Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1423 establishes a comprehensive legal framework for regulating both professional and amateur mixed martial arts, placing the sport under the authority of the State Athletic Commission. The bill creates a new Subcommission on Mixed Martial Arts, composed of three appointed members with extensive martial arts experience, to develop specific rules and regulations for the sport. It details strict operational requirements, including standardized ring or cage dimensions, mandatory insurance coverage paid by promoters, and specific licensing procedures for fighters, officials, and event organizers. Additionally, the legislation defines distinct weight classes and age brackets, prohibits certain dangerous techniques, and requires amateur contestants to maintain medical passbooks that are tracked in a confidential state database.

This bill prohibits transportation network companies, such as ride-sharing services, from using specific data from a passenger's phone to calculate fares. It bans charging higher prices based on the device's hardware state, like battery life or age, and forbids using geolocation data to set prices unless the variation reflects legitimate differences in travel costs, taxes, or real-time demand. The law also prevents companies from raising fares simply because a user has certain software installed or because their device is in a specific mode. These rules aim to ensure that ride prices are determined by the trip itself rather than the characteristics of the passenger's equipment.

This bill amends Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to explicitly ban "surveillance pricing," which is defined as setting customized prices for goods or services based on personal data gathered through technology like cameras, sensors, or third-party purchases. The legislation prohibits businesses from using such data to charge different prices to specific consumers unless they can prove the price difference is due to varying costs, public discounts available to broad groups like seniors or students, loyalty program rewards, or credit decisions based on standard credit reports. In addition to banning this practice, the bill increases civil penalties for violations to up to $3,000 per incident and allows individual consumers who suffer financial loss from these pricing tactics to file private lawsuits for damages.

This bill amends Pennsylvania's public utility laws to explicitly exclude data centers from the legal definition of a public utility. It achieves this by adding a specific definition for "data center" and listing it as an entity that does not fall under public utility regulations. The change directly affects how data center facilities are classified within the state's public utilities code, distinguishing them from traditional utility providers. The legislation will become effective 60 days after it is signed into law.

HB 1127 authorizes Pennsylvania to join the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact, enabling dentists and dental hygienists licensed in Pennsylvania to practice in other participating states without obtaining separate licenses. The bill establishes a "Compact Privilege" that allows qualified professionals to practice across state lines while maintaining each state's regulatory authority over scope of practice and disciplinary actions. Key mechanisms include streamlined licensure pathways, shared disciplinary information between states, and protection of public health standards. This affects licensed dental professionals seeking to work in multiple compact states, particularly addressing workforce mobility and access to care.