Latest news with #HouseBill316
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Personhood' for embryos fails, other abortion bills head to governor's desk
Photo illustration by Getty Images. Voters in Montana won't see a proposed constitutional amendment to confer 'personhood' rights on embryos, but a couple of other bills related to abortion are headed to the desk of Gov. Greg Gianforte. Last week, House Bill 316 sponsored by Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, failed to earn the minimum 100 votes out of 150 in the Montana Legislature needed to present a constitutional amendment to voters. The bill came following the passage in November 2024 of Constitutional Initiative 128 to protect abortion. It passed with 58% of the vote. In a statement Friday, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana CEO and President Martha Fuller said Montanans will rest easier knowing the attempt to ignore their wishes and 'undermine the right to an abortion' has failed. 'The government is not now and never will be the expert on the lives, families or pregnancies of Montanans — it's high time for politicians to respect the personal and medical privacy of their constituents,' Fuller said in a statement about HB 316. The bill earned 58 'yes' votes in the House and 33 'yes' votes in the Senate on third readings. The 2025 Montana Legislature has taken up other bills related to abortion, although legislators tabled a number of them. However, House Bill 388 and Senate Bill 154 both are headed to the desk of Gianforte. HB 388, sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, would allow pregnancy centers to operate without regulation. Proponents including the Montana Family Foundation said those centers should not be punished for refusing to facilitate abortions, according to reporting from the Montana State News Bureau. Opponents said those facilities are not required to provide legitimate medical information or protect privacy, and they misinform clients. SB 154, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, prohibits the sale of whole human bodies and human fetal tissue, which is already illegal under federal law. On the Senate floor earlier this session, Emrich said it was 'a great bill' and makes sure bodies and fetal tissue are 'being donated and not sold as a commodity inside the state of Montana.' In the final debate on HB 316, which took place in the Senate on Thursday, Sen. Vince Ricci, R-Billings, said he couldn't imagine a greater violation of human dignity or of privacy than abortion. 'The state has a compelling interest (in) protecting the lives of the most vulnerable human beings, and the human being … in the womb has … a life interest equal to that of his or her mother,' said Ricci, who carried the bill. Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, said those who supported the protection of abortion approved a measure that is 'immoral and wrong.' 'I think abortion is murder, and I'll catch heck for that I'm sure, but it's the killing of a person, a formed, live person. Making it a right to privacy is baloney,' Trebas said. He said the Montana Supreme Court made an inappropriate link to privacy when it extended it to abortion because 'this is the child's body that we're talking about. And they have a right to life.' Minority Leader Pat Flowers said Montanans don't support the attacks against the right to privacy, and it was time to focus on other issues, such as tax bills. 'Call it baloney or not, it's in the Constitution, and it's an important right,' said Flowers, D-Belgrade. Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, said the bill would outlaw in vitro fertilization, and Montanans all love mothers and babies and want more of them in the state. Neumann also asked if the state should control men's bodies. 'If we're going to try to have this type of control over women's bodies, because the fetus is part of the woman's body, are we also going to try to have this type of control over men's bodies?' Neumann said.'Are we going to regulate ejaculation? This is what we're talking about. We are talking about regulating the internal parts of bodies.' Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, said the bill could create a 'legal quagmire' for any doctor who needed to provide medical care to a pregnant woman who was experiencing a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. 'This legislation would effectively tie doctors' hands rather than allowing them to treat their patients without fear or prosecution,' said Smith, a lawyer.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Hampshire House approves a potential solution to surprise ambulance billing
The House voted, 250-85, to approve House Bill 316, which seeks to end balance billing. (Getty Images) Amid a yearslong debate over how to make sure ambulance patients aren't surprised with massive bills even when they have health insurance, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a bill aimed at solving the issue. The House voted, 250-85, to approve House Bill 316, which seeks to end balance billing — the practice of patients being charged the difference between what an ambulance ride costs and what their insurance company agrees to cover — and establish a mandatory rate at which insurers must pay ambulance providers. If enacted, the bill will direct the state Insurance Department to establish a rate every two years based on the work of an independent actuarial and accounting expert, and ambulance providers would be bound to that rate. It would also prohibit the insurer covering the ambulance ride from passing any of the cost onto patients outside what their policy specifies. The bill had the support of Insurance Commissioner D.J. Bettencourt who, in January, said it was 'fundamentally unfair to stick the consumers in the middle of this dispute and give them a bill that they don't understand, that they didn't know was coming and for many of them, they can't afford.' He called the bill 'not perfect,' but 'the most viable solution to a very, very difficult problem.' Earlier this year, the Insurance Department and Public Consulting Group LLC released a report on what the initial rate would be. It recommends a base rate of 202% of the federal Medicare rate for an ambulance or 209% of the Medicare rate per mile the ambulance travels. After two years, the state would update that rate. Opposition to the bill pointed to that rate as too low. Rep. Jerry Stringham, a Lincoln Democrat, argued the bill 'would be devastating to our ambulance providers.' He said there was a 'key flaw' in how the department and its consulting firm derived that number. He argued it shouldn't have factored in the property tax funds ambulance providers receive due to differences in how much localities provide their ambulance providers. In debates over the bill taking place since January, Rindge Republican Rep. John Hunt has argued ambulance services should be viewed as a community service to be paid for by local taxes in the same way fire and police departments are. He reiterated that on the House floor Wednesday. 'I hate to break the news to you everybody, but your town taxes, every one of you, has ambulance service as a line item in their budgets,' Hunt said. 'And that ain't gonna change.' The bill will have to be approved by the Senate and governor before it can become law. The bill beat out an alternative proposal introduced by Rep. Mark Proulx, a Manchester Republican. That bill, House Bill 185, would've had insurers and ambulance providers negotiate a rate among themselves and required insurers covering ambulance rides to directly reimburse the providers. In the event of a rate dispute, this bill would've had the Insurance Department review rates to determine if they are reasonable. The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee unanimously voted to reject that bill. Then, the full House killed it earlier this month on a voice vote.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senators restore full K-12 school funding after court decision
