BIG NEWS! Bill Ending Discrimination Against Gays Likely to Pass Soon
This is not a dream, this is real. Although many have dreamed of this day for a long time.
It now appears a virtual certainty that legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in Delaware will pass both houses of the Delaware General Assembly, and will be signed by the Governor this month.
In a little-noticed, but critical development, Sen. David P. Sokola introduced Senate Bill 121 at the end of last week. It was assigned to the Senate Insurance Committee (more on that in a graf or two). This bill is, for all intents and purposes, identical to HB 5, and it has virtually the same sponsors as HB 5. As everyone here knows, HB 5 has languished in the Senate Executive Committee, where there are/were not sufficient votes to release the bill to the Senate floor.
While the Beast Who Slumbers doesn’t know for sure what caused this monumental development, he guesses that perhaps Senators Peterson and Sokola had the votes to petition HB 5 to the floor and, out of courtesy, offered this face-saving mechanism to Sen. Adams. It is, after all, the President Pro-Tempore (Adams) who assigns bills to committee, and, in this case, the bill was assigned to a committee guaranteed to vote it out to the floor.
The Senate Insurance Committee, to which SB 121 has been assigned, is about as receptive a committee for this bill as one could ask. 4 of the 5 senators on the Insurance Committee are either sponsors or have publicly committed to supporting the anti-discriminatory legislation (Blevins, Cloutier, McDowell and Sokola). Only Bethany Hall-Long has not publicly stated her support.
In other words, folks, this bill is going to the Senate floor soon. It has the votes to pass there, and it will then go to the House, where HB 5 has already passed.
Although passage appears to be virtually certain, it is essential that you contact your senators and representatives, and either ask them to support the bill or to thank them for supporting the bill.
El Somnambulo is having trouble slumbering, he’s so excited. Rest assured, there’ll be plenty of time to sleep after the bill becomes law. Until then, get busy!
Tags: Gay Rights, General Assembly
This is great news! We were just hearing about the second bill last week and were pretty puzzled about why a second bill identical to the first bill was being introduced. What you’re saying is that the second bill was introduced so that it wouldn’t go into Adams’s committee. It’s a strange compromise, but whatever works!
In theory, Adams assigns bills to committee. That’s why ‘bulo thinks that this was a face-saving device to prevent a second bill from being petitioned to the floor over the objections of the Pro-Tem. But that’s just a semi-educated guess.
Bethany Hall-Long voted in favor of the bill every time it came before the House.
Do your homework.
Allow ‘bulo to rephrase. Blevins, Cloutier, McDowell and Sokola showed their willingness to petition HB 5 out of committee. BH-L did not. In order to pass the bill, it first has to get to the floor. Otherwise, it can’t be voted up or down.
The point being that, since 4 of the 5 committee members have publicly signaled their intent to bring this issue to a vote, the votes are there to get the bill to the floor.
‘Bulo is sure that supporters of SB 121 would welcome a ‘yes’ vote from BH-L. They would’ve welcomed an up-or-down vote on HB 5 as well.
Only Bethany Hall-Long has not publicly stated her support.
She hasn’t guaged the overwhelming support yet, but once she does, she’ll support it.
All that aside, ‘bulo, since this is a NEW bill, you realize that it will have to go back through the House, right? I don’t forsee problems there, but just wanted to temper you slightly that Senate passage of this bill is half the battle.
All that aside, ‘bulo, since this is a NEW bill, you realize that it will have to go back through the House, right?
I wonder about this too, and am hoping that this isn’t another bite at the apple like Eminent Domain last year.
Know what, o-h, let me add something. Ennis openly told people – his constituents – of his being against the Marriage Protection Amendment, even with the knowledge that it would cost him within his own party. That is what makes me pause and understand how I can respect him. This is where BHL can stand and get noticed. She is the lone “unknown” on that committee. Why? Sorry if this offends you, and I know it will, but she has a long line of “safety.” I applauded her in comments on her bill about minors and tanning salons. I think that was an overdue piece of legislation. She got it introduced. Good stuff there. Now, let’s see her real mettle, away from campaigning season, and you tell her (I have a hunch you have a direct line) to take a stand. Up or down, doesn’t matter, but take a freaking stand as one of five, but not disappear as one of 21.
Smitty, although it’s technically a new bill, it still likely won’t even have to go through the House committee process, since it’s not substantively a new bill. It could well be considered under suspension of the House rules.
But, with Speaker Gilligan as a sponsor, the bill will be fast-tracked through the House once it clears the Senate, even if it’s assigned to a committee.
‘Bulo knows he’s sounding cocky, but this is really gonna become law this year. However, he doesn’t blame anyone for being cautious.
And, Cassandra, the difference between this and last session’s eminent domain fiasco is that you’ve got a Governor ready, willing and able to sign SB 121.
But, with Speaker Gilligan as a sponsor, the bill will be fast-tracked through the House once it clears the Senate, even if it’s assigned to a committee.
That’s absolutely the impression I have, too, but I was being technical on what I understand of the rules. I’m not too worried about it after Senate passage, just treading carefully in respect of getting overly optimistic at this point.
While not trying to bore anyone (‘bulo admits he’s failed), oftentimes committees don’t even meet during the last two weeks of session. Rather, the legislators work from a series of ‘must lists’, essentially individual legislators’ prioritized legislation. Bills are considered under rules suspension as they have not gone through the committee process.
The House even has ‘Consent Agendas’, where bills generally considered non-controversial are grouped together, and voted on in one omnibus roll call. For example, it is not uncommon to see a series of municipal charter changes voted on that way.
