By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — The General Assembly returned to the state capitol on Tuesday after a two-week spring recess, but missed no time getting back to work.

With just over two months left of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers considered a number of bills – some controversial and others not – sending them to their next step in the law-making process.

Here’s a further look what happened at Legislative Hall and beyond this week:

Reproductive care

Lawmakers discussed the fiscal impacts of legislation to extend Medicaid coverage for care related to the termination of a pregnancy during Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee meeting.

House Substitute 2 for House Bill 110, sponsored by Majority Leader Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle, would require all Delaware health care plans that deliver or issue Medicaid to cover these services.

Under the proposal, qualifying individuals would not be subject to deductibles, coinsurance, copayments or any other cost-sharing requirements to receive abortion care in the state. The bill also caps the maximum benefit to $750 for services related to a termination of pregnancy.

The measure passed the House Health and Human Development Committee last April and has been substituted twice since then.

During Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Charles Postles, R-Milford, questioned why this type of care would be covered in full, to which Rep. Minor-Brown noted that there are several other types of procedures and accompanying care that are covered the same way under Medicaid.

“There are plenty of things that are covered fully under our health plan,” she said. “I will tell you that plenty of reproductive health services are covered fully.”

The legislation – which carries a total fiscal impact of just over $500,000 for each of the next three years – ultimately passed along party lines, sending the measure to the ready list for consideration on the House floor.

Trotlines

The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday that allows the use of trotlines for commercial crabbing in the First State.

Sponsored by Rep. Bill Carson, D-Smyrna, House Bill 14 would create a new license for the use of trotlines, while barring individuals from possessing one while holding a commercial crab pot license at the same time.

The Smyrna Democrat said the use of trotlines instead of crab pots is safer, as it allows individuals to remain closer to shore instead of in the bay where weather can get rough. He added that there are environmental benefits as well, as crab pots are oftentimes lost, and trotlines are always able to be picked back up.

The measure passed the House unanimously, as it will now head to the Senate for further consideration.

U.S. Space Force

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives considered legislation by Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha, D-Wilmington, that would recognize the U.S. Space Force under Delaware Code.

Established in December 2019, the Space Force became the sixth branch of the United States armed forces with a goal to provide the proper forces and personnel to preserve the country’s space superiority.

Rep. Chukwuocha noted that the bill was recommended by the U.S. Department of Defense to insert the Space Force in sections of Delaware law that include the other five branches of the armed forces.

House Bill 310 passed unanimously and now heads to the Senate for further consideration.

Transportation center

Senate lawmakers introduced a bill on Monday that would rename the Newark Regional Transportation Center after retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Carper.

The Senate moved quick to advance Senate Bill 276, as it was released by the chamber’s executive committee on Tuesday and passed by the chamber later that day. It now heads to the House for further consideration.

Sen. Carper has been a proponent of passenger rail travel throughout his public service career in Delaware and in U.S. Congress.

A former chairman of the Amtrak board, the retiring senator commutes daily by train from Wilmington to Washington D.C. and has worked to secure funding for rail improvements in the northeast, including a $21 million restoration of the Wilmington Train Station.

Hall-Long’s gubernatorial pursuit

Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, a Democratic candidate for Delaware governor, officially filed her candidacy with the Department of Elections on Tuesday.

To further her efforts in the race, the candidate will hold a campaign kickoff rally on April 27 at AFSCME Council 81 in New Castle. At that event, Lt. Gov. Hall-Long will be joined by Gov. John Carney, Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, and other lawmakers who have extended endorsements for the lieutenant governor.

At the event, new endorsements of Lt. Gov. Hall-Long will be announced.

The lieutenant governor is one of three Democratic candidates in the race, along with New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and former DNREC secretary Collin O’Mara. Two Republicans – Jerry Price and Bobby Williamson – have filed for the Republican nomination.