Weekly Update 07/07/2025
Special Section: One Big Beautiful Bill:
This provides an overview of key policy changes in OBBB. Please let us know if there are any other topic areas that would be helpful…
President and Administration:
Central Texas flash floods emergency, with questions on National Weather Service capabilities: Flash floods triggered by intense overnight rainfall in central Texas have devastated communities, rapidly submerging areas and destroying structures as river levels surged 26 feet…
Congress:
Appropriations: The Senate Appropriations Committee will conduct the first markups of FY26 bills on Thursday (7/10), with (1) Commerce, Justice, Science…
The House Appropriations Committee will conduct markups of FY26 bills next Thursday (7/17), with (1) the Full Committee markup of Transportation, Housing…
California:
With vote to scale back California’s environmental law, legislature clears way for budget: California lawmakers approved Governor Gavin Newsom’s demand to weaken environmental review rules under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in order to accelerate…
Education:
Trump freezes allocations and distributions of formula grant funding, upending school budgets: The Trump administration abruptly froze $6.2 billion in federal education grants—$811 million of which were designated for California—just one day before funds were set…
Sixteen states sue Trump administration to restore mental health grants for schools: Sixteen states, including California, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to abruptly cancel nearly $1 billion…
Mass dismissals of Education Department civil rights complaints prompt concern from former officials: The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) dismissed over 3,400 civil rights complaints in just over three months under the Trump administration, raising serious concerns…