Reminder — Budget and HB1 Events Today
Today is going to be a busy one.
Governor Markell is presenting his FY2010 budget today (addressing the massive shortfalls) in a press conference at 1PM in Dover. Not sure whether this will be televised or broadcast on the radio, but will update as I hear it. And this would have been a good opportunity for a webcast by the State (like the Inauguration) but that doesn’t look as though that will happen.
HB1 comes up for a vote today. We talked about this on Monday. In addition, Redwaterlily has provided the full text of the bill with markups color coded to show the additions of the two pre-filed Amendments. This is incredibly useful and really good work! 2PM is when the Open Government advocates will be convening to support the effort to get this bill passed.
If you are going, certainly email one of us here and keep us posted as to progress.
Tags: Delaware Budget, Markell, Open Government
I wish I could go to Dover today, but I’m swamped at work. I’ll try to follow things through the blog.
The definition of Caucus is very vague.
(h) ‘Caucus’ means members of the House of Representatives or Senate, of the same political party, who assemble to discuss matters of public business.
Right… so if no minority members of a committee showed up t0 a committee meeting, couldn’t they call it a caucus and close the doors?
I’m going but I am tech challenged — all I’ve got is a cell phone and all I know how to do with it is place calls. I’ll try to call someone who can post.
anon: No, b/c committee meetings are already required to be posted. They can’t morph into caucuses.
BTW, this message has gone out from the Governor:
“Governor Markell will unveil the budget plan today, 19 March, to address the historic $750 million shortfall that our State is currently facing for fiscal year 2010.
The Governor invites all state employees to view this press conference live at 1:00 pm by visiting
http://webcast.delaware.gov:8080/webcasts/DE_State_Webcast.shtml#
Thank you for your attention on this very important matter.”
No word if State employees are being served complimentary hemlock for the occasion…
My wife the state employee just called and said Markell is expected to announce a substantial pay cut for state employees. Don’t know if that includes the GA or people who have left Minner’s administration and found themselves a cushy new public job.
Another Mike brings up an interesting point. If only Merit System employees are included, then the GA will not be covered, nor will cabinet officials. Presumably, Jack will have the cabinet secretaries agree to cuts.
But will the GA follow through for the staff and, most importantly, for themselves?
And will Meconi’s announced payoff be reduced by the same percentage as everyone else? (No, ‘bulo is not letting loose of this one…)
pay cuts for some of the State Employees will mean more can apply for State assistance – it’s a shifting of the money from one spot to another – I think the cuts should only apply to the upper crust and not those that, with the cuts, would be able to draw food stamps etc.
When the Correctional Officers Association met with the governor, there was talk of cuts of up to 5%.