Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Committee Votes topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee on Business & Commerce advances six bills, sends them to the Senate
Summary
The Committee on Business & Commerce adopted committee substitutes and reported six bills favorably to the full Senate, including measures on insurer reporting, energy credits, municipal transparency reporting, project procurement, and use of AI in prior authorization.
The Committee on Business & Commerce advanced six bills on a series of committee votes and will send them to the full Senate for further consideration.
The committee adopted committee substitutes and reported the bills favorably after brief explanations from authors and short roll-call votes. The measures sent to the Senate address insurer reporting requirements, energy tax credits, municipal nonprofit contract reporting, prohibitions on project labor agreement requirements tied to federal matching funds, and standards for artificial intelligence in prior authorization decisions.
Senator Milton, explaining the committee substitute for Senate Bill 1006, said the change "adds an additional layer of transparency by requiring that insurers report information to TDI regarding the written statements of reason for declination, cancellation or nonrenewal of policies ... by zip code on a quarterly basis." The committee adopted the substitute and voted 9-0 to report the bill favorably.
Senator King described two changes in the committee substitute for Senate Bill 388, including adding "nuclear to the credit program to help incentivize nuclear" with a double credit and removing batteries from the definition of "dispatchable" for purposes of the credit program. The committee substitute for SB 388 passed on a committee vote of 6 ayes and 3 nays and was reported to the full Senate.
Other committee actions included favorable reports for: - Senate Bill 917 (reported 9-0), - Senate Bill 504 (reported 9-0), - Senate Bill 925 (committee substitute reported 6-4), - Senate Bill 815 (committee substitute reported 8-2).
Votes at a glance - SB 1006 (committee substitute) — motion: adopt committee substitute and report favorably to full Senate; tally: 9 ayes, 0 nays. Senator King moved the report. Author: Senator Milton. - SB 388 (committee substitute) — motion: adopt committee substitute and report do pass; tally: 6 ayes, 3 nays. Author: Senator King. - SB 917 — reported favorably; tally: 9 ayes, 0 nays. Author noted: Dean Zaffirini (sponsor). - SB 504 (committee substitute) — reported favorably; tally: 9 ayes, 0 nays. Author: Senator Kolkhorst. - SB 925 (committee substitute) — reported favorably; tally: 6 ayes, 4 nays. Author: Senator Hancock (substitute explained by Senator Kolkhorst). - SB 815 (committee substitute) — reported favorably; tally: 8 ayes, 2 nays. Author: Senator Schwartner.
What the committee did not decide today Several bills were laid out for hearings and left pending for additional testimony or staff work, including bills addressing estheticians' authority to administer injections (SB 378), residential backup power permitting (SB 1252), data-broker registry alignment (SB 1343), and an insurance bundling prohibition (SB 213). Those items were discussed in hearings with witnesses but were not reported out of committee during this session.
Why this matters The measures advanced by the committee affect insurance market oversight, energy incentives, local government reporting requirements related to large nonprofit contracts, public procurement rules tied to federal-match funding, and the use of artificial intelligence in health care prior authorization — all issues that can affect consumers, providers and local governments across the state.
The committee concluded voting and proceeded to take testimony on several other bills that remain pending.
Ending: The bills reported favorably move to the full Senate; other bills remain under consideration and are left pending for further committee action.
