In the Senate, the big news was the release of SB 121 to the floor by unanimous committee vote, surprising no one save the News-Journal’s headline writer, who used the term ‘surprising’ to describe this development. Nor will it be ‘surprising’ when this long-overdue civil rights measure becomes law, probably by the end of next week.
Sen. Marshall’s bill placing a surcharge penalty on those who rip off Medicaid passed the Senate, as did Sen. Sokola’s bill sunsetting a bunch of inactive boards and commissions. Lots of ‘advisory councils’ that haven’t provided advice in years faced the axe.
In the House, both Rep. Lavelle’s HB 155 and Rep. Gilligan’s HB 230, which were highlighted yesterday, were released from their respective committees.
John Viola’s beer/wine sales in supermarkets bill ran into trouble and was tabled in committee. Those of you with long memories (Stop stalking ‘bulo, willya?) will recall that El Somnambulo predicted that the real beneficiaries of this bill would be the legislators as they collected campaign checks from one side of the debate or the other. He also predicted that the most successful legislators would be those collecting from both sides. Well, debate on the bill has effectively been suspended until January. ‘Bulo can not even begin to guess the over/under (gratuitous legalized gambling reference) on the number of checks that legislators will receive based on this bill alone. Suffice it to say that they all owe John Viola a debt of gratitude as they move into an election year.
Of particular concern to the Beast Who Slumbers is the apparent failure of HB 168 to clear the House Judiciary Committee. This is the bill that would eliminate minimum mandatory sentences. Will anyone who’s ‘in the loop’ please let us know what’s going on here? Aside from the heavy financial lifting, this is one of the most important and necessary bills to come before the General Assembly in a long time.
Lots of other interesting items for those with the time and curiosity to surf the top link.
Allow the Beast Who Slumbers to first wish Sen. Adams a speedy recovery. Any readers of ‘bulo’s know that he strongly disagrees with Adams’ philosophy of government. However, those disagreements have never extended to Adams the person, who is actually a courteous and solicitous human being. Please get well soon, Senator.
Perhaps the most notable piece of legislation on today’s Senate Agenda is Rep. Bill Oberle’s resolution urging DNREC to require all facilities operating in Delaware waters to install ‘closed-cycle’ cooling systems to put an end to massive fish kills. While ‘bulo admires and supports the concurrent resolution, he points out that Concurrent Resolutions do not have the force of law, and that DNREC is not bound by it. He also wonders why this legislation was not done in the form of a bill that would have the force of law. Maybe someone with direct knowledge of this bill can explain.
Lots of action on the House agenda, including several bills that have been debated before in ‘bulo’s General Assembly columns. Feel free to debate them again.
New items to the agenda(s) include Greg Lavelle’s HB 155, which was discussed here yesterday; Melanie Marshall’s HB 156 and HB 183, which appear to try to bring some order to what is currently the Wild Wild West of condominium law; Rep. Longhurst’s HB 200 and HB 208, which appear to try to bring some order and tenant protection to the Wild Wild West of manufactured homes community law; and Rep. B. Short’s HB 170, which would bring Delaware into compliance with certain requirements of Federal economic recovery statute, thus making an additional $21-plus million in Federal Aid available to the State.
As always, click on the links b/c YMMV.