General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 14, 2014
Here we are in mid-May, and it’s been weeks since we’ve heard anything about a gas tax for transportation funding and/or a revenue stream to clean our water. Is this a game of political chicken, or has everybody chickened out? Assuming no new revenues for transportation projects, there will be roughly $70 million less to spend next Fiscal Year on fixing our roads and bridges than has been allocated in the current Fiscal Year. This after one of the most brutal winters in recent memory. This also means $70 million less to invest in our workers and our state’s economy. Is this really (not) going to happen? What a pathetic demonstration of what passes for political leadership in Dover. There’s still time, but is there political will?
As predicted, almost all bills considered Tuesday passed virtually unanimously. Sen. Simpson voted no on legislation banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. I tend to agree with him, to this extent. E-cigarettes have neither tar nor smoke. If you accept the premise that minors who want to smoke will find a way to smoke (I accept that premise), then why not make sure that they’re indulging in something with neither tar nor smoke? I’m not sure what health problem we’re solving by passing this bill, but I see at least that one potential downside.
SB 123(Marshall), which makes constables eligible for line-of-duty death benefits, garnered four no votes and one ‘not voting’. There clearly was some ambivalence about this bill. Otherwise, the Senate was a vote lovefest.
In the House, HS1/HB 297(D. E. Williams) passed unanimously. I raised the question yesterday as to whether the substitute bill afforded protections for dogs protecting their families and property at their homes. I have been assured that the substitute indeed addressed concerns that had been raised by dog lovers in the original bill. As such, this is a pretty darn good piece of legislation and deserves passage.
Here’s yesterday’s Session Activity Report.
Lotsa committee activity today.
Highlights from today’s scheduled Senate committee meetings:
Well, let’s start with a Joint meeting of the Senate Public Safety Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. The committees are scheduled to get a ‘Briefing on the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’. Doesn’t say who is/are providing the briefing. Could I make a humble suggestion? Could some public official like, say, the State Auditor conduct a meaningful investigation into this? Doesn’t the pathetic Tom Wagner have something more important to do than rousting himself from his torpor every four years to go after people like Norman Oliver and Bill Collick? Whatever they may have done, it pales in contrast to Dick Cathcart’s bid rigging at Delaware State, and Wagner buried evidence to protect his fellow Rethuglican. I’m not a lawyer, but, if criminal activity did not take place in the events surrounding the disappearance of drugs from the Medical Examiner’s office, then there’s no such thing as criminal activity. Is there nothing in Delaware too corrupt to actually warrant a criminal investigation with teeth, arrests and consequences? Rhetorical question, I know.
Deep cleansing breath.
The Senate Education Committee considers legislation that would make bullying a justifiable reason for terminating a student’s right to attend a charter school or to continue to choice into a certain school.
Here’s a good bill. The Senate Executive Committee will consider SB 185(Townsend), which makes clear that firms with four or more employees cannot discriminate based on disability. Currently, all protections based on class apply to employers with four or more employers, but not for those with disabilities( it’s currently 15 or more employees). This bill corrects that.
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee considers legislation to ‘increase the amount of the life-saving drug Naloxone in the community and specifically in the hands of the people most likely to discover someone who has suffered an overdose (of heroin) and who will be able to administer a dose of the medication while waiting for first responders to arrive’. The bill will also ‘allow DHSS to create a community-based program that will put Naloxone into the hands of friends, family, and maybe service providers at no or low cost. DHSS will seek grant funding to support a community-based program.’ An enlightened piece of legislation from Sen. Bethany Hall-Long. As is SB 212, which ‘clarifies that the current prohibitions against sex discrimination in employment includes pregnancy’.
Another real good bill from Sen. Townsend. SB 217 ‘repeals the provision of the Delaware code requiring the revocation of the driver’s license of any individual of a drug offense, regardless of whether the offense is related to the operation of a motor vehicle’. Got that, folks? You get busted for smoking reefer at a party and you have your license revoked in Delaware. Yet one more excess from the absurd Delaware Drug Wars. Time to do away with it. In today’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. As is a bill which appears to afford greater rights/protections to children on the Child Protection Registry.
You know? Go back over the highlighted bills, and you see some pretty good progressive initiatives. Also makes me happy that a woman is running the Senate. There’s no way that most of these bills would be moving forward if one of the previous Neanderthals still ran the body. I take back (almost) everything bad I’ve ever said about Sen. Blevins.
