
[7:15] fromrector Kessel and
[7:17] Zachimmberly our interim IT
[7:20] director on the email transition
[7:21] that legislators went through
[7:21] this spring
[7:25] who wants to kick us off? Mr
[7:28] Wimberley you madam Speaker. I
[7:29] appreciate the time and then the
[7:30] committee thank you too
[7:32] so real quick a timeline and
[7:34] deadlines for this project we
[7:36] had four phases all of our
[7:37] targets were met even though
[7:38] some of the members were real
[7:40] late at the end there we did get
[7:41] most of them
[7:43] contacted a positive outcome of
[7:45] this project for the email auto
[7:47] forwarding was our domain
[7:49] reputation is no longer impacted
[7:50] we haven't seen any fallout from
[7:52] that our email security is also
[7:53] in a much much better
[7:55] po s ition right now some of the
[7:57] negative outcome looking back at
[7:58] this project was that the
[7:59] communication was probably not
[8:01] as prominent as it could have
[8:03] been. certain legislators did
[8:05] not have the proper setup after
[8:07] we had left their offices and
[8:08] had to do a couple of revisits
[8:09] to make sure that the settings
[8:11] were proper in their google
[8:11] accounts
[8:13] the
[8:18] who is impacted on this is is
[8:20] a44 members of the legislature
[8:23] had to be contacted to move
[8:25] their emails over over the past
[8:26] week we tried to follow up with
[8:28] these44 using phone call or
[8:30] voicemail and an email survey of
[8:33] those4fo 16 have not
[8:36] responded.ix of them have
[8:37] responded and requested a
[8:39] follow-up and 22 members are
[8:41] reporting all is working well.
[8:43] some of our follow ups that we
[8:43] had for those six members were
[8:46] either very simple setting
[8:47] changes to something a little
[8:49] bit more complicated by getting
[8:50] their aid set up to go look at
[8:53] their account but have been
[8:53] fairly positive there
[8:58] lessons learned I think Ls
[8:59] needs to partner more with the
[9:00] chief of staff for mass
[9:02] communications at this level so
[9:03] we've talked to chief of staff
[9:05] to get in touch with members
[9:07] that are not responsive sooner
[9:09] and not waiting to the very end.
[9:11] LAS could also communicate a
[9:11] little bit better for a
[9:13] nonimpacted legislators of
[9:15] those44 that were impacted they
[9:17] were communicated to but the
[9:18] remainder of the legislators had
[9:20] no idea what was happening in
[9:21] the background. we probably
[9:22] could have done a better job
[9:23] saying that this doesn't affect
[9:24] you but here's what's going on
[9:25] in the background
[9:28] Lia could also communicate a
[9:29] little bit better with those
[9:31] members that were impacted you
[9:32] know, stressing that the threat
[9:34] was broader than the individual
[9:36] account and the threat is
[9:38] actually impacting the entire
[9:41] legislature. after we
[9:42] finished this project I kind of
[9:43] want to end this on a high note
[9:46] with some stats our email
[9:48] reduction was about a million
[9:52] emails we receive less about a
[9:53] million messages less than we
[9:54] normally have, which is amazing
[9:56] the auto
[10:00] forwarding stopped about75% of
[10:02] our actionable threats. so
[10:04] before we turn this on we're
[10:07] getting about8, threats a month
[10:09] and after we turned it on
[10:12] about 2000 is what was delivered
[10:13] so that would include something
[10:15] like spam malicious email spoof
[10:17] identity theft or phishing
[10:19] emails so the reduction for
[10:21] security is immense. that's
[10:22] about all I have right now. any
[10:23] questions
[10:28] I want to open it up to members
[10:30] for any feedback. I do
[10:31] appreciate that you have done a
[10:34] follow up survey hopefully
[10:36] that pleased to hear that
[10:38] most of the members responded
[10:41] even if not all and we did
[10:43] receive feedback some of the
[10:44] concerns on communication I
[10:46] really appreciate the focus on
[10:47] partnering with our chiefs of
[10:49] staff, other staff members to
[10:52] ensure that we assist in that
[10:53] follow up so that we don't end
[10:53] up with a similar situation
[10:58] next goro. any yes Mr
[11:00] President thank you very much
[11:02] madam Speaker and thank you very
[11:04] much interim director Wimberley
[11:05] we appreciate all the work that
[11:06] you've done. You know I'm not
[11:08] sure which of those memories
[11:09] were the last to complete this
[11:10] process but I can commit to you
[11:12] we will hold them to the highest
[11:13] account. I'm not talking about
[11:14] myself. I'm talking about
[11:15] whoever that might have been.
