Latest news with #HB13
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Governor vetoes hearing aid bill
Hearing aids can cost patients thousands out of their own pockets. (Photo courtesy of Sony Electronics) Insurance companies doing business in Montana won't have to provide coverage for hearing aids after Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed House Bill 607 earlier this month. State law currently requires insurance companies to cover hearing aids for individuals 18 years and younger. HB 607, brought by Rep. Paul Tuss, D-Havre, would have extended that to all ages. According to a fiscal note attached to a bill, the state estimates the average hearing aid to cost $5,000. In the same note, it said the average number of ears requiring hearing aids is 1.37, meaning a fair number of people require two. 'Typically, insurance will cover the diagnoses for hearing loss. But after that, you're on your own,' Tuss said in a Monday press release. 'By age 75, nearly half of Americans experience hearing loss. The cost of treatment can be a major burden on people's finances— especially those living on fixed incomes. It causes people to put off getting hearing aids and try to get by with reduced hearing.' In his veto letter, Gov. Greg Gianforte called the bill an 'unfunded insurance mandate' that would cost Montana taxpayers $3.5 million. He added that it would need 'increased contributions' from the state's roughly 30,000 public employees. 'Our administration is proud of our work with the Legislature to lower healthcare costs and expand access for Montanans through conservative, free-market principles, not government mandates,' Gianforte wrote in the letter, dated May 2. 'Our conservative, free-market approach stands in stark contrast to the approach of states that embrace costly government rules, regulations, and mandates that distort markets, limit consumer choice, and inflate health care costs.' The day before the veto, Gianforte received a letter from Misty Ann Giles, the director of the state Department of Administration, urging him to veto the bill. In the letter, Giles said the legislation would cost the state between $500,000 to $600,000 annually, which is in line with the bill's fiscal note. 'During negotiations with employees, there was no indication that hearing aid coverage was a needed benefit, and no funding was included in the state's budget or HB 13 to pay for providing that additional benefit,' Giles wrote in the letter. 'Although the additional cost of the expanded hearing aid mandate was noted in the fiscal note for HB 607, no appropriation was included to offset the expense.' Insurance legislation was a priority for Democrats during the session, including laws looking to regulate where the tech industry and medical insurance industry collide. Democratic leadership slammed the veto. 'Under the Hearing Aid Coverage Act, thousands of Montanans would have finally been able to afford to get their hearing back,' House Minority leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula said in a release. 'But today, the Governor chose insurance companies over Montanans. Our multi-millionaire Governor does not know what it's like to choose between getting healthcare and putting food on the table or filling up your tank with gas.' https-api-legmt-gov-docs-v1-documents-shortPdfUrl-documentId-320119-bill-id-HB-607
Axios
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Ban on developing in state parks among Florida bills with early momentum
Florida lawmakers pushed forward bills to rein in animal abandonment, driving under the influence, and development at state parks during the first week of this year's legislative session. Why it matters: The legislative session moves fast — lawmakers have only two months each year to better the lives of Floridians. Here are a few bills that have moved: Stiffer penalties for DUIs: Legislation that would up penalties for driving under the influence and criminalize refusal to submit to a Breathalyzer test advanced last week and has one more committee stop. State Parks Preservation: A bill that would, among other things, ban the construction of golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts in state parks drew bipartisan support in the state House and the state Senate. The House version passed its first committee stop last week. Gulf of America: The Committee on Community Affairs will discuss a bill state Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R-Indian Rocks Beach) filed to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in state statutes on Tuesday. Meanwhile, state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota) withdrew his bill to rename the Tamiami Trail to the "Gulf of America Trail" due to backlash from his constituents. On the insurance front: A bipartisan bill (HB 13) that would have required Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to make windstorm coverage available to all homeowners statewide has been withdrawn. Animal abandonment crackdown: Legislation to make it a third-degree felony to restrain an animal and leave it outside during a natural disaster advanced; the House and Senate versions of the bill each have one more stop. " Trooper's law" is named for a bull terrier found tied to a pole on the side of Interstate 75 near Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa while Floridians evacuated ahead of Hurricane Milton last year. How to watch: Looking to keep up with the Legislature? You can watch the House, Senate and committee hearings online at the Florida Channel. Plus, you can visit to track bills and receive email alerts.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grid modernization, cost concerns clash in debate on energy overhaul