House committee highlights:
The House Corrections Committee considers HB 264(Johnson), which ‘will enable the Department of Correction to offer casual seasonal employment for up to 6 months to ex-offenders who demonstrate exceptional job skills while enrolled in a Level 4 or Level 5 vocational program, notwithstanding any prior felony convictions’. While I support the bill, how about making sure that there’s a real paper trail? You know just to make sure that we don’t have any more Sussex Correctional Institution lame-o explanations of ‘the dog ate my homework’ kind. Again, isn’t this something that a non-comatose State Auditor might take a look at? Just askin’.
OK, kids, time for a Learning Opportunity. Yay! Today’s House Appropriations Committee meeting includes several bills that first went through other House committees. Why? Because the initial committee considered the bills on the their merits. Because, however, the bills in question have a fiscal impact, they subsequently must be considered by the House Appropriations Committee, which is comprised of the House members of the Joint Finance Committee.
Hmmm…wonder who’s pushing for this bill. HB 216(Scott) extends ‘last call’ from 1 am to 2 am. Uh, wouldn’t this bill automatically increase the number of drunk drivers on the road? If you want to enable your patrons to drink for an extra hour, it’ll cost ya. $1000 for ‘small’ venues, and $5000 for large venues. A bill that raises numerous questions like this doesn’t come out of nowhere. What’s the story behind the story? Anybody know? In today’s Business Lapdog Committee meeting.
Good solid bill in today’s House Education Committee meeting. HB 337(K. Williams) ‘promotes uniformity in the timing of the application process for school districts, charter schools, magnet schools, and career and technical education schools.’
I’m confused. I know, not exactly a news flash. But, if e-cigarettes do not give off smoke, why ban them from ‘all public places where smoking is prohibited under current law’? Which is what HB 309(Heffernan) does. Can someone less confused than Yours Truly explain? If there’s no second-hand smoke risk, why prohibit their use? In the House Health & Human Development Committee.
The House Administration Committee considers several FOIA bills today. But not, of course, Rep. Kowalko’s HB 331, which would eliminate the exemption from FOIA currently enjoyed (and abused) by the University of Delaware and Delaware State. Nor will that bill be released from committee as long as Schwartzkopf and Longhurst rule the House.
There is a Senate Agenda today, and it includes one of this year’s legislative lowlights. HB 235(Longhurst) designates bicycling as the official sport of the State of Delaware. I have one question: Why? There’s no substantive answer. Other than: Just because.
Which is a great place for me to stop for today. Just because.
Tags: Delaware Medical Examiner, e-cigarettes, El Somnambulo, Featured, Patti Blevins, Steve Tanzer Delaware, Tom Wagner
I am no fan of bullying, but what is up with that charter/choice bullying bill? Where will that student go? Back to their feeder school. Either the bullying is a reason to exclude the student from ALL public instruction (expulsion) or it the school has to deal with it.
This is just one more example of a get-out-of-jail-free card for charters.
Do these places have processes in place to deal with bullies/behavior problems or not?
Charter schools and schools of choice (such as tech schools) should have to deal with bullying like everyone else. You want the student? You got the student. Warts and all.
SB185 is a bad idea. Its hard enough being a micro business in this day and age.
Or we could just make it law that every structure, new or old, in the state must be fully ADA compliant. Or would that be too burdensome?
You missed one Som- and a chance to expose partisan politics and grandstanding at it’s worst
Rep S Smyck did a Dave Lawson in the house today, laying with SB197 the same Amendment that Lawson tried to grandstand and slap on In The Senate
What a schmo……doesn’t that fool know that whining about the Ds “not protecting out children” looks ridiculous when both Lawson and Smyck, former DSP never lifted a single finger to do anything about ” trafficking” victims when they were troopers. But hey, don’t let fiction stand I. The way of fact. Especially when Smyck was a buses and trucks type- he was in a prime position to see trafficking victims……
What training did he receive? NONE, and that’s a fact
What did he do about this while on the job- nothing- fact
Did he introduce and bills on this himself – nope neither did Lawson
This is just a way to discredit the people who did the real footwork….worked on the Bill and sponsored and co-sponsored it.
The penalties do not need to be upped- trafficking would also mean there was possibly- rape, assault, kidnapping, labor law violations, terroristic threats, fraud and a multitude of other charges, from other agencies…..like the Feds etc…..
