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VA and VT Introduce ‘First Comprehensive AI Legislation’ of 2024 Legislation has been introduced in Virginia ( HB 747 ) and Vermont ( HB 710 ) that would set standards for developers of “high risk”—meaning designed to make...

CA Legislature Passes Bill Requiring Insurers to Cover PrEP California’s Legislature passed a bill ( SB 339 ) that would require health insurance companies to cover the cost of pharmacist-filled orders of PrEP medications, which prevent the transmission...

Medical debt is crushing Americans across the nation. Recent surveys have found that roughly a third of working-age Americans are struggling with medical debt , while more than half of Americans have been unable to pay medical bills on time or in full...

FL House Panel Advances Aggressive Children’s Online Safety Bill Florida’s House Judiciary Committee approved a bill ( HB 1 ) that would prevent those under 16 from having a social media account and require social media platforms to confirm...

FL Senate Passes Health Care Workforce Bills Florida’s Senate passed legislation ( SB 7016 and SB 7018 ) that would allocate $800 million for bolstering the state’s health care workforce, including by providing tuition assistance for medical...

The political divide on “ gender-affirming care ” has contributed to a patchwork of state laws in recent years that has made the issue a challenging one for compliance officers in the health care sector. That state of affairs is set to continue...

SEC Approval of Bitcoin ETFs First Step of ‘Technological Revolution’ in Finance Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 applications to establish exchange-traded funds that track the current price of Bitcoin. The go...

Health Care Workforce and Mental Health Services Bills Advance in FL Florida Senate committees advanced a pair of bills ( SB 7016 and SB 7018 ) aimed at bolstering the state’s health care workforce and expanding access to mental health services...

It’s still only January, but you’d be forgiven if you had a little Groundhog Day -esq déjà vu after looking at the slate of artificial intelligence bills pending in state legislatures. Early into the new year, it’s clear...

STATE NET ® THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES Interest in Artificial Intelligence Creates a Flurry of Legislative Activity Not too long ago the social conversation about generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools—which utilize algorithms to generate...

We enter 2024 in a world full of uncertainty and tension. Wars in Israel and the Ukraine. A looming presidential election that threatens to divide our divided country even more. An economy that may, or may not, be teetering on the edge of a recession...

Epic Battles Apple and Google from Courthouse to Statehouse Last week a jury in San Francisco handed Epic Games, developer of the popular video game Fortnite, a rare victory over a Big Tech company, finding that Google violated federal and California...

NY Ends Reporting of Medical Debt New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill ( SB 4907 ) prohibiting hospitals and health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit agencies, and barring credit agencies from collecting information about...

If advocates like Bill Gates get their way, the acronym SMR may soon become critical to fighting climate change. SMR stands for “ small modular reactor ,” a type of nuclear reactor that has about a third of the generating capacity of traditional...

S&P Analyst Says P/C Insurers to Face Regulatory Resistance to Rate Increases Next Year At a Standard & Poor’s webinar last week entitled “IN/sights: Outlook and Trends for U.S. Insurers—What to Expect in 2024 and Beyond,”...

NM AG Sues Meta for Exposing Minors to Sex Abuse New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) filed a lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta gives sexual predators free access to minors. Torrez said other lawsuits filed against the...

FL Senate President Outlines Health Care Priorities for 2024 Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) unveiled her health care agenda for next year. It includes addressing workforce shortages, establishing new teaching hospitals for behavioral...

Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize any industry that relies heavily on data. So it’s no wonder that the insurance industry is delving deeper and deeper into AI, to the concern and consternation of regulators everywhere...

OpenAI Ousts CEO Sam Altman The board of directors of OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, announced on the company’s blog last week that its CEO Sam Altman would be stepping down. The blog post said the company had conducted “a deliberative review...

MA Lawmakers to Weigh Four-Day Work Week The Massachusetts House Labor and Workforce Development Committee scheduled a hearing last week on legislation ( HB 3849 ) that would provide tax credits to businesses that join a pilot program to test a four...

Bills to Overhaul Long-Term Care and Control Prescription Drug Costs on Move in MA The Massachusetts House unanimously passed a bill ( HB 4178 ) that would overhaul the long-term care industry, while the Senate unanimously approved a measure ( SB 2492...

For more than half a year, labor strife has swept the country. First, Hollywood writers went on strike in May. Then actors joined them in walking off the set a couple months later, in July. Detroit auto workers began a series of escalating strikes...

IL Lawmakers Approve Bill Lifting Moratorium on Nuclear Power Plants: The Illinois General Assembly passed legislation ( HB 2437 ) that, as amended, will lift a nearly four-decades-old moratorium on new nuclear power plants, opening the door for cutting...

Actors Reach Deal with Hollywood Studios The actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, reached a tentative contract agreement with Hollywood studios last week. In July, actors joined the strike initiated by screenwriters in May over streaming-service pay and...

MI Lawmakers Pass Bill to Repeal Pharma Immunity Shield The Michigan Legislature passed a bill ( SB 410 ) that would repeal a law passed in 1995 preventing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Bloomberg Law reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer...