Omnibus Bill Creates New Rules For Healthcare and Technology Sectors

(KNSI) – The Minnesota House moved one step closer to curbing social media companies with the passage of the Commerce Policy Omnibus bill on Monday.

DFL Rep. Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids says the legislature wants to limit exposure to the sites for young children. “We’ll start with something that has been a bipartisan effort to put some real guardrails about social media and the impact that it’s having on people in our country today, in our state today, and particularly young people. This bill takes a real groundbreaking approach to tackling that problem.”

Another technology issue addressed in the omnibus is net neutrality, which determines how internet service providers regulate access to bandwidth by various users of the World Wide Web. The bill would codify the federal rules repealed in 2018 at the state level.

It would also force health insurance companies to provide coverage for gender-affirming care. Stephenson says it’s a matter of safety. “This is a great mix of bills that solves a lot of problems that Minnesotans are facing and provide some good consumer protections.”

DFL lawmakers say the treatments have been recognized by the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Puberty blockers and other medicines classified as gender-affirming care have been outlawed in several states and have fallen out of favor overseas. England’s National Health Service quit supporting the drugs last month.

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