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Senate amends adoption-benefit language in SB76, clarifying insurer recovery and timing of payments
Summary
Senators approved floor amendments to fourth substitute Senate Bill 76 to make an adoptive-parent benefit payable at placement rather than finalization and to limit circumstances where insurers can recover paid benefits. The bill, as amended, passed and moves to the House.
Senators considered extensive floor amendments to fourth substitute Senate Bill 76 on Feb. 5. The amendments addressed technical corrections and substantive changes to an adoptive-parent insurance benefit: sponsors changed the payout trigger so the adoption benefit is payable when a child is placed with adoptive parents (not when the adoption is finalized) while also specifying limited circumstances in which an insurer may recoup that payment if a post-placement evaluation disapproves the adoption and a court finds the adoptive parents committed acts or omissions affecting the child's health or safety.
The sponsor said the change protects adoptive parents who may have expended significant sums during placement and prevents insurers from broadly clawing back benefits in situations where parents lost custody through no fault of their own. "When we did that, the insurance companies wanted...to be able to recover back this $2,500 benefit that they paid out," the floor sponsor said while explaining the compromise language that limits recovery to cases of parent fault.
Senators also discussed other technical amendments related to surcharges and orderly withdrawal language for insurers. After debate and explanation from sponsors and staff, the Senate voted to pass the fourth substitute with amendments; the bill passed and was transmitted to the House.
What happens next: The amended fourth substitute SB76 passed the Senate and will be considered by the House; reporters should consult enrolling language for final statutory text and insurer-recovery conditions.
