Rep. Mark Hashem

Maddy summaryThe provided context does not include specific details about HB 37's provisions, affected parties, or policy mechanisms. The bill's title ("RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCES") and abstract ("Short form bill relating to natural resources") are too generic to describe concrete changes. Without additional information on its content or purpose, a substantive summary cannot be generated. This bill appears to be in its earliest legislative stage (prefiled, introduced, referred to committee) with no substantive details available.

Requires the State to consider hurricane resistant criteria when designing and constructing new state buildings, constructed on or after 7/1/2025, for the capability of providing shelter refuge.

Authorizes law enforcement and fire officers to enter and inspect any licensee's or permittee's premises, under certain conditions, to verify compliance with the State's Fireworks Control Law. Establishes procedures for the Department of Law Enforcement to conduct administrative inspections of controlled premises. Requires certain licensees and permittees to keep records and maintain inventories. Requires licensees and permittees to report any stolen fireworks or articles pyrotechnic. Authorizes a law enforcement agency or county fire department to safely dispose of confiscated fireworks and articles pyrotechnic. Requires violators to be held liable for storage and disposal costs. Specifies that each type of prohibited firework constitutes a separate violation. Authorizes the Department of Law Enforcement, in addition to the counties, to enforce the Fireworks Control Law. (CD1)

Increases the maximum fine for violations of the fire protection laws. Specifies that each day a violation exists or continues to exist shall constitute a distinct and separate offense. Raises the criminal penalty for the offense of arson in the fourth degree to a class C felony if the offense was committed during the time period and within the geographic area in which a red flag warning was in effect. Provides that the state of mind requirement with respect to the attendant circumstance that the red flag warning was in effect is negligence. (SD1)

Authorizes the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to appoint an organization as the limited owner of a cemetery, under certain circumstances, for the purposes of filing complaints and engaging in certain security and perpetual care activities for the cemetery. Requires an appointed limited owner of a cemetery to submit annual progress reports to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. (CD1)

Authorizes a state department, division, or agency, rather than the Department of Human Resources Development, to conduct a minimum qualification review of applicants for vacant positions within the department, division, or agency. Requires the Department of Human Resources Development to provide state departments, divisions, and agencies the applications received for vacancies under certain circumstances. (CD1)

Expands the existing exemption from state law governing child care for United States Department of Defense-certified child care providers on federal property to those operating off federal property. (SD1)

Appropriates funds to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Department of Education to support health care workforce development programs, specifically the public high school health care workforce certificate program and glidepath program for certified nurse aides. Appropriates funds to renovate and equip certain public high school classrooms to be used for health care training. (CD1)

Beginning 7/1/2026, establishes provisional or associate-level licensure requirements for marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists and authorizes insurance reimbursements in certain circumstances; authorizes psychologist license applicants who possess a provisional license to sit for the licensing examination before completing certain supervised experience requirements; and authorizes insurance reimbursements for services provided by a supervised social work intern in certain circumstances. Appropriates funds out of the Compliance Resolution Fund. (CD1)

Allows registered pharmacists during declared states of emergency to refill prescriptions for persons directly impacted by the emergency for up to a thirty-day supply if the practitioner is unavailable or cannot be contacted to authorize the refill and if, in the pharmacist's professional judgment, failure to refill the prescription might interrupt the patient's ongoing care and have a significant adverse effect on the patient's well-being. (CD1)