The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection recorded a series of recommendations on Feb. 12, 2025, advancing several bills with amendments and deferring others. The committee handled decision-making for measures that had been heard previously and also conducted new hearings before adopting recommendations.

Key outcomes

- SB 146 (condominiums): Committee recommended passage with amendments including mediator qualifications and early neutral evaluator language; effective date deferred to July 1, 2050. The recommendation was adopted.

- SB 147 (condominiums): Committee recommended passage with amendments clarifying small-claims accrual and associations lien rights; effective date deferred to July 1, 2050. The recommendation was adopted.

- SB 1166 (insurance): Committee recommended passage with amendments to encourage (rather than require) insurer claims against responsible parties, to add a private cause of action in specified circumstances, and to add definitions for climate-disaster-related terms; effective date deferred to July 1, 2050. The recommendation was adopted.

- SB 985 (consumer protection/gift-card fraud): Committee recommended passage with amendments and deferred the effective date to July 1, 2050; referred to Judiciary (see separate article for hearing details).

- SB 1150 (health; provider protections): Committee recommended passage as SD1 with amendments (deleting certain sections related to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act) and the recommendation was adopted. Recorded roll-call included members voting both aye and no (Senator Fevella recorded a "no").

- SB 1429 (medical cannabis): Committee recommended passage with Department of Health and industry-proposed amendments; recommendation adopted.

- SB 1040 (medical debt): Committee recommended passage with a defective date; recommendation adopted.

- SB 1064 (cannabis-related amendments): Committee recommended passage with amendments that accepted Attorney General and industry changes and asked staff to realphabetize paragraphs; recommendation adopted.

- SB 463 (Kratom): Committee recommended deferral.

- SB 953 (hospitals): Committee recommended deferral.

- SB 1525 (electronic smoking devices and e-liquids): Committee recommended deferral after significant opposition from the Attorney Generals Office, Department of Taxation, Department of Health and public-health groups.

Where decisions were made on the record, committee chairs announced recommendations and recorded votes. Several measures were passed "with amendments" and a number were deferred to allow additional drafting or interagency coordination.

What happens next: Bills passed with committee recommendations will move to their next referrals in the legislative process; deferred bills will remain under committee consideration pending amendments, additional testimony, or interagency work.

Abbreviations and notes: "Defective date" in committee discussion refers to deferring the bills effective date for further consideration; several bills repeatedly used July 1, 2050 as a placeholder effective date for continued drafting.