[11:17] thank you very much for all the
[11:18] work you've done. I know it's a
[11:20] big transition and we really
[11:22] appreciate the amazing work
[11:23] you've done to help make sure we
[11:23] can streamline our communication
[11:24] process
[11:25] es via email
[11:31] seeing no other comments thank
[11:33] you very much for the update. We
[11:33] appreciate it
[11:35] next
[11:39] the administrator of legislative
[11:41] safety and before I turn it
[11:43] over to Mr President, I do want
[11:45] to recognize thatpresentative
[11:46] Clifford is here in the room. He
[11:49] has been a driving force
[11:50] behind all of the work in
[11:52] helping us develop a job
[11:53] description and really
[11:54] appreciate your good work. Thank
[11:56] you. Mr President, thank you
[11:57] very much madam Speaker and yes
[11:59] members you'll recall the
[12:01] House Bill261422 sponsored by
[12:04] SenatorRoel Rep Clifford myself
[12:05] created the administrative
[12:05] legislative safety for the
[12:06] alleged department
[12:09] and this is intended to be a
[12:10] dedicated individual for members
[12:13] of the general assembly to help
[12:15] receive, review and triage
[12:16] threats and coordinate with CSP
[12:19] it's providing members
[12:20] security services in these
[12:22] circumstances and assist where
[12:24] applicable in criminal and civil
[12:26] investigations across multiple
[12:27] jurisdictions. CSP does a great
[12:31] job and they also serve so many
[12:33] folks with this new position
[12:35] would do is be our liaison with
[12:35] CSP and solely focus on
[12:38] our safety as legislators
[12:39] especially given the political
[12:41] climate we all see ourselves in
[12:44] and many folks including CSP and
[12:45] the judicial department have
[12:46] worked to help provide input and
[12:48] feedback for this job
[12:50] description and positions so we
[12:51] can ensure they work
[12:53] harmoniously and that's what I
[12:55] have I just say this is a
[12:56] there's a much more detailed
[12:57] drafted job description if
[12:58] anybody would like to have that
[12:59] I'm more than happy to provide
[13:00] that to you. It goes more in
[13:01] depth of the job duties and
[13:01] qualifications for the position.
[13:05] any questions
[13:10] I I wanna lift up and
[13:15] I I think it's a sad thing but
[13:16] some days it's also joyous. I
[13:19] won't be here next year and it
[13:22] feels like this is a good
[13:24] time to be moving forward on
[13:25] both the job description the
[13:27] recruiting and the hiring for
[13:29] this position as you all may
[13:31] remember the bill established
[13:34] the position to be a part of the
[13:36] legislative management team of
[13:39] the legislative branch and so
[13:40] with the draft job description
[13:44] that is now available. I
[13:46] would like to see us work with
[13:48] LCS in getting the job,
[13:50] posted and start moving forward
[13:52] with recruiting and retention
[13:54] process. Mr President, I don't
[13:56] know if you have any input on
[13:58] how that process would proceed.
[14:00] um, but it feels like if we
[14:01] could get the individual in
[14:03] place by legislative session
[14:06] that would be a significant
[14:09] bonus for all of our members
[14:10] don't know if there's any follow
[14:11] up or feedback from
[14:12] anybody who might be in the
[14:14] crowd that wants to offer any
[14:15] perspective but do we have
[14:16] additional
[14:19] an additional executive
[14:19] committee hearing between now
[14:20] and end of the year
[14:24] I believe we will be we do
[14:25] need
[14:29] to entertain openme law,
[14:31] public hearing so that will
[14:34] occur between now and then. um,
[14:36] although it is probably worth us
[14:40] working on a timeline. I'm
[14:41] I'm not sure that we would be
[14:44] able to uh, post recruit and
[14:47] retain a a person say by October
[14:48] that might be a little bit
[14:49] quick. We may need additional
[14:49] time for this. OK
[14:55] umm minority leaders either of
[14:56] you have any input? Are you
[14:58] comfortable with the timeline
[15:01] that targets legislative
[15:01] session
[15:02] great
[15:05] and
[15:08] we have talked with the
[15:11] legislative council staff about
[15:12] the salary for this position
[15:14] that it could be something
[15:18] accommodated either by
[15:21] what we have in the budget or
[15:23] through a legislative cash fund
[15:25] transfers so that will be our
[15:25] plan
[15:27] right?
