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Insurance & Commerce committee advances multiple bills, including mental-health pharmacist expansion, foreclosure-fee clarification and breast-screening cost-sh
Summary
The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee approved a package of bills on issues from collaborative-care teams to foreclosure procedure and breast-screening coverage.
The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee approved a slate of bills in a single session, recording votes on several measures that drew limited discussion in committee.
Votes at a glance
- HB1193: Amendment adoption noted at start of the hearing; committee acknowledged adoption of amendment (details not specified in transcript excerpt).
- SB309: Adds psychiatric pharmacists to the collaborative-care model to provide services outside psychiatric hospitals. Sponsor Sen. Dan Sullivan and pharmacist Dr. Tabita Peretzecreen presented; committee passed the bill after brief questions.
- HB1238: Clarifies that, in strict-foreclosure proceedings, a judge may award attorney fees in specified circumstances. Rep. Fran Cavanaugh presented the measure and the committee passed it after brief questions.
- HB1184 (mortgage/credit solicitation protections): The committee approved a consumer-protection measure to require clearer disclosures by firms that buy credit-triggered leads and to prohibit contact where consumers are on the federal Do-Not-Call list or opted out; the Arkansas Securities Department said enforcement rules and existing civil penalties (up to $10,000 per violation under the Fair Mortgage Lending Act) apply.
- HB1307: Amends the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) to prioritize financial return and to require documentation where endowment managers adopt environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria; sponsors said the change focuses on fiduciary responsibility for public college and university endowments.
- HB1309: Removes cost-sharing for diagnostic breast screenings to increase early detection; sponsors said payers had not objected and no fiscal impact was reported to the committee.
- HB1466 (mortgage servicing prudential/data security): The committee approved technical amendments to the Fair Mortgage Lending Act to add prudential standards (capital, liquidity, corporate governance) and data-security safeguards for nonbank mortgage servicers; state regulators said standards will be scaled by firm size.
Most of these bills passed on voice votes after brief sponsor remarks or limited testimony. Where stakeholders testified (for example, the mortgage-solicitation bill), regulators explained enforcement options and civil-penalty authority.