CHEYENNE – On the heels of an unfavorable district court decision on K-12 public school funding this week, state lawmakers restored the full $66.3 million external cost adjustment on Friday. The funding was brought through an amendment introduced by Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, to a school recalibration bill, after the Wyoming Senate nixed the supplemental budget in an unprecedented move Wednesday night. Nethercott's amendment to House Bill 316, 'School finance-model recalibration-2,' restored the full $66.3 million cost adjustment to the K-12 block grant, after legislative appropriators had cut it down to $48.8 million in the supplemental budget. Lawmakers were told last fall the $66.3 million would put the state back on track to fully funding its K-12 public schools. 'As we know, this past week we received some information suggesting that it would be prudent to fully fund the (cost adjustment),' Nethercott said. '... I strongly suggest we do.' Lawmakers faced external pressure to fully fund Wyoming's public schools after a Laramie County district court judge dropped a bombshell 186-page decision Wednesday, finding that Wyoming has unconstitutionally underfunded its K-12 public school system. 'The Court notes, because 2025 is a recalibration year, there is an excellent window of opportunity to address these issues,' District Judge Peter H. Froelicher wrote in his decision. Nethercott's amendment passed by a vote of 19-12. The bill passed the Senate 29-2 and must now pass a concurrence vote in the House of Representatives. If House members concur with the Senate's amendments, the bill will go to the governor's desk for his signature. Child development funding Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, also attempted to tack on $4 million for child development centers to HB 316. This money was originally a mirror amendment in the supplemental budget – meaning it passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate – and it funded half of the original $8 million request by the Wyoming Department of Health. Since the budget was nixed, this money for special education preschools was discarded with it. 'I do want to reiterate how important these centers are,' Landen said. Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper (2025) Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper Representatives from child development centers, including STRIDE Learning Center in Cheyenne, have long told legislators they're at risk of permanently shutting their doors due to insufficient state funding. After the Senate announced it would not pass the supplemental budget, lawmakers quickly worked to find homes for budget items through amendments to various bills. However, some lawmakers pushed back against these amendments, arguing it violated legislative procedure. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, who is a strong supporter of child development center funding, said Friday he regrettably could not support Landen's amendment, because it was not germane to the bill. Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton (2025) Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton 'Everyone here knows how I feel about this issue. I fought tooth and nail for this in the budget,' Salazar said. 'But I need to be intellectually honest – I am concerned about the germaneness of this, in this bill. … It has nothing to do, as you all know, with how I feel about this issue.' Landen's amendment failed to pass the Senate, but a similar approach is taking place down the hall. Rep. Elissa Campbell, R-Casper, made a similar attempt, adding the $4 million child development center appropriation to Senate File 22. Although her amendment failed, Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, told the WTE there could be more attempts to add child development center funding to Senate bills in the House next week. As for the Senate, Landen told the WTE he would not be making any more amendments. 'I am disappointed with today's vote, but I will continue to fight for the work our (child development centers) do,' Landen said in a text message.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wyoming Senate says it won't pass supplemental budget this year
CHEYENNE — Wednesday evening, Senate leaders announced that they will not pass a supplemental budget bill this session. The purpose of a supplemental budget is to 'respond to emergency shortfalls in the biennium budget,' according to a Wednesday night news release. 'The Senate has concluded that now is not the time to increase spending needlessly,' according the release, which did not list any senator besides Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, by name. 'The 2025-2026 biennium budget provides the necessary funding to run the state. With only eight months until budget discussions begin, now is not the time for this supplemental agreement.' Senate leadership acknowledged that issues like the external cost adjustment for K-12 education are critically important, but said 'the Senate has taken the appropriate steps to ensure those items are covered in stand-alone legislation without adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget.' Biteman told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle after the announcement that House Bill 316, 'School finance-model recalibration-2,' now includes $48.8 million, the amount approved by the Appropriations Committee, not the full amount that was recommended in the governor's supplemental budget request. 'There will be an opportunity to adjust that amount accordingly,' Biteman said. The announcement continued that 'it is important that while the Wyoming State Government is debating historic tax cuts and requiring local governments to make difficult decisions, the Wyoming Legislature should do the responsible thing and keep our spending under control as well.' 'Both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature are working hard to deliver property tax relief, and with that comes serious considerations on what we can afford and how. As fiscal conservatives, we know that spending hundreds of millions of dollars while debating massive tax cuts is not the conservative thing to do,' Biteman said in the release. 'The Senate determined that we need to hold off on the budget until we know what the impact of historic property tax cuts and the successful rightsizing of the federal bureaucracy by the new administration (will do),' he continued. 'This is not a decision that was made lightly, but after careful consideration, and discussions with our senators, we have reached a consensus that this is the correct choice for the correct time,' the release concluded. 'We look forward to working with our honorable colleagues in the House to reach a deal on substantive property tax cuts, and the next biennium budget.' In the House lobby Wednesday night, Majority Floor Leader Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, told the WTE that he was 'speechless' following the announcement. 'I don't know how the House will respond,' Heiner said. 'We were just talking in caucus about the supplemental budget. It is a surprise to me.'
