Yesterday’s session was less about what we do know and more about what we don’t know.
The Senate passed two bills of interest, but the roll calls do not show who voted for/against the bills. The more things stay the same, the more things stay the same.
Brad Bennett’s election brochure bill adding a $100 ‘user fee’ onto crimes against seniors passed. One senator voted no and one senator went ‘not voting’. You will have to guess which senators b/c the timely release of roll calls is not a priority of this Senate leadership.
Rep. Keeley’s bill establishing a new liquor license for concert venues like the Queen passed with three no votes and one not voting. Again, no names please.
Like the House, which has released complete roll calls as a matter of course for years, the Senate has the technological capability to do this. As does anybody with a computer. The leadership just chooses not to do this. There is no excuse for the leadership, other than sheer orneriness, to keep this information from the public. But they do. At least, until they feel it’s time to release it. “We will release no roll call before its time.” (Name the product and spokesperson I’m paraphrasing, and win a tip of the sombrero. Film coming up once someone gets it!)
As predicted by Yours Truly, legislation adding public employees to the State Employee Benefit Committee has been assigned to buried in the House Administration Committee, where Pete Schwartzkopf will help Jack Markell kill the bill, just like Pete Schwartzkopf is helping Jack Markell to kill HB 126. While the House Administration Committee has generally been seen as the counterpart of the Senate Executive Committee, the leadership of the committee has rarely exercised the same kind of heavy-handed tactics employed by Thurman Adams and Tony DeLuca on the Senate side. That is, however, what they are doing with these two bills.
Here is Wednesday’s entire Session Activity Report.
Some interesting bills on today’s agendas, mostly in the House.
The Senate agenda does feature one interesting bill, however. HB 49(B. Short), which received 11 no votes in the House, would require that ‘that any person who solicits a door-to-door sale shall display a door-to-door salesperson identification card which shall include the person’s name, employer, employer telephone number, employer address and the State of Delaware business license number.’ The 11 no votes were mostly from downstate R’s, and no D’s opposed the bill in the House. While I generally support the bill, I do have a question about it, and that’s about the exemptions from the legislation. The bill ‘provides an exception for persons conducting home sales events, public utilities and cable television system operators from the requirement of having a door-to-door salesperson identification card.’ Uh, why? Since the bill already only applies to ‘any person who solicits a door-to-door sale’, why should those purportedly representing utilities or cable companies be exempt from this provision? Especially since people have been scammed by alleged salespersons purporting to represent those types of businesses. Plus, since COMCAST has proven to be one of the worst customer-responsive companies anywhere, why should the law not apply to them?
OK, over to the House, where some interesting new bills have surfaced on the agenda. One that is sure to cause some Rethugs apoplexy is HB 9(Keeley), which would amend the Delaware Constitution to ‘eliminate(s) the existing five-year waiting period before eligible felons who have fully discharged their sentences may have their voting rights restored’. I strongly support the bill. It’s not as if these citizens aren’t still accountable to the criminal justice system should they backslide, so why have what is essentially a citizen ‘probationary period’? I will also point out that former Republican Rep. Richard Davis was a stalwart supporter of this type of bill, so there may be a couple of enlightened R’s who will support it. Regardless, the bill must pass both houses of the General Assembly in two consecutive legislative sessions, and this is the first leg of the amendment. Meaning it must pass this session and next session to become law. And it has a two-thirds majority requirement. Tough to accomplish, but not impossible. Of course, since R’s nationally and throughout many states have adopted the approach of trying to prevent people from voting wherever practicable, there is no guarantee that any R’s will vote for the bill. I’ll be watching and, at least, the House will actually publish the roll call.
We have yet another special license plate bill, this one for veterans of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’. If a phrase could capture the 2012 legislative session, it would be ‘All Veterans All the Time’. Which is as it must be in an election year.
Sorry for the truncated report. That’s about all I could glean that I found of interest. As always, YMMV.