Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 21, 2011
So. I open up my dead-trees edition of the News-Journal this morning and the headline at the top of the front page screams: ‘Bloom subsidy a burden, detractors say’. This oughtta be interesting, I tell myself, and dive into the story written by one Aaron Nathans. Mr. Nathans quotes two leading skeptics on the legislation: Proven Idiot and Slacker Sen. Colin Bonini and Barrett Kidner, CEO of the already-disgraced Caesar Rodney Institute. That’s it. Lead story in the News-Journal. Don’t know who this Aaron Nathans guy is, but he might at least want to quote from reliable sources. If he needs to get up to speed on the Caesar Rodney Institute, he might want to start here, here, here, and here. I, too, have questions regarding the Bloom project. But quoting Bonini and CRI does not qualify as reporting, and barely qualifies as stenography. The editor who plastered this non-story atop page one should be ashamed.
The big news is what to do, what to do, with a $262 million budgetary surplus. The Joint Bond Bill Committee began deliberations on that question yesterday. And there’s real news in this news story. The basic conflict, per Chad Livengood:
Markell’s plan would dedicate the entire surplus to a host of one-time economic development initiatives, road construction projects, restoration of state-owned facilities, farmland and open space preservation, tax cuts and reducing the state’s debt.
But lawmakers have other ideas, many of which are targeted toward funding projects in their individual communities.
Read the entire article to get a sense of these ‘funding projects’, many of which have no business being anywhere near a Bond Bill. I’d also like to know what additional Markell tax cuts are being proposed for the Bond Bill. Tax cuts don’t belong in a Bond Bill. I strongly support, however, increased funding for shovel-ready road construction/repair projects, whether it comes from an increase in legislative Community Transportation Funds and/or adding a couple of DELDOT’s most pressing priority projects to the construction schedule. You wanna get people to work, Governor? Get ’em to work in a way that provides tangible benefits to the state.
More on this and lotsa other topics, including the nearly moribund double-dipping bill, today on the Al Mascitti Show, WDEL-1150 AM, 9-12 noon. I’ll be on at 10. As will El Somnambulo, who allegedly has a story about the nexus of lucha libre and…classical music?!
Enough of the shameless plugs. To Dover and beyond!
We’ll start with today’s Senate Agenda. Bills that interest me include:
SB 111 (Hall-Long): Creates a concussion policy and protocol for Delaware high school athletes, coaches, and trainers.
HB 76 (Brady): Establishes ‘prosthetic parity’ by ‘requiring that all individual and group health insurance policies provide orthotic and prosthetic devices at a reimbursement rate equal to the Federal reimbursement rate for the aged and disabled.’
SB 91 (DeLuca): A tax giveaway to Delaware banks to the tune of about $8.5 mill for a full Fiscal Year. I can’t tell whether we’re bribing them to create jobsjobsjobs, or if they’re blackmailing the state. I just know that I’m sick of it. Don’t blame DeLuca for this, this is Jack Markell, pure and simple.
SB 104 (Bushweller): Appears to protect homebuyers from predatory mortgage lending practices.
SB 65 (Blevins): Seeks to enable authorities to get a better handle on nuisance properties.
SB 18 (Blevins): Would, as I read it, reduce the number of gubernatorial nominees that would require Senate consideration. Should this constitutional amendment pass, only those receiving over $1500 in compensation for their service would need Senate confirmation. The current figure is $500. Makes sense to me.
And, on the House Agenda, bills that interest me include:
HB 174 (Keeley): Establishes a new crime, Vehicular Assault in the Third Degree, to cover situations where an individual causes injury to another person as a result of criminally negligent driving. Also strengthens criminal penalties for existing vehicular assault and homicide statutes. I dunno, I thought the General Assembly was getting away from these types of statutes. But when an AG needs to primp and preen about what he’s done, he can always point to something like this, I guess. Of course, he could do the same by pushing for transparency for double-dipping state officials, but I digress.
HB 177 (Barbieri): OTOH, you have the enlightened approach taken in HB 177, which I think represents a solid improvement over the current expungement process. I think we’d be better off with a little more 177 and a little less 174.
HB 182 (Bennett): Regulates the practice of inspecting homes by requiring certain licensure qualifications for home inspectors practicing in this State. Be honest, didn’t you think that home inspectors were already licensed? I did. And my dealings with home inspectors certainly suggest that they should meet requirements for licensure. As long as the newly-created Board of Home Inspectors represents those requiring the services of home inspectors and not the interests of home inspectors at the public’s expense, then this is a good bill. But that’s far from a sure thing.
HB 160 and HB 161 (Short): These bills bring Delaware into compliance with the intent of Federal health care reform. Plus, they’re good bills on their own.
