With the final budget details being worked out, the Delaware General Assembly begins its final sprint to the June 30/July 1 session finish line.
At least one issue of note has arisen since the Memorial Day two-week recess–alleged unprofessional and dangerous conduct by at least one employee of Planned Parenthood. You can bet that the Bob Venables’ and Greg Lavelles of this world will use this to further their anti-choice agendas. You can expect tougher legislation regulating clinics as a result of the scandal surrounding Dr. Liveright (his real name?) and Planned Parenthood. And, as a Planned Parenthood supporter (financially as well as philosophically), such scrutiny is deserved. One of the most powerful arguments for availability of legal abortion services is that, without them, clients (and there will always be clients) will be forced to seek less safe alternatives. However, when you have Eric Harrah, Dr. Gosnell, and Dr. Liveright serving as cautionary examples, it is incumbent on legitimate providers to demand standards above the minimum of what the law will allow. Planned Parenthood knows their foes will use any pretext to go after them, which is why I really worry about why PP gave it to them. And, in so doing, placing their clients at risk. Memo to PP and supporters: Don’t bury your heads in the sand here, face the problem head-on.
I hate to sound like a scold, but I’m also concerned that the campaign on behalf of SB 33(Ennis) needs to expand beyond attempts to ‘work the bloggers’. Don’t believe me? See: Crane, Mitch. When it came to campaigns, there was no ‘there there’. I grant you that I’m not in Dover, but all the positive publicity in the world on behalf of manufactured community residents will not succeed if proponents are not lobbying the legislators en masse. SB 33, which would require park owners to justify rent increases above the rate of inflation, is scheduled for a Senate vote on Thursday. To all who support this bill, the time to contact your senators is now. To those who are organizing efforts here, keep your eye on the prize. You’ve already won over the progressive blogging community, focus your efforts on those with the votes.
I gotta admit that the Senate Agenda looks quite mundane today. YMMV.
The House Agenda features HS1/HB 28(Smyk), which targets ‘clandestine laboratories’, aka laboratories that make controlled substances off the radar screen. This an attempt to get pro-active when it comes to these labs. The labs have traditionally been one step ahead of law enforcement. They make some sort of minor molecular change in the formula for a designer drug, and authorities have to wait until the legislative process catches up with the new drug. This bill would perhaps enable earlier intervention. HS 1/HB 28 has solid bipartisan support, and will likely pass unanimously.
The House will consider another bill designed to target controlled substances, in this case, nonprescription pseudoephedrine. HB 130(Walker) would enable Delaware to cooperate with other states to ‘curb the practice of “smurfing,” whereby criminals make purchases at multiple stores to acquire illegal quantifies of PSE’. Should this bill pass, Delaware would join 25 other states in a multi-state PSE ‘blocking system’, which monitors and, if necessary, blocks real-time purchases. Real good bill, IMHO, with bipartisan support. I see Beau Biden’s fingerprints all over this one.
Rep. Walker will also run the annual bevy of bills from the Corporate Law Section of the Delaware Bar. Perhaps last year’s chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Melanie George Smith, understood what was in those bills. But Rep. Walker, along with virtually every other member of the General Assembly, almost assuredly doesn’t. Doesn’t matter. Those bills pass virtually unanimously every year. And nobody knows what’s in them. Except the members of the Corporate Bar and the huge corporations that the bills address.
That’s it for today. Please join me today for what will likely be an incendiary two hours with Al Mascitti. Mayor Williams, John Sigler, Charles ‘Bouvier de Flandres’ Copeland, Planned Parenthood, and legislative hijinks. And, for good measure, Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura. 10 am to 12 noon, WDEL 1150 AM-Newsradio.