Latest news with #SenateBill156
American Press
29-05-2025
- Health
- American Press
Louisiana bill redefines IVF embryos
The Louisiana state Capitol in Baton Rouge. (Associated Press Archives) By Anna Puleo | LSU Manship School News Service The Louisiana House passed a bill Tuesday that changes how the state treats embryos created through in vitro fertilization. The bill, which passed 82-14, establishes legal protections and reshapes how IVF is regulated. The bill originated in the Senate, and an amended version was carried in the House by Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge. It redefines IVF embryos as 'juridical persons,' a legal category that gives them more rights without going so far as to classify them as full legal 'children' or property. 'This is a pro-family, pro-life and pro-parent bill,' Davis said. 'No parent should have to cross state lines to start a family.' The laws governing IVF have been politically sensitive since an Alabama Supreme Court ruling in early 2024 raised questions about them, and lawmakers in several states have been scrambling to codify their support for the practice. Under the new Louisiana measure, Senate Bill 156, embryos are considered viable unless they fail to develop within 72 hours after fertilization. Those that do not develop in that timeframe are classified as nonviable. This definition was added through an amendment and replaces the state's previous standard of 36 hours. For embryos considered viable, the bill states that only the intended parents, not doctors or fertility clinics, can make decisions about their use. It also bans any IVF contract that includes a clause allowing embryos to be intentionally destroyed. Those agreements would now be considered legally invalid. Rep. Aimee Freeman Newell, D-New Orleans, raised concerns about how current IVF laws apply to single women, whether it is those who choose to become single parents or lose a spouse during the process. Would they still have access to treatment? Davis said SB156 is updating Louisiana's IVF laws to reflect modern realities. It removes terms like 'parental rights,' 'married couple,' and 'adoptive implantation,' and makes it clear that embryos can be donated to any individual, not just to married couples. A similar bill was brought to the floor last year but was returned to the calendar after criminal and constitutional law experts raised concerns that its language conflicted with Louisiana's criminal statutes. Lawmakers worked with Louisiana Right to Life and legal advisors to revise the language in this year's version. Davis pointed to the controversial 2024 Alabama Supreme Court decision as an example of the kind of legal uncertainty Louisiana wants to avoid. In that case, the court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF are considered 'children' under Alabama's wrongful death law, granting them legal personhood and allowing wrongful death lawsuits to proceed. The ruling came after several frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic, sparking a lawsuit against the hospital and clinic. A trial court initially dismissed the case, saying embryos outside the womb are not children, but the Alabama Supreme Court reversed that decision. That court decision sparked national backlash. President Donald Trump, who was campaigning at the time, came out in support of IVF access soon after, urging Alabama lawmakers to 'act quickly to find an immediate solution' to keep the procedure legal. His comments reflected a broader shift, as many Republicans tried to distance themselves from the Alabama court's decision and its potential fallout. Louisiana's SB156, authored by Sen. Thomas Pressley, R-Shreveport, aims to provide clearer guidance while protecting embryos under state law, without creating conflicts with criminal statutes or overextending legal personhood. The bill now goes back to the Senate for its consideration of House amendments.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska Legislature makes progress on aid package for ailing seafood industry
Commercial fishing boats are lined up at the dock at Seward's harbor on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) To help pull the struggling Alaska seafood industry out of its tailspin, state lawmakers passed some bills aimed at lightening the financial load on harvesters and advanced others that are intended to help businesses and fishery-dependent municipalities. The bills stemmed from recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska's Seafood Industry, which was created by lawmakers last year and which completed its work with a report at the start of this year's session. Lawmakers passed two task force-related bills, giving unanimous or near-unanimous support. One of them, House Bill 116, allows Alaska fishing organizations to establish their own insurance cooperatives. The other bill, Senate Bill 156, shores up the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank with a long-term loan from the state to keep the cooperative organization in business. The bills pose little to no costs to the state, according to legislative analysis. And they are only incremental steps toward addressing the big problems facing a major Alaska industry. Multiple and often interrelated forces have dragged down nearly all sectors of the seafood industry: low fish prices resulting from glutted world markets, high operating costs, financial turmoil among processing companies, labor shortages and numerous stock collapses or poor returns tied to a variety of environmental conditions, including climate change. While Alaska produces about 60% of the nation's seafood, that volume is overwhelmed by international supplies and global economic forces, limiting lawmakers' options to respond effectively, said Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau. 