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States Target School Cell Phone Use At least four states have banned or severely restricted the use of smart phones in schools in the current legislative biennium. Florida became the first state to do...
Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs Creating Headaches for State Regulators With popular weight-loss drugs like Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy in short supply, many doctors, pharmacies and other providers have...
In their seminal book on the American health care system, legendary investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele offered a disturbing metaphor for the illogical nature of medical pricing...
PA Lawmakers Pass Bill Regulating PBMs The Pennsylvania legislature passed a bill ( HB 1993 ) aimed at increasing oversight of pharmacy benefit managers. If signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), the measure...
In a sign of the times, states have begun pursuing bills that require disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence. In March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed SB 149 , making the state the first...
The Biden administration is considering restrictions on the export of advanced chips used for artificial intelligence to China. Administration officials have expressed concerns that China could use the AI chips—made by companies like Advanced Micro Devices, Intel and Nvidia—to guide its weapons, conduct cyber warfare and help track dissidents and minority groups. (NEW YORK TIMES)
Tech industry group NetChoice has filed a lawsuit aimed at overturning a new Arkansas law (SB 396) requiring social media platforms to verify the age of users and obtain parental consent from minors. The lawsuit is the first major legal test for recent state efforts to police youth access to social media. (PLURIBUS NEWS, STATE NET)
The Department of Commerce announced $42.45 billion in funding for high-speed internet infrastructure deployment. Every state will receive a minimum of $107 million, with the 10 largest allocations—all over $1 billion—going to Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington. (WHITEHOUSE.GOV)
California’s Supreme Court will consider a challenge to Proposition 22, the 2020 ballot measure backed by DoorDash, Lyft and Uber that resulted in gig workers being classified as independent contractors instead of employees. A lower court upheld the ballot measure in March. (SACRAMENTO BEE)
A group of anonymous individuals have filed a potential class action lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco alleging OpenAI Inc, the developer of ChatGPT, is obtaining “vast amounts” of personal data without consent to train its AI models. Estimating the number of harmed individuals to be in the millions, they are seeking $3 billion in damages. (INSURANCE JOURNAL)
DoorDash said last week it will offer its delivery workers the option of being paid a guaranteed minimum hourly rate instead of per delivery. It wouldn’t be a true hourly rate, based instead on the time workers spend on deliveries from order to drop-off “plus 100% of tips,” the company said. Its offer comes as it and other app-based gig companies such as Lyft and Uber are being required to pay delivery workers in New York City a minimum wage of $18 an hour. (TECH CRUNCH)
—Compiled by SNCJ Managing Editor KOREY CLARK
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