Commerce committee adopts and lays over several technical and consumer-protection bills

The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee took a series of procedural and substantive steps on March 12, 2026, moving some bills forward and laying others over for further work.

Senate File 41-57, a bill clarifying that rental‑marketplace guarantees (for products such as Airbnb "AirCover") are not insurance, had an author's amendment (A2) adopted to change a 180‑day direct‑claim window to 90 days; the committee then voted to recommend the bill and referred it to the Finance Committee. Brad Nail, testifying for Airbnb, said the bill fills a statutory gap while preserving consumer protections.

Senate File 43-64 (technical corrections to Department of Commerce provisions) and Senate File 42-64 (financial institutions policy incorporating NASAA/NASAA model rules for cybersecurity, broker‑dealer conduct, crowdfunding, and other updates) were presented by the Department of Commerce (Sam Smith) with author amendments adopted; both bills were laid over for further consideration.

Senate File 43-65, a consolidation of six consumer-protection proposals (updates to bouillon-product law, licensing harmonization for loan and mortgage servicers, unfair-trade coverage for insurance lead generators, appraisal reporting alignment, student-loan borrower protections, and a proposed ban on virtual-currency kiosks), was presented by Sam Smith and laid over.

Committee members asked technical questions and the department said some items were removed to avoid hearings in other committees. The transcript records the amendments adopted and the committee actions (referral to finance or layover) but does not include roll-call tallies.

Next steps: SF 41-57 moves to the Finance Committee; the other bills will return to Commerce for further drafting and review.