Rep. Mike Andrade

Requires the behavioral health and human services licensing board to administer the professional counselors licensure compact (compact). Adopts the compact. Sets forth requirements of a member state. Sets forth the duties and authority of the counseling compact commission (commission). Allows a counselor in a home state to practice via telehealth in a member state. Allows each member state to have one delegate on the commission. Establishes the procedure to withdraw from the compact. Makes conforming changes.

Requires that an owner or operator of a public accommodation must activate closed captioning on all television receivers that are in use during regular hours. Allows the civil rights commission (commission) to investigate violations and enforce compliance. Provides that the commission may impose a civil penalty of $75 for each violation. Establishes certain notice requirements. Requires that the commission waive a civil penalty if an owner or operator complies not later than 30 days after a notice is mailed for the first violation.

Repeals the supplemental fees imposed on electric and hybrid vehicles.

Requires the person or entity having authority over a public school building to test for radon in the lowest level of the school building before January 1, 2025, and report the test results to the state department of health. Requires the state department of health to record the test results in a data base and to use the data base in its efforts to reduce the health risks of radon to the people of Indiana.

Establishes the ambulance assessment fee (fee) and the ambulance assessment fee fund (fund). Requires the office of the secretary of family and social services (office) to establish the fee based upon the best available data. Requires a provider organization to be assessed the fee. Provides that the office shall make expenditures from the fund in a manner consistent with applicable federal law. Requires the office to establish and distribute a schedule of payment amounts in a manner that reduces the gap between Medicaid rates and average commercial rates. Requires the office to consult with the Indiana emergency medical services association in the development and implementation of the payments. Specifies that the fee is in addition to, and does not replace, any state general fund appropriations to support provider organization reimbursements. Prohibits the office from lowering Medicaid rates for provider organizations as a result of the fee.

Provides that a person who enters a marked off area after having been denied entry by a firefighter commits interfering with public safety. (Under current law, the offense is committed only if the person is denied entry by an emergency medical services provider or a law enforcement officer.) Increases the penalty for obstruction of traffic under certain circumstances.

Provides for placement of a newborn safety device at any facility that is staffed by an emergency medical services provider on a 24 hour per day, seven day per week basis, provided the newborn safety device: (1) is located in an area that is conspicuous and visible to staff; and (2) includes a dual alarm system that is connected to the facility and is tested at least one time per month to ensure the alarm system is in working order. Provides for placement of a newborn safety device at any fire department, including a volunteer fire department that: (1) meets the minimum response time established by the county, not to exceed four minutes; (2) is located within one mile of a hospital, police station, or emergency medical services station that meets certain requirements; (3) is equipped with an alert system that, when the newborn safety device is opened, automatically connects to the 911 system and transmits a request for immediate dispatch of an emergency medical services provider to the location of the newborn safety device and is tested at least one time per month to ensure the alert system is in working order; and (4) is equipped with an independent video surveillance system that allows at least two members of a fire department to monitor inside the newborn safety device at all times. Provides that a person who in good faith voluntarily leaves a child in a newborn safety device located at such a facility or fire station is not obligated to disclose the parent's name or the person's name. Makes conforming amendments.

Adds any variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), including coronavirus disease (COVID-19), to the list of diseases considered an exposure risk disease for purposes of emergency and public safety employee death and disability presumed in the line of duty. Provides, for any employee who is diagnosed after June 30, 2021, with a health condition caused by any variant of SARS, including COVID-19, that if the health condition results in disability or death and the employee wishes to have a presumption of disability or death incurred in the line of duty apply to the employee, the employee shall, by written affidavit executed before death, provide verification that the employee has not, outside the scope of the employee's current employment, been exposed to another individual known to have any variant of SARS, including COVID-19. Makes technical corrections.

Specifies that it is the policy of the state to recognize the parenting rights of a parent regardless of whether the parent has a disability. Provides that the right of a person with a disability to parent the person's child may not be denied or restricted solely because the person has a disability. Provides that: (1) a court, in: (A) considering the appointment of a person as a guardian; (B) hearing an action to modify custody or an action to determine or modify parenting time; or (C) determining whether to grant a petition for adoption; and (2) the department of child services, in determining whether to grant a person a license to operate a foster family home; may not discriminate against, and shall take into consideration the provision of reasonable accommodations to, a person with a disability.

Defines "mental health diagnosis" and sets forth requirements that must be met in order for certain licensed professionals to provide a mental health diagnosis. Requires certain mental health professionals who are making a mental health diagnosis and who determine that the patient may have a physical condition that requires medical attention or has not been examined by a physician, an advanced practice registered nurse, or a physician assistant in the preceding 12 months to: (1) advise the patient to schedule, and offer to assist the patient with scheduling, a physical examination for the patient; (2) provide the patient with a list of practitioners and certain information concerning the practitioners; and (3) coordinate patient care with the practitioner as appropriate. Requires documentation of the actions of the licensed professional in the patient's medical record.