HB 163 (Heffernan): Makes legislation providing for the clean-up and revitalization of industrial sites (‘Brownfields’) permanent by eliminating the sunset provision.
HB 181 (Viola): Looks like a sop to the ‘telephone and telegraph’ industry. Say-y-y-y, isn’t that basically Verizon and COMCAST now? Why do they deserve a tax cut? Is Gov. Markell gonna have his own gig on COMCAST just like Fast Eddie Rendell? Best chance to defeat the bill: Appeal to any and all legislators who have had to wait on the line/been disconnected/and/or had to deal with a moron while trying to avail themselves of COMCAST’s vaunted ‘customer service’. I’d bet that not a single NCC legislator would support this bill if it was based on their own experience. I know I wouldn’t.
And, as if that isn’t enough supplication for one greedy voracious industry, let’s add HJR 3 (Scott) to the equation. HJR 3 creates ‘a Communications Tax Review Group to study and make recommendations for improving Delaware’s taxes and fees applicable to communications providers.’ A couple of ‘Whereas’ clauses from the Resolution reinforces exactly who will benefit from this ‘Review Group’:
WHEREAS, tax policy should encourage investment in communications networks because communications services are vital to the state’s economic growth and competitiveness;
WHEREAS, the burden of collecting and remitting taxes and fees on communications services is borne by providers of such services, and service providers should participate in discussions about restructuring communications taxes and fees…
That’s right, folks, the ‘service providers’ will be given the chance to write their own ticket. More proof that the game is fixed. Not that you need any. And, they’re making billions upon billions as it is while providing us with crappy service. Explain to me again why we need to bribe them so that they can make even more billions?
Deep cleansing breaths. My on-line version of Primal Scream Therapy is done for today. Join me on Al’s show today at 10 for the oral version.
Tags: Caesar Rodney Institute; Steve Tanzer; El Somnambulo; Gov. Jack Markell;, Colin Bonini
I know a project that is “shovel ready.” The Business, Industry, Education Alliance (BIEA) puts people with a wide range of job experiences in front of 6th grade classrooms full of students who are bursting with wonder about the universe of potential careers that are available to them if they work hard in school. It does so on an absolute pittance, or I should say – did so.
All K-12 pass-throughs are eliminated in the current budget, so this worthy program WHICH COST PRACTICALLY NOTHING, but had a huge downstream impact, is gone.
Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, YEAH!!!
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-If the editors at the NJ were capable of feeling shame they would have all resigned and committed their lives to treating the terminally ill in Calcutta as a penance ten years ago.
Proven Idiot and Slacker Sen. Colin Bonini and Barrett Kidner, CEO of the already-disgraced Caesar Rodney Institute.
It isn’t the NJ’s fault that the opposition is largely discredited and not in any real position to know much about this kind of technology (any kind of technology, really), but they really should be ashamed of themselves for using people who are so spectacularly ill-informed as sources and a reason for this story.
I’ll stop here and note that if Bloom Energy brings 900 jobs here, that will be 900 more than the banks will bring once they get part of the surplus thrown at them. And yet, these two can’t manage to criticize subsidies that are genuinely meant to help the banks’ bottom lines — not to encourage hiring. Not to mention that the political activity of this state needs campaign checks from banks, right?
There are real questions about Bloom Energy in the way it is partially financed by Delmarva rate payers AND about whether or not it is a smart thing to qualify a technology that runs on non-renewable and not clean fuel as part of a renewable energy portfolio.
HB 181 would be fine, if these telecommunications companies were required to refund the costs of those taxes back to their customers. Who paid for those taxes, NOT Comcast or Verizon or whoever. Without a requirement to make these companies give back the money to customers, this is just a new windfall to these companies that has no return. It isn’t as though Comcast or Verizon will just up and leave, you know.
You are so right, Jason – BIE is indeed a worthy agency. I’ve been involved with them for the past 4 years and have been extremely impressed by what they do. In addition to the program you describe (What’s My Line), they also have a drop-out prevention program (CHOICES) for 8th graders, a STEM career awareness program (What in the World) for grades 3-12, a program to introduce high school girls to careers in engineering (Explore Engineering) and a teacher externship workshop that allows teachers to earn certification hours by spending time in local businesses to learn what the companies are looking for in graduates. They serve every school district in the state and presented programs to ~30,000 students in the 2010-2011 school year; they have more than 800 volunteers from more than 400 local businesses. All this with a staff of 6 (3 of whom are only part-time) and a budget of <$250,000.
For the record, most of the K-12 pass-throughs were shifted to Grant-in-Aid last year; of those that were left, BIE is the only one to lose funding in the 2012 budget. From what I was told, when Ennis made a motion to reinstate their funding at a JFC hearing, only one other member supported them. So extremely short-sighted. Makes me sick.