Amid a larger energy transition that promises a move away from fossil fuels alongside sharp increases in demand for electricity, Democratic lawmakers have zeroed in on the changes they say are needed for New Mexico's aging grid to handle increased capacity and changing technologies for generating and deploying electricity. House Bill 13 — or the Power Up New Mexico Act — passed the House on Saturday afternoon after a long debate by a mostly party-line vote of 36-23. Democrats argue it's an important step to bring the state's energy grid into the future, while Republicans pushed back on the potential costs for customers of the state's three privately owned utilities. Bill sponsor Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, D-Albuquerque, called it 'the single most important issue I have ever worked on' in a recent committee hearing, arguing the state's grid is among 'the worst in the nation.' She pointed to the need for grid upgrades in Bernalillo County to accommodate fast chargers for increasing numbers of electric vehicles — including, potentially, electric semi-trucks — and even the need for attention to grids in the Permian Basin to support oil and gas operations. A host of environmental and clean energy advocacy groups were involved in the creation of HB 13 and strongly support the bill, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Western Resource Advocates and the Sierra Club. Hochman-Vigil pointed to dozens of other 'stakeholders' who were involved, such as unions, automobile manufacturers and more. The bill will require the state's three investor-owned utilities to submit plans every three years to state regulators spelling out planned upgrades to their electric distribution systems, aiming to direct focus on building a better grid to handle more demand and to more efficiently connect new businesses and small-scale solar power systems, which put energy into the grid as well. A similar bill passed last year in Colorado, also with strong support from the Natural Resources Defense Council. GOP questions costs Republicans have pushed back on the bill, objecting to possible rate hikes for electricity customers after increases and added charges have already bloated utility bills in recent years. A request currently pending before regulators would increase average monthly bills for residential Public Service Company of New Mexico customers by about $10 a month. HB 13 provides for utilities to recover the spending associated with their plans through rate increases or tariff riders, which increase the costs of electric bills with supplemental charges. Such added costs must be approved by the state Public Regulation Commission before they can be implemented. Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said at a recent committee hearing he had spoken with leaders of the utilities and heard 'a lot of concerns' about the bill, which he argued would pile more requirements and costs onto the companies and their customers in the years after the 2019 Energy Transition Act mandated a shift away from fossil fuels in New Mexico. 'Their concern is this is another set of separate expenses that will be passed onto their ratepayers,' Montoya said. 'Current ratepayers are not necessarily the target with this — folks who will benefit the most will be economic development ... but current ratepayers would bear the cost.' El Paso Electric and Southwestern Public Service Company both expressed support for HB 13 during hearings on the bill. PNM was neutral on it, a spokesperson said, declining to comment. On the House floor Saturday, Montoya urged all Republicans to vote against the bill, calling it 'an outrageous mandate to utility companies to increase beyond the current need of current customers, and the current customers will have to pay for it.' All the Republicans who were present voted against the bill, and all of the Democrats — with the exception of Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces — voted for it. 'Forward-thinking' bill Advocates of HB 13 have said it won't necessarily raise rates but rather that it will ensure utilities make timely, necessary changes to the grid to comply with laws and regulations already in place. They've argued the incentives to move to more efficient appliances and spur economic development could result in lower energy costs. 'Most of this bill is about refining PRC processes and taking away roadblocks that have stopped us from refining our grid,' Hochman-Vigil said. 'Power Up New Mexico is about removing regulatory barriers to do this faster, better and more efficiently.' Jim Desjardins, executive director of the Renewable Energy Industries Association, said the bill is a 'forward-thinking' measure that will prepare the state for inevitable shifts that are already underway. 'People don't think twice when we talk about investing in our roads,' Desjardins said. 