General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thursday, May 13, 2021
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. According to Matt Bittle’s story on the committee hearing for SB 108, prime sponsor Sen. Bryant Richardson whined that he had a conflict with another meeting. You really ought to subscribe, but here’s the gist:
A significant part of the hourlong hearing was spent with Sen. Richardson and the chairwoman, Sen. Kyle Evans Gay, debating whether the bill should be heard Wednesday. Saying he was unprepared to present, Sen. Richardson requested the proposal be heard another day.
But Sen. Gay, D-Talleyville, shot down that ask, noting that a previous March hearing was rescheduled.
In response to Sen. Richardson’s claims about a lack of adequate public advertisement, Sen. Gay pointed out that the hearing was scheduled a week ago. When Sen. Richardson objected that he had a conflict with the Senate Banking, Business & Insurance Committee, Sen. Gay questioned why he didn’t ask to move the abortion bill hearing ahead of time.
“I won’t have the process manipulated in a way that just prolongs a hearing,” she said. (She’s my State Senator. You can’t have her.)
Richardson cited the absence of the Great Unwashed as proof that inadequate notice had been given. I think it was because they can’t read. BTW, Richardson also likened abortion to slavery. It didn’t go over well. Anyway, like I said yesterday, the bill’s going nowhere. And, you should subscribe.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. Of note, the police body camera bill has cleared committee.
Highlights from today’s Senate Agenda:
…enhances the qualifications for an individual to serve as a member of a school board or the State Board of Education. Specifically, this Act does all of the following: 1. Requires a prospective member of a school district board or State Board of Education to undergo the background check for child-serving entities and provides authority for the State Bureau of Identification to provide the required background check information to the appropriate entities. 2. Provides that background check information provided under this Act is not a public record under the Delaware Freedom of Information Act. 3. Requires that the Commissioner of Elections determine that an individual does not have any disqualifying convictions before the individual can be a candidate for election to a school board. 4. Requires the suspension of a member of a school board or the State Board of Education if the member is charged with a crime that would disqualify the individual from holding the position if convicted. 5. Requires the suspension of a charter school board member who is charged with a disqualifying offense. Existing law requires potential charter school board members to undergo and pass a criminal background check to serve as a charter school board member.
*SB 94 (Hansen) ‘makes permanent changes to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), Chapter 100 of Title 29, that allow any public body to hold a virtual meeting if there is a physical anchor location where the public can attend the meeting in person and other notice and access requirements are met.’ This provision had been scheduled to sunset on June 30. And, yes, the bill also ‘(p)rovides that during a state of emergency, or to prevent a public health emergency, all public bodies may hold virtual meetings without an anchor location’. I’m almost to the point where I’d be happy if all legislative proceedings were virtual. You eliminate the intimidation factor and the malevolent omnipresence of lobbyists.
We’ve got some real good bills on today’s House Agenda:
*HB 75 (Bentz) ‘is the final leg of a constitutional amendment that would eliminate from the Delaware Constitution the limitations as to when an individual may vote by absentee ballot.’ In other words, we will finally have ‘no excuses needed’ absentee voting in Delaware.
*HB 88 (K. Williams) ends the ‘training minimum wage and youth minimum wage’. Will Mike Ramone cry real tears today?
*HB 91 (Bentz) ‘give(s) Delaware consumers and businesses the protection against unfair acts or practices in commerce that the General Assembly intended to give them when it enacted the Consumer Fraud Act’ back in 1965. This is a serious updating and upgrading of that Act. Props to all involved. I gotta say, if Rep. Bentz is the sponsor of a bill, it is invariably a progressive bill, and his bills almost always pass. One of our most effective legislators. And you rarely hear him say anything.
Well. Signs point to a productive legislation today. Signs point to me getting my breakfast. Now.
Is it asking too much for the bleeping House to leave the results of a voting session up on the General Assembly’s website for at least, say, a couple of hours after the session concludes? The Senate does, and you can see the results of their activity.
However, at 4:10, I went to the House page and–next week’s schedule is there, no record of today’s action.
Thankfully, I gleaned from Matt Bittle’s Twitter that the bill eliminating the training wage passed, 26-15, but the second leg of the Constitutional Amendment, which permits ‘no-excuse’ absentee voting was not worked. Why? It’s a 2/3rds bill, and, with 26 D’s, it needs one R to vote yes. It got the votes last time. But that was before The Big Lie.