Legislative Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show-Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Post-Game Wrap-Up

A complete record of yesterday’s activity is here.

The House of Representatives, with the notable exception of Rep. Earl Jaques, had no problem putting a registered lobbyist on a medical advisory board, and approved HB 3, discussed here in detail yesterday. Any member of the House is welcome to come here and explain why this is a good thing. I won’t hold my breath. This kind of casual path-of-least-resistance legislating is but a small illustration of the Delaware Way in action. Easy to rationalize, especially when one is drawn to the allure of the Delaware Way and the campaign checks it generates.

Sen. Sokola’s bill requiring fast food restaurants to prominently display nutritional information was tabled in the Senate. This generally means one, or more, of the following: (1) it’s running into more roadblocks than expected during floor debate; (2) amendments will be needed to address issues raised on the floor; and/or (3) the legislators want to go home. The bill likely will be back. It can be removed from the table at the sponsor’s request, assuming there are no objections.

As an informational point for those new to the process, you will note that two bills were ‘stricken’ yesterday at the sponsors’ request. This does not mean that the issue addressed in the bill is dead, but rather that there were likely some technical defects in the bill that were not fixable  by amendment. I would expect substitute bills to be introduced.

Pre-Game Show

Governor Markell will preview his upcoming State of the State address this afternoon. The Governor’s Office promises that the address will focus on “a new economic development policy to attract and expand jobs for Delaware”. The ‘rollout’, or preview, takes place at 1:30 this afternoon. The actual address takes place tomorrow at 2 p.m. No doubt, this will be the most discussed development of the day.

For the House, it’s once again Committees R Us Day. Here is the complete list of scheduled House committee meetings. You can click on each committee listing to find the committee agenda.

Here are some of today’s items that I find interesting:

HB 310 (Schwartzkopf)-Provides for legalization of table games in Delaware. House Gaming & Parimutuels Committee.

HB 303 (Keeley)-Seeks to curtail predatory lending practices, including ‘payday loans’. House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee.

HB 300 (Bennett)-Requires state  agencies to respond to FOIA requests within 10 business days. House Administration Committee.

Usual Disclaimer: Check out any and all committee meetings you find of interest because YMMV.

As is the typical House practice on Wednesdays, there will be no working of legislation on the floor today.

The Senate has both an agenda and a committee meeting schedule.

A couple more notes for newbies. Just because a body may have an agenda, that is neither a guarantee nor a promise that said agenda will be worked on a given day. Rather, it means that, the next time a body takes up legislation, it will mostly be in the order as listed on the agenda. Although there are exceptions. Aren’t there always?

Second, when you see a meeting notice for a ‘joint’ meeting, that means that both the respective House and Senate committees are meeting together. This is usually the case when someone, usually a cabinet secretary, is making a presentation.

OK, on to the Senate committee items that I find interesting:

SB 189 (McDowell)-While I’ll need Tommywonk to make sure that I haven’t screwed up yet again, I think this bill clarifies that any state obligations to pay contractors for savings realized from making buildings more energy-efficient comes directly from the savings and not from other state sources. One of the coolest features of these state sustainable/green energy initiatives is that the savings are so good that contractors are delighted to be remunerated out of cost savings. The more energy-efficient the job, the more everyone benefits. Am I right, Mr. Wonk? Senate Energy & Transit Committee.

Senate Executive Committee-Nominations from the Governor. Tsk, tsk, bad form, Sen. DeLuca. As did Uncle Thurm, the new President Pro-Tem fails to give public notice as to which nominees will be considered. There is no justification for keeping the public in the dark like this. I would hope that this would change, and that members of the Senate would demand that it change.

See ya tomorrow for State of the State Day.