Votes at a glance: Commerce Committee advances package of consumer and business bills

After extended hearings on S-3187 and S-3502, the Senate Commerce Committee moved a series of bills to the Senate floor:

- S-312 / A-2401 (scrap metal safety) — committee substitute released after industry objections about compliance costs and ongoing negotiations; opponents warned some small, family-owned scrapyards could face significant expense for sprinkler and other safety systems.

- S-3977 (rounding rules) — committee released an amendment setting cash rounding rules for merchants, mirroring practices used in other countries after the end of new penny production.

- S-1420 (reverse mortgage exemption) — Finance of America representatives asked the committee to exempt reverse-mortgage transactions from a statute requiring equal periodic payments; committee released the bill.

- S-374 (lipedema coverage) — patient and clinician testimony prompted committee amendments and release; payor groups asked for utilization-management alignment and noted fiscal concerns for state plans.

- S-4219 (real-estate continuing education) — Realtors said it is time to update CE requirements; committee released the bill as amended.

- S-2316 / S-4109 (data-broker regulation) — the committee released a merged substitute; business groups asked for carve-outs for service providers, HIPAA-aligned disclosures, and cautioned about interaction with recently passed data-privacy law.

- S-4107 (ban on debit/gift-card surcharges) — committee released an amended bill expanding coverage to goods and defining gift cards.

Several of these votes were unanimous or largely uncontroversial; in other cases, sponsors noted further floor amendments may be needed. The committee held S-4094 (a discussion-only bill to rename "physician assistants" as "physician associates") for conversation but did not vote on it.