As expected, it was a busy day in Dover. The entire Session Activity record here.
In the Senate, as reported yesterday, HB 310, which legalizes table games in Delaware was passed and subsequently signed into law by Governor Markell. It was really the only notable bill passed in the Senate yesterday.
The House was a whole ‘nother story. It enacted SS1/SB 202, which provides the funding for the US 301 project and, in a completely unrelated matter in the same bill, enables Del-Tech to bypass normal permitting procedures for a construction project. Both Speaker Gilligan and Rep. Mitchell, who have notable jobs at Del-Tech, voted yes despite the apparent conflict-of interest, implying that ethics are a sometime thing in Dover. No doubt they can cite some ruling from the House Ethics Committee which gives them fig-leaf justification for their votes. However, for the record, it should be noted that the Delaware General Assembly gave Del-Tech a gift that it would not deign nor dare to give to others. And, speaking of fast-tracking, since the Speaker of the House sets the House agenda, it was the Speaker of the House who facilitated this vote without the bill going through committee. It would have been easy to remove the offending section via amendment and to have it considered in a separate bill, but that would’ve exposed the ‘Delaware Way’ backscratching that went on here. There may well be a legitimate reason for helping out Del-Tech in this manner. Accordingly, I renew my offer to have someone in the know come over here and explain that reason to us. So far, crickets.
The House also enacted SB 188, which establishes criminal penalties relating to table games. The bill goes to the Governor for his signature.
Plenty of new bills were introduced. Among the more interesting are:
HB 316 (Kowalko)-Designates the red fox as Delaware’s official wildlife animal. Can the official state sentence be far behind? My nominee: “The quick red fox jumped over the Delaware State Seal.”
HB 317 (B. Short)-Places restrictions and requirements on door-to-door salespersons. If this bill doesn’t include the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons, then it ain’t worth bleep. The only other solicitors I get are those magazine subscription kids. And at least they aren’t skilled at keeping you from ending the conversation.
SB 194 (Marshall)-This legislation carries out Gov. Markell’s job creation proposals, and provides incentives for companies that create jobs to expand and diversify Delaware’s economy. The funding source for this initiative would come from state Abandoned Properties revenues.
And, of course, most notable are SB 196, the FY ’11 Budget proposal; and HB 311, the FY ’11 Bond and Capital Improvements proposal. For the next six weeks, this’ll be where the action is.