Well, that sucked. SB 205(Ennis), which would have provided some protections for manufactured homeowners facing exorbitant rent increases, went down, and went down hard in the House. 14 Y, 22 N, 5 Not Voting. I had been told that the bill was within a vote or two of passage. Turns out I was misinformed. Feudal landlords remain free to literally make thousands upon thousands of Delawareans’ lives a living hell with a wink and a nod from the General Assembly. Looks like those campaign contributions came in handy. This is a victory for cynicism and reflects badly on the Democratic Party. If Democratic legislators will not stand up for people who are essentially defenseless, you can bet the Rethugs won’t. Rethugs like Greg Lavelle:
Republican House leader Rep. Greg Lavelle said SB 205 would have an undue impact on landowners who play fair with tenants. Instead, he said, the Legislature should investigate some way to help manufactured home residents who are struggling to pay rent.
“…(S)hould investigate some way to help manufactured home residents who are struggling to pay rent.” Uh, Monsignor, since you would never support state funds to go for this purpose,what the bleep do you mean? Nothing, just more meaningless blather to fill an otherwise empty graf in the News-Journal.
It’ll take a lot of showers to wash away this stench.
Oh, and this stench. The House unanimously passed legislation apparently designed to give Bail Bondsman Bob Bovell a competitive advantage over those eeee-vil out-of-state bail bondsmen. The same Bob Bovell who is currently challenging Rep. Dennis P. Williams in Wilmington’s Democratic mayoral primary. Won’t be challenging Williams much longer, I predict. This bill was introduced on June 5 and now heads to the Senate. If this bill is not just a blatant quid pro quo, will someone please deign to inform us of what sudden threat to the heretofore beyond-reproach bail bonds industry (snark intended) led to this urgent introduction and passage?
Oh, and this stench. At least Rep. Lumpy Carson will make it to Happy Hour on time now.
Here is the entire Session Activity Report. Let me just say that the three examples listed above illustrate everything that is wrong with the Delaware General Assembly. Screw the defenseless b/c they don’t have money to fill your reelection coffers; essentially bribe a candidate into dropping out of a race by passing special interest legislation especially for him; and quell a legislator’s road rage by getting those pokey drivers out of his way. Some days, I just hate this (non-paying) job.
Time to quote Samuel Beckett: “I can’t go on. I must go on”:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7HprDT_mOw[/youtube]
That picked up my spirits a bit.
We’ve got both committee meetings and full agendas that are full a…something, so let’s get started.
HB 333(Viola), which will legalize internet gambling in Delaware. Senate Executive Committee.
SB 250(McDowell), which creates an exemption from motor vehicle documents fees for fuel efficient vehicles. Senate Highways & Transportation Committee.
Uh-oh, we’re back to the old Senate trick of posting meeting notices with no list of bills. The culprits? The Insurance Committee (Bushweller), Labor Committee (Marshall), and Revenue & Taxation Committee (Marshall). And you were doing so well…
House committee highlights:
HB 386(Q. Johnson), would leverage investment of state funds in small businesses into access to private capital for such businesses. House Administration Committee.
HB 395(Scott). Just gonna quote the synopsis b/c I think this is an important and welcome bill:
This Bill prohibits the warrantless search of electronic devices, particularly mobile telephones. This Bill also prohibits the interception of geolocation information by physical placement of a mobile tracking device or otherwise tracking positioning through available technologies. It is the belief of the General Assembly that the warrant requirement should be observed particularly in light of the sensitive nature of the information stored in mobile phones and other electronic devices. It is also believed that mere use or ownership of electronic devices should not diminish the citizenry’s expectation of privacy in geolocation information. Exceptions are herein carved out for consent and emergent circumstances.
In the House Telecommunication & Technology Committee.
Here’s today’s Senate Agenda. I, of course, support SB 248(Peterson), which would make Delaware the 50th of the 50 states to “provide persons who have deafness, hearing loss, or speech disabilities with telecommunications service for analog communications devices.”
Other than that, little else interests me. As always, YMMV.
Today’s House Agenda once again includes items from previous agendas. There is, however, a new House Agenda II, which features a really bad bill almost guaranteed to pass with little or no opposition. I’ll just quote from last week’s report:
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?
I’ve previously praised this bill, and hasten to do so again. Rep. Melanie Smith is a serious and effective legislator, and she’s helping to craft effective public policy particularly in the area of criminal justice.
I suppose I should muster some praise for the Joint Finance Committee. Especially since the Budget Bill was introduced yesterday. This gives the public and the General Assembly reasonable time to review the document. I praise the committee’s timeliness, but will defer any more hosannas until after I’ve read the Epilog Language, which is just like the fine print in a contract.
That’s it for today. I’m all played out.