Sen. David Suetterlein

Commending Peter A. Blake.

Commending Scott McGeary.

Development of offshore wind capacity; prohibited cost recovery.

Department of Medical Assistance Services; Departmentof Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; 1915(c) Home andCommunity Based Services Medicaid Waivers; state plan amendments;program rule modifications. Directs the Department of MedicalAssistance Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and DevelopmentalServices to seek to modify the program rules for certain 1915(c)Home and Community Based Services Medicaid Waivers to (i) eliminatethe requirement that, in order for a legally responsible individualto receive reimbursement for personal care services, no one elseis available to provide services to the member; (ii) modify the programrules to allow for respite services when the legally responsibleindividual is the unpaid caregiver; and (iii) modify the programrules to allow a legally responsible individual or stepparent tobe the employer of record. This bill was incorporated into SB 488.

Consumer Data Protection Act; protections forchildren. Requires a controller or processor to obtain verifiableparental consent, defined in the bill, prior to registering any childwith the operator's product or service or before collecting, using,or disclosing such child's personal data and prohibits a controllerfrom knowingly processing the personal data of a child for purposesof (i) targeted advertising, (ii) the sale of such personal data,or (iii) profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legalor similarly significant effects concerning a consumer. The bill also amends the definition of child for purposes of the Consumer DataProtection Act to include any natural person younger than 18 yearsof age.

Sales tax; exemption for food purchased forhuman consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Providesan exemption from local sales and use tax beginning July 1, 2024,for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygieneproducts. The bill also provides an allocation of state revenuesto fund the distribution to localities for funding that would havebeen distributed to them absent the exemption created by the bill.Under current law, such products are exempt from state sales and usetax but are subject to the standard local rate of one percent.

Electric utilities; retail competition; aggregatedcompetitive purchasers. Creates a limited exception to the requirementthat the State Corporation Commission must find that a petition for certain competitive purchasers to aggregate their demands to becomequalified to purchase retail electric energy is consistent with thepublic interest in order for the Commission to approve such petition.The bill provides that a customer seeking such approval may remuneratethe utility for any adverse effects to the incumbent utility or itsremaining utility customers contrary to the public interest as determined by the Commission. The bill also provides that such customers shallnot be denied permission to procure retail electric energy from acompetitive supplier and that such remuneration fee shall be recalculatedby the Commission on a triennial basis from when a customer commencesa competitive service agreement.

Commending Sandra Gioia Treadway.

Felony homicide; certain drug offenses; penalty. Provides that a person is guilty of felony homicide, which constitutessecond degree murder and is punishable by confinement of not lessthan five nor more than 40 years, if the underlying felonious actthat resulted in the killing of another involved the manufacture,sale, gift, or distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substanceto another and (i) such other person's death results from his useof the controlled substance and (ii) the controlled substance is the proximate cause of his death. The bill provides that venue fora prosecution of this crime shall lie in the locality where the underlyingfelony occurred, where the use of the controlled substance occurred,or where death occurred. The bill also provides that if a persongave or distributed a Schedule I or II controlled substance onlyas an accommodation to another individual who is not an inmate ina community correctional facility, local correctional facility, orstate correctional facility, or in the custody of an employee thereof,and not with intent to profit thereby from any consideration receivedor expected nor to induce the recipient of the controlled substanceto use or become addicted to or dependent upon such controlled substance,he is guilty of a Class 5 felony.

State Air Pollution Control Board; regulations; low-emissions and zero-emissions vehicle standards. Repeals theState Air Pollution Control Board's authority to implement low-emissionsand zero-emissions vehicle standards that apply for vehicles witha model year of 2025 and later.