General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 17, 2021

The Big News: SB 15, the $15 Minimum Wage bill, will be heard in committee today, and has been placed on tomorrow’s Senate Agenda.  All 14 Senate Democratic senators are on the bill as sponsors, so, barring some unforeseen circumstance, it will pass in the Senate.  Which is when the real work begins.

Here’s yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  Nothing surprising or untoward in there.  Just a solid day of legislating.

Once again, the House will not convene in session, but will rather conduct committee hearings today.  Here are the highlights:

Well, not a highlight, just one of Suxco’s worst playing to the so-called ‘pro-life’ crowd.  HB 40 (Collins) ‘requires a physician to offer a patient ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services before terminating a pregnancy and provides civil and criminal penalties for the failure of a physician to comply with this requirement’. In the Health & Human Development Committee, where it will undoubtedly remain.

Housekeeping note: I generally don’t cover Senate bills in House committees and House bills in Senate committees if (a) I’ve already addressed them, and (b) if they appear likely to proceed with little controversy.

HB 86 (K. Williams):

‘provides increased funding for kindergarten through third grade students identified as eligible for basic special education services. Currently, basic special education is provided for students in fourth through twelfth grade who are identified as eligible for basic special education and related services; there is no additional unit funding for students in kindergarten through third grade who may be eligible for basic special education services. The Act adds a designation of “K-3 Basic Special Education (basic)” and over three years reduces the number of students comprising a unit from the current 16.2 to 8.4. This Act will increase the unit count funding for K-3 Basic Special Education (basic) students by School Year 2023-2024, Fiscal Year 2024, to be consistent with the 8.4 unit of pupils currently available to students in grades 4 through 12.

This initiative was part of Gov. Carney’s budget proposal.  When fully implemented, the state cost will be around $12 mill annually, and the local cost will be about $4.4 million per year. (Education).

HB 107 (Baumbach) ‘preserves the requirement that students have the opportunity to salute and pledge allegiance to the American flag each school day but revises the Code so that the requirement complies with the First Amendment of the Constitution.’  State law requires each student to salute and pledge allegiance, but the US Supreme Court has held that to be unconstitutional, a violation of First Amendment rights.  This bill removes the state requirement. (Education).

Today’s Senate Committee highlights:

SB 72 (S. McBride) ‘adds the term “religion” to the list of prohibited bases for discrimination and defines “religion” to include all aspects of religious observance and practice, not just belief.’  In other words, Sen. Lawson, if someone wears a burqa, you can’t discriminate against them. (Banking, Business & Insurance).

SB 60 (Lopez) ‘ allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to recommend medical marijuana for adult patients.’ (Health & Social Services).

SB 76 (Sturgeon) ‘authorizes the distribution of testing strips to determine the presence of fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances. Fentanyl testing strips could be distributed to the community along with opioid overdose reversal medication as a harm reduction strategy in the opioid addiction crisis’. (Health & Social Services).

SB 58 (Lawson) ‘removes the State’s authority to forcibly isolate, quarantine, vaccinate, or treat individuals against their will for COVID-19 during a state of emergency relating to COVID-19’.  You know, because of ‘freedom’. Stoopid Rethuglican Tricks. (Executive).

Here is today’s Senate Agenda. Only bill of interest to me is SB 55 (Sokola), which ‘creates emergency access to epinephrine that allows an institution of higher education to acquire and stock a supply of epinephrine autoinjectors if an employee or agent has completed a training program. This Act allows the individual who has completed the training program to provide an epinephrine autoinjector to someone experiencing anaphylaxis for immediate self-administration or administer an epinephrine autoinjector to someone experiencing anaphylaxis’.

Bye the bye, what do you call an Irish gent who has been left out on the porch (pronounced ‘parch’) all winter long?  Paddy O’Furniture.  Write it down, it’s a good one.