General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 16, 2022
Everything on both agendas passed. Nobody in the Senate cared about the Ft. DuPont rip-off or the giveaway to out-of-state veterans who would move here. A Delaware Way kind of day.
We only have committee meetings today. Senate Committee highlights:
SB 233 (Lockman) simply tries to formalize municipal voter registration by only requiring voter registration for those who do not live in a municipality, but are eligible to vote there. All other registered voters who live in the municipality will no longer have to do so as long as they are on the State Voter Registration System. Elections & Government Affairs.
Th-that’s it in the Senate? There are other bills, mostly House bills. Was so desperate that I almost included a bill on invasive species (we’re talking plants, not skinflint vets looking to rip off the state coffers), but it was pretty much an administrative adjustment. (BTW, since I’m short on copy for the Senate, did you know that the first bill I actually ‘wrote’ for the House back in 1983 was one which removed an out-of-date reference to ‘noxious weeds’ from the Delaware Code? A one-sentence bill. Now you do. Shout-out to Rep. Donald Clark, one of the nicest people to ever get elected to office!)
Today’s House Committee highlights:
HB 320 (Heffernan) ‘allows physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe medication for the termination of pregnancy including Mifeprex, Mifepristone, and Misoprostol.’ All three drugs have been approved by the FDA for this use. Here’s a bit more:
Under the REMS (Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategy) approved by the FDA, healthcare providers who wish to prescribe Mifepristone, Misoprostol, or Mifeprex must complete a Prescriber Agreement before ordering and dispensing the medication. Physicians assistants and advanced practiced registered nurses (APRNs) are healthcare providers who are eligible to prescribe these medications under the REMS.
I think we can safely predict that this bill will likely pass in both chambers, almost certainly w/o a single Rethug voting for it. Health & Human Development.
HB 296 (Mitchell) ‘adds catalytic converters to the list of items for which scrap metal processors shall create a record and provide information when acquired’. You see, they’re being stolen. A lot. Public Safety & Homeland Secuurity.
HB 328 (K. Williams) seeks to close loopholes in the regulation of drag racing. These kids today. Can’t they just hang out at the malls like their moms and dads did? What’s that? There are no malls any more? Public Safety & Homeland Security.
HS1/HB 302 (Baumbach) ‘clarifies that the creation or possession of an altered or fake vaccination (including electronic equivalents) document is forgery in the second degree. That seems so–2021, but OK. Judiciary.
HB 275 (Matthews) ‘increases the penalties for a second offense of a firearm owner’s failure to report the loss of theft of a firearm pursuant to the statute from just a civil penalty to a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of up to $2,300 and incarceration of up to 1 year.’ Even the marginal gun nuts in the House are on this bill, so it looks likely to pass. Judiciary.
My fave Committee Bill Of The Week is HB 118 (Lynn):
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have established a process for compensating individuals who have been wrongly convicted. This Act creates such a process for Delaware.
I’m encouraged that one R (Pettyjohn) has signed onto the bill. I’m concerned that more legislators haven’t. I’m thrilled that Rep. Larry Lambert, who represents my district, is one of the sponsors. Judiciary.
Every bill on today’s House Education Committee agenda deserves support:
HB 300 (Longhurst) ‘establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware middle schools.’
HB 301 (Longhurst) ‘increases student awareness of mental health by requiring the Department of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to establish and implement statewide mental health educational programs for each grade, kindergarten through grade 12, in each school district and charter school in this State.’
Kids, don’t let the fact that Our PAL Val Longhurst is the prime sponsor on these bills deter you. It has long since been established that she will grab any bill she wants to for her own. I’ll believe that she is sincere about this issue when she sponsors a bill providing services to House staff suffering from PTSD at her hand. But, I digress.
HB 315 (Heffernan) ‘provides unit funding for full time employees who shall be hired to provide permanent substitute teaching support in Delaware schools. The bill also provides professional development requirements for those hired into these positions and creates a pathway to teaching to those individuals who meet the requirements for an emergency certificate.’ Yes!
HB 318 (Dorsey Walker) ‘defers the expiration of the license for an individual who is or is the spouse of active-duty military, is or is the spouse of a member of the National Guard, is or is the spouse of an individual in the military reserve, and for an individual who is or is the spouse of retired military.’ We’re talking professional licenses for ‘a nonpublic school teacher, specialist, or administrator employed by this State and for a public education employee, i.e., a Department of Education employee, adult education employee, and prison education employee’.
Not sure if I’ll be back tomorrow, as I will be recovering from my hip replacement. Although…it’d be interesting to see what I could conjure up while still in a semi-drugged stupor….
…What’s that? ‘How is that different from any other day here?’
That’s IT, Rev, you’re banned, now and forever! For REAL this time.
