Sen. Lauren Book

Health Care Practitioner Discipline; Subjecting health care practitioners to disciplinary action for specified offenses; revising provisions relating to immediate suspension of licensure to apply to all health care practitioners; requiring the Department of Health to issue emergency orders to suspend health care practitioners’ licenses if they enter a criminal plea to, or are convicted or found guilty of, a felony relating to homicide or are arrested for committing or attempting, soliciting, or conspiring to commit acts that would constitute violations of specified criminal offenses, etc.

Child Welfare; Transferring existing provisions relating to the central abuse hotline of the Department of Children and Families; providing criminal, civil, and administrative immunity to child protective investigators who report known or suspected animal cruelty; requiring the department to make available specified training for caregivers of children in out-of-home care; requiring the department to develop an alternative plan for providing community-based child welfare services under certain circumstances, etc.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety; Revising and providing requirements for the driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle or other nonmotorized vehicle or an electric bicycle; providing exceptions; providing a penalty; requiring the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to provide an annual awareness and safety campaign regarding certain safety precautions; exempting a motor vehicle driver from certain provisions relating to no-passing zones when overtaking a bicycle or other nonmotorized vehicle or an electric bicycle; making a technical change; revising requirements for vehicles turning at intersections; prohibiting persons riding bicycles in a bicycle lane from riding more than two abreast, etc.

Sexual Offender Registration; Redefining the term “sexual offender”, etc.

Consent for Pelvic Examinations; Revising the definition of the term “pelvic examination”; revising the circumstances under which a pelvic examination may be performed without consent; providing that certain health care practitioners and students need only obtain written consent for the initial pelvic examination for certain patients under certain circumstances; requiring such written consent form to inform the patient that multiple pelvic examinations may be conducted during the course of care and treatment, etc.

Child Support; Revising requirements for child support depositories in Title IV-D cases; requiring the depositories to transmit case data through and set up appropriate payment accounts in the Clerk of the Court Child Support Enforcement Collection System upon certain notice from the Department of Revenue; prohibiting the treatment of incarceration as voluntary unemployment for purposes of establishing or modifying child support orders, with exceptions; authorizing the department to include confidential and exempt information in unencrypted electronic mail communications with parents, caregivers, or other authorized persons under certain circumstances, with exceptions, etc.

Public Records/Buyer or Transferee/Ammunition; Expanding an existing exemption from public records requirements to include records containing certain information pertaining to a buyer or transferee who is not found to be prohibited from receipt or transfer of ammunition; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Medicaid Eligibility; Revising the period of eligibility for Medicaid for postpartum women, etc.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse; Requiring facilities to inform respondents with a serious mental illness of the essential elements of recovery and provide them assistance in accessing a continuum of care regimen; authorizing the state to establish that a transfer evaluation was performed by providing the court with a copy of the evaluation before the close of the state’s case in chief; revising the requirements for when a person may be taken to a receiving facility for involuntary examination; revising the requirements for when a person may be ordered for involuntary inpatient placement; requiring the clerk of the court to notify the state attorney’s office upon the receipt of a petition filed for involuntary treatment services, etc.

Bullying in Public K-12 Educational Institutions; Requiring school districts to adopt and review every 3 years a zero-tolerance policy prohibiting bullying and harassment of a student or employee of a public K-12 educational institution; requiring a district’s policy to substantially conform to the Department of Education’s model zero-tolerance policy; requiring a district’s policy to contain specified consequences for a student who commits an act of bullying or harassment; requiring the Department of Education to fine a district school board if the department finds the district school board has failed to enforce the school district’s zero-tolerance policy, etc.