'Our role is not as big as we imagine. That means the Legislature has only so many tools,' said Kiehl, who served on the task force. 'But you see us, I think, turning the knobs.' Beyond the bills passed this year, other bills resulting from the task force recommendations have advanced far enough to be approaching full floor votes; the Legislature works in two-year cycles, and bills introduced this year carry over to next year. Those remaining seafood task force bills carry price tags for the state, however. They will get some extra scrutiny next year, given the state's dire fiscal condition created by reduced investment earnings and lower oil revenues, task force members said. 'We are in new and unusual times where, you know, we have to look at every issue and try to decide if it's worth the additional cost,' said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, who served as the task force's chair. One bill, Senate Bill 135, would increase local governments' share of seafood taxes that are currently split with the state government. Currently, fishery business and seafood tax revenues are split evenly between the state and local governments; the bill would allow the local governments up to 75% of those revenues. Some fishing communities endured steep losses from the industry's woes. The island community of St. Paul, for example, saw a drop of nearly 90% of its tax revenue in 2024 after key crab harvests were canceled, according to legislative information. To Stevens, the sacrifice of state revenue through a smaller cut of fish taxes seems justified. Local governments' troubles are likely to continue, he said. 'I think that it'll be even more apparent that we need to give those fellows a break,' he said. Another important bill that resulted from the task force's report would broaden the state tax credit granted to companies that invest in equipment to create new seafood products, adding value to the fish they process. The two versions of the measure, Senate Bill 130 and House Bill 129, both had been sent to their respective bodies' finance committees prior to last week's adjournment of the session. The annual cost to the state would range from $930,000 to $4.2 million a year, depending on different scenarios, according to the state Department of Revenue's analysis of the Senate version. That might be seen as considerable, Stevens conceded. 'But I think it's a fair cost,' he said. It could improve the fortunes of the processing sector and potentially result in more revenues ultimately to the state, he said. Kiehl has high hopes for the bill. It will encourage the development of high-end products, key to the industry's recovery, he said. 'As much as our seafood as we can put into a premium space, that will help,' he said. Differentiating Alaska salmon, for example, as a premium product is critical when competition comes from huge amounts of cheap Russian salmon harvested by fish traps rather than by small family businesses, he said. At the same time, there are opportunities for Alaska fish oil and fish meal to be molded into new products like nutritional supplements, Kiehl said. Those opportunities could be explored by companies investing in equipment to add value to the raw fish they process, he said. The budget that lawmakers passed also reflects task force recommendations for boosted state marketing efforts. The budget includes a $10 million allocation for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the state agency that promotes Alaska fish products domestically and internationally. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a similar amount from last year's budget but has expressed support for the ASMI funding this year. An estimated 70 percent of Alaska's fish is sold outside of the United States, according to ASMI. To Kiehl, that shows the importance of the organization's international marketing. 'I don't see a point in the next several decades when Americans buy all of our fish,' he said. 'Americans aren't eating salmon roe or herring roe. Americans don't eat sea cucumbers.' Not in the budget, however, is any significant increase for Alaska Department of Fish and Game fishery research, Stevens said. That may be possible in the future if the state manages to bring in more revenue through tools like changes in oil taxes, he said. More ominously, the Trump administration has slashed positions and fisheries research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with potentially dramatic impacts to Alaska. 'That's really shocking,' Stevens said. 