[15:29] thank you Mr President
[15:33] our aid badge program
[15:41] this is fun
[15:44] we have both our secretary of
[15:46] the senate Esther Vannerc and
[15:48] chief clerk of the house Vanessa
[15:49] Riley. I don't know who wants to
[15:50] proceed
[15:53] madam Secretary
[15:57] oh, I was I was going to ask
[15:58] madam clerk to start
[16:01] madam Chief clerk. thank you
[16:02] madam Speaker Vanessa Riilly
[16:04] chief clerk. we are here
[16:07] again to ask for a vote on the
[16:08] future of the aid badge
[16:13] programme. if you recall the
[16:15] last executive committee meeting
[16:17] earlier this summer. you all
[16:17] discussed
[16:20] how the program was going, asked
[16:22] for some additional information
[16:24] umestster and I but the
[16:26] secretary of the senate and I
[16:28] were both able to work with CSP
[16:29] to
[16:34] provide information about usage
[16:35] by the aides during session
[16:39] which we emailed you a couple of
[16:40] weeks ago but just as a little
[16:43] refresher of the 101 house aides
[16:44] who have
[16:48] who were currently who were
[16:50] employed during session 33 of
[16:53] them accessed used their badge
[16:55] to access the building between
[16:57] the hours of5 p.m. and7 a.m. or
[17:00] on the weekends I believe for
[17:02] the senate it was 3 of51.
[17:06] and I'm happy to answer any
[17:07] other questions.
[17:10] thank you. Anything to add madam
[17:14] Secretary? No ma'am. thank you.
[17:15] thank youembers any comments
[17:19] minority leader Simpson thank
[17:22] you madam Speaker like is there
[17:24] any more clarity around the data
[17:25] like why
[17:30] aids accessed or the number was
[17:33] it like the same person is the
[17:33] number reflective of the total
[17:36] number of employees that
[17:38] actually used it or and and or
[17:40] how many times they need it or
[17:42] used its just a little more
[17:43] granularity in the data
[17:44] madam Chief clerk
[17:47] thank you madampeaker minority
[17:48] leader Simpson, I think there's
[17:49] a
[17:52] you're right to have those
[17:53] questions there's a little bit
[17:55] of nuance to this data here.
[17:56] I think
[18:02] first off on the house side we
[18:06] had about 90% of the aids who
[18:08] obtained badges roughly 10% of
[18:10] our aids never obtained a
[18:11] security badge. so
[18:16] the 11 aids was the list of aids
[18:18] that I sent to CSP to find out
[18:21] who had access to capital in
[18:24] those after hours time periods
[18:25] for
[18:27] personnel reasons CSP
[18:32] provided the number of unique
[18:34] users whoever access the
[18:36] building, not the number of
[18:38] times they accessed
[18:39] and I
[18:43] do think that there's even more
[18:46] nuance in that they provided us
[18:48] with a number of times someone
[18:50] accessed the building between5
[18:52] p.m. and7 a.m. which as you know
[18:54] is not necessarily the same as
[18:56] our business hours.
[18:58] committees particularly House
[19:00] committees often run past5 p.m
[19:03] the building would be open but I
[19:05] imagine that there are
[19:08] situations just as any of the
[19:10] other staff, you know me folks
[19:11] from any of the a
[19:13] gen c ies will access the
[19:15] building through one of the
[19:16] locked doors rather than going
[19:18] through one of the security
[19:22] entrances various times of
[19:24] day I'm confident that some of
[19:27] the aids accessing the building
[19:30] between5 p.m. and7 a.m we're
[19:31] doing so when the building was
[19:33] open and using one of those
[19:34] nonstaffed entrances.
