October 08, 2024

CA’s Ban on ‘Captive Audience’ Meetings & Suspended Dockworkers’ Strike

CA Prohibits ‘Captive Audience’ Meetings California Gov. Newsom (D) signed a bill ( SB 399 ) prohibiting businesses from requiring employees to attend employer-sponsored meetings concerning religious or political matters. The measure was one of nearly a dozen introduced this year targeting such “captive audience” meetings, which are sometimes used to deliver anti-union messaging. ( SACRAMENTO...

October 08, 2024

CA’s Enactment of AI in Healthcare Bills, CA Gov’s Veto of Private Equity in Healthcare Bill & More

CA Enacts Guardrails for Use of AI in Healthcare California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a pair of bills making the state one of the first to establish guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. One of the measures ( SB 1120 ) sets requirements for the use of AI by insurers for utilization review or utilization management. The other ( AB 3030 ) requires healthcare providers to disclose when they...

October 08, 2024

Fight Over California Bill Shows How Tricky Regulating AI Becoming

From Concord, New Hampshire to Sacramento, California and the overwhelming majority of state capitols in between, artificial intelligence has been one of the hottest topics in state legislatures this year. More than 650 bills referring to artificial intelligence have been introduced in 2024, with over 250 of the bills in 34 states dealing substantively with the issue, according to the LexisNexis® State Net®...

September 17, 2024

NetChoice’s Leadership of Tech’s Legal Fights with States, States’ Call for Social Media Warning Labels & More

NetChoice Leads Tech’s Legal Battle Against State Regulation Tech trade association NetChoice has become the chief litigator for the industry. In the last few years the organization has filed 10 lawsuits aimed at blocking new state laws relating mostly to social media and children’s online safety, and it has won temporary injunctions in nine cases, most recently in Utah, where a federal judge blocked implementation...

September 17, 2024

CA’s AI in Healthcare Legislation, NJ’s Health Insurer Oversight Bill & More

AI in Healthcare Bills Awaiting Gov’s Action in CA California could soon establish new guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare with a pair of bills awaiting action by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). One of the measures ( SB 1120 ) would set requirements for the use of AI by insurers for utilization review or utilization management. The other ( AB 3030 ) would require healthcare providers to disclose...

September 17, 2024

How Autonomous Vehicles Could Dramatically Change Car Insurance

If an autonomous vehicle hits another car or a pedestrian, who’s to blame? The manufacturer or software developer? Other parties like computer programmers, satellite mapping companies, or even state governments? Or perhaps the non-driving human occupants of the vehicle who might be liable for actions they direct? With autonomous vehicles or AVs slowly gaining market share and the technology rapidly advancing,...

September 11, 2024

Fight Over AI Bill in CA, Skyrocketing Bitcoin ATM Fraud & More

Tech Lobby Zeroes In on AI Bill in CA Opponents of a first-of-its-kind bill ( SB 1047 ) in California aimed at regulating major developers of artificial intelligence outnumbered supporters of the measure by 3 to 1, according to analysis by the state’s Senate . Although those 150 artificial intelligence companies, trade groups and other entities and individuals failed to kill the Safe and Secure Innovation for...

September 11, 2024

CA’s Private-Equity Healthcare Acquisition Bill & MA’s Nursing Home Industry Law

CA Nears Restricting Private-Equity Healthcare Acquisitions The California Legislature passed a bill ( AB 3129 ) that, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), would require the state attorney general’s approval before a private equity group or hedge fund could acquire a health care facility or provider in the state. Indiana and Illinois passed similar legislation after the recent closures of several private equity...

September 11, 2024

Democrats Seek to Protect Workers from Anti-Union Captive Audience Meetings

In at least parts of the country, unions are on the upswing. After last year’s hot labor summer , The New Yorker in April declared President Biden “ the most pro-labor president since F.D.R. ,” underscoring the rising strength of unions in America. Another sign of labor’s strength: This past July, Illinois became the latest state to prohibit employers from making their workers attend anti-union...

September 04, 2024

CA’s Potentially Standard-Setting AI Bill & Brazil’s Shutdown of Social Network X

CA Lawmakers Approve Potentially Standard-Setting AI Bill The California Legislature passed a bill ( SB 1047 ) that could become the national standard for regulating artificial intelligence. The measure would require AI companies that spend more than $100 million on training an AI model or over $10 million on modifying one to test whether those models could cause mass casualties or major property damage before releasing...

September 04, 2024

Passage of PBM Bill in CA, States’ Tussle with Drug Makers Over Discounted Drugs

CA Lawmakers Pass PBM Legislation California joined a nationwide movement to tighten restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers with the approval of SB 966 days before adjourning its legislative session on Aug. 31. If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) the measure will establish licensing requirements for PBMs and require them to report to the state’s Department of Insurance the fees they charge pharmacies and the...

September 04, 2024

Legislation Regulating Brain-Wave Monitoring May Become Trend

Data privacy, long a focus of state lawmakers across the country, is poised to enter a new space: your brain. Elon Musk has been making headlines for years now with his company Neuralink , which seeks to someday combine human consciousness with artificial intelligence but in the meantime is looking into implanting computer chips into human brains to treat neurological disorders like Parkinson’s . This technology...

