General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 27, 2019

Four D state reps voted against one of the most innocuous gun reform measures you could possibly imagine.  Keeping loaded firearms away from kids would seem to be as cut-and-dried as you could get. Not to Andria Bennett, Bill Bush, Lumpy Carson, and Quin Johnson, it isn’t.  Of the four, only Lumpy could even claim that the majority of his constituents oppose such a measure. Let’s face it: Although ensconced in strong D districts, neither Bennett nor Johnson have consistently voted with the D’s. Both opposed minimum wage increases in the past. Johnson has been rewarded by being named the House chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Which sucks. He’s Pete’s kinda legislator. As is Bill Bush who, as a board member for years at Del-Tech and a certified FOL (Friend of Lonnie’s), was at least partially responsible for the fiscal mess Del-Tech finds itself in. All four of them should be primaried, not just because of this vote, but because of their body of work. The bill passed by a 22-19 margin, with every R voting in favor of kids getting access to loaded weapons. A big shout-out to my state legislator, Ray Seigfried. When you first face these gun nuts who have been spouting their ‘jackbooted stormtroopers’ lines for decades, it’s easy to be swayed by them. Idiots like Andria Bennett still are.  But Ray stood his ground and voted with his constituents. Thanks, Ray!

The watered-down version of the Del-Tech bailout passed with only one dissenting vote–David Lawson, and one not-voting–Anthony Delcollo.  I think the bill passed so easily b/c, when all is said and done, the General Assembly really isn’t committing to ponying up any money.  Intent is not the same as commitment.  Anyway, it’s long past time that Del-Tech was placed under sunset review and that a serious look be taken at the institution’s (mal)practices.

A bill favored by the construction trade unions passed the Senate 13-8, with Sen. Cloutier joining all Senate D’s. The bill ‘requires that bidders for public works contracts that are above a minimum value and required to provide the prevailing wage include approved craft training programs for journeyman and apprentice levels if the contract is not for a federal highway project’. Gee, something tells me that perhaps this requirement is already being met by union contractors but not being met by non-union contractors. Just a guess, albeit an educated one.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. 

There is a Senate agenda today, with the only notable bill providing for an increase in fines for those who park in spaces reserved for the handicapped.  I totally agree with this bill. Where I work, all too often the spaces reserved for handicapped parking are scarfed up by those who shouldn’t be there. Make it hurt for them, and maybe they’ll stop.

The Senate Health & Social Services Committee will consider an ambitious bill to create a Prescription Opioid Impact Fund.  Opioid manufacturers would pay the fees for the fund based on the amount of opioids that they sold in the state. Projected revenue would be about $2.5 mill annually.  Had this bill been in effect prior to the current downturn in excessive opioid prescriptions, the take would have been about 50% higher.  The real issue with the bill appears to be as to how, and to whom, the funds will be apportioned:

The Act also provides that Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, after receiving recommendations from the Behavioral Health Consortium, the Addiction Action Committee, and the Overdose System of Care Committee, will award grants and contracts from the money in the Fund for the following activities: 1. Opioid addiction prevention. 2. Opioid addiction services, including the following: 3. Inpatient and outpatient treatment programs and facilities, including short-term and long-term residential treatment programs and sober living facilities. 4. Treating substance use disorder for the under-insured and uninsured. 5. Emergency assistance relating to prescription opioids, including purchasing Naloxone. 6. Administrative costs of implementing the Fee and Fund, up to 15% of the amount in the Fund.

One can only hope that, once the pie has been divvied up, there will be enough money to, you know, provide help for those with opioid-related issues.  It hardly seems like a lot of money.  Shouldn’t the companies who played such a key role in this be hit harder? How was this relatively paltry figure negotiated? In Oklahoma, Purdue Pharma settles for about $200 mill, and in Delaware—this? I would sure hope that the State is providing additional significant funding for this crisis. Anyone out there care to speak about that?

Other highlights from today’s Senate committee meetings:

*Ice Ice, baby. SB 58(Sturgeon) ‘requires that accumulated snow and ice be removed from services of a vehicle before it is operated and imposes a civil penalty for a violation. This Act also creates a civil penalty for each instance where snow or ice dislodges from a moving vehicle and causes property damage or personal injury but this penalty is not an exclusive remedy for property damage or personal injury.’ Transportation.

