General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 8, 2024

I guess the biggest news is the number of absentees in the House yesterday.  Six in all, with several roll calls having at least eight absences.  Allergies?

Also, the two House bills mandating insurance coverages for certain costs received a large number of R no’s and not votings.  I can understand why on HB 274 (K. Williams).  A reasonable argument can be made that purchasing egg and peanut butter protein supplements for infants is something parents can and should do.  Having not heard the floor discussion, even I might make that argument.  However, prostate cancer screening? That would seem a no-brainer.  But three aging Rethug males voted no (well, we’re ALL aging, one day at a time), with a whole bunch of ‘not votings’ mixed in.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  You will note a series of bills arising out of the ‘Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group created by House Bill 244’, all sponsored by Sen. Darius Brown. They appear designed to reduce obstacles keeping criminal defendants from achieving financial stability and self-sufficiency.  Looks like an excellent package.  I do worry about the relatively-late introduction of the bills.  They’re starting in the Senate, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be considered on a timely basis there.  Once they arrive in the House, who knows?

Big committee day today.  Refilling my coffee, will be right back.

Today’s Senate Committee highlights:

SB 272 (Poore):

The General Assembly has recently added to the services that pharmacists may provide, including prescribing birth control, testing and treating for a variety of conditions, and prescribing pre-exposure and post-exposure HIV prophylaxis.  This Act requires health insurance providers to provide the same reimbursement to pharmacists that is already provided other providers performing the same services at the same rates as advance practice registered nurses and physician assistants.

I’m married to a pharmacist.  I support the bill, and admit that, were I a legislator, I’d have a conflict-of-interest and couldn’t vote. Health & Social Services.

Two bills redefining the responsibilities between the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association and the State Department of Education will be considered in the Senate Education Committee today. I’ve only been following this informally, so I leave it up to our education solons to weigh in.  Assuming both bills clear committee, they are the only two items on today’s Senate Agenda.  Although there may be some nominations that will also be considered.

SB 17 (Townsend) makes changes to the Victims’ Bill Of Rights.  Some of them are pretty significant and appear, to this untrained eye, to be improvements.  Judiciary.

I’m a big fan of both SB 15 and SB 16, both of which will be considered in today’s Executive Committee hearing.  Both champion accountability, SB 15 by requiring that all holdover Cabinet officials at the end of the Governor’s first term be resubmitted to the Senate for consideration at the beginning of the Governor’s second term; SB 16 by ‘aligning the end of the term of each of the members of the Governor’s cabinet with the end of the Governor’s term by designating the principal officer of each executive department who is subject to the amendments to § 10 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution proposed by Senate Bill No. 15. The General Assembly’s intent in making this change is to require each member of the Governor’s cabinet to be reconfirmed by the Senate at the beginning of each term of a Governor.’

I’d be surprised if these bills didn’t pass unanimously in each chamber.

I’m a big fan (Memo to self:  Come up with at least a couple more alternatives to ‘I’m a big fan’) of SB 254 (Brown), which:

…creates the Delaware Grocery Initiative. It directs the Office of State Planning Coordination (“Office”) to study food insecurity in urban and rural food deserts. The Act defines a food desert and directs the Office to expand access to healthy foods in food deserts by providing financial assistance to grocery stores, independently owned for-profit grocery stores, cooperative grocery stores, non-profit grocery stores as well as grocery stores owned and operated by local governmental units. The Act provides the Office with authority to enter into contracts, grants, or other agreements to administer grants and other financial support, including technical assistance. It further authorizes the Office to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to implement and administer this initiative.

A great bill.  Gotta say, the legislative efforts of Darius Brown are growing on me.  Elections & Government Affairs.

Today’s House Committee highlights:

HB 374 (K. Johnson) ‘provid(es) the same legal protections afforded providers of contraceptive and abortion services to providers of fertility treatment.’  We know why.  Someday, these protections will ideally become part of the State Constitution as there is no guarantee that we will always have at least semi-enlightened leadership.  Just something that Collin O’Mara mentioned on Saturday.  Judiciary.

HB 360 (Wilson-Anton) ‘adds Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha to the list of state holidays.’ Administration.

HB 382 (Heffernan) ‘requires that public school students receive a vision screening, including a test for color blindness, in kindergarten. Students must also receive vision screenings at appropriate intervals in grades 1 through 12, to be determined by the DOE.’  Education.

A pretty solid day of legislating.  Hope we get more of the same tomorrow.