Fearless Prediction #1: Garish green will be worn in Leg Hall today by people who should not wear garish green in this lifetime or any other.
Fearless Prediction #2: For the second consecutive day of this 3-week session, the Senate will have no agenda. Not necessarily a BAD thing, mind you, but couldn’t they at least save the taxpayers some $$’s by not bothering to convene for purely ceremonial purposes at least ONE of those days?
Before I go any further with my Somnostradamusian visions, let’s recap yesterday, shall we?
Here’s the record of yesterday’s ‘action’:
The Senate did nothing save releasing 1 bill from committee and assigning some bills to committee. A couple of bills were introduced, and we’ll get to them later.
The House passed two bills sponsored by Brad Bennett. One broadens the definition of first responders, and applies penalties to those who would attack these first responders. The other increases the penalties for those “…who stand(s) in a position of trust, authority or supervision over a child who is at least 16 years old but not yet 18 years old and intentionally engages in sexual intercourse or sexual penetration with such child or an invitee or designee of such person.
Rep. Bryon Short’s bill, providing for the registration and oversight of two types of captive insurance companies, also passed.
None of the bills faced any opposition.
Today is Committee Day in both the House and Senate, and there are some real interesting bills on the docket.
You can find a complete list of Senate committee meetings here. The complete House committee meetings are here.
There’s some seriously-interesting legislation being considered today.
First, in the Senate:
Rep. Debbie Hudson (Capano)’s misbegotten HB 3 is in the Senate Health & Social Services Committee. This bill places a lobbyist for the nursing home industry onto the Hospital Inspection Advisory Board. This is special interest legislation at its worst, and it’s the kind of stuff that generally coasts through the General Assembly unchallenged. Maybe this time will be different.
Rep. Dan Short’s HB 85 will be considered in the Senate Insurance Committee. This bill seeks to provide more predictability and certainty to small businesses regarding health insurance premiums. This bill passed unanimously in the House.
Lotsa action in the Senate Judiciary Committee today:
SB 158 (Peterson)-Creates a civil remedy for those victimized by child pornography, i. e. those whose visual images were captured on film or photograph. Those held liable include “those who are responsible for producing, or knowingly possessing, pornographic visual images of the victim.”
SB 197 (Blevins)-Creates a ‘felony strangulation statute’. Strangulation is viewed by proponents as one of the leading manifestations of domestic violence. This has led to a nationwide impetus to have a ‘stand-alone’ statute for strangulation. 18 states have adopted similar legislation.
HB 197 (Brady)-Gerald Brady is obsessed with red light cameras. Were it up to him, every intersection would have one, presumably to protect the public from people like him in his drinking days. This is his attempt to have them added “within ¼ mile of any work zone and/or school.” It barely passed the House, with 22 yes votes and 12 nos. Should be another close one in the Senate…if it gets out of committee.
The House also has some heavyweight stuff on tap (subtle St. Pat’s reference) today:
HB 317 (B. Short)-Requires door-to-door solicitors to ‘display a door to door salesperson identification card which shall include the person’s name, employer, employer telephone number, employer address and State of Delaware business license number’. Also restricts in-person solitications to the hours of 9 am to 7 pm. Presumably, politicians are exempt, per usual.
Joint Education Committee Meeting: Now, this gets a little weird. Someone will be addressing the joint committee. According to the House, it will be Dr. Harker from the University of Delaware. According to the Senate, it will be Dr. Williams of Delaware State University. Maybe it’ll be both. You can bet that whoever speaks will be begging for more $$’s.
Look for rhetorical guns to be a’blazin’ when the House Administration Committee considers Rep. John Atkins’ HB 357, which is the NRA’s demand for ultimate surrender on any and all gun laws in Delaware. It is no surprise that Delaware’s most embarrassing legislator has brought forth Delaware’s worst bill of this session. Kill it dead. Now.
The House Judiciary Committee will consider Rep. Keeley’s newly-reconfigured attempt to put more teeth into Delaware’s consumer protection statutes. I’m pretty sure that this is an initiative that has been led by AG Beau Biden.
Two bills limiting the use of cell phones while driving are due for consideration in the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee today. It appears that Rep. Scott’s HS 1/HB 229 is most likely to get the committee’s blessing as it is the most recent of the bills and has Rep. Miro as a prime co-sponsor. Rep. Miro has fought in vain for years to ban hand-held cell phone usage while driving. Now, let’s just get the bleeping thing passed.
As a special St. Patty Day’s treat, I leave you with the perfect antidote to the garish green:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTSkpOJokHw[/youtube]
Jackie Wilson- ‘Danny Boy’