Legislative Briefs - Week 14

Senate Debates Bill that Would Require Age Verification for Obscene Material Online

The House of Representatives will now debate a bill that would add penalties for online companies that post obscene material without a form of age restriction or verification.

Sen. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula, is sponsoring Senate Bill 544, which would make companies liable for the distribution or production of pornography to minors. The bill passed through the Senate 47-3 and is scheduled for its first hearing in the House Thursday, April 13.

"The United States and Montana are facing a significant public health crisis, and our children are having easy access to internet pornographic websites. This public health crisis is causing long-term emotional and physical harm to our young teens," Curdy said.

SB 544 establishes civil punishments, such as having to pay for punitive damages, court fees and attorney fees for providing materials harmful to individuals under the age of 18 without age restriction verification. The Montana Department of Justice would need to file a report every year of enforcement action against the websites that don't use age verification methods.

SB 544 outlines that the age verification software used by the companies cannot store any of the information provided, and must be deleted shortly following the confirmation process.

Curdy said allowing easy access to pornoagraphic material can lead to an increase in sexual assault, human trafficking and sexually transmitted diseases in young adults and teenagers.

The bill would have exceptions and would not apply to news companies, internet services providers, search engines, cloud services or companies selling technology needed to access the internet.

"This puts the responsibility of accessing, controlling access to internet websites on the part of the website," Curdy said.

Bill Aims to Protect Montanans' Genetics

The House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee unanimously passed a bill Friday that would require companies that collect genetic data, including from DNA, to provide consumer information about the use and collection of that data.

Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, is sponsoring Senate Bill 351, which would create the Genetic Information Privacy Act, and require companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com to disclose to consumers how their data is being handled and give them options to have their biometric data removed.

"It's very cool because they make money off of you paying for the service, so they are behind legislation like this because they want to ensure that consumers feel safe giving their DNA data away," Zolnikov said. "They don't want to make money off of selling your data, they make money off you paying for that subscription and you giving your DNA, so that more consumers feel safe about doing it."

Zolnikov said the legislation protects consumers in Montana against companies selling their genetic data through measures like making sure only consumers can access their data, giving options to delete genetic data and allowing for requests to destroy their biological genetic samples.

"It gives a lot of rights to individuals to ensure that if they do share their data with entities like that, their data and DNA could be deleted and all the records can be deleted, and just make sure consumers have these protections in their hands," Zolnikov said.

Steve Cape, representing the Coalition for Safety and Justice, was one of two supporters for the bill and said right now Montanans don't have any protections on their DNA and when you combine that with few regulations on facial recognition software, protections need to be put in place.

"Think about it, if I have your DNA I have your health, I have your possible health outcomes, I have every piece of information about you and with your DNA I know who your relatives are. I know your long lost cousin Freddie who will only show up if you win the lottery. So the DNA model is you," Cape said. "This is a bill that is a part of an overall privacy protection."

The bill now moves to the full House for debate.

Bills that Revise Religion in School Near Governor's Desk

Lawmakers passed two bills that would expand students' religious rights in schools are headed to Gov. Greg Gianforte's desk for his signature or veto after lawmakers passed them on party line votes last week.Rep. Greg Kmetz, R-Miles City, is sponsoring House Bill 744, which would revise the laws about religious expression from teachers and students and allow both groups to openly pray or discuss religion in a school setting.

"This affirms first amendment rights for students in Montana schools. The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution not only gives freedom of religion it says the free exercise thereof. House Bill 744 codifies that students may exercise their beliefs in conversations on school campuses," Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell said when presenting the bill to the Senate.

The bill passed the House of Representatives on a nearly party-line vote of 38-12 on Friday, April 7.

Kmetz also sponsored House Bill 745, which would revise the laws about religious materials in school, and allow religious books to be considered viable reading material during free reading time in class. The bill would allow all religious texts, but specifically names the Bible.

"You can't prohibit a pupil from reading from the Bible or any other religious materials during free reading time, and if a school class or course has requirements for self selected reading a pupil must be allowed to read from the Bible or other religious materials to meet those requirements," Regier said when presenting the bill to the Senate.

HB 745 passed the House of Representatives on a party-line vote of 67-31 on March 3 and then passed the Senate on a 37-13 vote on Friday, April 7.

There was no discussion on either bill during the Senate debate.

Bill Aiming to Cover At-Home Births with Medicaid One Step Closer to Governor's Desk

The Montana Legislature has passed a bill that would require Medicaid coverage to apply to certain at home births when attended by a midwife.

Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings, is sponsoring House Bill 655, which would allow Medicaid reimbursement to mothers who have low-risk at-home births attended by licensed midwives.

"Home births are becoming more and more popular these days. Personally I really appreciate this. Personally I think that there's been an over medicalization of childbirth over the years and for others they're looking at cost," said Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, who carried the bill in the Senate.

Gross said giving birth at home can be much less cost prohibitive, but beyond that many mothers choose to do it because it is often more comfortable and safer for low-risk births than hospital births.

The bill also gives rulemaking authority to the Board of Alternative Healthcare and the Board of Nursing, allowing the two boards to establish and adopt rules that would describe under what circumstances at home births would qualify for Medicaid compensation.

"This bill ensures that high-risk at-home births will not be insured by Medicaid," Gross said. "This bill makes fiscal sense because women who already utilize Medicaid through their pregnancy and through childbirth will incur far higher costs than if they choose to do a traditional at-home birth."

Sen. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, spoke in support of the bill and said his daughter had midwives attend both of her births.

"The midwife was way ahead of the game and provided excellent care. As the Senator said in the front the row, the midwife birth at home was a fraction of the cost than a hospital birth, and in committee we talked about how in Europe most of the babies are born at home, so the United States is way behind other countries that are seeing most of their babies born at home, safe, effective, way less expensive" McGillvray said. "Thinking about Medicaid paying for births it's way less expensive for Medicaid to be covering women having home births than it would be at hospitals."

The bill passed unanimously through both the House and the Senate unanimously.

Bill Would Classify Emotional Support Animals

The Montana Senate has passed a bill that would allow landlords to request information about why a tenant needs an emotional support animal.

Rep. Denley Loge, R-St. Regis, is sponsoring House Bill 703, which opens a door for healthcare professionals to provide alternative information to landlords about the reasons a tenant needs an emotional support animal. The bill does not allow for landlords or healthcare workers to disclose diagnoses or disabilities.

"The documentation isn't going to be something that reveals to a landlord what a person's disability is similar to the service animal law. You can't ask what a person's disability is, but you can ask what service that animal provides for the tenant," said Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, who is carrying the bill for Loge in the Senate.

The bill states that the animal's owner is liable for any damage to property or person that an emotional support animal may inflict.

Trebas said emotional support animals differ from service animals and service animals are protected under federal law but emotional support animals are not.

"Some people think they have a service animal when they have an emotional support animal and they essentially have what is considered a pet under landlord-tenant law, unless we clarify what is an ESA and what is not," Trebas said.

Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, raised questions around the possibility that this legislation could impact other renters who are allergic to emotional support animals by classifying them as more than a pet.

"There are some people that have severe allergies to pets, and is it possible that a landlord can opt out of this so that they can keep their property and rent to people that have severe allergies?" Regier said.

Trebas said that the answer to that question is unknown, but that he believes the state and landlords will help to accommodate both groups.

The bill passed the House with a 74-25 vote on March 2, and was transferred over to the Senate where it gained more bi-partisan support and passed on a 33-16 vote. The bill has now been referred back to the House.

Caven Wade is a student reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. He can be reached at [email protected].