'I am really concerned when the federal government talks about cutting science and research and all the things that they do right now to protect our fisheries.' The state cannot replicate that work by NOAA and its National Marine Fisheries Service, he said. 'The assumption that some people make, 'Oh, the feds can't do it, the state will,' However, we don't have the money to do all these things,' he said. Beyond fisheries, Stevens worries about deep cuts to federal social programs like Medicaid. 'It's going to be an enormous problem, maybe $1 billion, that the feds walk away from. We can't fill that gap.' Other fishery-related bills in addition to those recommended by the task force are also pending. One of them, House Bill 125, would reconfigure the state Board of Fisheries by designating two seats each to the commercial, sport and subsistence sectors, with the seventh seat to represent the science community. Sponsored by Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, the passed the House on May 17 by a relatively close 22-17 vote. It now moves to the Senate. A bill introduced by Dunleavy would expand ASMI's authority, allowing it to market mariculture products. The idea has received a mixed response from the mariculture industry; some kelp harvesters are receptive, but many key shellfish growers oppose it. The Senate version of the measure, Senate Bill 131, had reached that body's finance committee by early May. The bodies' finance committees are usually the last stops for bills before they put up for floor votes. The House version, House Bill 135, had not seen action since March.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
12 Solicitors say new Fentanyl Homicide law will not be effective
BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) – It's a new law that is supposed to help fight the rising problems connected to fentanyl – but some prosecutors say its flawed, and they won't be able to use it. Senate Bill 156, the Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act, establishes a new felony offense for individuals who unlawfully distribute fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances that result in another person's death. S.156: Distributors of fentanyl or related substances can be charged with fentanyl-induced homicide if the substance causes a death Convictions carry penalties of up to 30 years in prison Defendants cannot argue that the victim's consent or ingestion absolves responsibility, except in narrow cases of suicide backed by clear evidence 'Today, South Carolina sends a loud and clear message: if you deal fentanyl and it kills someone, you will be held fully accountable,' said Attorney General Alan Wilson. 'This legislation gives prosecutors a powerful new tool to go after the dealers who knowingly poison our communities. I've spent years fighting this drug crisis, and with S.156, we are raising the stakes for those driving fentanyl deaths.' 'I know what the practical effect of this statute is going to be and it's nothing other than raising the hopes of people who have lost loved ones to this poison,' 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone explained. That's how 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone feels about the bill now sitting on the governor's desk. It says that 'the person who knowingly provides fentanyl commits the felony offense of fentanyl-induced homicide.' While the charge sounds severe, Stone says one word makes this law nearly impossible to prosecute. 'I've heard from mothers and fathers who have lost children to this poison, and they will be quick to tell you that their son or daughter did not overdose on fentanyl, said Stone. 'They didn't know they were taking fentanyl to begin with. 'What the word knowingly in this statute does is it allows the dealer or the person who provided the fentanyl to the deceased person to say, I didn't know it was fentanyl, Stone said. 'Even to the extent of being able to say I thought I was giving them heroin. I thought I thought I was giving them cocaine. That's a defense now.' 'It is a legitimate defense to the statute, because the statute requires prosecutors to prove that the person who gave the deceased, the fentanyl, knew it was fentanyl.' Stone isn't alone in his feelings. He and 11 other solicitors from around the state sent a letter to the Governor saying this law is not the game changer some are touting it to be. 'You are raising the hopes of people who have lost children, brothers, relatives to fentanyl,' Stone said. 'That you're going to be able to hold the person that gave them their son or their daughter the fentanyl, accountable and you're not that's raising false hopes. And that's a that's a tragedy in itself.' 'The prosecutors of South Carolina, they're going to be the people that have to tell the victims that despite everyone saying this is the end all, be all, and it's going to actually stop the fentanyl trade that it's not.' 'Will you use the statute?''I doubt it. I don't think anybody is going to use the statute. Stone hopes the Solicitors' letter can be the start of a discussion about better ways to prosecute these crimes for prosecutors and the families of victims. The bill was passed by both the Senate and House and is waiting for Governor Henry McMaster's signature. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
