An overhead from the Capitol Rotunda during Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2024 budget address in Harrisburg Feb. 6, 2024 (Commonwealth Media Services photo)
As the legislative session nears its close, the Pennsylvania state Senate has passed bills aiming to address maternal health issues, provide compensation for first responders who suffer post traumatic stress injuries on the job, and expand the definition of Child Sexual Abuse Material to include AI-generated images.
Leftover momnibus bills pass
The two bills aimed at shoring up maternal health in Pennsylvania were leftovers from the “momnibus,” a package of bills aimed at lowering Black maternal mortality rates and improving maternal health care that was spearheaded by the Democratic House Black Maternal Health Caucus earlier this year.
One of those bills, which passed the Senate Tuesday and received concurrence from the House Wednesday, would require doctors to provide pre- and post-natal patients with information on postpartum depression. Doctors would also be required to screen for postpartum depression upon delivery and in the first subsequent check-ups.
On Wednesday, Senators passed another momnibus bill that would require Medicaid to cover doula services for pregnant patients.
Both bills passed the Senate unanimously, though three Representatives voted against the bill requiring doctors to conduct postpartum screenings for depression on Wednesday. The bills will go to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk for his signature before becoming law.
“A doula is not a midwife. She coaches a woman through childbirth, offers comfort to a birthing mother and very importantly serves as another voice in the delivery room or wherever that may be to make sure that the mother’s needs are being heard by the medical professionals ”said Sen. Judith Schwank (D-Berks). “That has often been an issue, particularly with women of color, making sure that their needs are being met.”
Outlawing pornographic AI-generated images of minors and non-consenting adults
Another bill that passed the Senate Wednesday will expand the definition of Child Sexual Abuse Materials to include artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of minors. It will also outlaw pornographic AI-created images of non-consenting adults.
As AI becomes more advanced and widespread, the creation of explicit images of real, non-consenting people has become a growing problem across the country. But despite Pennsylvania already having a law against sharing images of nonconsenting sexual partners, so-called “deep fakes” have remained in a legal gray zone.
“This technology is being used to make fake images look very, very real. And as we all know, once these images are created and shared, it’s around forever,” said Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton). “We need to act now to protect our children and update our laws to keep up with the technology and to protect everyone’s dignity and privacy in our state.”
Boscola noted the bill was crafted with bipartisan support across both chambers. Its prime sponsor is Senate Communications & Technology Chair Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery). It passed both the House and Senate with unanimous votes and will go to Shapirio’s desk for his signature.
Addressing post traumatic stress in first responders
The Senate also passed a bill that would allow first responders like Emergency Medical Service workers, police and firefighters to receive workers compensation for post-traumatic stress injuries.
“We owe it to these individuals to give them the mental health care that they need should they be suffering from post-traumatic stress injuries,” Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington), the bill’s sponsor, said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “They rush into fires, to traffic accidents, to domestic disputes, to all sorts of events that are completely traumatic to those victims that it’s happening to, but also to those that respond.”
That bill will go to the House, which will have to pass it before the end of the current legislative session. As it stands, there are five scheduled session days left for the House. Typically, a bill has to go through committee and be read on three separate days before it can be passed.
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