Smart cards, mental health workers bill of rights and liquor sales on Sundays among new bills introduced

Republican Senator Fletcher Hartsell introduced a bill to set up a pilot program using biometric Smart Cards to fight fraud in Medicaid (SB307). The Department of Health and Human Services would determine the scope of the program and it would be for a year. Fingerprint and card readers would be distributed throughout the counties involved. Chips in the cards would store benefit and insurance information. One goal of the pilot program would be to reduce the cost of those receiving services by at least 3 percent.

Democratic Representative Larry Bell apparently had second thoughts over a Mental Health Workers’ Bill of Rights. The first bill, HB267, listed several rights including a safe workplace, right to refuse overtime, a right to be treated with respect. But workers would also have the right to evaluate their supervisor’s performance and a right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining. Later the same day, Bell introduced HB287, which listed most of the same rights except for evaluating superviors and collective bargaining.

You may soon be able to taste test liquor at an ABC store on Sunday. First Democratic Senator Clark Jenkins is proposing (SB277) ABC stores should have the choice to be open on Sundays. Jenkins also wants to allow ABC stores to permit consumer taste testing events (SB276). The consumer wouldn’t be able to sample any more than 1.5 ounces per day and there couldn’t be a charge for the taste.