The Cape Gazette
The fate of medical-aid-in-dying bill that cleared the General Assembly in June is uncertain as it has yet to be delivered to Gov. John Carney to sign.
Sponsor of the bill, Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, said July 15, the bill still resides in the House.
“Thus far, the governor has not led me to believe that he will sign the bill when it makes it to his desk,” Baumbach said.
Baumbach did not say when he plans to deliver the bill to the governor, or whether he has heard if Carney will veto it.
Carney’s office also has not responded to questions as to whether the governor plans to veto or sign the bill. The bill passed the Senate by an 11-10 margin, well short of the necessary three-fifths vote needed to override a veto. The bill originally failed in the Senate June 20, before it was reconsidered.
The bill could become law if Carney takes no action within 10 days of taking possession of the bill, excluding Sundays. The Marijuana Act became law in that manner.
Another rare option could be a pocket veto, but only if the bill is delivered to Carney less than 10 days before election night.
If the bill is delivered in that tight time frame, Carney could do nothing and it would die after midnight on election night. But according to a 2020 Division of Research memorandum, that is unlikely because the General Assembly can convene any time.
“It is now practically impossible for the governor to use the pocket veto power because the chambers each recess to the call of the chair rather than adjourn sine die,” the memo states.
House Bill 140, known as the Ron Silverio/Heather Block End-of-Life Options Law, was named in honor of two terminally ill advocates for medical aid in dying who died before they could see the bill pass. Block was a Lewes resident.