[19:35] but
[19:39] without providing CSP a list of
[19:40] the days when House committees
[19:41] ran past5 p.m
[19:44] they were not able to
[19:46] necessarily say definitively
[19:48] these 33 folks who accessed the
[19:50] building did so when the
[19:51] building was closed.
[19:55] madam Secretary, thank you madam
[19:56] Speaker and Mr minority
[19:58] leaderader same thing for the
[20:00] senate we weren't able to get
[20:02] more granularity in that data
[20:04] and as madam Chief clerk said
[20:06] that for the senate it was
[20:08] really only 3 of our aides who
[20:09] accessed the building after
[20:10] hours within that same
[20:12] explanation of what that could
[20:13] have entailed so
[20:16] happy to answer any other
[20:18] questions with respect to just
[20:20] the general question of
[20:23] extending this pilot program
[20:25] I think the one thing that I
[20:27] would leave with you all is just
[20:30] a request to remind all of your
[20:32] members that it's imperative to
[20:34] let us know when they are off
[20:36] boarding one of their aids so
[20:37] that we can really make sure
[20:40] that we get the aid access badge
[20:42] returned to us and that we
[20:43] can also turn deactivate it with
[20:44] CSP so
[20:46] that there is no access outside
[20:50] of their working hours anymore.
[20:51] so that I think is just a
[20:52] critical messaging that we're
[20:54] all asking you all to help us
[20:55] with
[20:57] sometimes we still hear after
[21:00] the fact that an age aid has off
[21:02] boarded and we prefer to not be
[21:03] in those situations so we can
[21:04] make sure to get those access
[21:05] badges returned and and turned
[21:06] off
[21:10] madam Chief clerk, thank you
[21:12] madam Speaker just to piggyback
[21:14] on that particularly during the
[21:18] interim lots of aids are off
[21:20] boarding and members may not be
[21:23] hiring new aids right away or
[21:26] ever often the way that we
[21:29] learn and aid has offboarded is
[21:30] when someone arrives in house
[21:32] services and says I've just been
[21:33] hired byre representative so and
[21:36] so and today is my first day and
[21:37] then we look and say you know
[21:38] this person already has
[21:42] two aides who has left and in
[21:44] this time of year it's if if we
[21:45] don't have new folks showing up
[21:48] then we are likely to be missing
[21:53] majority leader rodriguez, oh
[21:53] you're muted thank you.
[21:58] thank you. I'm sorry madam Chief
[21:59] clerk. so
[22:02] really appreciate that reminder
[22:04] and
[22:10] have to contemplate how we can
[22:11] do a better job of communicating
[22:12] that we did conduct a survey
[22:14] with our members and
[22:16] overwhelmingly they would like
[22:18] to see this continue and with 33
[22:21] aids utilizing I don't doubt
[22:22] that whether it was bringing
[22:24] dinner in or something that
[22:28] caused an aid to use their badge
[22:31] it was necessary that you
[22:33] know the house does most of the
[22:36] hard work and stays late and
[22:37] works weekends so
[22:39] it made sense to me that there
[22:40] was more usage in the house.
[22:42] What was that senator Simpson?
[22:44] we are not inefficient minority
[22:47] leader Caldwell thank you
[22:48] madampeaker and I was actually
[22:49] going to make the same exact
[22:59] point that I think it's
[23:00] indicative that we work harder
[23:01] and stay later and that's why so
[23:01] many more of our aids access
[23:02] the building after5 p.m. I do
[23:02] have a quick question for you
[23:03] madam Chief clerk I believe I
[23:04] asked this question the last
[23:07] time we had a meeting to discuss
[23:08] this issue but has there been
[23:11] any instances or I guess
[23:14] incidents with aids accessing
[23:16] the building in the interim
[23:17] since our last meeting
[23:20] madam Chief clerk, thank you
[23:22] madampeaker. Mr minority
[23:24] leaderader I don't know if any
[23:26] aids have accessed the building
[23:28] after hours in the interim. I do
[23:30] know that the last time I spoke
[23:33] with CSP about this we did not
[23:36] have any instances of access
[23:38] that CSP felt were inappropriate
[23:39] or where we needed to take
[23:42] action and I'm confident that
[23:44] if anything had happened in that
[23:46] vein that we would have been
[23:47] notified right away.
