A.G. Gancarski
The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee is providing a boost for those with auditory and mobility challenges, making it easier for them to navigate their conditions with a bipartisan pair of bills.
The panel advanced bills making it easier to buy hearing aids by mail and to fix motorized wheelchairs.
Sen. Jennifer Bradley’s legislation (SB 126) would bring Florida in line with 47 other states if passed. The Clay County Republican’s measure would allow the sale and distribution of prescription hearing aids by mail, to provide “access and availability” to the devices.
The bill was amended at this stop to allow hearing aids to be mailed to adult patients, but not activated unless prescribed by an audiologist. A fitting of the mailed device would also be required to “ensure the physical and operational comfort of the prescription hearing aids.”
The Rules Committee is the bill’s final stop before a full Senate hearing. The House companion is sponsored by Rep. Adam Anderson; it has yet to be heard, but has two committee stops before the floor.
While Bradley’s bill is well on its way, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith’s “Motorized Wheelchair Right to Repair” Act (SB 412) is just starting to power through its committee cycle, to address the need for “frequent maintenance” of these devices.
Commerce and Tourism was the first of three stops for the Orlando Democrat’s measure, which would compel “the original equipment manufacturer to make available any documentation, parts, and tools required for the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of a motorized wheelchair and parts for the motorized wheelchair.”
Smith said the language provides “free-market choices” and “ensures competition in the repair market” between product owners and independent repair shops and authorized repair locations. Violators would be in breach of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
However, Smith’s bill does not compel manufacturers to divulge trade secrets, therefore protecting their intellectual property.
Meanwhile, independent repair operations and DIY types have no standing to sue the manufacturer in the case of damage to the unit or the owner incurred while the problem with the wheelchair is being diagnosed or fixed.
Power chair user J.J. Holmes described his chair “held together by the finest dollar store engineering money can buy,” with an armrest made of “pool noodles” and “random electrical sparks.”
“I’m one short circuit away from an execution,” said the 21-year-old college student, who described how “red tape” and “supply delays” made his “chair look like a middle school science project.”
Rep. Anna Eskamani’s House companion has two stops ahead, but has yet to be heard in committee.
