General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., Jan.19, 2022

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on January 19, 2022

Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, labored on his following novel, called Something Happened. One critic provided a two-word review of the novel: “Nothing happened.”

While that’s not quite the case with yesterday’s legislative session, it’s close enough for government work.

We’ve got more activity lined up for today, hence more breathless (and some would say, mindless) prose from Yours Truly.

The Senate has posted an Agenda for today.  The key bill, which is on the fast track to passage, streamlines the process to enable National Guard members to earn their qualifications to serve as CNA’s to provide vital staffing assistance during the Covid pandemic.  Gov. Carney could sign it by the end of the day.  Big shout-out to all National Guard personnel who have undertaken this task.

One note for newbies: In general, I don’t revisit bill descriptions once I’ve provided them. So, for example, if I described a bill when it was considered in one House, I generally don’t repeat myself when the bill moves to the other chamber.  There are, of course, exceptions.

Today’s Senate Committee highlights:

SB 192 (Lopez):  Gee, wonder what special interest requested this bill, which ‘…updates the current law to provide for a system of fines for a licensee when alcohol is sold to a minor and removes the current authority to revoke or suspend a license under these circumstances. It does not change current law with respect to repercussions for an individual actually carrying out the sale’. Lopez is the only sponsor on the bill, making it likely that a business in his district claims to be an aggrieved party. Banking, Business & Insurance.

Some seemingly-important bills, like SB 210 (Paradee), in fact just bring Delaware law into conformity with Federal law.  The bill’s necessary, but that’s the context.  Health & Social Services.

SB 206 (Richardson): A joke of a bill from the normal Rethug mouthbreathers.  It ‘requires a school district or charter school serving high school students to provide instruction in comparative political ideology in grade 10. The instruction must include a comparative discussion of political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism, which conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States’.  Education, where it will remain.

SB 201 (Walsh) is my kind of bill. It:

…expands the jurisdictional application of the Act to employers with less than 100 employees and as few as 10. Second, it requires the Board either to issue written decisions following hearings on unfair labor practice charges within 180 days of the close of the record, or, if the Board requires more time to issue its decision, it must provide a written notice to the parties advising of the same within the 180 day period and every 30 days thereafter. Labor.

SB 211 (Mantzavinos) ‘ prohibits employers from requesting or requiring that an applicant for employment disclose the applicant’s age, date of birth, or dates of attendance or graduation from an educational institution in an initial application for employment, unless the employer is requesting the information because of a bona fide occupational qualification or to comply with state or federal law.’ I like the idea of the bill, although I’d like to hear how the law would be applied. Labor.

Today’s House Committee highlights:

HB 140 (Baumbach) is certainly the most notable bill to be considered in committee today.  The bill “permits a terminally ill individual who is an adult resident of Delaware to request and self-administer medication to end the individual’s life in a humane and dignified manner if both the individual’s attending physician or attending advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and a consulting physician or consulting APRN agree on the individual’s diagnosis and prognosis and believe the individual has decision-making capacity, is making an informed decision, and is acting voluntarily.

The usual folks are up in arms.  Rep. Baumbach has worked and reworked this bill to try to allay any fears that most folks would have.  The bill deserves to clear committee and, IMO, to become law in Delaware. Health & Human Development.

HB 277 (Lynn):  If anything good came out of Monsignor Greg Lavelle’s time in Dover(highly-debatable), it’s likely this bill, or one like it.  Lavelle railed against what he claimed was unfair attention on the institutional pedophilia that defined the Catholic Church in Delaware.  His (what passes for) reasoning?  There were pedophile public school teachers too. He was right, although pedophilia has never been shown to be part of the operating principles of public education.  This bill ‘codifies the principle …that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible. This Act also changes the standard of culpability from “gross negligence” to “negligence” for public schools in civil claims based on childhood sexual abuse’.  A good and necessary bill with bipartisan support. Judiciary.

HB 270 (K. Williams) addresses school choice as follows:

The Act aims to streamline the school choice process, making it easier and clearer for parents, guardians, and school administrators to navigate. This Bill gives priority to siblings of students who live in the reorganized school district where the school is located and to siblings of students who do not live in the reorganized school district where the school is located. The Act also updates what constitutes “good cause” to include change of residence or child’s participation in an inpatient or day treatment program.

Back tomorrow.  Maybe, if I’m desperate, I’ll preview Carney’s State Of The State Address. I hope to never be that desperate.

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  1. But…. says:

    So Richardson and his cosponsors are requiring by law that socialism be taught in public schools? Why aren’t we having more fun with this? Why aren’t his supporters being stirred into a fury by him mandating socialism?

  2. But… says:

    Richardson wants socialists to share their oral histories with your children….

    “This Act requires the Department of Education (“Department”) to make resources available to school districts and charter schools to assist them in providing the required instruction. Additionally, the Department is required to curate and make publicly available oral history resources, to be used along with the required instruction, that provide the personal stories of diverse individuals …”

  3. Alby says:

    Richardson’s bill reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from John Kenneth Galbraith: “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.”