[23:47] thank you
[23:48] I would
[23:54] one moment madam Secretary, I
[23:55] would just offer that I think if
[23:58] any staff member were to access
[24:00] the building inappropriately or
[24:01] activity were to occur
[24:02] regardless of whether they are
[24:05] aid or other staff that action
[24:07] would need to be taken and I
[24:09] think that applies universally,
[24:09] madam Secretary.
[24:12] madampeaker thank you just
[24:13] wanted to let the senators know
[24:15] that exactly the same experience
[24:16] in the senate you know
[24:18] diddo
[24:19] great
[24:23] Mr President, thank you very
[24:23] much madam Speaker
[24:30] I moved to permanently
[24:31] authorized security bads for
[24:32] legislative aids to allow
[24:33] ongoing access to Capitol
[24:35] building and to authorize access
[24:37] legislative to legislative
[24:38] services building to aids
[24:39] working for a member of the
[24:40] joint budgetgetittee effective
[24:43] immediately been properly
[24:44] seconded by majorjority
[24:46] leaderader Duran. M Kurtzhelan,
[24:48] please poll the committee. Oh
[24:49] yes, Senator Simpson.
[24:53] thank you madam Majority Leader
[24:53] or madam Speaker
[24:56] the guy struggled with this
[24:58] concept when we were in rolling
[25:00] out the pilot and look I
[25:01] continue it doesn't have
[25:06] tremendous usage 30 out of 100 3
[25:12] out of50 Im just not sure this
[25:14] is worth the risk that we expose
[25:17] ourselves to potentially and to
[25:18] highlight this gap that says oh
[25:20] yeah we have aidDS potentially
[25:21] leaving and we don't get
[25:22] notified and what happens to the
[25:23] badge and who has it
[25:26] I just still uncomfortable with
[25:30] this concept. there's a path for
[25:32] aids to access through the state
[25:34] patrol where it's more
[25:38] controlled and I think creates a
[25:39] safer environment for everybody
[25:42] in the building and am still not
[25:44] comfortable with this this
[25:46] aid badge access programme.
[25:49] minority leader Caldwell
[25:52] thank you madam Speaker and and
[25:53] I tend to agree with
[25:58] my colleague minority
[26:00] leaderimpson here I it as a
[26:03] former aide myself and
[26:05] also as a military member before
[26:06] you know when we talk about
[26:10] access to installation or a
[26:11] building you know we use our our
[26:14] government issueidD cards in the
[26:15] in the military and it is it is
[26:18] very very tightly controlled for
[26:20] the simple security reason of if
[26:22] you even lose your badge and
[26:24] somebody finds it they could
[26:25] gain access to like a
[26:26] for instance a military
[26:29] installation and what what
[26:31] concerns me and and this isn't a
[26:33] knock towards the aids it's
[26:34] actually kind of I guess maybe
[26:36] more on on ourselves sometimes
[26:39] is is something that was
[26:41] highlighted here is that our
[26:42] some of our own members some of
[26:44] my members who have high
[26:45] turnovers of legislative aids
[26:49] and and not doing what they
[26:50] should which is notifying you
[26:52] all to make sure that badges get
[26:54] turned in or deactivated and
[27:00] I just it does concern me that
[27:02] you're we went from having you
[27:04] know x amount of badges that can
[27:06] access the building to basically
[27:08] I don't know what the actual
[27:10] number is but doubling it almost
[27:12] with this program and and it
[27:15] concerns me and so while I
[27:17] understand the benefits of an
[27:19] aid having a badge and I'm sure
[27:20] probably when I was an aid I was
[27:22] probably thinking to myself I
[27:23] would like to have an access
[27:24] badge it overall just kind of
[27:28] does concern me and so I'll
[27:29] respectfully be a note today.
