Senate Bill 493 - Health and Safety Regulatory Reform is now resting comfortably in the Senate Ways and Means Committee; a committee with just three members and just six bills. It appears to be a safe house for bills taken hostage while the end of the session is negotiated.

This bill left the Senate as a measure prohibiting motor vehicles from having certain headlights and was returned by the House as a veritable Christmas tree containing 15 pages of health and safety regulatory changes, including:

• health insurance coverage for autism treatment

• licensure for Applied Behavior Analysts

• banning minors from tanning beds

• allowing untreated spring water to be served in a restaurant if that spring is on restaurant property

• health insurance coverage for oral chemotherapy

• animal euthanasia

• and many other provisions