July has been the month of healthcare, but many other interesting legislative topics have also been trending this month ranging from free speech to discrimination to student loans to parole proceedings to interesting gun legislation to preferred drugs – check it out!
WI SB250 – The Campus Free Speech Act, free expression within the University of Wisconsin System. This bill aims to recognize that the Wisconsin Constitution gives the right to speak freely and prohibits laws abridging the liberty of speech. It also says institutions have abdicated their responsibility to uphold the right to free speech principles. The legislature believes these failures make it appropriate for the system to restate and confirm its “commitment to enforcing the right of free speech”. The bill goes on to state that “the primary function of an institution is the discovery, improvement, transmission and dissemination of knowledge by means of research, teaching, discussion and debate. This statement shall provide that, to fulfill this function, an institution must strive to ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression.” This topic has become especially relevant with issues of free speech on college campuses in the last election and with sponsored speakers. Organizations like FIRE are committed to upholding this right and many others on college campuses all over the United States.
MO SB43 – Modify the law relating to unlawful discrimination. This bill covers and defines interesting aspects of discrimination. First, it brings in the factor of age and people being discriminated against in the workplace by employers requiring compulsory retirement for sixty-five-year-olds who were employed in a “bona fide” executive or high policy-making position. The bill also states that “disability” does not include “current, illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance”, but that it could be considered if someone is participating in or has completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in the illegal use of a controlled substance. The bill also defines “discrimination” as any unfair treatment taken because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex or age as it relates to employment, disability or familial status as it relates to housing.
NJ S2577 – New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students Loan Program reports. This bill requires Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to provide annual New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students Loan Program reports to the Governor and legislature and to develop student loan comparisons to increase program transparency. The reports need to include detailed information on: number of bonds issued to support the NJCLASS Loan Program; interest rate on those bonds; total principal amount of outstanding bonds and retirement schedule for the bonds; total number and outstanding principal amount of NJCLASS loan; number of loans that have entered default and the total number of collection lawsuits that have been filed; and the number of requests that HESAA has received for loan forgiveness, loan deferment, or loan forbearance. On top of the number of requests that have been granted or denied, they need to provide the reasons for the denial of requests.
MI HB4785 – Veterans Service Dog Act. This bill aims to establish and implement a veterans service dog grant program. It would create a grant program for a fund to finance the acquisition, training and dispersion of the animals. The bill describes the difference between a service dog and a pet and states these dogs will definitely not be pets, but “do work or perform tasks” to improve the quality of life for veterans with disabilities. As we all know, service dogs can immensely impact the quality of life for people with disabilities and are incredibly expensive and difficult to obtain.
TX HB2120 – Relating to good conduct time earned by certain inmates and the consideration of release on parole for those inmates. This bill would allow inmates who fulfill the requirements put forth by the bill to accrue “good conduct time” for purposes of parole panel consideration. Further, the bills requires the parole panel to give special consideration to the amount of good conduct time accrued by the inmate when determining whether the inmate’s release would increase the likelihood of harm to the public.
MS HB786 – Mississippi Church Protection Act. This bill allows of churches to establish a security program by which designated members are authorized to carry firearms for the protection of the congregation of the church or place of worship. Further, the bill allows any member of the security program to be immune from civil liability for any “action taken” if the action in question occurs during the reasonable exercise of and within the course and scope of the member’s official duties as a member of the security program. A person who uses defensive force, under the bill, will be presumed to have reasonably feared imminent death or great bodily harm, or the commission of a felony upon him or another or upon his dwelling, a vehicle, place of work or place of worship.
UT HB0437 – Health care revisions to the preferred drug list. This bill states the Medicaid drug program developed by the department will be based on clinical and cost-related factors ie. medical necessity determined by providers in accordance with administrative rules established by the Drug Utilization Review Board. The drugs to be added to the preferred drug list are immunosuppressive (to inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system to aid the body in preventing the rejection of transplanted organs and tissue) and psychotropic (atypical anti-psychotic, anti-depressant, anti-convulsant/mood stabilizer, anti-anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stimulant) drugs. It also goes into eligibility for the program and benefits and expands eligibility for adults with dependent children.
NJ S298 – Relating to prohibiting the sale or distribution of flavored electronic smoking devices. This bill amends current smoking bills to include information on the on the health risks associated with flavored electronic smoking devices, quickly replacing traditional cigarettes. The bill defines “electronic smoking device” as an electronic cigarette, cigar, cigarillo, or pipe. This bill has been trending off and on all year.
MA H2295 – Relates to the deliberate spread of contagious diseases. This bill bans people who are or have been infected with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), AIDS related complexities (ARC) or other manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from knowingly: engaging in sexual intercourse without first informing the partner of their infection, committing an act of prostitution with another person, selling or donating blood, blood products, semen, tissue, organs, and other bodily fluids and sharing a hypodermic needle or syringe without first informing the person that the syringe has been used by a person infected with HIV. The punishment for breaking this is imprisonment in state prison for a period of no less than five years and no more than 15 years, or by a fine of no less than $5,000 and no more than $15,000, or both.
AR HB1032 – Act 45, The Arkansas Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act. This bill effectively bans the majority of second trimester abortions (after 13 weeks or 3 months) in Arkansas and gives control of women’s bodies to other people in their lives. “Dismemberment Abortions” also known as a dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure is the safest way for a woman to have an abortion in the second trimester. This act would make D&E procedures a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine or six years in prison. The second part of this bill is it would allow women to be barred from having an abortion by their spouse or family member, even in instances of spousal rape or incest. For more information on recent abortion bills go here or here, for other abortion blogs go here and here.
Again, very interesting bills trending around the United States. I find the free speech, church protection and AIDs bills the most intriguing. It seems like we are only fighting this battle around healthcare, but other bills with interesting implications are also being proposed and passed. It makes me wonder what bills we are missing that we should be concerned about, or happy about. What do you think?
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