Here’s what happened in Dover yesterday.
Highlights: In addition to the House passing HB 117, which would move school board elections from May to Election Day, the Senate passed SB 90, which would ban minors from tanning salons w/o a parent’s consent; and the Senate passed SB 148, which provides for $6.5 million in dedicated but unspent revenue to revert to the General Fund.
The House also passed a series of bills sponsored by Rep. Cathcart implementing what ‘bulo considers to be constructive improvements designed to protect residents of the Delaware Psych Center and some other long-term care facilities.
The House also passed HB 149, sponsored by Rep. Bryon Short, which would prohibit mortgage lenders or brokers from charging excessive fees for their services.
Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf introduced a series of bills to increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and to increase fees to licensees who sell alcohol. These bills are part of the revenue package for the upcoming fiscal year.
Rep. Ramone finally (thought he’d done this a couple of weeks ago) introduced legislation reducing the size of New Castle County Council. The delayed introduction actually doesn’t matter, though, b/c this is the type of bill that will likely be reviewed either by committee or by a task force during the summer and fall for consideration next year.
And, in a move that has left El Somnambulo scratching his head, Rep. Viola has introduced legislation repealing the ‘Bottle Bill’. While the Beast Who Slumbers realizes that more and more communities have curbside single-stream recycling, he believes that only about 15% of state residents are currently afforded that opportunity. That’d mean an awful lot of bottles being tossed out into the trash and into landfills instead of being returned. If ‘bulo is confused, maybe Tommywonk or another green stalwart can explain it to him.
Really not much of interest today, but please click on the link and inspect for yourself. Looks like a couple of ‘housekeeping measures’. The one exception appears to be SB 156, sponsored by Senator Marshall, which would bring Delaware into compliance with the requirements of the recently-enacted Federal stimulus package, and consequently would enable Delaware to fully-access Federal funds designed to assist the unemployed.
The House does not meet in legislative session on Wednesdays, except during the final two weeks of session. Wednesdays are devoted to Committee meetings. Click on the above links, and then click on any committees of interest, and you will see the bills scheduled to be considered in today’s committee meetings. Many of those bills, once released from committee, can go on the agenda as early as tomorrow.
Here are some ‘notable’ (and, in some cases, important) bills scheduled for consideration today:
House Agriculture Committee: Rep. Hocker has legislation to name the Strawberry Delaware’s Official Fruit.
House Education Committee: Rep. Schooley has legislation to give school districts more local control over decision-making.
House Housing & Community Affairs: Rep. Dennis E. Williams (the one from Brandywine Hundred) has legislation to have Delaware join a national compact to elect the President of the United States by popular vote. ‘Bulo wholeheartedly supports this bill.
House Labor Committee: The Rethugs are once again trying to push through their prevailing wage obsession. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.
House Manufactured Housing Committee: Looks like Rep. Longhurst has a couple of manufactured housing community bills ready to go. Not clear whether she’ll have the Capitol Police bar the lobbyist she labeled as ‘obstructionist’ from the meeting, as she did from the negotiations.
Anyway, those are the bills that piqued ‘bulo’s interest. Check out all the committees and you’ll find some interesting nuggets as well.