'When was the last time we had an argument about that? People don't like the inconvenience, but it's kind of a similar thing — one moves cars and one moves electricity.' Part of building a 'modern electric grid' is ensuring energy can efficiently move both ways on distribution lines. Desjardins pointed to roadblocks and delays in recent years in connecting PNM customers' rooftop solar systems — including in some neighborhoods in the Santa Fe area — saying recent new regulatory approaches have required the utility to retool interconnection processes to allow for more rooftop solar systems on some distribution lines. The larger project of 'grid modernization' includes many other investments, including 'smart meters,' needed to prepare the grid for changing realities of energy use and generation. 'As we look to the future, we've got to be real and look at integrating these technologies and building a better system,' Desjardins said. Former Public Regulation Commissioner Steve Fischmann expressed support for the bill, comparing the new requirement for distribution plans to the annual integrated resource plans utilities are already required to submit every year, which detail their plans for years to come for new generation resources including solar, wind and battery storage to cover increasing demand. Fischmann said he sees regulators coming to focus more closely on the bigger picture of distribution investments, which he said have been 'virtually unregulated in the past.' 'They're starting to look at it seriously,' he said. 'And more importantly, they're looking at it holistically. They're trying to put all the pieces together, and there are going to be huge investments in distribution and grid modernization going forward.' Gas stoves Some questioned the bill's requirement for 'beneficial electrification' plans from utilities every six years, with approval from the PRC. The plans concern utilities' programs for providing incentives for converting from 'a non-electric fuel source to a high-efficiency electric source' as well as 'avoiding the use of non-electric fuel sources in new construction or industrial applications.' New Mexico Gas Co. staunchly opposes the provision. A lobbyist for the state's largest natural gas utility argued in a hearing that encouraging customers to move away from gas-powered appliances would hurt their remaining customers, who he said would 'as a result, pay more for that system to be maintained.' 'Are you going to take my gas stove or my water heater?' Rep. Jonathan Henry, R-Artesia, asked during a committee hearing. Hochman-Vigil said any switches from gas to electric appliances would be 'entirely voluntary.' She said the provision does not pass any new standards or lower the emissions goals already in place in the state, but rather requires the utilities to draft plans that state 'how we are going to get there.'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers weigh controversial change to Citizens Insurance with huge implications: 'The price tag is untenable'
Florida House Bill 13 is on the table, and it could dramatically change home insurance policies in the Sunshine State. As reported by Matt Sczesny of WPTV in West Palm Beach, the bill would require Citizens Property Insurance Corp. — a nonprofit insurer created in 2002 to provide insurance to property owners who cannot find coverage in the private market — to provide windstorm coverage to homeowners. Sponsored by Rep. Hillary Cassel, HB13 would make Citizens Insurance available to all property owners in Florida for windstorm damage. While the bill's intent is to provide insurance relief to as many property owners as possible, there is worry about the cost to the state along with the effect on premiums. All this and more could be addressed when lawmakers return to the Capitol in March. Rep. Spencer Roach brought up this proposal, modeled after California's insurance program for natural disaster relief, in February. "It provided insurance for all claims and only claims related to these natural disasters and left the private market to pick up the rest. The result: Rates dropped like a stone," Roach explained. California may or may not be a good model, based on the insurance fallout from the Los Angeles wildfires, but it's clear that homeowners in areas prone to natural disasters are in desperate need of dependable protection. "We would have about $3.2 trillion in insured value," Citizens CEO Tim Cerio told Sczesny during a "Coverage Collapse" special in June. "... The price tag is untenable." This bill could be a game-changer for how residents protect their homes from hurricanes. According to News4Jax, the 2024 hurricane season caused $500 billion in damages across the United States. Florida suffered several billion-dollar weather events, per the National Centers for Environmental Information, including seven severe storms and four tropical hurricanes, three of which made landfall. Warmer ocean temperatures and rising sea levels are making these storms stronger than ever. Per NCEI, 2024 was the warmest year on record, and human activity is at the root of it — more than 75% of the planet's pollution comes from the burning of dirty energy sources such as gas, oil, and coal. What would you do if natural disasters were threatening your home? Move somewhere else Reinforce my home Nothing This is happening already Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Reducing your carbon footprint will contribute to cooling down the planet and decreasing the intensity of storms wreaking havoc on people's lives, their homes, and our Earth. While walking or biking instead of driving and installing solar panels might not seem like a big deal, if we all do our part, it could make a world of difference. A collective effort got us here, and a collective effort can get us out. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
