General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 13, 2012

Internet gambling’s almost here. Guess it beats turning people upside down and shaking the coins into the seat cushions. And what would an internet gambling bill without even more sops to the racino industry? Hey, at least it’s a reverse-Robin Hood where the rich at worst don’t get their taxes increased and at best they get more blood money from the degenerates. HB 333(Viola) passed the House yesterday by a vote of 29 Y, 8 N, 4 Not Voting. There are no ideological lessons to be learned from the roll call, as supporters and opponents came from all political stripes. Did I mention even more sops to the racino industry? Yep, more $$’s for thoroughbred and harness purses. Oh, and something to do with waiving racinos’ licensing fees for slot machines.

Oh, and the bill will only rope in Delaware degenerates. Why? Because Federal law prohibits roping in out-of-state degenerates:

Delaware’s video lottery agents are authorized to offer through their websites internet versions of the table games and video lottery offerings. All games shall remain operated by the Delaware Lottery. These offerings capitalize on a recent United States Department of Justice ruling clarifying that wagering within a state’s boundaries does not violate federal law.

The bill’s even worse than it seems on the surface. If you read it, you will see that the bill creates incentives to expand these ‘video lotteries’ to bars and the like. Truly a degenerate bill that uses every insidious trick to rope in the degenerates. Sanctioned by your state legislators. Wonder how many hours worth of free play they’re gonna get…

The House also passed legislation that will enable the Auditor to cover up ‘work product’ that would reveal corruption and/or incompetence on the part of the Auditor. Which, by the way, has actually happened. HB 204(Scott), 38 Y, 1 Not Voting. So much for transparency. Pathetic.

The Senate passed SB 226(Blevins), which continues an admirable trend of restoring common sense to the criminal justice system in lieu of the mindless minimum mandatory mentality that precede it. 3 no votes, this being the Senate, we have to wait to find out who they were.

Here’s yesterday’s entire Session Report. Pay special attention to newly-introduced legislation. You can rest assured that some of those bills are special interest legislation introduced at the behest of powerful lobbyists. With them being introduced so late, there is a great risk that many of them will not even get a committee hearing, but will instead be worked on the floor under Motion to Suspend Rules. And folks, here’s an Important Teaching Opportunity, so pay attention. The House and Senate have rules requiring bills to be considered in committee. However, Motion to Suspend Rules is actually shorthand for Motion to Suspend Any and All Rules That Would Interfere With the Consideration of This Bill. So, an aye vote (almost always a voice vote) on any motion to suspend means that, even though the bill didn’t go through committee, it can immediately be considered on the floor. Kinda makes a mockery of the committee process, doesn’t it?

Mockery or not, today’s a big committee day.

Here are my selected highlights from the Senate Committee schedule:

SB 235(Blevins) would create a commission to handle redistricting. Of course, the bill doesn’t even pretend to take politics out of the process:

The ten voting members would be appointed by the leadership of the House and Senate majority and minority parties. The ten voting members would select the non-voting Chair. The Bill requires the Commission to “conduct an open and transparent redistricting process enabling full public consideration of and comment on the drawing of district lines….” No member of the Commission could be the holder of an elective office, a registered lobbyist within a year prior to appointment or selection, or an elected state official within two years of appointment or selection.

So, under current circumstances, assuming that, in each House, there’d be 3 D’s and 2 R’s since the D’s control both chambers, there would be 6 D’s and 4 R’s in total on the commission. And they’d be appointed by the political leaders of their respective legislative bodies. That is phony redistricting reform, which is what this bill is. In Elections/Administrative Services.

HB 243(Barbieri) restores common sense to the reporting of school incidents, and lets the professionals make the judgments instead of the legislators. In Education.

SB 248(Peterson). Did you know that Delaware is the only state that does not provide persons who have deafness, hearing loss, or speech disabilities with telecommunications service for analog communications devices? You do now. SB 248 would rectify this situation. In Health/Social Services.

SB 202(Bushweller). Uh, sure hope this bill doesn’t take effect until after Karen Weldin Stewart has left the premises. Requires the Insurance Commissioner to “promulgate a regulation establishing uniform policy language regarding the applicability of wind, hail, and hurricane deductibles, along with the form of notice provided under homeowner’s insurance policies utilizing a hurricane deductible program.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the changes to the corporate law statutes that no legislator, save perhaps sponsor Melanie Smith understands. They’ll fly right through. They do every year.

I have not commented on quite a few House bills in Senate committee b/c I’ve previously mentioned them, and likely will again if/when they’re on the agenda.

Highlights from the House Committee meetings:

Rep. John Viola is a rare legislator in that, if he is the prime sponsor of the bill, it’s almost certainly a bad bill. HB 181(Viola) gives yet another tax credit to telephone companies, and eliminates one of their taxes altogether in 2014.  Just who is paying his salary again? Appropriations Committee.

Well, this one oughtta ruffle beaucoups de feathers. HB 380(Jaques), well, let me just quote the synopsis verbatim:

require(s) that all charter school applications be submitted to local school boards for review and consideration. The bill requires local school boards to conduct a face-to-face meeting with the charter school applicant to review and discuss the application. The bill requires a local school board denying a charter school application to state its reasons in writing, including an impact statement regarding the projected effect of the charter school upon the enrollment, programs and financial operation of the public school district. School boards are to forward a copy of the denial letter and impact statement to the Secretary of Education. A charter applicant whose application is denied by a local school board may submit its application to the Department of Education. All charter school applications approved after June 30, 2012 require admissions lottery to include students from the entire school district in which the charter school is located. This bill makes other revisions to the Delaware Charter School law in light of the 17 years’ experience since its passage in 1995.

I support the bill, as I see the charter school movement as having the effect of dismantling quality public education in our state. Which is precisely the intent of some of charter schools’ staunchest proponents.  In the Education Committee.

HB 379(Bolden), called the Delaware Runaway and Homeless Act, establishes a comprehensive system of support resources and services that directly targets the runaway and homeless youth population. Health/Human Development Committee.

Lavelle and Katz, together again in Lavelle’s never-ending pursuit of the false equivalency when it comes to claiming that the State is every bit as bad as the Catholic Church in terms of institutional covering-up of child abuse. Judiciary Committee.

Neither Lavelle or Katz are sponsors of HB 371(Smith), which seriously addresses investigations of child abuses. Why sponsor the real thing when you can sponsor polemics in bill form? Judiciary Committee.

The Senate will also work an agenda today. SB 204(Marshall) removes the sunset provision from (i.e. it makes permanent) the Community Firearms Recovery Program. The Senate will also consider HB 317(Schooley), which requires the Department of Education to “establish a statewide readiness tool that will review a child’s readiness for learning when they enter kindergarten.”

I may not be ready for kindergarten, but I’m ready for a nap before work. Buh-bye.