General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 16, 2011

The return of the Solomonic solons to Dover apparently took Legislative Council by surprise. Either that, or there were some new, very exciting, solitaire games uploaded to their computers. The supposed information and research arm of the General Assembly provides this detailed snapshot of what went on yesterday. That’s right, in legislative time, according to Legislative Council, it’s still Feb. 2. At some point, it is likely to be updated. We’re clearly not at that point. And I can’t wait, as the Al Mascitti Show beckons me…I’m on at 10 am today, 1150 on your AM dial.

However we know that stuff went on in Dover yesterday. The big news, aside from whatever happened in party caucuses, is the passage of HB 19 in the House. This, to a large degree, does away with some of the most ill-considered legislation ever enacted in the State of Delaware. It eliminates minimum mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenders and puts a significant dent in possession charges trumped up to felony status. All sane members of the House voted for this bill, leaving only John Atkins to rail against the injustice of it all. Presumably over cocktails, hopefully at home.

In so doing (I expect the Senate to move swiftly on this bill as well), the General Assembly has done something it rarely, if ever, does. The members have admitted that the sweeping package of bills to ‘combat drug abuse’, pushed by the Frightful Foursome of Tom Sharp, Jim Vaughn, Wayne Smith and Jane Brady, was a policy epic fail of cosmic proportions. Millions upon millions of state dollars on both the budget and capital improvement sides wasted on the uninformed prejudices of some of Delaware’s least enlightened public officials. And, take a close look at those four names again. Anyone who thinks that race didn’t play a part in this legislation doesn’t know the nexus where the ‘brains’ of these four meet. Sharp and Smith the unreconstructed opponents of ‘forced busing’; Vaughn the former corrections czar who basically ran corrections from the Delaware State Senate, and not, uh, in the most progressive manner; and the bloodthirsty AG who thought that judges just weren’t tough enough. Awful awful legislation pushed through an  intimidated and acquiescent General Assembly by the biggest bullies on the block.

While I agree with those of a more libertarian bent on the private use of recreational drugs that the laws are still far from perfect, I cannot overstate how important I find the sea change in the approach of the General Assembly on these issues. Keep in mind, politics is the art of the possible, and I think that HB 19 is the best that’s possible right now. I hope and expect that there are further steps to follow.

Wednesday is generally Committee Meeting day in the General Assembly, especially the House. However, the Senate has one education bill of note on today’s agenda. SB 16 (Sokola):

“implements the recommendations of the Senate’s Teacher Hiring Task Force. It will result in the creation of an estimated unit count each March, which the Department of Education will conduct using existing resources. The state will guarantee that school districts receive unit funds for the following school year equivalent to 98% of the estimated unit count. This will allow districts to make offers of employment to new teachers in the late spring and early summer. The Act also requires greater transparency by school districts with respect to their hiring practices. The Act must be reauthorized prior to April 1, 2012, so the state has an opportunity to ensure that the estimated unit count is reliable.”

I look for the thoughts of JC and others interested in education policy on this bill. Guacamole Heads need not apply.

OK, let’s look at the committee meetings, starting with the Senate. I have my fingers crossed that Tony DeLuca has allowed the disinfectant of sunlight to shine on the process. Only two meetings scheduled for senate committees, and one of those is actually a joint meeting of the Senate and House Social Services Committees to address problems with Delaware’s tainted drinking water. Hey, I’ve got an idea…how about providing tax credits to encourage companies to consider the possibility of actually doing something about this. One credit for considering the idea, one for seriously mulling it over, and one more for doing something. Sure beats requiring whichever chemical goliaths have done this to actually clean up their own mess. That would create a hostile environment for business which is infinitely less preferable to allowing them to create a literally hostile environment for us.

The Senate Transportation Committee will consider legislation that would “prohibit(s) the Department from accepting as dedicated a road that makes a connection to a dedicated road within a 55 (age, not speed limit) or over community. It also directs the Department not to permit a connection to a dedicated road within a 55 or over community.

The bill makes sense to me. Why should the state subsidize roads being built by developers specifically to serve an exclusive community?  I suspect that there are civil rights act questions as well. A pretty interesting piece of legislation.

I fully suspect that there are other senate committee meetings today, and that they were only announced yesterday which, coupled with Legislative Council’s inability to perform the simplest of tasks, ensures that the public has no notice of these meetings. If wrong, I will set the record straight tomorrow. If I’m right, well, you know what to expect.

In addition to the Joint House/Senate Health & Social Services meeting, the House has an active committee schedule today. Of particular interest to me (check ’em all out, YMMV) are the following:

Three interesting bills in the House Health & Human Development Committee: HB 2 (Schooley), which extends Delaware’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); HB 30 (Briggs-King), which classifies certain ‘synthetic cannaboids’ as Schedule 1 drugs. I will leave it to the drug libertarians to argue about the wisdom of this legislation. Suffice it to say that, by legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, you would eliminate the demand for these substitutes; and HB 47 (B. Short), which gives DHSS explicit authority to investigate and inspect unsanitary or unsafe conditions in certain facilities where invasive medical procedures are performed’. I’m really dismayed that this has not taken place previously. There was at least one notable case of an abortion clinic, I think in Dover, that had just unforgivable violations. I remember because it was run by a guy named Eric Harrah,  who (briefly) worked in Legislative Hall and then got himself elected (briefly) as the first male president of the Delaware National Organization for Women. He, of course, subsequently found Jesus, and is now a nut of another order. Here’s a dated, but revealing piece on this whack-a-mole. May Yahweh bless the internets. Anyway, this legislation is long overdue, and it’s revealing that both pro-choice and anti-choice advocates are on this bill.

John Kowalko’s bill limiting trans-fat in school meals will be considered in the House Education Committee today.

HB 36 (Mitchell), to be considered in today’s House Homeland Security/Public Safety Committee, is designed to reduce congestion and cost at the Division of Motor Vehicles by extending the driver’s license renewal period from 5 to 8 years.

And, finally, in the midst of our state’s fiscal crisis, it’s reassuring to know that some things will never change. The House Revenue and Finance Committee will consider HB 18 (Ramone), which would repeal the Delaware Estate Tax as of July 1. Estimated full-year cost to the state: $26.5 million in reduced revenues. Unbelievable, simply unbelievable.