“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go…”
“Fixing a Hole”-Lennon/McCartney
The preceding was inspired by the passage of medical marijuana legislation in the State Senate…and reports of a $1 billion hole in DELDOT’s capital projections within five years. One hole fixed, and quite a hole to be fixed.
The Senate passed SB 17 by a shocking-to-me 18-3 margin. As the News-Journal reports:
Under the bill, individuals with qualifying illnesses would be issued identification cards and be limited to purchasing up to six ounces of marijuana each month. Marijuana could only be purchased from a dispensary, and home cultivation would be prohibited. Qualifying conditions would include cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, post-traumatic stress disorder, glaucoma, Crohn’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease or other chronic wasting diseases.
Nevertheless, Sen. Margaret Rose Henry celebrated the victory in an appropriately tongue-in-cheek way:
After the bill passed, Henry handed out packages of brownies from BJ’s Wholesale Club, making a joke about the recreational use of “pot brownies” as an edible form of ingesting marijuana.
The three ‘no’s were R senators Booth, Lawson and Bonini, meaning that 4 R’s, Simpson, Sorenson, Cloutier and Connor, joined all D’s in supporting the bill. Never thought I’d see the day…
Prospects for passage look encouraging in the House. At this point, if the Governor has any reservations regarding the specifics of the bill, he should let the General Assembly know. He is on record as supporting the concept of the bill, so there’s no point in waiting until the bill reaches his desk to determine whether the details meet his approval.
One hole fixed. One hole opened. DELDOT has dug itself the largest, pardon the expression, pot hole imaginable. The News-Journal’s Jeff Montgomery delivers the grim details:
The grim forecast, including a potential $21 million budget gap for the spending year that begins July 1, surfaced as a legislative panel was delivering a report and long-range financing options for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund. Task force members said the shortfall could balloon to $980.5 million in five years despite the shelving of 46 capital projects over the last three years and delays in several others.
Shelving and delaying projects only means that the can you kick down the pock-marked road grows in value every time that you kick it due to inflation. It is not generally a good thing. In addition to cratered road surfaces, it leads to broken axles and short tempers. Not to mention, poorly-maintained roadways (all together now, class) sends the wrong signal to business. And for those who say that government spends too much, will you be happy when your Bentley breaks down like an old jalopy after failing to dodge a Centreville sinkhole?
Despite bleatings from some Rethugs like Dan Short, this hole has to be filled in. One immediate fix to close this year’s projected $21 million roads budget gap is to dedicate that amount from the recently ‘discovered’ $155 million in additional revenue to that purpose. Rep. Darryl Scott has proposed this, and I think it’s likely that the General Assembly will go along. During the economically-flush years, the State fully-funded a pretty significant number of capital projects in the Budget Bill instead of borrowing funds for that purpose through the Bond Bill.
Long-term solutions will likely have to wait at least until the new ‘permanent’ DELDOT Secretary is named and installed.
Outside of the medical marijuana legislation, not much of substance took place on Thursday. Here’s the full session report. Two bills previously discussed here passed the House: HB 26 (Willis), which requires that the State Board of Education post the digitally-recorded minutes of its meetings within one business day; and HB 54 (B. Short), which offers small businesses more regulatory flexibility than they currently have. Legislation to abolish the Board of Parole was tabled in the House. I don’t know, but I’m guessing that maybe they had a technical problem with an amendment. One substantive amendment was introduced, but not acted upon. That’s often a sign that the attorneys have some work to do before the bill/amendment can be considered. The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support, so I don’t think that there’s any attempt to derail it. In other words, just a detour for ongoing bill construction.
Let’s see what today will bring, other than more potholes. Ah, yes, the Senate will consider HB 19, which eliminates minimum mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenses. Would it be appropriate to point out that, had capital funds not been routed away from roads and schools to prison expansion, and had budget $$’s not exponentially increased to fund the costs of this ill-advised expansion, the state, and especially DELDOT, would be in far better fiscal circumstances today? Yet another casualty of the disastrous War On Drugs. This bill may not fix the hole in the budget, but had this been public policy for the last 16 years or so, the hole would be far less deep.
The House Agenda features several bills left over from Thursday’s agenda. Allow me to move into cut-and-paste mode:
HB’s 45, 67, and 68 prohibit “any person convicted of a felony sexual offense” from holding either a nursing license, a mental health/chemical dependency professional’s license, or a licensed clinical social worker’s license in the State of Delaware. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and hazard a guess that no ‘person convicted of a felony sexual offense’ holds such a license now. The bill also clarifies what is law now: that licensees have an obligation to report suspected sexual abuse or other offenses. In other words, these are feel-good bills that will do nothing. I’ve got nothing against them. But they will have far more impact in election brochures than in real life.
Rep. Scott’s bill establishing uniformity in school disciplinary procedures is also scheduled for consideration. I think it’s likely that the Parole Board legislation will also be considered. The bill is currently laid on the Speaker’s desk at the sponsor’s request. At the request of the sponsor, the bill can be removed from the table and immediately considered on the floor. Assuming that the technical issues with the legislation are worked out, that’s precisely what I expect to happen.
Hope I haven’t steered you wrong today. You know, down any roads under construction, or into some dimly-lit cul-de-sac (with or w/o basketball hoops).
Regardless, for those of you who love me, hate me, or couldn’t care less, I close with this missive from Lennon/McCartney:
“…And it really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong
I’m right
Where I belong I’m right
Where I belong.
See the people standing there who disagree and never win
And wonder why they don’t get in my door…”
Come to think of it, that entire verse could be about (you just knew I couldn’t go an entire column w/o a mention) Tony DeLuca. Especially the door part. Which means it’s time for me to wolf down a recreational brownie.