[27:37] I think I like to end on just a
[27:38] couple of comments and I did not
[27:42] hear either of you disrespect
[27:44] the aid corps. I did not hear
[27:45] that but I do want to lift up
[27:48] that we've worked very hard to
[27:50] professionalize our staff
[27:51] these past few years by
[27:56] increasing wages providing
[27:58] benefits helping to make this
[28:00] you know the entry job to a
[28:01] career hopefully in the legisla
[28:05] ture or in in state government
[28:09] and I do know that for the
[28:12] aidS certainly from members
[28:15] of my caucus who are here late
[28:16] at night there has been an
[28:19] appreciation that their aids can
[28:22] come and go as needed. and or
[28:24] when the work goes beyond the
[28:25] normal hours and people need to
[28:27] come in there's value in that.
[28:30] I will be supportive of this.
[28:31] I would ask for additional
[28:32] assistance
[28:36] on how we can ensure that
[28:37] anytime there is turnover in the
[28:39] aid corps that we are notified
[28:40] we are notifying you both
[28:42] immediately and I am happy to
[28:43] assist with that before I leave.
[28:48] oh, Senator Simpson you madam
[28:50] Speaker just one other question
[28:51] we had talked when we were
[28:52] constructing the pilot program
[28:56] about the requirement that that
[28:58] the legislator had to authorize
[29:00] the request. I don't know if
[29:01] that's what's going to be
[29:01] adopted in the in the
[29:03] permanent
[29:04] program
[29:08] madam Chief clerk thank you
[29:12] madampeaker after the last
[29:14] meeting where we discussed this
[29:16] the secretary and I
[29:19] made some changes to the
[29:21] acknowledgement forum for aids
[29:22] so that
[29:25] in order to obtain a ba a new
[29:27] badge an aid must first receive
[29:28] the approval of their managing
[29:30] legislator and I don't see any
[29:31] reason why we would
[29:34] roll that back if the program
[29:35] were to continue.
[29:39] and that may be the place where
[29:40] we could also reinforce the
[29:42] legislators responsibilities
[29:45] here there might be an
[29:45] opportunity to strengthen that
[29:48] OK, Miss Kurtzhelan roll call
[29:49] please
[29:51] en er ner s and representatives
[29:51] Caldwell no
[29:52] Duran
[29:55] yes rodriguez
[30:00] simpson no
[30:05] Mr President Madampeaker yes,
[30:06] that passes on a vote of4 to 2.
[30:12] Next on our agenda we have an
[30:14] update on the NCSL grant and I
[30:16] will invite M Berger,
[30:19] to speak about
[30:24] I I guess I'm I'm not sure
[30:25] exactly where we are with the
[30:27] grant so it's probably worth a
[30:27] little bit of background as well
[30:31] thank you madam chairir,
[30:32] members of the committee
[30:33] Elizabeth Berger with
[30:34] legislative council staff happy
[30:35] to revisit an an issue that
[30:38] you've heard about in various
[30:39] channels throughout the course
[30:41] of the year I've talked to to I
[30:43] know that you've heard an update
[30:45] from Natalie at an executive
[30:46] committee I've talked to many of
[30:47] your staff about this program
[30:50] too so happy to to pull that
[30:51] all togetherther for you today.
[30:52] the national conference of
[30:54] state Legislatures offered
[30:56] states the opportunity to apply
[30:58] for a grant the purpose of
[30:59] the grant is to
[31:01] provide reimbursements to
[31:03] legislators who use the grant
[31:05] funding to purchase personal
[31:07] security items or training for
[31:09] themselves colorado is able
[31:12] to apply for that grant at
[31:13] toward the end of the session
[31:17] and we were awarded $20,000 so
[31:19] we have put together a policy
[31:20] for the distribution of that
[31:23] funding under that policy $200
[31:25] per member is available to for
[31:28] reimbursing eligible security
[31:29] expenses those expenses
[31:33] include things like the fees
[31:35] for a monitor security
[31:38] monitoring service something
[31:40] like a delete me which is a
[31:44] software that helps you monitor
[31:45] personal information that's
[31:48] publicly available. security
[31:50] trainings or self defense
[31:52] trainings and equipment when
[31:54] caveat about the purchase of
[31:58] equipment is that to ensure
[31:59] that Colorado is complying
[32:02] with ethical requirements and
[32:03] requirements about the receipt
[32:06] of funding we are asking that
[32:07] any legislators that seek the
[32:09] reimbursement for equipment,
[32:11] return the equipment when they
[32:14] leave office and that just
[32:16] make sure that we are complying
[32:17] with all the requirements
[32:19] related to the to gifts while in
[32:19] office
[32:22] so that policy is now in
[32:24] place the funding is available
[32:26] to members to seek reimbursement
[32:28] legislators should have
[32:29] received a com communication
[32:31] from me last week notifying them
[32:32] about the availability of this
[32:34] funding, how to apply for it the
[32:36] reimbursement is available
[32:38] through October 1fth of this
[32:39] year and I know that that's a
[32:42] very short window of time so
[32:43] happy to continue to
[32:46] communicate about that window
[32:48] and hoping to yeah spread the
[32:49] word about the availability of
[32:50] this funding
[32:52] so happy to answer any questions
[32:52] about that.
