December 18, 2024

State Lawmakers' Continuing Focus on Telehealth & NY’s New EpiPen Insurance Law

Telemedicine Still ‘Critical Focus’ for State Lawmakers: This year states passed at least 176 bills that adjust existing laws to accommodate the higher demand for telehealth services since the Covid-19 pandemic. That total roughly equals the 171 bills enacted in 2023, indicating that “telehealth remains a critical focus of state legislative efforts, showcasing its growing role in the healthcare landscape...

December 17, 2024

State Legislators Debate ‘Earned Wage Access’ Products

The financial services company Payactiv offers wage earners an enticing pitch. “Live the life you earned,” reads a headline on the company’s homepage. “With Payactiv, you can access your wages as you earn them before payday...” Sounds perfectly reasonable. But Payactiv and its competitors in the burgeoning “earned wage access” industry— DailyPay , Earnin and Dave —are...

December 06, 2024

Pornographic Deepfake Bills in TX & Data Center Energy Challenges for States

TX Lawmaker Targeting Pornographic Deepfake Tools Accessible by Minors Texas Rep. Mary González (D) has prefiled a package of bills for next year’s session targeting minors’ access to artificial intelligence-generated sexually explicit images and videos. The state has already passed legislation dealing with nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes, but these measures would go further, placing requirements...

December 06, 2024

Nursing Home Industry’s Push for Repeal of New Staffing Regulation

Nursing Home Industry Pushing for Repeal of Nurse Staffing Mandate With President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House next year, the nursing home industry has been ramping up its efforts to kill the Biden administration’s new nurse staffing regulation . That mandate—issued in April in response to the over 172,000 covid-related deaths of nursing home residents nationwide during the pandemic—will...

December 05, 2024

Crypto Craze Draws Attention of State Lawmakers

Nearly 16 years after it was made available to the public, bitcoin is poised for its biggest moments yet in 2025. Thanks to growing acceptance among regulators, businesspeople and political leaders, the cryptocurrency just reached a major milestone by topping the $100,000 price point for the first time, and it's on the verge of achieving several others. But while bitcoin’s crossing of that $100,000 threshold...

November 20, 2024

States’ Leadership on AI Regulation to Continue Next Year, Legal Challenges to New CA Tech Laws & More

AI Regulation to Remain in State Hands in 2025 In the absence of congressional action on artificial intelligence, state legislatures have taken the lead on the issue. And that’s likely to continue next year. While it’s unclear how President Trump will approach AI regulation, Craig Albright, senior vice president for U.S. government relations at BSA The Software Alliance, a trade group, said with Republicans...

November 20, 2024

NLRB’s Ban on Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings

NLRB Prohibits Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings In a decision stemming from a complaint over Amazon’s actions before a successful unionization election at a New York warehouse in 2022, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that companies can’t require workers to attend meetings held to discourage workers from unionizing. The NLRB’s ban on such captive audience meetings could be reversed by the Trump...

November 20, 2024

Move to Block UnitedHealth’s Acquisition of Home Care Company, Drug Maker Lawsuits against HHS & More

Federal Regulators Move to Block UnitedHealth Acquisition of Amedisys The U.S. Department of Justice and Democratic attorneys general of Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York filed an antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking UnitedHealth Group from acquiring the home health company Amedisys. UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurer, acquired one of the nation’s largest home health companies, LHC...

November 20, 2024

New Frontiers in AI Regulation

A legal battle over a bill passed this year in California prohibiting political “deepfakes” in the leadup to an election revealed a significantly broader potential area of future artificial intelligence regulation. Well before the legislation was enacted, it touched off a public feud between California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Elon Musk. The dispute began this summer when the loquacious billionaire reposted...

November 12, 2024

End of ESG?

Trump Administration Likely to End ESG Rules Environmental, social and governance regulations will probably be rolled back next year, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Likely targets include Securities and Exchange Commission ESG rules for corporate and fund disclosures, as well as Labor Department ESG requirements for pension funds, according to Rob Du Boff, a senior analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence...

November 12, 2024

Social Media Warning Label Bill Coming in CA Next Year

CA AG Backing Social Media Warning Label Bill in 2025 California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said he’s planning to sponsor legislation next year to require social media platforms to have warning labels indicating they can be harmful to the mental health of adolescents. U.S. Attorney General Vivek Murthy called for Congress to take that same action in June. Bonta also said it was too early to say whether similar...

November 12, 2024

Uncertain Future for Obamacare

Big Changes Ahead for Obamacare? During his campaign President-elect Donald J. Trump said he had the “concepts of a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act, which he attempted to kill in his first term. But with Republicans likely to control both the U.S. House and Senate next year, Trump will have another opportunity to transform the 2010 healthcare law. And that could be as simple as just doing nothing...

November 12, 2024

Voters Decide Ballot Measures Relating to Healthcare, Labor and Tech

Several measures on state ballots last week pertained to industries SNCJ focuses on. Here’s a recap of that Election Day activity. Healthcare Voters in 10 states considered ballot measures dealing with abortion, making it one of the most prominent issues on state ballots this year. But voters also decided a number of other health-related issues. California voters passed two measures ostensibly dealing with...

