Bill to expand commission investigating child deaths passes Delaware House | The Latest from WDEL News

A bill intended to increase minority representation on a committee focused on maternal and infant deaths passed the Delaware House of Representatives Thursday, but not before facing some opposition.

House Bill 340 aims to add a midwife, a doula, and a member of a community group focused on the topic to a renamed “Child and Maternal Death Review Commission”.

Currently the “Child Death Review Commission” includes representatives from the Medical Society of Delaware, Delaware Nurses Association, National Association of Social Workers, Police Chiefs’ Council of Delaware, New Castle County Police Department, and two child advocates from statewide non-profits.

The bill would also require the Commission to hold at least one meeting per year with the Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative to discuss its findings, since most meetings are closed to the public due to sensitive medical information being discussed. 

HB340 also requires the Governor to consider Black, Indigenous, or other persons of color when selecting new members.

Rep. Ruth Briggs-King (R-Georgetown) attempted an amendment to remove references to specific races.

“I’m very sensitive to the fact for a couple of years I lived in the Deep South, and they actually had a calculation to determine the percentage of race, and I hate to see us going down some paths. What I wanted us to do is to make sure the community I represent, which is very diverse in Sussex County and the Georgetown area, that when we about this that we’re being more broad and looking at a commission of individuals who share characteristics of the demographic populations with high incidents of maternal and child mortality. Those numbers may change in the new future as we see new groups come in.”

Sponsoring Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle) took exception to the attempt to exclude specific races from the legislation.

“The U.S. is one of 13 countries where Black maternal mortality is on the rise. Black women are dying four times faster than their White counterparts right here in Delaware. Infant mortality is 28th in the nation in Delaware. Black babies are dying 4-5 times faster than their White counterparts prior to the age of 1. There is one person in this room who has put blood, sweat, and tears into this Black maternal health epidemic, and her name is Melissa Minor-Brown. I’m going to keep doing this work until Black women stop dying from preventable complications. It’s unfortunate that we have to legislate to have Black women at the table, but until Black women stop dying from preventable complications, this line is going to keep saying ‘Black, Indigenous, and other persons of color in the membership.”

14 of the 15 members of the Republican Caucus supported Briggs King’s amendment, with only Michael Ramone (R-Pike Creek), voting no. They were easily outvoted by the Democrats.

Briggs King also offered an amendment that would have specifically defined a doula to be someone certified from a list of organizations. She said her amendment came from Minnesota, while HB340 has New Jersey roots.

“In some other states, they’ve had difficulty getting Medicaid reimbursement without a proper certification. While I realized the sponsor has said we will work on this in the interim, I felt like it was important to get this on the record.”

Minor-Brown called it an “unfriendly amendment” saying she is the chair of the Delaware Healthy Mother & Infant Consortium’s Doula Ad Hoc Working Group, and that they are working on certification standards.

“We work regularly, with a diverse group at the table, doing the research, reaching out to other states. I have doctors, nurses, OB/GYNs, doulas, midwives, and (others) at the table. We will continue to do this work around coming up with the appropriate requirements, education, and credentials for our doulas in Delaware. This is an unfriendly amendment, and I would like to continue to do our work as a group as we have been doing.”

Briggs King’s second amendment failed with the same split.

After those two votes, the present members of the House then voted unanimously to support the expansion of the commission.

The Senate Health & Social Services Committee is the next step for HB340.