[32:56] Miss Berger. I have already
[32:59] given feedback October 1fth is
[33:00] impossible and we have an
[33:03] entirely new class of
[33:04] legislators that will be joining
[33:07] our ranks postNnovember
[33:10] election. has there been
[33:12] discussion with NCSL about
[33:14] extending the state so that new
[33:16] legislators can take advantage
[33:18] of it. M Berger yeah thank you
[33:20] madam Chair. I appreciate that
[33:22] yeah it's a it's an
[33:23] incredibly short window where
[33:23] we've ended up here
[33:28] I have asked NCSL about the
[33:30] time frames. I think that there
[33:32] plan as far as I understood
[33:33] it when they made the funding
[33:35] opportunity available was to
[33:37] to pilot this initial
[33:42] initial round of funding see
[33:43] what the uptake was amongst all
[33:44] of the states and then if there
[33:47] was funding after that to do a
[33:50] second award at that time I'm
[33:53] not sure why the time frame was
[33:55] set prior to the election
[33:58] but I'm I'm hopeful that there
[34:00] will be a second funding
[34:02] opportunity made available that
[34:04] would be able to capture
[34:06] legislators after the election
[34:07] realize the difficulty there
[34:11] so thank you. Other questions?
[34:16] pp re ci ate your good work and
[34:17] we'll stay in touch. We want to
[34:19] make sure that sitting members
[34:22] do take advantage of this
[34:23] opportunity.
[34:24] thank you madam Cha happy to
[34:26] continue to to work with NCSL on
[34:27] any opportunities they may
[34:29] provide. Thank you. thank you
[34:34] and finally on our agenda it is
[34:36] still you the language exis
[34:39] needs assessment RSP RFP
[34:41] thank you madam chair and
[34:42] members of the committee. yes
[34:44] again keeping you from
[34:46] adjournment so I apologize for
[34:48] that as you may recall in
[34:53] 2024 there was a group of of
[34:55] legislators advocates other
[34:56] experts called the
[34:56] languagenguage Access boardard
[34:58] that met over the interim to
[35:00] make recommendations about
[35:01] improving
[35:03] language access to the
[35:05] legislative process for folks
[35:06] with limited English
[35:08] proficiency. that group
[35:10] issued a final report with
[35:11] recommendations one of their
[35:13] recommendations was that the
[35:15] executive committee continued
[35:17] to discuss this issue and
[35:18] consider issuing and
[35:20] conducting an assessment for
[35:21] language access needs in the
[35:22] legislature
[35:25] so we're separate from that
[35:27] process and building from it a
[35:29] group of language access
[35:32] advocates has continued this
[35:34] work and been meeting to discuss
[35:36] how to prove language access
[35:40] access for for populations with
[35:41] limited English proficiency
[35:45] and they have put together some
[35:47] draft a draft suggestion which
[35:50] I've incorporated in a request
[35:51] for proposals which you should
[35:51] have before you today
[35:55] so the language of the
[35:57] requirements of the request for
[35:58] proposals has come from this
[36:00] group but essentially folds
[36:03] it into an RFP process for your
[36:05] consideration if you approve
[36:08] the RFP it outlines the
[36:10] requirements or the RFP proposes
[36:13] to hire an outside contractor to
[36:14] conduct this assessment the RFP
[36:17] outlines the process that that
[36:18] contractor would need to follow
[36:20] the end result would be a report
[36:21] of recommendations that will
[36:22] come back to the
[36:24] executive committee with
[36:26] specific recommendations about
[36:28] actions that the legislature
[36:30] and the executive committee may
[36:31] consider to improve language
[36:34] access. the group has told me
[36:36] that the process outlined in
[36:38] your draft RFP they expect would
[36:40] take about a year to complete so
[36:43] that's I think the time frame
[36:44] you could expect for a
[36:46] contractor. of course you can
[36:47] the the deadlines and
[36:49] requirements for for when the
[36:50] report would come back or when
[36:51] it's issued our blank currently
[36:52] so
[36:55] looking for input about what
[36:57] you would want there if this was
[36:59] going to move forward so happy
[37:01] to answer any questions about
[37:04] the RFP process or the the
[37:05] report from the languagenguage
[37:06] Aiss coalition that led to the
[37:07] RFP.