Smitty, if SB 121 passes the Senate, but does not pass the House, the Lush Who Slumbers will buy you an entire case of Pilsner Urquell. And you know how cheap El Somnambulo is…
Don’t you dare make me even consider one-iota in opposing this bill, you bastard!!! Gee, what do I want, five-million-dollars to use at my own discretion, or passage of SB121. You suck. I still choose SB121, but if one of those houses falters (or worse yet, it languishes after the closing gavel on June 30/July 1), I’m knocking on your door! Then, you and I can split the case while we shout ad-hominems at the legislature.
Deal!
I’m with El Som – if it gets through the Senate (which it will), then it will get through the House.
Who knows boys, they might be in Dover til the end of July. It’s going to be June 30th for a month… 🙂
Oh Hai may just be correct. ‘Bulo doesn’t see how the General Assembly is gonna be able to tackle the budget deficit by June 30 at the rate they’re going.
This cannot be overstated: There is not a single legislator in the Delaware General Assembly who has served at a time when the State’s fiscal circumstances were this dire. A nip here and a tuck there are just not going to get it done.
‘Bulo does not know whether the State could enact a continuing budget resolution, but even then, it’s completely out of balance.
The next three weeks are gonna be utterly fascinating, and they’re not gonna be pretty.
I will say, Som, you have now put the horrific image in my head of this bill falling to the floor after the close of June 30th. I certainly am not saying that will be the result, but a possibility I didn’t even consider until just above. I am now going to isolate this branch of concern into being worth TWO CASES, El Som: Senor Barato.
“‘Bulo doesn’t see how the General Assembly is gonna be able to tackle the budget deficit by June 30 at the rate they’re going. ”
That’s the whole plan. They’re going to delay and delay, and then it’ll be “Whoops. We ran out of time, and since we can’t cut anything, we’ve got to raise additional taxes.”
FSP, Bulo, Smitty, etc…
I’m not sure if it’s purposeful delay, lack of knowledge in how to deal, or just the fact that it really is an overwhelmingly difficult problem. I tend to be less cynical and thus lean towards the latter, but I’m not going to discount the other takes.
Also, I *believe* (and I could be wrong), didn’t the GA go into special session post June 30th during Pete DuPont’s administration? For many of the same reasons as we would need to do so today? (i.e., tremendous financial difficulties)
Well, on par, the personnel leave something to be desired. More people from the DTCC ‘family’ than from the business community. Plus, they’ve basically written off any cuts to the 1.7 BN payroll, which is 48% of the budget. They can’t cut Medicaid, the state’s second-largest expense, because they took stimulus money.
But this far in, and they can’t point to one significant program that’s been permanently cut?
o-h: I do recall there was a GA session that did go into “special” session, but I have no idea as to when that was. Obviously, that is an option, but one that I am fairly certain that no one there wants to really consider, unless it’s 2AM, July 1.
FTR, I cetainly don’t make light of the task they have to deal with. It is huge and for this state, likely historic. That said, they received this committee assignment back in January. There should have been more substance, well…more that we could at least be aware of, except that HB1 apparently can’t walk up the stairs to the Gov’s office on its own and all the elevators are suddenly broken.
Lastly, this thread has been totally jacked. Not wanting to take away from HB5/SB121, I’m going to copy/paste this comment in Cass’s new post on “JFC Closed.”
El Som, sorry to put a hole in your theory but McDowell and Blevins would not agree to sign the petition to get the bill out of committee.
If you’re right, June, then the mystery deepens as to how SB 121 came to be, and how it was routed to such a favorable committee. Any theories? ‘Bulo’s fresh out of ’em…
One theory on how it came to be: Schwartzkopf.
http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/6-09gayrights.asp
Makes sense, Belinsky. Usually the problem with that type of brinksmanship is that it can swing both ways. What’s still not clear is how Adams was bypassed in the process since the Pro Tem has the authority to assign bills to committee.
Regardless, the type of heavy lifting that Sokola, Peterson and Schwartzkopf apparently did on this bill is what separates the leaders from the followers.
The TERRIBLE Celia Cohen, how dare you quote her?
She ACTUALLY TALKED TO THE PRINCIPALS and did reporting. The horror.
I will believe this when I see it actually pass both houses. Then I will open a bottle of bubbly and celebrate when Jack signs it into law.
You’re right, La Nuit. Credit where credit’s due. The problem is that it is such a departure from what she’s been cranking out since she restarted her column. More stuff like that from Celia, and ‘bulo will be linking to her page, you have his word.
Celia uncharacteristically has a strong position on gay rights, and always has.
AS for the bypassing of Thurman Adams, do you finally get it now? The place isn’t being run by Adams, it’s being run by DeLuca.
Geezer, if the place is ‘being run by DeLuca’, it’s with the acquiescence of Uncle Thurm. The Pro-Tem has the authority to assign bills to committee. It is one of his most powerful tools.
Are you saying that Adams has ceded this power to DeLuca? That would indeed be interesting, if accurate…
June notes that McDowell and Blevins didn’t sign the HB5 petition. This doesn’t mean that they don’t back the bill. It means that they don’t want to cross DeLuca and Adams. A signature on the petition is a slap on the face for DeLuca and Adams (as was a vote to suspend the rules to bring HB1 to the senate floor for a vote). A vote for HB5/SB121 is not in the same category as a petition signature and a rules suspension vote.
Blevins is aligning herself for leadership when Adams retires, and pissing off Adams is not a stepping stone. By refusing to sign the petition, she shows where her priorities are.
For that matter, perhaps she told Adams that she would be forced to sign the petition if he remained stubborn, and input such as this pressed him to accept the SB121 deal (assigning to friendly committee to save face).
McDowell is a SB121 sponsor. If he didn’t vote it from committee next week, the men/women in white suits would show up.
SB121 will sail.