General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Tuesday’s Activity Report.

You will note that HB 88 (K. Williams) cleared the Business Lapdog Committee.  There was one unfavorable vote on the move to eliminate the training and teen sub-minimum wage. You don’t suppose–that committee member Mike Ramone would engage in yet another conflict-of-interest vote so soon after being exposed as a serial conflict-of-interest legislator, do you?

Notable bills that passed the Senate yesterday include SB 60 (Lopez), which ‘allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to recommend medical marijuana for adult patients’, and SB 76 (Sturgeon), which ‘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’.

Today’s House Committee highlights:

HB 124 (Griffith) ‘prohibits a person who is the subject of a Protection from Abuse Order of the Family Court and who knows or has reason to know, that the Order has been issued from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm in this State. This Act also prohibits the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, active indictment or information related to a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm.’  Yes. (House Administration.)

HB 150 (Osienski) ‘regulates and taxes marijuana in the same manner as alcohol. It allows adults over the age of 21 to legally possess and consume under 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use. It does not permit people to grow their own marijuana.’  Memo to supporters: Sign up and let your voices be heard.  Otherwise you could well be swamped in the same way that the Suxco mouth-breathers overran that ghost gun debate. I viewed that as a failure by gun control advocates.  Gotta say, I’m thrilled that this bill is moving so quickly.  It tells me that it’s likely to pass-if the, pardon the expression, grassroots, rises up in support. (House & Human Development.)

HB 64 (Kowalko) ‘creates the following new tax brackets: at $125,000, with a rate of 7.10%, at $250,000, with a rate of 7.85%, and at $500,000, with a rate of 8.6%’.  We’ve discussed this bill before.  It simply taxes income over $125K for individuals at a very modest rate.   Governor Green Eyeshade has said that he supports the idea of the bill but, gosh darn it, the State doesn’t need the money.  Uh, John?  Delaware’s wealthiest made out like bandits during the pandemic and during the recession.  How about doing something b/c it’s the right thing to do?  You know, to help rectify income inequality?  You know, something a Democratic governor would do? (Revenue & Finance.)

HB 47 (Briggs King) extends unpaid medical family leave provisions to school district employees following a newborn’s discharge from the hospital.  Good, as far as it goes.  Time for paid medical and family leave. (Education.)

Today’s Senate Committee highlights:

SB 40 (Brown) ‘allows the Court to suspend an amount of the fine for uninsured driving if the defendant provides evidence that they have now secured insurance, demonstrating compliance with the law.’ (Transportation.)

SB 5 (Gay). A great bill.  It:

…creates an automatic voter registration system at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and grants the State Election Commissioner the authority to implement automatic voter registration at other state agencies that already offer voter registration services under existing law. This Act stipulates that an unregistered adult citizen who provides proof of U.S. citizenship during a DMV license or identification card transaction will be automatically registered to vote by the Department of Elections, if otherwise eligible for registration.

Delaware. The anti-anti-voting state?

SB 49 (Walsh) ‘clarifies that the University of Delaware, like other institutes of higher learning including Delaware State University and Delaware Technical and Community College, must comply with the terms of the Prevailing Wage Law for projects secured under the State Procurement Act.’  Betcha you didn’t know that the U of D had exempted itself from this law.  I didn’t. I should have. (Labor.)

SB 90 (Lockman) ‘…revises both the Delaware Fair Housing Act and Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to repeal the exception to discrimination based on source of income that allows a landlord to discriminate against tenants who participate in government-sponsored rental assistance programs.  Man, another good bill. (Housing.)

When you look at these bills, you can already see the progressive influence on the General Assembly. Taken individually, you might not see it, but collectively we’re seeing some real good legislation.

A routine Senate Agenda today.  The only bill of note is SB 73 (S. McBride),  which ‘…permits an individual to practice dentistry for the Division of Public Health (Division) under a provisional license. Delaware law provides several routes for entering practice on an interim basis until full licensure can be obtained, however, none of these routes specifically permit hiring by the Division with the intent to practice in a state-supported dental clinic. This Act will assist the Division in recruiting dentists to serve those in need.’

Don’t worry.  We’ve got some amazing bills coming through the pipeline.  Next week could be a real good week.

See you tomorrow…