[37:10] at a majority leader. thank you
[37:12] madam Chair. I don't have any
[37:13] questions. I just wanted to say
[37:15] thank you. I know this has been
[37:17] from the beginning till now a
[37:19] lot of work and a and a big
[37:20] commitment but so grateful and
[37:22] appreciative that you're
[37:23] connecting with community and
[37:24] you're connecting with experts
[37:26] and others to make sure we do
[37:27] this right we're just not
[37:29] jumping in and trying to do
[37:30] something that we're really
[37:31] trying to hone in and really
[37:33] meet the needs of community so
[37:34] just want to say thank you for
[37:36] that and so appreciative and
[37:37] I'll keep following this
[37:38] thank you
[37:42] M Berger, this does apply not
[37:45] only to languages but also deaf
[37:48] and hard of hearing, M Berer yes
[37:50] that is true the the community
[37:53] has suggested that both issues
[37:56] be contemplated in any RFP
[37:57] issued by the executive
[37:57] committee.
[37:58] excellent
[38:02] penny minority leader Simpson
[38:04] thank you madampeaker have other
[38:06] states other legislators
[38:08] legislations taking this task on
[38:10] already I
[38:14] I do I'm aware that oregon has a
[38:16] fairly robust language access
[38:18] program. I believe they have
[38:20] inhouse office to provide
[38:23] language access services and
[38:24] I believe that's also combined
[38:28] with any sort of
[38:28] accommodations for deaf and hard
[38:29] of hearing
[38:31] individuals as well. I'm happy
[38:32] to research that further and
[38:34] follow up but I believe they're
[38:35] the best example that's coming
[38:36] to mind as they sit here
[38:42] seeing no further discussion we
[38:43] don't need a motion on this
[38:45] today, correct? Thank you M
[38:45] Berger.
[38:48] members any other business
[38:49] for the good of the group?
[38:53] the question was raised will
[38:55] there be another meeting? I
[38:57] think as all of you are aware
[38:59] once new leadership is elected
[39:02] for the seventy6th General
[39:03] assembly there will be the
[39:05] formation of a
[39:07] an executive committee for the
[39:11] seventy6th and a we will stay on
[39:12] as the executive committee for
[39:15] the seventyfifth. Um, hopefully
[39:17] that means that the seventyixth
[39:19] executive committee gets all the
[39:20] hard work and that we get to
[39:24] coast from here on outs oh
[39:25] Directorcastssell's gonna
[39:27] correct me on thatrectorcaststle
[39:30] Natalie Cass the legislative
[39:31] council staff no you are
[39:32] absolutely correct. I just sat
[39:34] down to tell you all that that
[39:36] if this is our last meeting how
[39:37] much I love working for all of
[39:40] you and that includes youmel
[39:43] rodriguez online I am so
[39:44] grateful for the work of this
[39:46] committee and and your
[39:47] leadership and for your support
[39:49] of staff. thank you so much for
[39:50] everything you've done. Thank
[39:51] you
[39:54] and on that happy note seeing
[39:56] no further business the legis
[39:57] the executive committee of the
[39:58] legislative council is
[39:59] adjourned.