By the time a trafficker is convicted, there will be so many other charges they will be buried under them and then separate counts on each pending charge
And Smyck, a former trooper does not know how the system works?
It’s either stupidity, ignorance or grandstanding- of course he is also Lawson’s boot licker for carrying water
Why not something original like……mandatory training for law enforcement ( free if one asks the Feds) but nope, can’t do that because God forbid someone should have to tell cops they need training on anything….
So, go tell it on the mountain, I would seriously be questioning why the silence from Lawson and Smyck for so long and then suddenly, here comes the bandwagon and they both gleefully jump on…..with the Emperor that has no clothes…..
Thanks, the bill actually provides for training.
And you’re right. Two grandstanding zeroes.
El som…….it actually does not provide for MANDATORY training for law enforcement, the council only COORDINATES the training for responders and victim services providers
Republican whining can be seen here- well some Republican whining
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News–Who-Should-Decide-Lt–Gov–Replacement—Tech-Board-Bill-Stuck-In-Committee–Human-Trafficking-Amendment-Fails.html?soid=1111666531231&aid=gaLPDeW6qn4
Oh, gawd. I shouldn’t have clicked the link. Somebody who literally has done nothing on this issue grandstanding that the penalties aren’t tough enough. Where the fuck was he? He says he saw this as a cop, yet I must’ve missed his introduction of serious legislation on this issue, and missed his previous entreaties for the General Assembly to address this.
BTW, the council has a lot of responsibility. It has responsibility for coordinating joint efforts to wipe this scourge out. All we could ask is/was an AG capable of making the statute an effective tool. Thankfully, we’ll have one come November. Maybe Beau will do everybody a favor and leave office early. I hear there’s good money to be made in the Ukrainian gas market…
Ahhhhhh, el Som……now you have the picture…
And Smyck has just repeated the same crap in the House…..SMH….
The second hand emissions from e-cigarettes contain nicotine, nitric oxide, fermaldahyde, and various other toxins. The emissions from these unregulated products are not safe. Unfortunately, the bill was tabled in committee today and I was shocked to see John Kowalko act the way he did. It was a disgusting display of hypocrisy. The same guy railing against natural gas emissions in Newark had the audacity to sit there and question the science about an unregulated product that exposes harmful toxins to non users. I hope people call him on this. He should be ashamed of himself.
Wait, Kowalko is listed as a co-sponsor of HB 309. Has something changed?
But MD is right: E-cigarettes aren’t regulated and haven’t been evaluated by the U.S. FDA, so we only have the manufacturer’s word that it’s perfectly safe. That worked out great with the tobacco industry about secondhand smoke, what could possibly go wrong?
I’m not arguing on behalf of e-cigarettes. And I’m certainly not arguing that they’re ‘perfectly safe’. Only raising the question as to whether there’s a second-hand smoke hazard that warrants their being banned in public places. Also raising the question of whether someone inclined to smoke would be better off with e-cigs than cigarettes. What do the scientists say?
If those questions haven’t been answered, then why the rush to ban them?
Almost as if by providence, this article and study just came out: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5319225?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063.
A couple excerpts:
” Users could also be inhaling and exhaling low levels of chemicalssuch as formaldehyde, propyleneglycol and acetaldehyde (to name a few), and thissecondhand vapor could be a potentially toxicsourceof indoor air pollution.”
” To deliver nicotine, e-cigarettescreate a spray of very fine particles that haveyet to be studied in depth… But we do know that fine particulate matter fromcigarettes and from air pollution are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease.”
Sounds like the scientists aren’t convinced that it’s a harmless alternative to smoking. The question is whether this data will convince some legislators to rethink their positions.
There is some hope for the UD, DSU FOIA bill since J.J. Johnson is co-sponsor, that means that the unions have given it a nod. Now, they may be repeating the trick played two years ago when the union sponsorship via Johnson was used to leverage a meeting and a promise from UD brass to use labor (to build a data center and power plant?) on STAR campus.
When the UD agree to the meeting and made the promise, Johnson took his name off the bill and Schwartzkopt told me and John Flaherty that it was now moot. That the bill was always about the unions. …eh……no it wasn’t as far as most of us figured.
You have the bullying bill confused. “Good cause” is a list of reasons that people can cite to get out of their choice agreement. It’s not about whether or how the school deals with the student doing the bullying but allows the child being bullied to leave that choice school whether it’s a charter or Votech or district choice.