*Well, here’s a good bill from Trey Paradee.  SB 35 :

revises Delaware Insurance Code provisions related to the individual and group health insurance markets to directly incorporate into Delaware law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections related to the following: (1) The prohibition of preexisting condition provisions. (2) Guaranteed issue and availability of coverage. (3) Permissible rating factors. This Act also ties references in Delaware law to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to that law as it was in effect on January 1, 2018. This ensures the ACA’s core consumer protection provisions will remain in place during the uncertainty surrounding the ACA in light of recent court challenges.

Yep, this is what responsible legislators must do in the Age Of Trump. Banking, Business & Insurance.

*Legislation to establish early voting in Delaware will be considered in the Elections, Gov’t, and Community Affairs meeting. The bill passed the House by a 34-6 margin, so even some R’s voted for it.

*I’m not sure if this is part of the so-called criminal justice reform package (I’m pretty certain that it is), but, regardless, SB 37(Brown) is a solid bill from this freshman senator. From the synopsis:

The General Assembly has expanded the availability of expungement for juvenile adjudications of delinquency quite dramatically in recent years, in recognition that people can and do change and move beyond mistakes of their past. The intent of this Act is to extend that same recognition to some categories of adult records of arrest and conviction… (u)nder this Act, a person may have a record expunged through a petition to the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) for (1) charges resolved in favor of the petitioner; (2) a record that includes violations only after the passage of 3 years; and (3) after 5 years for some misdemeanors. Excluded from this SBI-only expungement process are convictions for any misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, misdemeanor crimes where the victim is a child or a vulnerable adult, and unlawful sexual contact in the third degree. Allowing expungements for arrests without convictions and minor, isolated convictions through an application to the SBI will ease the burden on the courts and the Board of Pardons. This Act also provides that the court may grant a petition for expungement upon a showing of “manifest injustice” in the following situations: (1) 3 years have passed since the date of a single misdemeanor conviction; (2) a person has a single conviction in a felony case, and 7 years have passed from the date of conviction or release from incarceration, whichever is later; (3) 7 years have passed since conviction or release from incarceration on misdemeanor domestic violence or misdemeanor conviction with child or vulnerable adult victim…

Convictions for violent felonies would make someone ineligible for consideration. Judicial.

House committee highlights:

*HB 100(Longhurst):

establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware elementary schools. The unit is at a ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades K-5 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades K-5 for employment of a full-time school psychologist…(a)ccording to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides are now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Delaware schools need trained and experienced mental health professionals to provide prevention and support programs and services to students. Currently, as reported by Delaware school districts, 86% of elementary schools do not employ a school social worker, and ratios of students to school counselors and school psychologists far exceed national best practices. This bill will lower ratios and increase access to mental health services for elementary school students. 

There is a state share and a local share associated with the bill. According to the fiscal note, the state will provide about $26 mill annually with the local share being around $12 mill.  This bill is absolutely essential, IMHO, and will almost certainly save lives. Education.

*Another great bill in the Education Committee. HB 101(K. Williams):

…requires high needs elementary schools, including high needs elementary charter schools, to have school-based health centers. The State will pay the start-up costs for each school-based health center at 2 centers per year until each high needs elementary school has a center. High needs elementary schools are defined as any elementary school in the top quartile of 3 or more in percentage of low-income students, percentage of English learners, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of minority students, or having 90% of its students classified as low-income, English learners, or minority. This act also allows high needs elementary schools having pre-existing school-based health centers to apply for reimbursement of previously expended funds necessary to establish said health center.

The state will pay both the start-up costs and the operational costs for the health centers.

*SS1/SB 25(Townsend), which increases the legal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, will be considered in the Health & Human Development Committee. The bill passed in the Senate by a 14-6 vote.

Well, I’ve blown past my arbitrary self-imposed word limit for the day.  Hope you enjoyed the free content (wait, it’s all free).  Back tomorrow, likely with a more truncated edition of Post-Game/Pre-Game.