August 27, 2024

CA’s Journalism Funding Deal with Google, WY’s Digital Dollar & More

Google Agrees to Help Fund Journalism in CA California lawmakers reached a deal with Google that will provide about $250 million in public and private funding for newsrooms across the state over the next five years. Although Google has committed to spending $105 million on the effort, critics say that’s roughly the amount of money the company makes in half an hour. ( PLURIBUS NEWS ) WY to Introduce Own Digital...

August 27, 2024

MA’s New Maternal Health Care Access Law, NJ’s Elimination of $100M in Medical Debt & More

MA Expands Access to Maternal Health Care Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy (D) signed legislation ( HB 4999 ) expanding access to maternal health services in the state. Among other things, the measure provides for the licensing of midwives—reducing the number of states without licensed midwives to 11—as well as mandates coverage of midwives and doulas under Medicaid. ( MASSLIVE ) NJ Erasing $100M of Residents’...

August 27, 2024

Legal Status of Fantasy Sports in Limbo in Many States

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal law prohibiting state-authorized sports betting in May 2018 , it wasn’t just state legislatures that sprang into action. The fantasy sports behemoths DraftKings and FanDuel also mobilized to become sportsbooks. Indeed, DraftKings and FanDuel have become so synonymous with sports betting at this point that you’d be forgiven if you had forgotten they started...

August 21, 2024

AI Doomsday Bill in CA, Possible Wave of Biological Privacy Laws & More

AI Doomsday Bill Moves Closer to Passage in CA The California Assembly’s Appropriations Committee advanced a first-of-its kind bill ( SB 1047 ) aimed at preventing mass human casualties or property damage caused by artificial intelligence. The Senate passed the measure in May, but it was amended in the Assembly to address tech industry objections. The changes included forgoing the creation of a new agency for...

August 21, 2024

PBM Bill Nearing Passage in CA

Bill Regulating PBMs Nearing Passage in CA California lawmakers are on track to pass a bill ( SB 966 ) in the coming weeks regulating pharmacy benefit managers. The measure would prohibit PBM practices as steering patients to PBM-affiliated pharmacies and “spread pricing,” charging insurers or drug plans more than the cost of reimbursing pharmacies. It would also require PBMs to regularly disclose information...

August 21, 2024

As Temperatures Rise, Lawmakers Eye More Heat Protections for Workers

Cities across the country have been setting heat records all summer long. Indeed, the three hottest days on record for the entire Earth were all set in July, according to the United Nations. “Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, attributing the problem to climate change . Hundreds of workers have died from heat exposure over...

August 14, 2024

AI at NCSL Summit, AI Enactments in IL & More

AI Big Issue at NCSL Summit Artificial intelligence was a major focus of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2024 Summit in Louisville last week, with 10 sessions devoted to various aspects of the issue. And while 2024 seemed like the year of AI in state legislatures, particularly with the passage of first-in-the-nation comprehensive AI legislation in Colorado ( SB 205 ), it may just be a preview of...

August 14, 2024

Moratorium on Some Homeowners’ Insurance Policy Cancellations in CA, LA Tackling High Insurance Rates & More

CA Insurance Commissioner Orders Moratorium on Cancellations for Fire-Impacted Homeowners California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a one-year moratorium on the cancellation or non-renewal of residential insurance coverage for more than 185,000 policyholders impacted by recent major fires in the state. The moratorium shields homeowners within the perimeters or adjoining ZIP codes of the fires for one year...

August 13, 2024

State Lawmakers Turn Attention to Pharmacy Benefit Managers

A recent analysis by the website GoodRx found that the cost of prescription drugs in the United States has risen 37 percent over the past decade, outstripping inflation . Drug companies, insurers and the government often take the blame for these skyrocketing prices. But a recent New York Times investigation points to another culprit: pharmacy benefit managers, intermediaries between drug companies and insurers, which...

July 30, 2024

Gig-Driver Ballot Measure Upheld in CA & Call for FTC Investigation of Driver Data Collection

CA High Court Upholds Gig-Economy Ballot Measure California’s Supreme Court ruled that a ballot measure passed by the state’s voters in 2020, allowing Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to continue classifying their California drivers as independent contractors, did not limit the Legislature’s authority over worker protections. The gig-economy companies backed the measure, Proposition 22, to avoid having to reclassify...

July 30, 2024

MT Follows Nonprofit Hospital Oversight Trend & PBM Bill in MA

MT Follows Trend of States Increasing Oversight of Nonprofit Hospitals The Montana Department of Public Health has proposed rules regarding the collection of data on nonprofit hospitals’ charitable acts, including discounting prices and conducting free health screenings. If the rules are adopted in August as officials expect, Montana would become part of a national trend of states seeking to fill gaps in federal...

July 30, 2024

Ozempic’s Popularity Spurs Renewed Interest in Off-Label Prescriptions

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the midst of an Ozempic boom . Exploding demand for the weight-loss drug has sent the value of its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, to the moon and the buzz shows no signs of diminishing. Ozempic’s active ingredient, semaglutide—also found in the equally popular drug Wegovy —is a glucagon-like peptide-1 or GLP-1 receptor agonist approved by the Federal...

July 23, 2024

State Crackdown on Cell Phone Use in Schools, Musk’s Protest of CA Trans Privacy Law & More

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 so last year, and Indiana and Ohio passed bans this year. Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) issued an executive order this month requiring the state’s department of education to set guidelines for making...