Every time I update the vote tracker, I change it. This time is no exception. I am done with the Excel spreadsheets. I don’t like the way it presents in the embed windows, and I did not like other technical aspects. So we are back to Word, and I have further divided the Vote Tracker into five different documents based on the statuses of the bills: PASSED, ONE CHAMBERED HAS VOTED, WAITING FOR A VOTE, STILL IN COMMITTEE, and REJECTED.
Bills that have PASSED are obviously bills that have been passed by a majority of both Houses of the General Assembly, and which may have been signed by the Governor (not necessarily).
The ONE CHAMBER category covers those bills which have been passed by a majority of one chamber, but which have not yet been considered by the other House.
The WAITING category covers those bills that have been considered by a committee in one of the Chambers, have been released from that committee, and are now ready for a vote in that Chamber.
The STILL IN COMMITTEE category is self explanatory, as these are bills that have been placed in a committee but have not been considered yet. A lot of these bills are evil Republican bills that we hope never see the light of day. But some are good progressive bills that are being held back.
And finally, we have the REJECTED category, and in this category I include bills that have been defeated (whether on the floor or in committee), or that have been stricken, or that have been tabled in committee.
We are not tracking all the bills, just the bills of progressive or liberal interest, including evil bills sponsored by Republicans that we want to see defeated or never considered, like the Estate Tax Repeal bill or the Right to Work for Less bill. You can download the documents in the form of a Word Doc file by clicking on the menu button in the lower right corner of each box.
As we have already discussed here and elsewhere, this has been a disappointing first session of the 148th General Assembly, especially on the budget. And given the drastic budget shortfall that faces the next session, drastic measures are called for among the Democratic leadership. But I will get to that in a second. Let’s first review our list of progressive priorities and how they fared:
Death Penalty Repeal, SB 40— Passed the Senate but failed to clear the House Judiciary Committee. The bill was not petitioned out of the committee, which means there are not enough yes votes for it in the House (if there were, then the bill would have been petitioned out). Therefore, I consider this bill defeated.
Marijuana Decriminalization, HB 39 — Passed both the Senate and House and signed into law by the Governor.
No Excuse Absentee Voting, HB 105 and Same Day Voter Registration, SB 111 — Both bills were released from their respective committees in each chamber and are awaiting votes. But the lack of votes on both of these bills as an actual defeat of these bills. And the reason for that is you enact election reforms in non-election years. The lack of consideration for this bill this year means it is likely dead for next years “election year” session as well. And I condemn all the Democrats in the General Assembly for that.
Opt Out Bill, HB 50 — After some complicated back and forth between the House and Senate, the bill eventually passed both chambers and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature. Of course, Governor Markell has promised a veto.
Minimum Wage Increase, SB 39 — Waiting for consideration in the Senator Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.
Death with Dignity, HB 150 — Considered in committee and tabled, though that is not really a defeat since sponsor Paul Baumbach waiting to jump-start discussion this session and then really push for the legislation next year, much like Helene Keeley did with Marijuana Decriminalization last year.
Last time, I said it was likely that only Marijuana Decriminalization and maybe the Opt Out bill would pass. And I hate it when I am right.
In the next session, we will only have one progressive priority: the passage of a Progressive Income Tax Reform. The two bills are there: House 181 (Kowalko), which simply creates a new tax bracket at $125,000 with a rate of 7.10%, and an additional bracket at $250,000 with a rate of 7.85%; or House Bill 196, which also establishes the two new brackets, but then gives all brackets a 0.05% tax cut.
The passage of one of these bills in non-negotiable. And it must be the first order of business. No other bill or resolution or nomination can be considered by either House until one of these two bills is passed and sent to the Governor’s desk for signature. No committee hearing on any other topic can be held until that time.
There is no other settlement money for you to raid, Democrats. It is time to stop being cowards, and time to make the wealthy pay just a fraction more.