General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., May 19, 2022

One look at the House and Senate Agendas today, and you know what’s happening.  With a two-week break coming up, both chambers are trying to get bills over to the other chamber for consideration. The Senate Agenda features 12 Senate bills, and the House Agenda features 16 House bills.  Only SB 100 (Townsend), which is a priority in both houses, besmirches the ‘purity’ of the House Agenda.

I think this is a good thing.  Far better to try to proceed in an orderly fashion via the committee process than to have a bunch of bills considered on the floor under ‘Motions To Suspend Rules’.  Not that that won’t happen.

First, here’s yesterday’s Session Activity Report. Of note: SS1/SB 101 (Townsend), which would provide legal assistance to renters, was not released from the House Appropriations Committee, which features the corrupt Stephanie Bolden and the clueless Lumpy Carson among its members.  If they are really burying this bill, then it should be petitioned out of committee. Bud Freel has been a leader in protecting tenants.  It would be a fitting coda to his brief time in Dover for him to take the lead here.  While I was unhappy with the process that led to Freel being the nominee, he’s done an outstanding job in Dover so far.  Credit where credit’s due.

Today’s House Agenda leads off with quite the controversial bill.  A bill I totally support.  HB 140 (Baumbach) ‘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.’  I would want to have that option available to me under those circumstances. Wouldn’t you? Rep. Baumbach has worked on this issue for quite some time, and has done everything in his power to make sure that disparate views on this matter have been respected.  This should be one of the most interesting roll calls of the year.

As if that’s not enough, HB 372 (Osienski), which ‘regulates and taxes marijuana in the same manner as alcohol’, is also on the Agenda.  A majority of representatives support the bill. However, the bill requires a 3/5ths majority.  Meaning, its fate will likely come down to the whims of the likes of Stephanie Bolden, and R’s Smith and Ramone.  Would-be challengers, take note.

Today’s Senate Agenda, while substantive, appears far less controversial.  There’s been some internecine fighting within the mobile homeowners’ community on SS1/SB 9, with the Delaware Manufactured Homeowners’ Association supporting the bill, and Dover Councilman Fred Neil, a self-proclaimed advocate for the community, opposing the bill.

Other than that, look for smooth sailing.

Oh, and two weeks off for budget mark-up.

We’ll/they’ll be back in June.