Been too long since my last musical opening:
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?-Dr. John & Odetta
Brother, can you spare a dime a gallon for a $500 million boost to Delaware’s economy? A jobs creator and a massive infrastructure upgrade? House Majority Leader Val Longhurst has already said she won’t do it, regardless of the number of constituents in her district who will earn meaningful wages for their families. I hope she is in the minority. I hope that the unions who previously supported her are paying attention. With a gallon of gas well north of $3 a gallon, let’s be honest here. That additional 10 cents should hardly be a deal-breaker. But we shall see. The General Assembly has a minimum of six weeks, starting at the end of today’s session, to consider whether a $500 million boost to the state’s economy is in the economic interests of the people who live and try to work here. It’s all about the jobs, as far as I’m concerned. By far the biggest issue facing the General Assembly this term.
We have a new Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court. Congratulations to Leo Strine. I was encouraged that, in his remarks following Senate confirmation, he addressed the issue of Delaware’s high incarceration numbers. I’m convinced that he’ll be a significant force in developing solutions to ongoing prison overcrowding. BTW, I think Markell picked the best person he possibly could have. Although he sure couldn’t have gone wrong with Jan Jurden either. At this point in a governor’s term, some things are about legacy.
Here is what happened in Dover since my last post. The Box Bill passed the House by a 31-8 margin. None of the no votes will surprise you. The bill now goes to the Senate.
The minimum wage hike bill got plenty of love from the Business Lapdog Committee this time, and made it to the floor. 6 favorable, one on its merits, and 3 unfavorable. Amazing what six months of reflection can do.
Here is the Session Activity report from Tuesday, referenced above.
Wednesday saw the Chip Flowers Remedial Reading Bill make it out of committee and onto today’s agenda. Flowers may continue to misread the Delaware Code, but surely, by now, he can read the handwriting on the wall. I DID think that the public brow-beatings from Reps. Schwartzkopf and Longhurst were condescending, though. But not out of character. Here is how the hamster wheel in Longhurst’s head thinks: “People don’t like Chip Flowers. Especially people who I need to curry (‘curry, isn’t that a food or something?’) favor with. I’ll be mean to Chip Flowers. People will like me.” Or, maybe they’ll just see it as one more instance of you being nasty, but that’s just me.
Quite a few interesting bills were released from committee, so I’ll address them as they make their way onto agendas.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. Except, of course, it’s incomplete. Leading me to make a respectful request, this time of the Senate, which generally has had its stuff together. Could you please make roll calls on nominations available as part of the Session Activity reports? If I’m not mistaken, the confirmation roll calls are also handled electronically, so it should be relatively easy to add them to the report. In fairness, the Senate, under President Pro-Tempore Blevins, has published the names of those scheduled for consideration in the Senate Executive Committee, something that Tiny Tony rarely, if ever, did. Just one more small step for humankind…
The Governor will release his proposed FY ’15 budget today. Wonder if state employees will be in line for a raise for the first time in a long time. I sure hope so. His submitted budget will be considered by the Joint Finance Committee, agency by agency, line by line, beginning next week.
OK, time for the final agendas for six weeks. We’ll start with the House, which has the two most notable pieces of legislation on its plate.
SB 6(Marshall) will have to be considered pretty early in session because at least one House amendment will require Senate approval before the end of the day. HA 1(Brady) merely reflects the unfortunate reality that the effective date of the bill had to be pushed back because of the House delay in considering the bill. Mike Ramone is sponsoring the usual Rethuglican amendments. You know, a ‘training wage’ for young workers, that type of thing. Don’t think any of them have a chance. As this is being written, there is still no amendment to restore a cost-of-living increase to the bill. That’s…unfortunate.
SB 151(Blevins), which makes clear that Chip Flowers interpretation (to put it charitably) of the Delaware Code is incorrect, will be on its way to the Governor’s desk by day’s end. John Kowalko has placed an amendment with the bill that effectively establishes term limits on members of the Cash Management Policy Board. That amendment will only be considered if it doesn’t slow down passage of the bill today. Otherwise, Kowalko will likely introduce this as a separate bill.
Here is today’s House Agenda. I’m also quite impressed with HB 227(M. Smith), which addresses guardianships and protections for minors. Serious legislating from one of our best. I hereby predict that Melanie George Smith will be a judge and, I’m gonna go out on a limb here, will be nominated for a judgeship before Jack Markell leaves office. It will be on merit.
The key bills on today’s Senate Agenda are the House bills. There is clear impetus to get them to the Governor’s office by the end of today’s session. No such urgency for the Senate bills. I consider HB 178(Barbieri) and HB 154(Walker) to be the most notable. Both good solid bills. However, truth be told, the Senate needs to be in session largely to ensure that, should the minimum wage and/or Flowers bills return from the House, the body can take final action on them.
Hey, since we’ve got six more weeks until my next pre-game/post-game, might as well close with one of the great slow-building blues songs of all-time. And it’s on topic! Written by the criminally under-appreciated Fenton Robinson (check out his ‘I Hear Some Blues Downstairs’ album, a classic). Led to a fantastic cover by Boz Scaggs and Duane ‘Skydog’ Allman. I’m givin’ you both at no extra charge:
Someone Loan Me a Dime-Fenton Robinson
Loan Me A Dime-Boz Scaggs w/Duane ‘Sky Dog’ Allman
You’re welcome.
See ya in six. Weeks, that is.