November 05, 2024

Major AI Bill Coming to TX Next Year

TX to Consider Sweeping AI Bill in 2025 Texas Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R) released draft legislation for the state’s 2025 session that would provide for comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence. Among other things, the bill would require AI developers to take “reasonable care” to prevent discrimination, including by conducting regular testing; mandate notification of consumers when they...

November 05, 2024

Minimum Wage Ballot Measures, MI’s ‘Right to Sit’ Bill & More

Minimum Wage Measures on Ballot in Multiple States Measures aimed at increasing the minimum wage are on the ballot in six states this year. Voters in Alaska and Missouri will consider raising their minimum wages to $15 an hour, while in California the minimum wage target is $18 per hour. Massachusetts and Arizona voters, meanwhile, will weigh minimum wages for tipped workers, which can currently be paid less than workers...

November 05, 2024

Legal Challenge to IL Swipe Fee Law, Possible Delay of New WA Insurance Premium Transparency Requirement & More

IL’s New ‘Swipe’ Fee Law Faces Legal Challenge The Illinois Bankers Association and other organizations filed a federal lawsuit to block a new Illinois law limiting banks from charging interchange, or “swipe,” fees on tax and tip revenues. The Interchange Fee Prohibition Act is scheduled to take effect on July 1 next year. ( CENTER SQUARE ) WA Considering Delay of New Insurance Premium...

November 05, 2024

New Front in Fight Over Social Media Age Gating?

There’s a potential new front opening in the ongoing battle between states and the tech industry over minors’ access to social media, and it comes courtesy of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta. For the past couple of years states have been passing legislation requiring social media platforms to verify the age of their users and either obtain parental consent before allowing minors to access their...

October 22, 2024

Tech Titan’s Battle over Age Gating & Big Tech’s Embrace of Nuclear Power

Battle of Tech Titans Brewing over Age-Gating In response to efforts in multiple states, including Arkansas, California and Texas, to require social media platforms to verify the age of users and obtain parental permission for minors, Facebook parent Meta is pushing for legislation to shift the burden of age-gating onto app stores. Louisiana considered such a proposal this year, South Dakota lawmakers are planning to...

October 22, 2024

Insurance Coverage for Speech Therapy Enactments & DE’s Mammogram Coverage Mandate

Insurance Coverage for Speech Therapy Developing Legislative Trend? Pennsylvania became the second state to enact legislation ( HB 2268 ) requiring health insurers to cover speech therapy for children who stutter. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Brandon Markosek (D), said he drafted it after meeting with former NBA star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who stuttered until receiving speech therapy in college and who started a...

October 22, 2024

California Fails to Counter GOP-Backed Bans on Gender-Affirming Care

There may not be a more a divisive issue in the ongoing culture war than the fight over gender-affirming care, which encompasses a range of behavioral, psychological, social and medical interventions, including hormone treatment and surgery, intended to support an individual’s gender identity. Recent Gallup polling found that a little more than a third of American adults support banning gender-affirming care while...

October 16, 2024

Continuing Wave of AI Legislation & Multiple State Lawsuits Against TikTok

Wave of AI Bills to Continue Next Year As of early September, more than 30 states had passed artificial intelligence-related bills or resolutions this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . California alone enacted 17 AI bills, and Colorado passed a first-in-the-nation law ( SB 205 ) requiring developers of high-risk AI systems to take “reasonable care” to ensure those systems...

October 16, 2024

Multiple Healthcare Enactments in MI, GOP AG’s Challenge to Federal Nursing Home Staffing Requirements & More

MI Addresses Multiple Healthcare Issues Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed over half a dozen bills dealing with healthcare and family support. The measures include SB 790 and SB 791 , allowing home help caregivers to unionize, and SB 929 , increasing pay for healthcare workers and expanding low-income residents’ access to healthcare. ( MICHIGAN ADVANCE ) GOP AGs Challenge Federal Nursing Home Staffing Requirements...

October 15, 2024

Curious State of Corporate Responsibility Legislation

In recent years, the boardroom has become a new front in the culture wars alongside a cacophony of three-letter acronyms. DEI, ESG and CSR. These buzzwords—short for diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental, social and governance; and corporate social responsibility—are the battle cries in the red vs blue fight over corporate behavior that is increasingly playing out in statehouses across the country...

October 08, 2024

Earned Wage Access Legislation & Biden Admin’s Opposition to IL’s Interchange Fee Law

Statehouse Shift Ahead for Earned Wage Access? In recent years earned wage access apps, which allow workers to obtain access to their earnings before they receive their paychecks, have exploded in popularity. And providers including DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn and Payactiv, have been lobbying aggressively for state laws regulating the products as a new financial service that isn’t subject to interest rate limits or...

October 08, 2024

App- and Device-Based Age Verification Legislation Coming in SD & TX AG’s Lawsuit Against TikTok

SD to Consider App- and Device-Based Age Verification Legislation in 2025 The South Dakota Legislature’s Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Internet Access by Minors voted unanimously to ask the Legislative Research Council to draft legislation for next session requiring app stores and makers of mobile phones and tablets to verify the age of users. No state has passed such an app- or...