House Bill 1152 (Unemployment Insurance), authored by Rep. Dan Leonard (R-Huntington), passed Senate 39-10 with no amendments. The Chamber-supported legislation clarifies provisions concerning the overpayment of unemployment benefits resulting from fraud or failure to disclose wages and the forfeiture of benefits or wage credits. Since no changes were made in the Senate to the bill, it now goes to the Governor for his signature.
House Bill 1125 (Deceptive Lead Generation), authored by Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne), passed the Senate 48-1. The legislation makes false, misleading or deceptive advertisements for claims related to medical devices and legend drugs and certain other actions a deceptive act. This Chamber-backed bill returns to the House for either concurrence or conference committee. It is uncertain what direction will be taken. Part of the problem originally was getting a version out of the Senate Judiciary Committee that could gain the votes to pass the committee. Discussions will take place on what can be done to strengthen the bill via the conference committee process. The bill was initiated by Cook Group, a Chamber member, which testified that its company got caught up in litigation resulting from these types of ads and as a result removed a very important biological device product from the marketplace.
House Bill 1002 (Civil Immunity Related to COVID-19), authored by Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel), would add additional protections for health care providers that were not included in the companion SB 1, which has already been signed into law by the Governor. For the second week, work was conducted on a proposed amendment to get the bill in shape to pass the committee. Senator Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) has been integrating all concerns. We look for the bill to be voted on in Senate Judiciary Committee next week.
Resource: Mike Ripley at (317) 264-6883 or email: mripley@indianachamber.com
