Two new bills of interest that were introduced last week, both sponsored by Republicans: 1) HB 135 (Hudson), which would amend the Constitution to remove a legislator’s immunity from arrest while in transit from their home to Legislative Hall; and 2) HB 124 (Wilson, Pettyjohn), which would amend the Constitution to forever require an annual budgetary allocation of $10 million into the Delaware Farmland Preservation Fund.
So we are budgeting through Constitutional Amendment now? Two can play that game, Republicans.
My opinion: Vote no on 124 and yes on 135.
The Votes taken last week:
HB 56–Potter–Wilmington Charter School Moratorium
Passed the House 32-3
Passed the Senate 12-8
Signed by Governor Markell
No Votes: Republicans (Collins, Hudson, Yearick, Hocker, Lavelle, Bonini, Lopez, Lawson, Pettyjohn, Richardson, Simpson) Cloutier did not vote. All Democrats voted yes.
HB 58–Jacques–NCCo. Vocational Technical School District Power to Levy Taxes
Passed the House 37-2
Passed the Senate 17-2.
Not yet signed into law.
No Votes: Collins, Kowalko, Bonini, Richardson. Mulrooney and Townsend did not vote.
SB 47–Townsend–Public Defender Reform
Passed the House 39-0.
Passed the Senate 20-1
Not yet signed into law.
No Votes: Bonini
HB 5–Heffernan–E-Cig Indoor Ban
Passed the House 29-11.
The votes did not appear to break on any partisan or ideological lines. For example, Democrats Brady, Kowalko, Mitchell and Osienski all voted no, while Republicans Briggs King, Gray, Hensley, Hudson, Kenton, Outten, Ramone, Short and Wilson votes yes. We now wait for Senate action.
HB 50–Kowalko–Out Out Bill
Passed the House 36-3
No votes: Barbieri, Dukes and Jaques
We now wait for Senate action.
HB 109–B. Short–Employee Social Media Privacy
Passed the House 38-0, with Barbieri, Bolden and Peterman absent
We now wait for Senate action.
HB 3–Longhurst–Equal Pay for Equal Work for State Employees
The House passed 41-0.
We now wait for Senate action.
Remember, we are not tracking all the bills, just the bills of progressive or liberal interest, including those sponsored by Republicans, and including those that we, as progressives and liberals, want to see defeated (i.e. the Estate Tax Repeal bill). You can download the tracker in the form of a Excel spreadsheet by clicking on the menu button in the lower right corner of each box.